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Cyber-Libertarian And Pioneer John Perry Barlow Dies At Age 70

John Perry Barlow, co-founderof the Electronic Frontier Foundation at the 2013 SXSW Festival at Austin, Texas.
Jesse Knish Getty Images for SXSW
John Perry Barlow, co-founderof the Electronic Frontier Foundation at the 2013 SXSW Festival at Austin, Texas.

Updated at 8:20 p.m. ET

A founding member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and former lyricist for the Grateful Dead, John Perry Barlow, has died at the age of 70, according to a statement issued by the Foundation.

Barlow was a poet, essayist, Internet pioneer and prominent cyber-libertarian. He co-founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation in 1990 after realizing that the government was ill-equipped to understand what he called the "legal, technical, and metaphorical nature of datacrime." He said believed that "everyone's liberties would become at risk."

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Barlow described the founding of the EFF after receiving a visit from an FBI agent in April 1990 seeking to find out whether he was a member of "a dread band of info-terrorists." Shortly thereafter, Barlow and Mitch Kapor, the creator of Lotus 1-2-3, organized a series of dinners with leaders of the computer industry for discussions that would lead to the creation of the EFF.

"It also became clear that we were dealing with a set of problems which was a great deal more complex and far-reaching than a few cases of governmental confusion. The actions of the FBI and Secret Service were symptoms of a growing social crisis: Future Shock. America was entering the Information Age with neither laws nor metaphors for the appropriate protection and conveyance of information itself."

Barlow was a Fellow Emeritus of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.

Earlier in his life, Barlow was a lyricist for the Grateful Dead who co-wrote songs such as "Cassidy", "Mexicali Blues," and "Black-Throated Wind."

According to the Electric Frontier Foundation, Barlow "passed away quietly in his sleep" on Wednesday morning.

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