To understand where this cyber-libertarian ideology came from, you have to understand the influence of \u201cA Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace,\u201d\u009d one of the strangest artifacts of the \u201990s, and its singular author, John Perry Barlow. Perhaps more than any other, it\u2019s his philosophy \u201d\u201d which melded countercultural utopianism, a rancher\u2019s skepticism toward government and a futurist\u2019s faith in the virtual world \u201d\u201d that shaped the industry.<\/p>\n
The problem is, we\u2019ve reaped what he sowed.<\/p>\n
Generally the province of fascists, artists or fascist artists, manifestos are a dying form. It takes gall to have published one anytime after, say, 1938. But \u201cA Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace\u201d\u009d was an utterly serious document for a deliriously optimistic era that Wired, on one of its many valedictory covers, promised was a \u201clong boom\u201d\u009d: \u201c25 years of prosperity, freedom, and a better environment for the whole world.\u201d\u009d Techno-skeptics need not apply.<\/p>\n