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