After our discussion of the new-ness of new media, let's go beyond a forced decision whether or not cyberspace is a utopian (or dystopic) fiction, as it is for Barlow (and in other ways in Neuromancer), or a reality that colors everyday life, as in other texts addressing it as a social phenomenon. In short: is the net, are computers in general and connected computers in particular, allowing new artistic expression, or are we compelled to see in them no more and no less than an improved means to an old end, as Thoreau said of the telegraph?

Some would argue that with hindsight, we know that technologies not only change the institutions of learning, they also transform the juridical and political milieu of culture. That's where a look at Laurence Lessig's work is helpful. Others, however, would have us focus on net art, on the creative commons, and on ways in which the bureaucratic domination by omnipresent screens can be undermined. So let's take a look at net art on the one hand, and at cyberlaw on the other:

For Lessig, one of the pioneers of cyberlaw, go to
www.code-is-law.org/ and
cyberlaw.stanford.edu/future/

For more information on fast-breaking Intellectual Property issues, consider these sites:

Kembrew MacLeod (author of Owning Culture: Authorship, Ownership and Intellectual Property Law. New York: Peter Lang Publishers, 2001) trademarked the phrase "freedom of expression" as a prank:
www.kembrew.com

The Center for the Public Domain is a nonprofit foundation supporting the growth of a healthy and robust public domain:
www.centerforthepublicdomain.org

You'll find some helpful links at the Copyright's Commons:
cyber.law.harvard.edu/cc/

And you must stop by Detritus.net, a great site devoted to recycled culture:
www.detritus.net

Also, it's been a while since they played in Minneapolis, but culture jammers Negativland have a very good resources section on their site:
www.negativland.com/intprop.html

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For net art, take your pick among the following links:

Until recently, the Walker (here in Minneapolis) actively pursued net art:
aen.walkerart.org

The German ZKM offers a virtual tour (but get an iPix plugin first):
on1.zkm.de/netCondition.root/netcondition/richmedia/ipx/default

And certainly you should look at the Ljubljana Digital Media Lab:
www.ljudmila.org

Since 1998, the first netart gallery has been run by Olia Lialina:
art.teleportacia.org

In 1999, "If You Want to Clean Your Screen" was sold, and it is now on display at:
www.entropy8zuper.org/possession/

Since 2000, artcart.de, a German net art gallery, sells the net art of Valery Grancher, Blank & Jeron, Heath Bunting, and others:
www.artcart.de

In 2001, Doron Golan started to buy and collect net art works; since 2003 the collection is permanently hosted by The Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art:
www.computerfinearts.com

In 2002, the Guggenheim acquired Mark Napier's work net.flag and John Simon's Unfolding Object:
www.guggenheim.org/internetart/welcome.html