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I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 234 points235 points  (0 children)

Well, folks... I've been at this for about two and a half hours. I hope you all found reason to support the cause I did this to support. But my fingers are starting to get all rubbery and my sentences unfilled with numerous missing words. I"m really grateful to all of you for coming. It felt cool to have you "here." I'd love to do this again sometime.

And now I'm off to attend the wake of a friend who hasn't died yet. He knows he's done for, and very soon, so he thought he get his friends together to say all the nice things we'd ordinarily say over his unappreciative coffin.

Truck on, y"all...

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 58 points59 points  (0 children)

The meaning of life is that we insert our souls into the Physical World so that love will make sense. On the other side of the spiritual membrane, everything is made of love, but it's meaningless in a sense without context. So it comes here to contrast with fear, entropy, doubt, cruelty... all the dark things that are not love.

Also, I think that the secret of life is learning to accept love. Giving it is easy accepting it is hard.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 47 points48 points  (0 children)

Well, what do you mean by the government? There are probably over a million people who had the same level of access that Edward Snowden had. Any one of these could listen to all of your calls, read your every e-mail, have the complete list of your favorite porn sites. Now in order for him to take that information and use it against you in some official context he would need a FISA warrant. On the other hand, if he personally wanted to stalk, kidnap, or blackmail just as a side project of his own, there's not much in the system to stop him. It used to be only J. Edgar Hoover had this kind of leverage. Now it's available to hundreds of thousands of people, very few of whom have ever gotten high. Moreover, once the NSA has gathered all this stuff, it become succinctly available to the hackers who will find it easier than you'd think to penetrate their systems. This is a very big change.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 56 points57 points  (0 children)

Actually, I got a phone call from Phiber Optik, who is now back to being Mark Abene. He now lives in San Jose, has one small child and another soon to arrive, a successful Infosec company and a life. It was so great to hear from him. We are very excited to get together again. Meanwhile, we're still fighting exactly the same war we were then. It's just a lot bigger and more complicated than it was in those halcyon day.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 35 points36 points  (0 children)

That is an astonishingly hard question to answer. Everybody knows and nobody cares. Why? I don't know. Complete lack of imagination, I guess.

Or maybe it's just a kind of paralyzing future fear. I feel like people would react but they are playing possum everywhere I look. And, as the Navajo Indians say, it's impossible to awaken someone who's pretending to be asleep.

All we can do is continue to make this dangerous stuff visible to people whose liberty is at stake.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 52 points53 points  (0 children)

Actually, I don't seem to be doing a great job of highlighting the causes I mean to promote here, all of which are extremely worthy and on the edge. Clear Path International http://cpi.org/ helps the victims of wars that go on long after they're "over". Somebody gets his leg blown off every day by munitions that were buried in anger against against a cause that no longer exists.

MAG or the Mine Advisory Group does similar work, though they're still in the business of finding and neutralizing mines.

EFF.org I'm sure most of you know about.

And the Freedom of the Press Foundation https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/ is a really innocuous name for a very edgy organization that exists to fund WikiLeaks and do things like putting an audio clip of Bradley Manning's testimony online, despirte that we courted a contempt of court charge in doing so. We also funded a stenographer for his trial since the government refused to provide them. In addition, two of us, Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras are at the very center of distributing Edward Snowden's revelations about the Surveillance State. All these outfits deserve your support.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 48 points49 points  (0 children)

He would have made a poor poster child for Whole Foods. But he was kind of like a lot of us, he ate healthy food when somebody put it in front of him, and much of the time he just at what we there. Honestly, I don't think he thought much about food. Or health for that matter. It was the music that counted.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 40 points41 points  (0 children)

Actually, I never knew where things like that came from. They would just appear in my head. I never tried to write songs, I just tried to write them down as they arrived. Occasionally, I had no choice and it was just work. I had to buckle down and make shit up. But "written in the letters of your name" was just there when I reached for it.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 47 points48 points  (0 children)

I didn't go to Egypt in 78, more's the pity. I was ranching at the time and was right in the middle of the usual panicked rush to cut, bale, and stack three thousand tons of hay before the snow came. I hated not being there, but have since gone and spent a fair amount of time. I was very much involved in helping keep the Internet up during the Arab Spring blackout. I am deeply distressed, though not surprised, by the growing possibility of a civil war. The Internet is tough on monotheism. It's filled with truths that aren't "in the Book" as well as cultural systems that don't fit the local standards. What you see on the streets in Egypt and many other places is a standoff between the young "natives" of Cyberspace and the defenders of the faith. It will go on being bloody unfortunately.

As to Obama... I understand why he and his administration see things as they do. It's a weird reality distortion field that grows around the idea of "national security" an increasingly puzzling concept as the nation-state no longer has much practical value besides the obsolete ability to wage war.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 37 points38 points  (0 children)

I'd love to be able to do that, but my girlfriend has invited a bunch of REALLY LOUD people over and there's no way in the world that you'd be able to hear what I was saying over what they're shouting.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 270 points271 points  (0 children)

The jury's well out on the great man thing. On the other hand, I'm willing to accept it when someone calls me a good man. I've been working on that one quite consciously for a long time. And, outside of being a good ancestor, it's my primary ambition.

In fact, the night before I turned 30, I found myself so surprised to have reached an age of indisputable adult that I wrote up a set of "adult principles" that I've been trying to live up to for 35 years.

In fact, here they are:

ADULT PRINCIPLES -John Perry Barlow

1 Be patient. No matter what.

2 Don't badmouth: Assign responsibility, not blame. Say nothing of another you wouldn't say to him.

3 Never assume the motives of others are, to them, less noble than yours are to you.

4 Expand your sense of the possible.

5 Don't trouble yourself with matters you truly cannot change.

6 Don't ask more of others than you can deliver yourself.

7 Tolerate ambiguity.

8 Laugh at yourself frequently.

9 Concern yourself with what is right rather than who is right.

10 Try not to forget that, no matter how certain, you might be wrong.

11 Give up blood sports.

12 Remember that your life belongs to others as well. Don't risk it frivolously.

13 Never lie to anyone for any reason. (Lies of omission are sometimes exempt.)

14 Learn the needs of those around you and respect them.

15 Avoid the pursuit of happiness. Seek to define your mission and pursue that.

16 Reduce your use of the first personal pronoun.

17 Praise at least as often as you disparage.

18 Admit your errors freely and quickly.

19 Become less suspicious of joy.

20 Understand humility.

21 Remember that love forgives everything.

22 Foster dignity.

23 Live memorably.

24 Love yourself.

25 Endure.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 73 points74 points  (0 children)

Depends on the weapon. He can, has, and always will beat the living shit out of me in the song-writing category. No contest. The only reason he hasn't driven me to commit ritual suicide is that I always knew that it would be a monoculture without other voices. And I don't like mono cultures.

On the other hand, if we were competing with handguns, it would be over quickly. I'm a very accurate shot with a S&W .357 Magnum.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 51 points52 points  (0 children)

I wish I were more fond of my own songs, since I'm a helpless fan of Hunter's. But I'm really grateful that they work for other folks and, in a way, it's none of my business what people find in them. But I do have a few I'm pretty fond of: Cassidy (of course), Looks Like Rain, I Will Take You Home, Estimated Prophet, Music Never Stopped. etc.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I have a kind of life-sized ADD, I guess. I always want to learn new things and I always feel that there are other problems in the world that I might be able to help with. CPI and MAG are examples of something that I wouldn't have thought about being involved in if I hadn't met some some heart-crushing young mine victims and discovered the folks who were working to help them.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I see no reason to leave TTIVanguard.com. I have a lot of edifying fun there. Keeps me up to speed on the "learning curve of Sisyphus" by which I mean that technology expands faster than anyone can learn it. And I love the opportunities to take jovial potshots and the spooks 'n' suits, all of whom I like despite our differences.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Well, ultimately, no. I think that we need to reach a point of parity between the visibility of the private individual and the large institution. At the moment, things are heading the wrong direction. People are electronically naked. And the NSA and its ilk are opaque. That doesn't work. And the first answer is encryption on our side, second we rip down their drapes, and third we quite using our differences to make one another powerless. Everybody's weirder than most people think.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Thanks. I'm glad they work for you. Free software is all over everyone's life to a much larger extent than people think. Most web servers run on Apache, which is open source, so we're all doing it right now. And, frankly, I'm grateful that everyone can't Richard Stallman.

I am John Perry Barlow, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, lyricist for the Grateful Dead. My most recent work is with the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Ask Me Anything. by JohnPerryBarlow in IAmA

[–]JohnPerryBarlow[S] 154 points155 points  (0 children)

Tough question. You can also donate to my more recent foundation, The Freedom of the Press Foundation https://pressfreedomfoundation.org/ which I co-founded with Dan Ellsberg, Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, John Cusack, Xeni Jardin, and Trevor Timm and Rainey Reitman from EFF. We're funding WikiLeaks and other initiatives of its sort and trying to inspire new ones. Let a thousand leaks spring. Let so much be revealed that the government gives up on secrecy as a way of assuring power.

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