four puzzles from cyberspace

Chapter Captain: John Logie - logie at umn.edu

Parts: [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ]

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This chapter presents a real challenge, in that the puzzles vary from Lessig's own hypotheticals to specific historical events. A range of approaches will be needed to resituate this chapter in "the Oughties."

The first puzzle ("Borders") depends on its grounding in what Lessig refers to as "avatar space' and announces itself as based upon the text-based virtual environments that have since been largely superceded by 3-D and visually rich cyberspaces. So the question for this puzzle is whether a more contemporary example with the resonance and richness of this example might be substituted? It's Lessig's hypothetical, so perhaps a rewrite resituating the narrative within, the virtual landscape of a game like "The Sims" would allow this section to resonate with the present a bit more readily.

The second puzzle ("Governors") presents the problem of offshore-based Internet gambling. Since Lessig wrote this, the hypothetical has been realized many times over. Supplementing this puzzle with striking narratives of the cat-and-mouse games between attorneys general and purveyors of cyberspace gambling would strengthen this example.

The third puzzle ("Jake's Communities") traces the infamous example of Jake Baker's posting of kidnap, torture, and rape stories to a USENET newsgroup. USENET, is of course, still there, but I wonder whether a more current example illustrating a parallel point -- that cyberspace offers a displacement from community and social norms that may or may not be unwelcome.

The fourth puzzle ("Worms That Sniff") is arguably in need of the least revision. That said, the context surrounding the possibility of the FBI or NSA developing a worm to seek out "national security"-related materials has been dramatically transformed since this chapter was written. That should be reflected.

I'd like to challenge the Wiki contributors to propose at least one additional puzzle, drawing on the 'net as we now understand it. Lessig clearly summarizes the implications of the existing puzzles, but perhaps the 2005 version of this chapter could be "Five Puzzle from Cyberspace." Do I hear six?

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Okay, how 'bout this for a potential puzzle (though I think this is also somewhat adressed with 'Jake's story'): Dan GIllmor's The End of Objectivity? Its like, seeing all the left-wing, right-wing blogs, and how each side has its own version of 'reality,' both somewhat 'credible,' with real facts to support both claims...

Maybe one more: the return of artistic patronage, as in the case of Kottke's going full time blogging? And weaving in the possibilities of this model as an alternative to major label music publishers, its pros and cons, some thoughts from Mr. Lessig's discussions with Jeff Tweedy...

And sorry for being more used to wikimedia.org's MediaWiki interface, but how do I sign a contribution (for the purpose of letting people know I'm responsible for what I write)? Its kind of a chore to type it all in manually.

And I'd ask fellow (potential) authors to forgive my incompleteness; give me a few days to create parables of comparison to Mr. Lessig's (you're welcome to beat me to it :p) --Lemi4, 2005-03-17, 23:11, gmt+7:00

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Here's another puzzle, that straddles the boundaries between Cyber and real-space: the real-space ownership of cyber-articles.  One place to start is http://www.themis-group.com/uploads/Pitfalls%20of%20Virtual%20Property.pdf -- cdutchyn, 2005-03-17, 15:45, gmt-9:00.

Oh yeah! Kinda like the recent Blizzard - World of Warcraft thing, where they (Blizzard) closed thousands of accounts for 'gold farming;' hoarding virtual gold and items then selling them on eBay for real-world money. A lot of college students here in Indonesia are doing it professionally with Ragnarok accounts; building super-powerful characters and then selling them to buyers (more often than not from abroad) for a semester tuition's worth of money. Hmm... maybe I'll interview one of my friends...

So many puzzles, so little prose... ^_^' (Oh and btw cdutchyn I fixed your hyperlink above; there was a trailing dot that invalidated the link^_^) -- Lemi4, 2005-03-20, 10:42, gmt +7:00

And some more articles referring to Pitfalls: from Slashdot, from Gamespot -- Lemi4, 2005-03-20, 10:47, gmt +7:00-

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I think the first story, Borders, should be updated so that it is more accessible to the average reader.  I agree that the second story, Governors, has been realized, and I can suggest an example that might make an interesting piece to illustrate Lessig's point.  I believe that Lessig's point here is that the Internet is only as regulable as the state or entity with the least amount of regulations.  The example I would highlight is the "sovereign" state of Sealand http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealand.  Sealand was created on an offshore platform by a family who claimed squatter's rights and independence because the platform was located far enough off the coast of England in international waters.  The nation is not officially recognized by any other nation, but it claims de facto status.  British courts have ruled that the platform is outside British jurisdiction.  The relevance to this chapter is Sealand's economic operations.  In 2000, a company called Haven Co began operating from the territory of Sealand.  A data haven company, Haven Co has its servers based on the platform and thus operating under Sealand's very liberal laws.  Though it outlaws child pornography and spanning, anything else is permitted on Haven Co's servers including gambling.  This is a facinating case and I think would work well to illustrate this puzzle.  --mattyb.