David McElroy

In 1994, John Perry Barlow took his girlfriend to the Los Angeles airport for a flight to New York City. He would be following her later that day and would see her at the apartment they shared. At the curb, Cynthia said, “We were made for each other, Baby. Nothing can keep us apart.”

That was the last thing she ever said to Barlow, because she died during the flight.

The story of John Perry Barlow and Cynthia Horner is a love story that you’re going to want to hear. Even though it doesn’t have a happy ending, that doesn’t make the story any less compelling and thought-provoking. That’s especially true if you’re not sure you believe in “love at first sight” or “soul mates” or that sort of romantic “nonsense.”

I first heard this story years ago on the public radio show, “This American Life,” and I was reminded of it again this week when the episode was repeated. At this link, scroll down to Act Three — “When Worlds Collide”— to hear the story.

Barlow is known to different people for different reasons. I first heard of him because of his association during the ’90s with NeXT, which was the computer company Steve Jobs founded after he left Apple. He’s also the co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and is well-known as an activist for online civil liberties. Fans of the Grateful Dead will know him best as one of the band’s long-time lyricists.

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When I added a donation button to the site earlier this week — on the top right of the page — I had no idea people would actually use it. As you can see from this picture of Leonardo counting the money, though, some donations have already come in.

I’ve been urged for months to add this feature, but I resisted because it felt too much like begging. People kept telling me that some folks wanted to give, so I should give them a chance. So if you enjoy the site and want to help feed the monkeys, this is your chance.

The monkeys are starting to make lists of things they want me to buy with the money. The leading idea, of course, is more bananas, but a few had interesting ideas. One mentioned a company helicopter for them to fly. Another thought we should get new typewriters for all the monkeys. One guy even mentioned getting t-shirts for all the readers. I’m still thinking about what to do with this motherlode of cash, but right now I’m leaning toward blowing it on Chick-fil-A or the bill for Internet service.

Seriously, I really appreciate those of you who’ve contributed. The money is really nice, but the psychological boost that comes from the support is even more important. So thanks. I really appreciate you.

If there’s something wrong in the world, there’s one sure-fire way to make it worse — put the federal government in charge of it. Yet that’s what the White House and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid want to do to fix Internet security.

The plan from Senate Democrats would give the Department of Homeland Security the power to tell businesses how to run their Internet security. Putting the people behind the TSA in charge of security would be like giving Deputy Barney Fife the power to tell banks how to design security to outwit masterminds.

Computer professionals aren’t happy with the news. According to the writer of CIO.com’s IT Security Hack blog:

“And, as with much legislation, it basically extends government power without actually improving anything. Businesses already know hacking is costing them money – this is really the only incentive needed for them. Fortunately and unsurprisingly, a lot of industry groups are lobbying against this because of the additional costs it would mean. What businesses really want is a law that would give them legal protections so they can share information with authorities without risking antitrust or privacy violations.”

The federal government has been “fixing” health care for the last 50 years or so. Everything it’s done so far has made things even worse, despite the good intentions that are invoked each time the government takes more control over the system. And then when those changes have unintended consequences of making things worse, the “solution” is to demand even more power to fix things. The real solution is to get government out of the way and let the market work. It’s the same way with the Internet.

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