In Search of Jefferson's Moose: Notes on the State of Cyberspace
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In 1787, Thomas Jefferson, then the American Minister to France, had the "complete skeleton, skin & horns" of an American moose shipped to him in Paris and mounted in the lobby of his residence as a symbol of the vast possibilities contained in the strange and largely unexplored New World. Taking a cue from Jefferson's efforts, David Post, one of the nation's leading Internet scholars, here presents a pithy, colorful exploration of the still mostly undiscovered territory of cyberspace—what it is, how it works, and how it should be governed. What law should the Internet have, and who should make it? What are we to do, and how are we to think, about online filesharing and copyright law, about Internet pornography and free speech, about controlling spam, and online gambling, and cyberterrorism, and the use of anonymous remailers, or the practice of telemedicine, or the online collection and dissemination of personal information? How can they be controlled? Should they be controlled? And by whom? Post presents the Jeffersonian ideal—small self-governing units, loosely linked together as peers in groups of larger and larger size—as a model for the Internet and for cyberspace community self-governance. Deftly drawing on Jefferson's writings on the New World in Notes on the State of Virginia, Post draws out the many similarities (and differences) between the two terrains, vividly describing how the Internet actually functions from a technological, legal, and social perspective as he uniquely applies Jefferson's views on natural history, law, and governance in the New World to illuminate the complexities of cyberspace. In Search of Jefferson's Moose is a lively, accessible, and remarkably original overview of the Internet and what it holds for the future.
Prologue: The Fox, the Hedgehog, and the Moose 1Philadelphia, 2008 3Virginia, 1781: Notes on the New World 7Paris, 1787: The Moose Arrives 13Notes on the State of CyberspacePt. 1 Chaos 191 Mapping the Territory: The Geography of Nowhere 212 Population 313 Networks 474 Jefferson's Moose, and the Problem of Scale I 605 The Problem of Scale II 806 Connections 907 Language I 100InterludeTwo Kinds of People 107Looking West 110Looking Forward 116Notes on the State of CyberspacePt. 2 Order 1198 Language II 1219 Governing Cyberspace I: Code 12610 Governing Cyberspace II: Names 14211 Governing Cyberspace III: Law 16312 Newton's Plow, and the Condition of the General Mind 187Epilogue: Jefferson's Nature, and the Nature of Cyberspace 207Appendix 213References and Suggested Readings 221Index 243
