1.2 Notes: Four puzzles from cyber space (Lessig 2006)

In this article Lessig discusses some of the defining features of cyber space. Some points I have taken from this article are:

• People can manufacture and control their identity in cyber space. You can choose who you want to be, what you look like, rewrite your history,  live out fantasy, explore different parts of your personality and form relationships based on differing attributes and circumstances from that of the offline environment.
  As Lessig states "they appear (in a form they select, with qualities they choose and biographies they have written)" (Lessig 2006) and while is true in many aspects of internet life (such as in MMOG's, writing blogs or fan fiction) it does not really represent the current trend of representing your actual identity online through social media sites such as Facebook (presumable because this article was written in 2006 before its mass popularity). While it is true that we present a "version" of our real selves on social media sites (one that is fit for public display) it is not one that is completely fictional as presenting a fantasy persona to online friends that know you in offline reality is difficult to maintain. I think social media sites such as Facebook blur the lines between online and offline life,  the real and the virtual and challenges the idea of having complete control over your identity in the online world.

• Community: Cyberspace allows people to form groups around a common interest that is not bound by physical location or local and cultural custom. You no need to rely on those who live close to you to share your interests, you can do so online and find people form all over the world to chat to about it.
   
• Cyberspace is global and as such is difficult to regulate as each country has its own set of laws. Crimes can be committed in an online environment (such as music or movie piracy or virtual child pornography) but even if the laws in every country on earth agrees that that these are punishable offences - the guilty parties are difficult to track and therefore difficult to persecute.
  Lessig discuss allowing governments to use "worms" to scan  the content of personal computers for illegal content. This would mean that government could view items on personal computers without first informing the computers owners that they were doing it. This brings up debate about personal privacy and also raises a questions again about identity. Even if illegal content was on a personal computer how governments prove who put it there?

• On the flip side and back again to the example of MMOG's - cyberspace allows people to create their own rules. They can defy the rules of nature (such as having the ability to fly or to come back to life) and can form the laws that govern the online space that they inhabit. The people who write the code define what is and what is not achievable in cyberspace, and those who can manipulate the code can wield the most control over their virtual environment.

 Lessig, L. 2006. Four puzzles from cyber space. https://www.socialtext.net/codev2/four_puzzles_from_cyberspace (accessed 7/9/11).