John Perry Barlow

Lyricist, essayist and cyberlibertarian political activist John Perry Barlow wrote songs for the Grateful Dead from 1971 to 1995, and is a co-founder and co-chair of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Barlow earned a degree in comparative religion and then studied animal husbandry before meeting Bob Weir, with whom he collaborated on some of the best-known Grateful Dead songs. His online work for the band spawned an interest in freedom of speech on the internet, which led him to co-found the EFF, a leading not-for-profit focused on protecting and advocating for digital freedom.

Barlow speaks extensively on issues of civil rights, internet freedom and the EFF, and has written for publications such as the New York Times, Nerve and Wired. His piece on the future of copyright, “The Economy of Ideas”, outlines a framework for patents and copyrights in the digital age and is now commonly taught in law schools.