Technolibertarianism (sometimes referred to as cyberlibertarianism) is a

political philosophy Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, ...

with roots in the Internet's early hacker

cypherpunk A cypherpunk is any individual advocating widespread use of strong cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies as a route to social and political change. Originally communicating through the Cypherpunks electronic mailing list, informal g ...

culture in

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Coun ...

in the early 1990s and in American libertarianism. The philosophy focuses on minimizing government regulation, censorship or anything else in the way of a "free"

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...

. In this case the word "free" is referring to the meaning of ''libre'' (no restrictions) not ''gratis'' (no cost). Cyber-libertarians embrace fluid, meritocratic hierarchies (which are believed to be best served by markets). The most widely known cyberlibertarian is Julian Assange. The term technolibertarian was popularized in critical discourse by technology writer Paulina Borsook.Jurgenson, N. (2009)
Globalization and Utopia
''Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited'' Technolibertarian principles are defined as: * The policy should always be considerate of civil liberties * The policy should oppose

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

over-

regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

* The policy that provides rational, free market incentives is the best choice

Notable proponents

* Julian Assange *

John Perry Barlow John Perry Barlow (October 3, 1947February 7, 2018) was an American poet, essayist, cattle rancher, and cyberlibertarian political activist who had been associated with both the Democratic and Republican parties. He was also a lyricist for th ...

John Gilmore John Gilmore may refer to: * John Gilmore (activist) (born 1955), co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Cygnus Solutions * John Gilmore (musician) (1931–1995), American jazz saxophonist * John Gilmore (representative) (1780–1845 ...

* T. J. Rodgers

References

Notes Further reading * {{United States political parties Philosophical movements Political philosophy Libertarianism in the United States Libertarianism by form Conservatism in the United States Political systems Right-libertarianism Political neologisms California culture Libertarian theory Politics and technology

Notable proponents

See also

References