High Noon on the Electronic Frontier: Conceptual Issues in Cyberspace

560 Pages·1996·18.601 MB·English

by  Peter Ludlow, Loyd Blankenship

on t h e E l e c t r o n i c F r o n t i e r
onceptual Issues in Cyberspace
f o r e w o r d b y M i k e G o d w i n
High Noon on the Electronic Frontier
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Digital Communication
Edward Barrett, editor
High Noon on the Electronic Frontier: Conceptual Issues in Cyberspace
Peter Ludlow, 1996
Technical Communication, Multimedia, and Information Systems
Edward Barrett, editor
The Nürnberg Funnel: Designing Minimalist Instruction for Practical
Computer Skill, John M. Carroll, 1990
Hypermedia and Literary Studies, edited by Paul Delany and George P
Landow, 1991
Rhetoric, Innovation, Technology: Case Studies o f Technical Com m u­
nication in Technology Transfers, Stephen Doheny-Farina, 1 9 9 2
Sociomedia: Multimedia, Hypermedia, and the Social Construction o f
Knowledge, edited by Edward Barrett, 1992
The Digital Word: Text-Based Computing in the Humanities, edited
by George P. Landow and Paul Delany, 1993
Contextual Media: Multimedia and Interpretation, edited by Edward
Barrett and Marie Redmond, 1995
High Noon on the Electronic Frontier
Conceptual Issues in Cyberspace
Peter Ludlow
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
Second printing, 1996
%
©1996 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by
any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or
information storage and retrieval) without permission in w^riting from the
publisher.
This book was set in Sabon by Northeastern Graphic Services, Inc.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ludlow^, Peter, 1957-
High noon on the electronic frontier : conceptual issues in
cyberspace / Peter Ludlow^.
p. cm. — (Digital communication)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-262-12196-4 (alk. paper). — ISBN 0-262-62103-7 (pbk. :
alk. paper)
1. Computers—social aspects. 2. Information superhighw^ay— Social
aspects. 3. Computer networks;—Security measures. 4. Sex— Computer
network resources. I. Series.
QA76.9.C66L84 1996
302.23— dc20 96-3987
CIP
for Irepetti

Contents
Series Foreword xi
Foreword xiii
Mike Godwin
Preface xvii
Acknowledgments xxi
I Piracy, Property Rights, etc.: Does Information “Want to
Be Free?” 1
1 Selling Wine without Bottles: The Economy of Mind on the Global
Net 9
John Perry Barlow
2 Why Patents Are Bad for Software 35
Simson L. Garfinkel, Richard M. Stallman, and Mitchell Kapor
3 Against Software Patents 4 7
The League for Programming Freedom
4 Debunking the Software Patent Myths 63
Paul Heckel
5 So You Want to Be a Pirate? 109
Pirate Editorial
6 Some “Property” Problems in a Computer Crime Prosecution 113
Mike Godwin
II How Should We Respond to Exploratory Hacking/Cracking/
Phreaking? 123
7 The Conscience of a Hacker 131
The Mentor
via Contents
8 The Prisoner: Phiber Optik Goes Directly to Jail 133
Julian Dibbell
9 Concerning Hackers Who Break into Comi^uter Systems;
Postscript, June 11, 1995 137
Dorothy E. Denning
0 Congressional Testimony by Emmanuel Goldstein 165
II Encryption, Privacy, and Crypto-Anarchism 173
1 How PGP Works/Why Do You Need PGP? 179
Philip R. Zimmermann
2 Crypto Rebels 185
Steven Levy
3 Jackboots on the Infobahn 2 0 7
John Perry Barlow
4 The Clipper Chip Will Block Crime 21 5
Dorothy E. Denning
5 The Denning-Barlow Clipper Chip Debate 2 1 7
Dorothy E. Denning and John Perry Barlow
6 Achieving Electronic Privacy 225
David Chaum
7 A Crypto Anarchist Manifesto 2 3 7
Timothy C. May
8 Introduction to BlackNet 241
Timothy C. May
9 BlackNet Worries 245
Timothy C. May
%
V Censorship and Sysop Liability 251
20 Censoring Cyberspace 2 5 9
Philip Elmer-Dewitt
21 ACLU Letter to CM U on alt.sex Newsgroups 2 63
22 Virtual Community Standards: BBS Oscenity Case Raises New
Legal Issues 2 6 9
Mike Godwin
Contents ix
23 Public Networks and Censorship 275
Jeffrey Shallit
24 Sex and the Single Sysadmin; The Risks of Carrying Graphic Sexual
Materials 291
Mike Godwin
25 Com puter and Academ ic Freedom News’s List of Banned Files on
College Campuses 301
Compiled by Carl Kadie
V Self and Community Online 311
26 Gender Swapping on the Internet 3 17
Amy S. Bruckman
2 7 Text-based Virtual Realities: Identity and the Cyborg Body 32 7
Elizabeth M. Reid
28 MUDding: Social Phenomena in Text-based Virtual Realities 34 7
Pavel Curtis
2 9 A Rape in Cyberspace; or How an Evil Clown, a Haitian Trickster
Spirit, Two Wizards, and a Cast of Dozens Turned a Database into
a Society 375
Julian Dibbell
30 Communication and Community on Internet Relay Chat:
Constructing Communities 3 9 7
Elizabeth M. Reid
31 A Slice of My Life in My Virtual Community 413
Howard Rheingold
32 pandora’s vox: on community in cyberspace 4 3 7
humdog
33 Losing Your Voice on the Internet 445
James DiGiovanna
Appendix 1: Crime and Puzzlement 4 5 9
John Perry Barlow
Appendix 2: Hardware 1: The Italian Hacker Crackdown 4 8 7
Peter Ludlow