Monday, September 10, 2007
The Independence of Cyberspace
John Perry Barlow has written an article titled, "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" which is about how the governments around the world are trying to limit the power of the internet. It is from the point of view from people who are in cyberspace and they talk about how they feel as though the governments of the "real world" are trying to take over there territory. The articles mentions the Telecommunications Reform Act which is an example of how the U.S. government is trying to impose laws in Cyberspace. As much as our government tries to impose restrictions on Cyberspace, it seems to be impossible because it spans over the world, in place that have different laws and values than us.
"Cyberspace does not lie within your borders. Governments derive their just powers from thee consent of the governed. You have neither solicited nor received ours."
I'm on the fence about Cyberspace being independent from the governments of the world because even though it's seperate from the world, people still control what goes on in Cyberspace. The biggest problem with Cyberspace, in my opinion, is that it is spread out through different governments, who have laws of their own, therefore everyone has access to everything, legal or otherwise.
There is too much access to me but maybe not to someone else. The problem is how do you limit the things that are legal in one country and not in others and who determines how much is too much? I can understand why the people of Cyberspace don't want our government to create any laws aganist them because our government has a tendency to go overboard and do things that benefit them.
My favorite quote from the reading which I will leave you with is,
"You are terrified of your own children, since they are natives in a world where you will always be immigrants. Because you fear them, you entrust your bureaucracies with the parental responsibilities you are too cowardly to confront yourselves."
Comments:
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A great, thoughtful post. You have raised several key points here.
--Can Cyberspace be controlled by national governments? Should it?
--Is cyberspace a free world with no restrictions, a digital utopia were the cyber children of the next generation can play out their fantasies?
--Do the calls for regulation reflect the fears of an older threatened generation which just doesn't get it?
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--Can Cyberspace be controlled by national governments? Should it?
--Is cyberspace a free world with no restrictions, a digital utopia were the cyber children of the next generation can play out their fantasies?
--Do the calls for regulation reflect the fears of an older threatened generation which just doesn't get it?
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