The utopian idea: Independence of cyberspace

For the 3rd assignment for the course New media & Society I read Aimée Hope Morrison's article, with the topic An impossible future: John Perry Barlow's 'Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace'. Because I was not familiar with the Declaration I have decided to google it and find something more. I was pretty surprised I have to say and so I thought why not write some review and share my own opinion about this declaration and its main ideas. I extracted just few statements that were, by my opinion, utopian and unrealistic also for the time they were written and composed (in 1995).

• »Cyberspace consists of transactions, relationships, and thought itself, arrayed like a standing wave in the web of our communications. Ours is a world that is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live.«
• »We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth.«
• »We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity.«
• »Your legal concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply to us. They are all based on matter, and there is no matter here.«
• »We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before.«

Barlow was very optimistic, at some point really utopian. The cyberspace for him was a new space and opportunity for democratic and free civilization to form and shape. He was convinced that this new media – internet, will bring wind of changes in this government leaded world. He saw the cyberspace as the world where all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force or station of birth. He saw the possibility to create a civilization of Mind that may be more humane and fair than the real world we are living in.

But he was wrong. He forgot one little detail in this picture, and that is the fact that internet and with that cyberspace is not available to everyone. Several countries, such as African states, South American states and also some places in Asia are so poor that they cannot afford to have a computer and neither internet connection. Internet connection is not available everywhere and I have to say that most producers of the new technologies are from Western countries and those that have power and money are dictating the tempo of development of other countries – mostly countries from the third world, and with that also the access to new technologies.

He is also wrong that the government regulation did not affected the Internet and with that the cyberspace. Because Those in power again have enough capital to own internet sites, tools, programs and servers and are again those who have the power to regulate and restrict access of those revolutionary voices that can endanger their work and ideas. Also the cyberspace is not the place where all the voices are equal and everyone can express their opinion, because the Internet, sadly, approves only the ideas and beliefs that are mainstream, which correspond to the ideas of the government, politics and capitalist.

At this point I have to agree with several authors in the Morrison’s article that this declaration is far too much optimistic. The Barlow’s claim that “we will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace that may be more humane and fair than the world our governments have made before «is not correct. Cyberspace, I think, is another tool (mean) for those in power to spread their ideas and beliefs.