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Adam Thierer & Berin Szoka

Cyber-Libertarianism The Case for Real Internet Freedom

Version 1.0  - Summer 2009

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Our Purpose

• To articulate the core principles of cyber-libertarianism

• To provide the public and policymakers with a better understanding of this alternative vision for ordering the affairs of cyberspace

• Outline for a future book about “Real Internet Freedom”

• To reclaim the term from those who have bastardized it as a mandate for government control of new media

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PART I: WHAT IS CYBER-LIBERTARIANISM?

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Definition of Cyber-Libertarianism

• Individuals—acting in whatever capacity they choose (as citizens, consumers, companies, or collectives)—should be at liberty to pursue their own tastes and interests online

• Mottos: “Live & Let Live” & “Hands Off the ‘Net!”

• Seeks to minimize the scope of state coercion in solving social and economic problems online

• Looks instead to voluntary solutions and arrangements based on mutual agreement

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Real Internet Freedom

• Is not freedom for the State to reorder our affairs• To supposedly benefit certain people or groups; or • To improve some amorphous “public interest”

• It’s freedom from state action• Is not about imposing a single utopian vision• It’s about enabling a “Utopia of Utopias” (per philosopher

Robert Nozick): A framework within which many different models of organizing commerce and community can flourish alongside, and in competition with, each other,

• This allows users to pursue their own values and interests and create their own communities

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Application in Social & Economic Contexts

• Cyber-libertarians draw no distinction between social and economic freedom when applying this vision:o Social Freedom: Individuals should be granted liberty

of conscience, thought, opinion, speech, and expression in online environments

o Economic Freedom: Individuals should be granted liberty of contract, innovation, and exchange in online environments

• It’s not enough to support liberty of action in one sphere• Foreclosing freedom in one sphere will eventually affect

freedom in the other

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What about “Code Failures” ?

• The digital equivalent of so-called “market failures” • We support voluntary, spontaneous, bottom-up,

marketplace responses • We oppose coercive, top-down, governmental solutions• Only market-driven approaches offer the rapidity and

nimbleness necessary to be effective because the Internet is a uniquely dynamic medium

• Cyber-libertarians have a strong aversion to:• The politicization of technology issues • Efforts to replace market processes with bureaucratic

processes

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Defining “Markets” Broadly

• Includes monetary & non-monetary transactions • Includes proprietary & non-proprietary modes of

production• Collaborative, non-proprietary technologies & efforts

(e.g., Wikipedia and open source software) can also be “markets”

• But the cyber-libertarian does reject the notion these models are the only acceptable model or that they should be imposed on us by law

• We support techno-agnosticism: Lawmakers and courts should not be tilting the balance in one direction or the other towards on the “open vs. closed” spectrum

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PART II: THE INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF CYBER-LIBERTARIANISM

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Traditional Libertarian Philosophy

• Natural Rights philosophers – John Locke, Ayn Rand, The Founders

• Utilitarian philosophers – John Stuart Mill (On Liberty), Herbert Spencer

• “Austrian School” of Economics – Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Murray Rothbard

• Milton Freidman (Free to Choose)• Robert Nozick – argued for a minimalist state as a “

utopia of utopias”• Thomas Sowell – critiqued The Vision of the Anointed • Richard Epstein – (Simple Rules for a Complex World)

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Modern Cyber-Libertarian Theorists

• Ithiel de Sola Pool (Technologies of Freedom)• Alvin Toffler (The Third Wave, Future Shock)• George Gilder (Microcosm, Telecosm)• Peter Huber (Law & Disorder in Cyberspace)• Tom W.  Bell• Eugene Volokh• Jonathan Emord (

Freedom, Technology & the First Amendment )• Technology Liberation Front – the cyber-

libertarian group blog since 2004

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Internet Exceptionalists

• Nicholas Negroponte (Being Digital)• John Perry Barlow (“

Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace”)

• David Post• Eric Goldman• H.  Brian Holland

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PART III: THE CONTRAST WITH CYBER-COLLECTIVISM

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Cyber-Collectivism Defined

• The opposite of cyber-libertarianism: cyber-choices should be guided by the State or an elite according to some amorphous “general will” or “public interest”

• Distant influences of Plato, Rousseau & Marx• Cyber-collectivism comes in many flavors, however:• “Left”: focused on economic fairness, “neutrality,” and equality of

outcomes• “Right”: controlling the Internet’s impact on culture or security

• Not as philosophically coherent as cyber-libertarianism—which also comes in many flavors but shares a larger core of common agreement

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Relationship Between Cyber-Collectivism & “Digital Commons” Movement

• Leftist cyber-collectivists & the “information commons” or “digital commons” movement share belief that digital resources should be shared or commonly owned• We don’t object to commons, only to mandating them

• Cyber-collectivists • Are generally not Marxists; few of them call for state

ownership of the information means of production• Might better be thought of a “cyber-social Democrats”

(European) or “Digital New Dealers” (American)• Advocate a generous role for law and regulation in many

online matters, but do not typically resort to full-blown nationalization

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Exponents of Cyber-Collectivism

• Lawrence Lessig (Code)• Tim Wu (Who Controls the Internet?)• Yochai Benkler (The Wealth of Networks)• Jonathan Zittrain (The Future of the Internet & How to Stop It)• David Bollier (Viral Spiral)• Harvard’s Berkman Center*• New America Foundation* • Public Knowledge*

(*We are, of course, generalizing a bit here. Not everyone in these institutions is a cyber-collectivist and, again, there are many flavors of cyber-collectivism, just as there are many flavors of cyber-libertarianism.)

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PART IV: HOW CYBER-LIBERTARIANS THINK ABOUT VARIOUS POLICY ISSUES 

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Issue: Free Speech & Online Child Safety

• The First Amendment is of paramount importance and should apply equally to all speakers and media platforms

• We favor parental empowerment and education, and industry self-regulation over censorship

• “Household standards” should trump “community standards” & “public interest” regulatory mandates

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Issue:Privacy Policy & Online Advertising

• The real “Big Brother” problem is state surveillance, not private data collection

• Privacy is a profoundly subjective condition• Regulations to “protect privacy” could have

serious unintended consequences for freedom of speech and the growth of online content and commerce

• User empowerment & industry self-regulation represent the superior way to address privacy concerns

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Issue:  Net Neutrality & Infrastructure Regulation

• “Open access” regulation is nothing more than infrastructure socialism

• Network operators should be free to own, operate and price their systems & services as they see fit, subject only to enforcement of their terms of service & other contracts with their users

• New entry & innovation work better than regulating yesterday’s networks & technologies

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• “Market power” & “code failures” are best dealt with by spontaneous evolution of markets & new entry, not bureaucratic micro-management of old technologies or market structures

• Cyber-markets are evolutionary & dynamic• Disruptive innovation usually unseats incumbents• Regulation often creates, or tends to foster, most

monopolies• Antitrust is often used as weapon by disgruntled

marketplace competitors to hobble rivals

Issue: Antitrust & Competition

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Issue: Internet Taxation & State Regulation

• No special taxes should be imposed on online services or Internet access

• If the Net disrupts traditional tax bases, that should be seen as an opportunity to reform those tax systems

• States shouldn’t be regulating the uniquely global medium of the Internet or imposing barriers to interstate commerce

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Issue: Online Gambling

• People should be free to do as they please with their money

• We shouldn’t protect state-run lotteries and casinos

• Internet gambling is likely impossible to shut down entirely anyway, given the uniquely global nature of the Internet

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Issue: Copyright & Patents

• Cyber-libertarians are deeply divided over IP issues (esp. copyright), reflecting a long-standing division among libertarians on these issues

• Some believe IP rights are a natural extension of traditional property rights and/or a sensible way to incentivize scientific and artistic creativity

• Others believe no one has a right to “property-tize” intangible creations or that copyright is simply industrial protectionism

• There are many views in between

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For more information…

Please visit The Technology Liberation Frontwww.techliberation.com

• The cyber-libertarian group public policy blog• 21 contributors• 4,500+ posts since 2004• 16,000 unique monthly viewers

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About the AuthorsAdam Thierer is a Senior Fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation (PFF) & Director of PFF’s Center for Digital Media Freedom (CDMF). Thierer analyzes public policy developments that impact the economic and social aspects of the media industry, including related First Amendment issues. Prior to joining PFF in 2005, he was Director of Telecommunications Studies at the Cato Institute and a Fellow in Economic Policy at the Heritage Foundation.

Berin Szoka is a PFF Senior Fellow & Director of PFF’s Center for Internet Freedom (CIF). Szoka studies the laws and regulations that govern cyberspace. Previously, he was an Associate in the Communications Practice Group at Latham and Watkins LLP, where he advised clients on regulations affecting the Internet and telecommunications industries.