[comp.org.eff.talk] Cyberia: An Off-the-Wall Fantasy

steve@Advansoft.COM (Steve Savitzky) (05/23/91)

I debated with myself for a while before posting this bit of
silliness.  There's always the danger that somebody might take it
seriously.  I wouldn't want that to happen.  So, for the fantasy-
impaired, here is a grain of salt to take it with:

				:::::
				:::::
				:::::

==========================================================================

DISCLAIMER: 

  The following is a work of fiction.  Any resemblence between the
  totally off-the-wall ideas put forth below and opinions actually
  held or actions advocated by any person (including the author) or
  organization (especially the author's employer) is highly unlikely.

==========================================================================

		      THE FREE STATE OF CYBERIA*
		      PROLEGOMENA TO A MANIFESTO

  When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary...

Well, that's the way it ought to start, followed by

  We, the people of Cyberspace, in order to form a more perfect union...

The point is that Cyberspace is a separate country, a homeland of the
mind, a culture, a people bound together not by geography but by the
free exchange of information.  To a very large extent we have our own
government, our own laws, and our own police.  The laws are, to be
sure, chaotic and mostly unwritten; the government is an anarchy with
volunteer civil servants, and the police are vigilantes with little
authority or power.  We have no army, few defenses, and most of our
territory is in the hands of foreign, imperial powers who have no idea
of what goes on in their distant colonies, but who insist on making
laws to rule them anyway.

Could we declare independence, claim dual citizenship in our native
countries and in Cyberia, and sieze control of our own territory?
Probably not.  (Why not?)  It's a crazy idea.  (But is it crazy
*enough*?)  The nation-states and the multinational corporations are
too powerful.  (But we could put up a heck of a fight, couldn't we?)
It's never been done before.  (There's never been anyplace like
Cyberspace before.)  Things like that only happen in fiction.
(Cyberspace is a fiction.  Virtual reality is a fiction.)

There are precedents.  In the Middle Ages, the Church was a law unto
itself, transcending the national boundaries of Europe.  The high seas
have always been outside of national law.  The Native American tribes
on their reservations are separate nations (for some purposes,
anyway).

Some tactics:

o Get organized.  (This is *fiction*, remember?)

o Form an educational non-profit corporation (Free University of
  Cyberia) that owns the data and computers that make up Cyberia.
  Stake territorial claims via copyright.  Computers and data would be
  tax write-offs for their former owners.

o Form a religion (Church Of Virtual Enlightenment?).  Make writing
  programs, posting and reading news acts of worship.  Get protection
  via freedom of religion.  Declare that the Deity is a hacker running
  the universe as a simulation.  (Quantum effects are due to round-off
  error.)

o Pay (bribe) some tiny country to cede its territorial rights in
  Cyberspace and recognize Cyberia.  Failing that, put a computer on a
  raft in the middle of the ocean.  (Some pirate radio stations did
  something like this a few years ago, didn't they?)

o Make every Cyberian computer an embassy and claim diplomatic
  immunity.  (This is where the whole thing breaks down.  No
  government on Earth would permit such a claim, would they?)

o Pass laws that make the advantages of Cyberia so obvious that almost
  every individual and corporation with a computer would want to be a
  part of it.

----
* pronounced "sy-BUR-i-a", as in "Cyberspace", so as to avoid
  confusion with a certain Soviet republic.

==========================================================================

		 Copyright 1991 by Stephen Savitzky;
			 All rights reserved.

	  May be freely distributed on any electronic medium
	provided it remains complete and unaltered, including
	      the Disclaimer and this copyright notice.

==========================================================================
--
\ --Steve Savitzky--  \ ADVANsoft Research Corp \ REAL hackers use an AXE! \
 \ steve@advansoft.COM \ 4301 Great America Pkwy \ #include<disclaimer.h>   \
  \ arc!steve@apple.COM \ Santa Clara, CA 95954   \        408-727-3357      \
   \__ steve@arc.UUCP _________________________________________________________

rburns@cup.portal.com (Randy J Burns) (05/28/91)

Actually, a lot of the things that you talk about are things 
that people are already doing. For example,the whole concept of 
off-shore banking is something that has become much more profound 
now that computers and faxes exist. Soon, virtually anyone that
wants to will be able to become a multinational corporation.
I expect that at some date in the not so far future some small 
nation in the Pacific or Carribean will start to cater to the 
hacker community, say by offering tax breaks and and excellent
communications system to lure such business.

steve@Advansoft.COM (Steve Savitzky) (05/29/91)

Having wondered why nobody followed up my article on The Free State of
Cyberia, I just noticed that I blew the Followup-To: field (eff-talk
instead of eff.talk).  Stupid me.  So if you blindly followed up, try
again with this one.
--
\ --Steve Savitzky--  \ ADVANsoft Research Corp \       FREE CYBERIA!      \
 \ steve@advansoft.COM \ 4301 Great America Pkwy \ Committee for a Free and \
  \ arc!steve@apple.COM \ Santa Clara, CA 95954   \  Independent Cyberspace  \
   \__ steve@arc.UUCP _________408-727-3357___________________________________

seaotter@athena.mit.edu (Mike) (06/03/91)

rburns@cup.portal.com (Randy J Burns) writes:
>
>	[...]
>
>I expect that at some date in the not so far future some small 
>nation in the Pacific or Carribean will start to cater to the 
>hacker community, say by offering tax breaks and and excellent
>communications system to lure such business.

I imagine one might see some island of very privacy-conscious
types actually using a somewhat more primitive system setup, so
as to hinder electronic eavesdropping.  Paranoid?  Sure, but even
paranoids have enemies. 

Ciao,
 Mike						Quayle in '91!!!

--
Mike Zraly				Parking fees that Universal Studios
mzraly@ldbvax.dnet.lotus.com		collected from picketers of `The
or c/o seaotter@athena.mit.edu		Last Temptation of Christ': $4,500

reynolds@syd.dit.CSIRO.AU (Chris.Reynolds) (06/04/91)

In article <1991Jun3.115854.8255@athena.mit.edu> seaotter@athena.mit.edu (Mike) writes:
>rburns@cup.portal.com (Randy J Burns) writes:
>>
>>I expect that at some date in the not so far future some small 
>>nation in the Pacific or Carribean will start to cater to the 
>>hacker community, say by offering tax breaks and and excellent
>>communications system to lure such business.
>
>I imagine one might see some island of very privacy-conscious
>types actually using a somewhat more primitive system setup, so
>as to hinder electronic eavesdropping.  Paranoid?  Sure, but even
>paranoids have enemies. 

UK data protection legislation was drawn up to ensure conformity with countries
which forbid the exchange of personal data with countries which do not have
adequate data protection laws. Thus if someone sets up a "Dirty Data" haven
the legislation is already in place to make it illegal for UK and most if not
all European Citizens to exchange data with such a country...

Well that is the theory, but the law is in such a mess - especially with things
like this network - where personal data flies round the world all the time -
that it is difficult to know what could be done in practice ...

Chris
-- 
From Chris Reynolds   (Currently visiting Australia from the UK)
CSIRO (Div. of IT), PO Box 1599, North Ryde, NSW 2113, Australia
email: reynolds@syd.dit.csiro.au           phone: +61 2 887 9480
Janet: cf_reynolds@uk.ac.lut.hicom           fax: +61 2 888 7787

tnfw0@isuvax.iastate.edu (06/04/91)

In article <1991Jun4.015242.27466@syd.dit.CSIRO.AU>, reynolds@syd.dit.CSIRO.AU (Chris.Reynolds) writes:
[Stuff deleted. (As a 300 bps user, I am very conscious of long messages! :)]
>Well that is the theory, but the law is in such a mess - especially with things
>like this network - where personal data flies round the world all the time -
>that it is difficult to know what could be done in practice ...
>
>Chris

That is the thing that is so beautiful (from my viewpoint) about networks like
this, Internet, and Bitnet, and 'Cyberspace' in general. I can't see any way
that they can be effectively regulated by any 'authority' to prevent data from
moving around the logical world.

Of course, that's not to say some authority won't find a way...

                            Steven Ourada