Cybersecession and EFF
From Cybersecession
A New Map
EFF's frontline is between the Internet (which they call "Cyberspace") and the "real world". Thus they promise to do their best to defend the whole Internet from political abuse.
The Cybersecession initiative goes further by theoretically enforcing a distinction between the Internet and the Cyberspace. Cybersecession means it is only the Internet that needs to be protected by EFF, while the Cyberspace is naturally "as free as human imagination" and so it should stay forever.
Cybersecession concedes (perhaps more indulgently than EFF) that there may be valid legal concerns around the Internet, since it affects the material world, but contends (much more radically than EFF) that such issues have nothing to do with the Cyberspace, so they imply no obligation to tolerate any Cyberspace regulations whatsoever. The better strategy is to thoroughly separate the Cyberspace from the Internet and fight on two different fronts and in two different ways.
Cybersecession and EFF
As implied on the Main Page, EFF don't emphasize any strict distinction between administrative privacy and personal privacy. This confusion may be smart and aggressive enough to fight authoritarian governments intruding the Internet, but not sensitive enough to make us feel at home in our Cyberspace. On the other side, distinguishing between two types of privacy is essential to the Cybersecession initiative. So EFF's "electronic frontiers" to be defended are completely different from Cybersecession's. The two have different purposes and approaches.
EFF fight in the frontline, protecting us all (including our "home") from the bad guys. Meanwhile, cybersecessionists are defining which part of the Internet is actually under attack and which part of it is (and will always be) naturally safe. The Cybersecession initiative is thus defining and validating a safe digital land where we could actually feel "at home".
Indeed, we have a home. Some ambiguously call it "the Internet" (the immaterial world supported by the computers). But do we actually care about sectors run by banks or three-letter agencies? No, that's not the Internet we love or care about. That's not the Cyberspace, our home.
It's cool that the EFF's frontline is so far away from home. It's cool that EFF exists to defend the Internet, and not the Cyberspace. But it is also cool that we can initiate a cybersecession defining a space that nobody can intrude ethically and legally, a "Cyberland" that is safe by definition (so it doesn't even need defense), and thus make sure it is only the Internet that may be ethically vulnerable to political intrusion and may need legal war (EFF).
The Cybersecession initiative thus makes sure we, not the governments, decide and define where the Electronic Frontier is, before it's too late. We can't allow the Cyberspace to disappear merely because of poor conceptualization.
The Current Status of the Cyberspace
Although Cyberspace is not yet legally defined, there are essentially cybersecessionist projects, which create a free Internet zone similar to Cyberspace but enforced technologically. They are collectively labeled "Cypherspace", as they are based on cryptography for hiding the identity of their users. You may visit the Cybersecession Community Portal to find out about such projects.
