A Declaration of the Independence of CyberspaceJohn Perry Barlow
A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace
by John Perry Barlow · first published 1996
16mentions
10recommended by
16HN commenters
2011–2026first – last mentioned
63% recommend31% neutral6% critical
Why HN recommends it
A short, eloquent 1996 manifesto on internet freedom and the limits of government power in cyberspace. Cited as a sharp statement of the early digital-rights vision and useful for teaching tech and social control.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…[theme]." With the greatest respect to Ms. Lepore's scholarship, I would suggest that that ad is too pop-culture and too early for our current Valley overlords. Instead I'd suggest John Perry Barlow's Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace [1] from 1996: "Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone.…
on “Silicon Valley misreads science fiction and undermines democracy” ↗Along similar lines, John Perry Barlow's "Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" from 1996 is something I make a point to read often. https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence
on “A New Digital Manifesto” ↗I was really inspired by John Barlow's "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" Somehow despite my own digital-revolutionary tendencies (don't read too far into this, heh) I'd never come across this bit of writing before. Thank you! I think you'll really appreciate the IndieWeb's…
on “YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice” ↗Thanks! I was really inspired by John Barlow's "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" so I wanted to build something that can reflect my understanding of his vision, an autonomous cyberspace. I've tried to build blockchain, DApp and App in the past two years, all failed because of technical…
on “YouTube bans coronavirus-related content that directly contradicts WHO advice” ↗This is a good time to remember John Perry Barlow's "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace": http://doc.cat-v.org/political_science/cyberspace-declaratio...
on “Iran Vows to Unplug Internet” ↗This brings to mind A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace, by John Perry Barlow, one of the founders of the EFF: https://projects.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html It was written in 1996 but feels more relevant as every year goes by.
on “What the French 'Civilised Internet' Looks Like” ↗I have a preference for "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" written by John Perry Barlow in 1996: https://projects.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html It's more inspirational and make it more universal. Just like the "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights"...
on “Reddit Writes A Law: First Draft Of The Free Internet Act Emerges” ↗If you like a little more rolling thunder in your declarations, it's hard to beat John Perry Barlow's Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace. It's a bit dated -- it was written back in the days when people un-ironically talked about "cyberspace," and it shows -- but there's some insightful vision beneath the poetic hyperbole. https://projects.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html
on “Declaration of Internet Freedom” ↗I'm not sure that the general public could end up with something as eloquent and succinctly expressed as John Perry Barlow's A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace[1]. [1]: https://projects.eff.org/~barlow/Declaration-Final.html
on “Internet 'Magna Carta' Vote Launched by British Library” ↗Hypernormalisation has a wonderful bit that quotes John Perry Barlow and his Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace. It is a fantastic juxtaposition with the role of information technology as a means of social control. I use this in my Cybercrime course.
on “Charlie Brooker in Conversation with Adam Curtis about his new 6-part BBC series” ↗A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace by John Perry Barlow Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us…
on “John Perry Barlow has died” ↗Recording of John Perry Barlow reading his "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace": https://vimeo.com/111576518
on “John Perry Barlow has died” ↗…anti-free-speech so many on this site are. I'm old enough to remember the idealistic - although rather fatuous in hindsight - early days of the "internet culture" which promoted John Perry Barlow's "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" [0] and John Gilmore's sentiment that "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it." [1] The difference is that many of us have seen how bad groups have benefited from the current state…
This comment is veering into John Perry Barlow's "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" territory. The only thing that's become eminently obvious in recent years is what an intellectually bankrupt ideology it is. And I think even most self-reflective "cyberlibertarians" (who are probably…
on “Now Streaming on YouTube: Confessions from a Presidential Hit Squad in Gambia” ↗…Timothy C. May <https://nakamotoinstitute.org/static/docs/cyphernomicon.txt> "Crypto Anarchy and Virtual Communities" (1994) by Timothy C. May <https://nakamotoinstitute.org/virtual-communities/> "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" (1996) by John Perry Barlow <https://www.eff.org/cyberspace-independence> Cypherpunks (2012) by Julian Assange et al. <http://www.orbooks.com/catalog/cypherpunks/>
on “When China Rules the Web” ↗