Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

cyberspace and cyber culture 125involved in any crime, the seizure of its equipment andinformation threatened to put it out of business. Ultimately,Jackson prevailed in federal court, establishing that unconventionalmeans of expression such as games were entitledto First Amendment protection. In another high-profilecase, computer scientist Daniel Bernstein sued and wonthe right to publish encryption software and related papers,again extending First Amendment protections in the digitalworld.The EFF has also been involved in the dispute betweenusers of file-sharing services and the Recording IndustryInstitute of America (RIAA) over subpoenas of service providersseeking alleged illegal downloaders.Most recently, the EFF has expanded its efforts furtherwith regard to issues of government surveillance and theprosecution of computer crimes, such as collection and useof evidence.Center for Democracy and TechnologyFounded in 1994, the Center for Democracy and Technology(CDT) somewhat overlaps the EFF in interests, buthas a greater emphasis on the connections between onlineactivities and the political process. The organization’s firstmajor battle involved the Computer Decency Act. Whileintended by its proponents to ban obscenity and particularlychild pornography from the Internet, cyberspacerightsadvocates saw the law as vague, poorly written, andlikely to deny access to material that is constitutionallyprotected for adults—an argument that the Supreme Courtultimately accepted in ACLU v. Reno (1997).More recently, the CDT has supported the free-speechrights of bloggers (see blogs and blogging), arguingthat they should be accorded journalistic rights (see alsojournalism and computers). Besides issue advocacy, theorganization’s overall focus is on developing public policythat recognizes the unique features of cyberspace and promotesfreedom of expression, protection of privacy, andwidespread access to the Net (see also Internet accesspolicy).Electronic Privacy Information CenterAlso founded in 1994, the Electronic Privacy InformationCenter (EPIC) is a Washington, D.C.–based public interestresearch center devoted to privacy and civil libertiesissues. The group’s electronic newsletter EPIC Alert providesa useful summary of ongoing developments, cases,and issues. The organization also publishes regularlyupdated compendiums on developments in open government/freedomof information, privacy and human rights,and privacy law.(For online activists involved in general political issuesand campaigns, see political activism and the Internet.)Further ReadingCenter for Democracy and Technology. Available online. URL:http://www.cdt.org/. Accessed September 10, 2007.Center for Democracy and Technology. “CDT: A Decade of InternetAdvocacy.” Available online. URL: http://www.cdt.org/mission/2006aao.pdf. Accessed September 10, 2007.Electronic Frontier Foundation. Available online. URL: http://www.eff.org/. Accessed September 10, 2007.Electronic Privacy Information Center. Available online. URL:http://www.epic.org/. Accessed September 10, 2007.Godwin, Mike. Cyber Rights: Defending Free Speech in the DigitalAge. Revised ed. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2003.Privacy.org. Available online. URL: http://www.privacy.org/.Accessed September 10, 2007.cyberspace and cyber cultureThe term cyberspace first came to prominence whenit appeared in Neuromancer, a 1984 novel by science fictionwriter William Gibson. The word is a combinationof “cyber” (meaning related to computers) and “space.”As another SF writer, Bruce Sterling, wrote in The HackerCrackdown (1993), cyberspace is “the place between thephones. The indefinite place out there, where the two of you,human beings, actually meet and communicate.”While the elite telegraphers of the 19th century andlater telephone users first experienced the sense of disembodiedelectronic communication, it took the developmentof widespread computer terminals, personal computers,and connecting networks to create a sense of an ongoingplace in which people meet and interact. The first “villages”in cyberspace came into being during the 1970s asresearch networks (ARPA), and the Usenet newsgroupsof UNIX users began to carry messages and news postings.During the 1980s, many more settlements began tolight up the map of cyberspace, ranging from cities (largeonline services such as The Source, BIX, and CompuServe)to thousands of villages (tiny bulletin board systems runningon personal computers). (See online services andbulletin board systems.)Wherever human beings build communities, they shapeculture. The cyber culture that grew up in cyberspace hasfeatured many diverse strands. Hackers (not originally apejorative term) had their distinctive hangouts and lingo.Bulletin board cultures varied from the hacker hardcore touser groups that tried to assist beginners. On the nascentInternet multiplayer game worlds called MUDs (Multi-UserDungeons) and Muses used words to create richly detailedfantasy cyberspaces. Together with chat rooms and conferencingsystems, they fostered virtual communities that,like physical communities, express a full range of humanbehavior (see blogs and blogging, conferencing systems,chat, social networking, texting and instantmessaging, and virtual community).While cyber culture shares the characteristics of otherhuman cultures, it also has unique characteristics that aredictated by the nature of the online, virtual medium. Sincethe online user reveals only what he or she chooses toreveal, identities can be fluid: playful or deceptive. Whilepeople are not physically vulnerable in cyberspace, theyare certainly emotionally vulnerable. (Virtual eroticism, or“cyber sex” has even led to virtual rapes.) The issue of protectingprivacy becomes important because sensitive personalinformation is constantly being exposed in order tocarry on commerce (see identity in the online worldand privacy in the digital age.)