A global hippie finds anarchy unplugged on the superhighway

And yes, this time it is not really peace this hippie-turned-techie is looking for, but `revenues’ and `profit margins’ in the infotech industry.

“The dotcom economy is very new, just like the beginning of life on earth, which is why there is some turbulence in the market today. But it is a healthy sign and soon, only the fittest who can provide good service to Netizens will survive,” remarks Barlow, vice-chairperson and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which promotes freedom of expression in the digital media.

He is also the famous lyricist for the Grateful Dead and co-wrote songs with them from 1971.

Asked about ownership of the Net, pat comes the answer: “No one can really own the Net. This infotech highway can now actually shift the power base to countries that have been economically behind for the last 200 years, like India for example.”

Barlow adds that the IT miracle is already happening in India with the mushrooming of software and dotcom firms. But even a meticulous and philosophic Net guru can run berserk at times.

“I’m totally for music piracy on the Internet, piracy on the Net works as a good advertisement for musicians. Anyhow, they usually get ripped by the big music companies!” he says. Even on the issue of cybercops checking cybercrimes like hacking, Barlow’s views are fairly radical. “Hackers are just a bunch of enthusiastic kids trying to break into the systems of thePentagon; but they can barely reach the ante-room! It is harmless, so long as you are alert about your password security and use encrypting.”

Not surprisingly then, that Barlow calls himself an `anarchist’. “I’m a fan of anarchy as long as it works,” he affirs.

In 1990, he first applied William Gibson’s science fiction term `cyberspace’ to the already existing global electronic social space now generally referred to by that name. He speaks, consults and writes for a living.