In their 1991 nonfiction whodunit, Cyberpunk: Outlaws and
Hackers on the Computer Frontier, Katie Hafner and
John Markoff used the word "cyberpunk" to describe "young
people for whom computers and computer networks are an obsession,
and who have carried their obsession beyond what computer professionals
consider ethical and lawmakers consider acceptable."
Of all cyberpunks, that describes best netrunners. Netrunners
are the cosmopolitans of the Net. They live there, using all their
spare time surfing the Web, searching info & files, downloading
warez, mp3's, pics, ircing, talking, chatting, writing mails &
newsgroup postings... Communicating!
Netrunners don't stand any restrictions in the Net, and they
don't avoid skirting the law sometimes if it's required to access
places and information they want. Thus they are very close to
hackers and crackers,
and sometimes a netrunner is considered to mean the same as a
cracker, or Gibsonian "console cowboy". The difference between
netrunners and otakus is also very narrow.
They also share cypherpunks' opinions
against governments trying to control and regulate the Net. Like
always when categorizing people and subcultures, the categories
aren't exclusive - a cyberpunk can well belong to many factions.
Like hackers and crackers, netrunners usually have their own
Net aliases, nicknames, or avatars - their Net person. It may
be totally different from the real person behind the alias, it
may even be different gender.
In cyberpunk science fiction, netrunners
are console cowboys, the masters of cyberspace,
or the Matrix.
Links
- A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace
- Declaration against the Communications Decency Act of 1996.
By John Perry Barlow.
- EFF
- Electronic Frontier Foundation, civilizing the computerized
new frontier of cyberspace. The EFF sets itself the task of
engaging and defending public debates on the freedom of cybercitizens,
the legal approaches, particularly intelectual property and
democratic values in the Net
- The Center
for On-Line Addiction
- Resources on the Psychology of Cyberspace.
Internet addiction disorder symptoms, tests, links...
By COLA.
- Gender Swapping on the Internet
- An essay on genderblending in the Net, by A.S. Bruckman.
