The Unfulfilled Promise
John Perry Barlow’s 1996 “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” argued for internet exceptionalism, where the online world would be free from real-world regulations. This belief shaped the liberal terms of service on websites, but with the internet’s growth and concentration in the hands of dominant platforms, the enforcement of these terms has led to serious global consequences. Barlow’s vision of a more humane online civilization may have been overly optimistic.