Nate: I think Sterling makes it pretty clear that there are two schools of thought on that: long-haired liberalism, and the Mitch Kapor types... tech-savvy, inquisitive capitalists who aren't searching for a tech-utopia. They're just hunting for ways to keep information unrestricted. Not necessarily free. Just... defined? The Knight Lightning case is a great example.

Alex: Right, one of the coolest parts of reading The Hacker Crackdown was understanding how close we came to a radically different Internet.

David: I dunno about that. I mean, there's a certain inevitability to the proceedings; it's Mitch Kapour's thing about decentralized internet infrastructure as an organizing model for the 21st century.

Alex: Sure, but if Kapor, Wozniak, Gilmore et al. hadn't acquitted themselves so well in the foundation of the EFF and in their advisement of the defense during the Knight Lightning trial/dog and pony show, I think we wouldn't have the freedom of expression we have today.

David: I'm not sure I agree with that…