8/12/2019 Barlow Declaration

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Dat e: Fr i , 9 Feb 1996 17: 16: 35 +0100To: barl ow@ef f . or gFr om: J ohn Per r y Bar l ow Subj ect : A Cyberspace I ndependence Decl arat i on

Yest erday, t hat great i nvert ebrat e i n t he Whi t e House si gned i nt o t he l awt he Tel ecom"Ref orm" Act of 1996, whi l e Ti pper Gore took di gi t alphot ogr aphs of t he pr oceedi ngs t o be i ncl uded i n a book cal l ed "24 Hour s i nCyberspace. "

I had al so been asked t o par t i ci pat e i n the cr eat i on of t hi s book bywr i t i ng somet hi ng appr opr i at e to the moment . Gi ven t he at r oci t y that t hi sl egi sl at i on woul d seek to i nf l i ct on t he Net , I deci ded i t was as good at i me as any t o dump some t ea i n the vi r t ual harbor .

Af t er al l , t he Tel ecom "Ref or m" Act , passed i n the Senat e wi t h onl y 5di ssent i ng vot es, makes i t unl awf ul , and puni shabl e by a $250, 000 t o say"shi t " onl i ne. Or , f or t hat mat t er , t o say any of t he ot her 7 di r t y wor dspr ohi bi t ed i n br oadcast medi a. Or t o di scuss abor t i on openl y. Or t o tal kabout any bodi l y f unct i on i n any but t he most cl i ni cal t er ms.

I t at t empt s t o pl ace mor e r est r i ct i ve const r ai nt s on t he conver sat i on i nCyber space than pr esent l y exi st i n the Senat e caf et er i a, wher e I have di nedand hear d col or f ul i ndecenci es spoken by Uni t ed St ates senators on everyoccasi on I di d.

Thi s bi l l was enact ed upon us by peopl e who haven' t t he sl i ght est i dea whowe ar e or where our conver sat i on i s bei ng conduct ed. I t i s, as my goodf r i end and Wi r ed Edi t or Loui s Rosset t o put i t , as t hough "t he i l l i t er at ecoul d t el l you what t o r ead. "

Wel l , f uck them.

Or , more t o t he poi nt , l et us now t ake our l eave of t hem. They havedecl ared war on Cyberspace. Let us show t hemhow cunni ng, baf f l i ng, andpower f ul we can be i n our own def ense.

I have wr i t t en somet hi ng ( wi t h char act er i st i c gr andi osi t y) t hat I hope wi l lbecome one of many means t o thi s end. I f you f i nd i t usef ul , I hope youwi l l pass i t on as wi del y as possi bl e. You can l eave my name of f i t i f youl i ke, because I don' t car e about t he credi t . I r eal l y don' t .

But I do hope thi s cr y wi l l echo acr oss Cyberspace, changi ng and gr owi ngand sel f - r epl i cat i ng, unt i l i t becomes a gr eat shout equal t o the i di ocyt hey have j ust i nf l i ct ed upon us.

I gi ve you. . .

A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace

Gover nment s of t he I ndust r i al Worl d, you wear y gi ant s of f l esh and st eel , Icome f r om Cyberspace, t he new home of Mi nd. On behal f of t he f ut ur e, I askyou of t he past t o l eave us al one. You are not wel come among us. You haveno sover ei gnt y wher e we gather .

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We have no el ect ed gover nment , nor are we l i kel y t o have one, so I addressyou wi t h no gr eat er aut hor i t y than t hat wi t h whi ch l i ber t y i t sel f al waysspeaks. I decl ar e t he gl obal soci al space we ar e bui l di ng t o be nat ur al l yi ndependent of t he t yranni es you seek to i mpose on us. You have no moralr i ght t o r ul e us nor do you possess any methods of enf orcement we have t r uer eason t o f ear .

Government s der i ve t hei r j ust powers f r om t he consent of t he gover ned. Youhave nei t her sol i ci t ed nor r ecei ved our s. We di d not i nvi t e you. You do notknow us, nor do you know our wor l d. Cyberspace does not l i e wi t hi n yourbor der s. Do not t hi nk t hat you can bui l d i t , as t hough i t wer e a publ i cconst r uct i on pr oj ect . You cannot . I t i s an act of nat ur e and i t gr owsi t sel f t hrough our col l ecti ve acti ons.

You have not engaged i n our great and gatheri ng conversat i on, nor di d youcr eat e t he weal t h of our market pl aces. You do not know our cul t ur e, ouret hi cs, or t he unwr i t t en codes t hat al r eady pr ovi de our soci et y more or dert han coul d be obt ai ned by any of your i mposi t i ons.

You cl ai m t here are probl ems among us t hat you need t o sol ve. You use t hi scl ai m as an excuse t o i nvade our pr eci nct s. Many of t hese pr obl ems don' texi st . Wher e ther e ar e r eal conf l i ct s, wher e t her e ar e wr ongs, we wi l li dent i f y t hemand addr ess t hemby our means. We ar e f ormi ng our own Soci alCont r act . Thi s gover nance wi l l ar i se accor di ng t o t he condi t i ons of ourwor l d, not your s. Our wor l d i s di f f er ent .

Cyber space consi st s of t r ansact i ons, r el at i onshi ps, and t hought i t sel f ,arr ayed l i ke a st andi ng wave i n t he web of our communi cat i ons. Our s i s aworl d t hat i s bot h ever ywher e and nowher e, but i t i s not wher e bodi es l i ve.

We ar e cr eat i ng a worl d t hat al l may ent er wi t hout pr i vi l ege or prej udi ceaccor ded by r ace, economi c power , mi l i t ar y f or ce, or st at i on of bi r t h.

We are cr eat i ng a wor l d wher e anyone, anywher e may express hi s or herbel i ef s, no mat t er how si ngul ar , wi t hout f ear of bei ng coer ced i nt o si l enceor conf or mi t y.

Your l egal concept s of proper t y, express i on, i dent i t y, movement , andcont ext do not appl y t o us. They are based on matt er , There i s no matt erher e.

Our i dent i t i es have no bodi es, so, unl i ke you, we cannot obt ai n order byphysi cal coer ci on. We bel i eve that f r om et hi cs, enl i ght ened sel f - i nt er est ,and the commonweal , our governance wi l l emerge . Our i dent i t i es may bedi st r i but ed across many of your j ur i sdi ct i ons. The onl y l aw t hat al l ourconst i t uent cul t ur es woul d gener al l y r ecogni ze i s t he Gol den Rul e. We hope

we wi l l be abl e t o bui l d our par t i cul ar sol ut i ons on t hat basi s. But wecannot accept t he sol ut i ons you are at t empt i ng t o i mpose.

I n the Uni t ed St ates, you have t oday cr eat ed a l aw, t he Tel ecommuni cat i onsRef orm Act , whi ch r epudi at es your own Const i t ut i on and i nsul t s t he dr eamsof J ef f er son, Washi ngt on, Mi l l , Madi son, DeToquevi l l e, and Br andei s. Thesedreams must now be born anew i n us.

You are t er r i f i ed of your own chi l dren, si nce t hey are nat i ves i n a wor l dwher e you wi l l al ways be i mmi grant s. Because you f ear t hem, you ent r ust

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your bur eaucr aci es wi t h the par ent al r esponsi bi l i t i es you ar e too cowar dl yt o conf r ont your sel ves. I n our wor l d, al l t he sent i ment s and expr essi ons ofhumani t y, f r omt he debasi ng t o the angel i c, ar e par t s of a seaml ess whol e,t he gl obal conver sat i on of bi t s. We cannot separ at e t he ai r t hat chokesf r omt he ai r upon whi ch wi ngs beat .

I n Chi na, Ger many, France, Russi a, Si ngapore, I t al y and t he Uni t ed St at es,you ar e t r yi ng t o war d of f t he vi r us of l i ber t y by er ect i ng guar d posts att he f r ont i ers of Cyberspace. These may keep out t he cont agi on f or a smal lt i me, but t hey wi l l not wor k i n a wor l d t hat wi l l soon be bl anket ed i nbi t - bear i ng medi a.

Your i ncr easi ngl y obsol et e i nf or mat i on i ndust r i es woul d perpetuatet hemsel ves by pr oposi ng l aws, i n Ameri ca and el sewher e, t hat cl ai m t o ownspeech i t sel f t hr oughout t he worl d. These l aws woul d decl ar e i deas t o beanother i ndust r i al pr oduct , no mor e nobl e t han pi g i r on. I n our wor l d,what ever t he human mi nd may cr eat e can be r epr oduced and di st r i but edi nf i ni t el y at no cost. The gl obal conveyance of t hought no l onger r equi r esyour f act or i es t o accompl i sh.

These i ncr easi ngl y host i l e and col oni al measur es pl ace us i n t he sameposi t i on as t hose pr evi ous l over s of f r eedomand sel f - det er mi nat i on who hadt o r ej ect t he aut hori t i es of di st ant , uni nf ormed power s. We must decl ar eour vi r t ual sel ves i mmune t o your sover ei gnt y, even as we cont i nue toconsent t o your r ul e over our bodi es. We wi l l spr ead our sel ves across t hePl anet so t hat no one can ar r est our t hought s.

We wi l l cr eat e a ci vi l i zat i on of t he Mi nd i n Cyber space. May i t be morehumane and f ai r t han t he wor l d your government s have made bef or e.

Davos, Swi t zerl andFebr uar y 8, 1996

****************************************************************J ohn Per r y Bar l ow, Cogni t i ve Di ss i dentCo- Founder , El ect r oni c Front i er Foundat i on

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