Editorial Review:

Product Description:
A philosophical examination of the creation of microcosms on and within the Internet. Ponders questions of the creation of private utopias in cyberspace, and the notion of anarchy once complete colonization of the Internet has been accomplished. DLC: Cyberspace--Social aspects.

Amazon.com Review:
Freedom's not dead in cyberspace. That's the premise of philosopher Peter Ludlow and most of the contributors to his Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias, and it's hard to argue otherwise after reading it. Deliberately freeing the volume from the shackles of academic rigor (and jargon), Ludlow draws deeply from the cyber-underground and mixes classic rants with post-millennial realism. From John Perry Barlow's chestnut "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" to Jedediah Purdy's cautionary "The God of the Digerati," the collection is direct, confrontational, and thought-provoking.

Though the topic of virtual communities has been thoroughly explored elsewhere, the possibility of spaces free from terrestrial jurisdiction--called "Temporary Autonomous Zones" by Hakim Bey--has not yet penetrated mainstream thought. Strong encryption and essential qualities of the Internet--like portability--ensure that such utopias will remain theoretically and practically tenable through the foreseeable future, and Ludlow's visionaries want to see them flower. The penultimate section on experimental governing systems and the appended interview with Noam Chomsky demolishing widely held beliefs about anarchy crown the book with deep thinking about issues vital to the future of freedom--online and off. It's exciting to see this work get the widespread attention it deserves--with any luck, the iconic Net user will soon trade in the pocket protector for an eye patch. --Rob Lightner

Need to know where the Internet society came from? Where it thinks it is? When it can be regulated? What the future plans of political bodies and their legal policies may be?

Want it all in one book? Well, this is as close as it comes today (2002) and it is an exceptional piece of editorial work selecting the material and organizing it so well.

In the age of "homeland security" policy butting heads with the EU privacy laws...this is a fine balance of views.

Average Rating:

Rating: - Well edited anthology
Need to know where the Internet society came from? Where it thinks it is? When it can be regulated? What the future plans of political bodies and their legal policies may be?

Want it all in one book? Well, this is as close as it comes today (2002) and it is an exceptional piece of editorial work selecting the material and organizing it so well.

In the age of "homeland security" policy butting heads with the EU privacy laws...this is a fine balance of views.

Rating: - New Activism, No Boredom
As a media activist, I'm constantly confronted by people who don't understand that the real revolution in media is not the commercial internet, but the "undernet" of hidden economies and private interchanges. Ludlow's book gets it right, avoiding the common misconceptions about the Internet to show why it's not just the battleground for big companies, but the playground for a real revolutionary force. What I really like in this book is the way he collects some of the classic (but under-read) articles on the possibilities of the new media and adds in some intense new stuff. It's like a one-stop shop for the coming age of controlled digital chaos. You NEED to read this book if you want to understand what the future of activism is going to be.

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Rating: - totally kewl
With all the B.S. about cyberspace showing up in the newspapers and dopey newsmagazines its about "Time" somebody got it right. This is what makes the whole internet/underground culture thing interesting. Lots of great essays on how the new way is actually changing the way people live and interact. If your take on electronic culture comes from reading the kiddie-porn articles and "death of the internet" stuff in the mainstream media, you're missing the big picture. thank you, peter ludlow!!!!!

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Rating: - THE source for info and theory on Cyber Utopias
By bringing together a seemingly disparate group of essays Ludlow has discovered a hidden theme in contemporary writings about cyber-space, alt-culture and techno-politics. The strain of dissident utopianism that Ludlow brings forth in this arrangement of short pieces is clearly an important trend, and it's incredibly useful to have all these writings (some classics, like Hakim Bey's "Temporary Autonomous Zones" and some excellent new material, including a great intro by Ludlow) together in one volume. This is really a must-read for anyone interested in what's happening with radical thought right now. Sets out the blueprint for a post-Marxist/post-Capitalist culture that is developing itself outside and within the existing social, economic and political structures. These are texts that academic thinkers will be catching up with in another ten or twenty years...Ludlow transcends his academic background (he's a philosopher, sadly) by seeing their value today.

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Rating: - Political Thinking in Deep Cyberspace
Ludlow has done it again. His justifiably esteemed High Noon zapped those of us who anachronistically still read ink smudges on paper with a set of electronically vibrant cybermessages from the Electronic Frontier. In Cypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias he delivers a second installment. Here the messages are cyberpolitical: describing, analyzing, imagining, and revelling in the new forms of social, intellectual, and political organization that the net already does, definitely will, maybe could, or just conceivably might make a reality. Half serious argument, half bonzo manifesto, and in both halves some of the sharpest political thinking now in process.

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Related Items:

T.A.Z.: The Temporary Autonomous Zone (Autonomedia New Autonomy Series)

Pirate Utopias

The Second Life Herald: The Virtual Tabloid that Witnessed the Dawn of the Metaverse

The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates