In Search of Jefferson's Moose: Notes on the State of Cyberspace

In 1787, Thomas Jefferson, then the American Minister to France, had the "complete skeleton, skin and 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.

David Post is currently the I. Herman Stern Professor of Law at the Beasley School of Law at Temple University, where he teaches intellectual property law and the law of cyberspace. He is also an Adjunct Scholar at the Cato Institute, a Fellow at the Institute for Information Law and Policy at New York Law School, and a contributor to the influential Volokh Conspiracy blog. For more information, please visit: www.jeffersonsmoose.org.

Preface

Acknowledgements

A Note to the Reader

Prologue: The Fox, the Hedgehog, and the Moose

Part I: Chaos

Chapter 1: Mapping the Territory: The Geography of Nowhere

Chapter 2: Population

Chapter 3: Networks

Chapter 4: Jefferson's Moose, and The Problem of Scale (I)

Chapter 5: The Problem of Scale (II)

Chapter 6: Connections

Chapter 7: Language, I

Interlude

Part II: Order

Chapter 8: Language II

Chapter 9: Governing Cyberspace I: Code

Chapter 10: Governing Cyberspace II: Names

Chapter 11: Governing Cyberspace III: Law

Chapter 12: Newton's Plow, and The Condition of the General Mind

Epilogue: Jefferson's Nature, and the Nature of Cyberspace

References and Suggested Readings

I. Prologue: The Fox, The Hedgehog, and The Moose

Philadelphia, 2006

Virginia, 1781: Notes on the New World

II. Notes on the New World, Part I: Chaos

1. Mapping the Territory: The Geography of Nowhere

2. Population

3. Networks

4. The Problem of Scale (I)

5. The Problem of Scale (II)

6. Jefferson's Moose, and the Degenerate Animals of the New World

7. Language

III. Interlude

Two Kinds of People

Looking West

Looking Forward

IV. Notes on the State of Cyberspace, Part II: Order

8. Pathways and Settlements

9. Governing Cyberspace, I: Code

10. Governing Cyberspace, II: Law

11. Governing Cyberspace, III: Getting it to Scale

12. Newton's Plow: Property on the Frontier

V. Epilogue

Jefferson's Moose, The Laws of Nature, and the Nature of Cyberspace