LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) John Perry Barlow, 70, Grateful Dead lyricist and cyberspace pioneer, reportedly died in his sleep, according to Amir Bar-Lev, filmmaker of the Martin Scorsese-produced documentary “Long Strange Trip.”
Barlow met the Grateful Dead’s co-founder, Bob Weir, in high school and went on to pen the lyrics to Dead tunes like “Cassidy,” “Estimated Prophet,” and “Mexicali Blues.”
Sad to report that @JohnPerryBarlow passed away last night in his sleep. Nothing to tell now/ let the words be yours/ I am done with mine.
— Amir Bar-Lev (@amirbarlev) February 7, 2018
Barlow equally held status as an early pioneer of the internet, co-founding the Electronic Frontier Foundation alongside Mitch Kapor in 1990 (Kapor is the founder of Lotus, as well).
“It is no exaggeration to say that major parts of the Internet we all know and love today exist and thrive because of Barlow’s vision and leadership,” EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn said in a statement. “He always saw the Internet as a fundamental place of freedom, where voices long silenced can find an audience and people can connect with others regardless of physical distance.”
Barlow wrote “A Declaration of Independence of Cyberspace” in 1996, which to this day stands as one of the great manifestos of the internet era.
