Internet Pioneer John Perry Barlow Who Influenced Assange & Snowden Dead at 70
John Perry Barlow is dead. Your unacknowledged soulmate, he was what everyone would call an internet pioneer, understanding early cyberspace’s potential. During his varied and colorful life, he collected many friends, among them Grateful Dead singer and guitarist Bob Weir, John F. Kennedy Jr., Timothy Leary, and Vice President Al Gore. His A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace is at once an angry, defiant, hopeful document, and is mandatory inclusion in anthologies covering what we understand as the net’s birth.
Internet Pioneer John Perry Barlow’s Legacy Is This Obituary
“The sincerity and marrow of the man reaches to his sentences [….] Cut these words, and they would bleed; they are vascular and alive,” wrote Emerson of French Renaissance philosopher Michel de Montaigne. Such praise leaps out in demand of an update to our age, and Mr. Barlow’s words are best read aloud to get a sense of those mid-19th lauds.
“Governments of the Industrial World,” Mr. Barlow begins his famous anti-entreaty, “you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather.”
The junior lyricist of the Grateful Dead, as he often referred to himself, was royalty at gatherings of weekend counter-culturalists. His hymn to the burgeoning cyber community was itself written at a time and place of intense irony. While cypherpunks toiled in virtual obscurity and often outside the law, Mr. Barlow had access to wealth and power.
A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace continues, “We have no elected government, nor are we likely to have one, so I address you with no greater authority than that with which liberty itself always speaks. I declare the global social space we are building to be naturally independent of the tyrannies you seek to impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us nor do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear.”
Irony and Inspiration
At some point he befriended then-Vice President Al Gore, and was frequent guest on Air Force II to such jaunts as the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. That would be where the irony comes. Amidst global government minders in 1996, indeed his patrons, he managed to work out what some have called a founding document of more radical internet ideologies. There is little doubt his essay lit fires under many who would go on to found the cryptocurrency revolution.
“You have not engaged in our great and gathering conversation, nor did you create the wealth of our marketplaces,” he spat. “You do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten codes that already provide our society more order than could be obtained by any of your impositions.”
His admirers are diverse; Ann Coulter, Edward Snowden, and Julian Assange all counted him as an influence. In particular, the ethos contained in Mr. Barlow’s manifesto would show up again in many of Mr. Assange’s most passionate arguments regarding an open and unfettered internet space. Mr. Snowden would embody Mr. Barlow’s words.
More than mere philosopher, he helped to found the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in 1990, an advocacy and policy group he’d continue with until his death. Prior, he directed the legendary online board Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link (WELL), bringing together techies, writers, and musicians. Much later, he would lend his imprimatur as emeritus fellow of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, and found the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which now counts Edward Snowden as its president.
Anecdotes about him touching the lives of everyone can be found in the startup days of Wired magazine to earlier hacker conferences and in the Dead song “Cassidy.” Mr. Barlow died in San Francisco in his sleep.
What are your thoughts on Mr. Barlow’s life? Let us know in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Pixabay, Twitter.
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On Saturday, February 10 a new bitcoin cash (BCH) wallet was announced called, Handcash, an SPV client that enables Near Field Communication transactions. The wallet’s initial release is still in beta form but is available to download for experimentation on all compatible Android devices.
A team of developers launched a new wallet called Handcash; a bitcoin cash client for Android phones. At the moment the platform is still in its beta form but the wallet focuses on ease of use and has a few unique features. One aspect is the wallet’s ability to complete Near Field Communication (NFC) payments in a matter of seconds. The feature effectively resembles handing someone some cash, hence the name ‘Handcash’ says the wallet developers. Anyone can make in-person payments with NFC without having to ask for a specific address or QR code.
“NFC Payments: seriously, you gotta try this out with someone. It’s so cool to do a BCH transaction with anyone in a couple of seconds without having to ask for an address. It’s effectively just like handing cash,” explains the Handcash creators.
‘Cashtag’ Usernames and Encrypted Backups
In addition to the NFC functionality, the wallet has a unique system for addresses because one element allows the use of usernames instead. The feature is called ‘cashtags’ and the developer says they are not linked to any certain address but they are linked to your phone’s ID. This means when a user sends bitcoin cash to another Handcash user the wallet’s system creates a new address for every transaction.
Further, the wallet’s developers detail the Android client has a one-tap wallet backup feature which is also different than the standard 12-word backup phrase. The team has developed a method that encrypts a wallets backup file and it stores both private key information and the rights to a ‘cashtag’ username in a Google Drive folder.
“So if you were using the google account you already are logged into on your phone — If you change your phone, you can recover your wallet on the first screen once you reinstall Handcash again,” explains a Handcash team member.
Beta Testing Until the App Works Properly
Handcash is still in beta and before the wallet jumps on the bitcoin cash mainnet the developers want to make sure the app works properly. However, a ‘Handcashbot’ distributes testnet BCH for users to test and experiment with certain features like NFC transactions. The beta version also does not encrypt the wallet username and encryption will be added when the 1.0 Handcash version goes live. Additionally, the developers conclude that the Cashaddress format is ready for mainnet once the app leaves beta.
What do you think about the Handcash wallet platform? Do you think NFC transactions will be used often in the future? Let us know what you think about this wallet in the comments below.
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Images via Shutterstock, Pixabay, Google Play, and Handcash.
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Bitcoin is “Under-Owned” Among Institutional Investors says Dan Morehead
The CEO and founder of Pantera Capital, Dan Morehead, recently told media that bitcoin is “under-owned” by institutional investors despite high demand for cryptocurrency exposure. Mr. Morehead also predicted bitcoin to produce bullish price movements in coming weeks.
In a recent interview with CNBC, the Pantera Capital founder appeared unfazed by the recent crash in the cryptocurrency markets, stating “We’re certainly aware it’s a very speculative market,” adding, “It’s volatile on the upside. It can be volatile on the downside.”
Mr. Morehead predicts that the price of bitcoin will begin to recover in coming weeks, stating, “Typically, [bitcoin] has had on average a 71-day bear market, and we’re 52 days into this. It seems like another couple of weeks and everything will be normal and [bitcoin] can start growing back up again.” Mr. Morehead also noted that “We’ve had a 64% fall from its peak to the trough a couple of days ago, and that’s actually exactly the average decline in the bitcoin markets over the last seven bear market cycles.”
Pantera Capital was founded in 2003 and launched its first cryptocurrency fund a decade later. Pantera Capital is invested in a number of leading cryptocurrency ventures, including Bitstamp, Korbit, Xapo, and Bitpesa.
Institutional Crypto Exposure Low Despite High Demand
Pantera Capital’s CEO indicated that despite widespread demand for cryptocurrency exposure, bitcoin is “under-owned” by institutional investors, hinting that demand from big players may push prices up soon.
“There’s such an institutional appetite to get exposure to this,” said Morehead, “It’s a half-a-trillion-dollar asset class that nobody owns. That’s a pretty wild circumstance,” said Mr. Morehead.
Mr. Morehead attributed bitcoin’s wild price action to the lack of institutional investment in the cryptocurrency economy, stating “bitcoin is that still so under-owned by institutional investors that it trades at its own beat.”
Morehead Welcomes Cryptocurrency Regulations
When asked of his opinion of the increasing regulation of the cryptocurrency sphere, Mr. Morehead stated, “It’s a good thing, I think the U.S. regulatory bodies have done an excellent job […] the [Commodities Futures Trading Commission] has been very progressive about this… the [Securities and Exchange Commission] has […] in general allowed the markets to develop.”
The Pantera CEO also noted that the “pace” of regulation has “so far has been very good,” concluding that “A little more regulation is probably helpful.”
Do you think that bitcoin is likely to recover in coming weeks? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Pantera Capital, Wikipedia
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