Barlow

John Perry Barlow is as close to a real life Dos Equis guy as anyone I can think of.

John Perry Barlow is a retired Wyoming cattle rancher, a former lyricist for the Grateful Dead, and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Since May of 1998, he has been a Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

What a thrill to get a full hour to talk with John. We spent the first portion of the interview talking about the video below and how he inspired me to get my act together with regard to health and wellness some eighteen months ago through a series of tweets while he was in rehab, of all things. We spent the second half of the conversation discussing his bread and butter issue of freedom in cyberspace. Just how visionary has Barlow been on these issue of cyber freedom? Way back in February 1996, he wrote A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace,

In China, Germany, France, Russia, Singapore, Italy and the United States, you are trying to ward off the virus of liberty by erecting guard posts at the frontiers of Cyberspace. These may keep out the contagion for a small time, but they will not work in a world that will soon be blanketed in bit-bearing media.

Given recent events all across the Middle East, with regimes from Libya to Egypt to Bahrain and Iran shutting down Internet access, Barlow predicted the current events we are living through today some fifteen years ago. Talk about prescient.

Some great callers joined the conversation tonight as well. I enjoyed every minute of this, I hope you do too.

John Perry Barlow on Pundit Review Radio

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On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to the radio every Sunday evening from 6-9pm on AM680 WRKO, Boston’s Talk Station.

The Video is the courtesy of TheVisualMD.com