Cyberutopianism Flashcards
Countercultures
1960s - a time of experimenting new forms of living
Vietnam protests/anti war movement
Nonviolent political expression - protest
Civil rights
Gender equality
Embrace of flat forms of government
Communes and collectives - that exist out of the typical hierarchy
Grateful Dead
Band
Summer of Love
1967 in San Francisco, a pivotal moment in the counterculture movement when a surge of young people flocked to Haight-Ashbury, seeking to embrace new values and lifestyles
Acid test
Drug experimentation
Seeing things you never seen before, by trying acid
Lead to computers being seen as mind expanding
Woodstock
New York,1969 concert
Mass culture movement
Whole Earth Lectonic Link (the WELL)
1985
Online (electronic) form of commune (community)
Allowing people to communicate
People had to use their real names - people connected to their real bodies
You own your own words - create an inclusive, peaceful environment (use words carefully)
Many offspring: AOL, Craig’s List, etc
From people who were members of the WELL, understood the power of the internet
Larry Brilliant
Co-created the WELL
Stuart Brand
Co-created the WELL
Editor of the Whole Earth Catalog
Whole Earth Catalog
Hippie bible
Empower people to do things themselves and create the world they want to see
Flame Wars
In the WELL
When it became an argument, debate between people online
John Berry Barlow
Grateful Dead Lyricist
Active on the WELL, Well leader
On various groups
Wrote a Manifesto: Declaration of Independence for Cyberspace -1996 responding to Communications Decency Act
He doesn’t want the government to control the WELL
“I come from Cyberspace, the new home of the mind”
“Cyberspace does not lie within your borders”
They are a new community that does not exist in just one country but come from various places around the world
A new space that governments cannot control - no centralized authority
Communications Decency Act
1996
SCOTUS
Trying to protect children online
Trying to control what can be shown to minors
It is overturned seems like a win for cyberspace
Section 230
Websites, internet publishers are not publishers
Are just platforms and could not be responsible for what everyone is doing
If you post something to Youtube that is defamatory, Youtube is not responsible
Allows for user generated content
Without it the internet wouldn’t be as inclusive
Allows for anything to go up
Controversial, both sides do not like it
Google vs Gonzalez
Limitation: if a site is promoting sex trafficking they are not protected by section 230
Google vs Gonzalez
Challenges to section 230
An american family whose daughter was studying abroad and their daughter was killed in ISS
They sue Youtube due to the algorithm recruiting ISS
Yet they are protects due to section 230
Case still ongoing
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Non-profit law firm on media/technology on copyright
WELL’s offspring
John Perry Barlow, John Gilmore and Mitch Kapor created EEF
Craig Newmark
Started 1995 as a listserv
1996 website, he created Craig’s list
Classified ads-became free online through Craig’s list and completely disrupted local newspapers who depending on classified ads
Many local newspapers disappeared
Personals ads closed 2018 (section 230) due to the possibility of sex trafficking (illegal way) be present in the ads
Having million of users allow it to have power since only a few pay
Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger
Co-founders of Wikipedia
Wales is credited with conceiving the idea of an open, publicly editable encyclopedia, while Sanger is credited with the strategy of using wiki software to achieve that goal.
Wikipedia
Another website that comes from the WELL
Encyclopedia
Started in 2001
New software with Wiki, NuPedia
Multiple languages
Governance: neutrality policy, style
Community - dedicate community that make it run
Written by the community, experts
An example of a self-governing community
Pirate Party
Sweden 2006 political party
Response to file sharing (Napster)
Rick Falkvinge
A lot of freedom online, we can have a lot of freedom
Promote internet freedom
Spreads to over 60 countries
Against copyright right act of 1998, DMCA
Started to win seats in EU Parliament
File Sharing
Sharing files, music online
Exploit a form of distribution that media companies were not ready to use
Kopimism
Missionary Church of Kopimism
Sweden 2010 Uppsala
A religion on the right to share things freely on the internet
First wedding in 2012
Ubuweb
Kenny Goldsmith - a poet at Penn
Founder Ubuweb, 1990s
A depository for avant-garde work like art, articles
Creating more of community and bringing more people in
Open Access Publishing
Another movement on openness
Impacts academics, professors
Sell to university libraries
Not very sustainable
Publishers not need
Open access to research
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)
2012
Two Stanford professors created open courses that is available to everyone for free
Courses created communities
New online community around a topic/field
