Is Google's Data Tender Dangerous Rhetorical Analysis

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Claire Wiers
2/4/15
ENGL 1030
Mrs
. Moore
Rhetorical Analysis of “A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace” and “Is Google’s
Data Grinder Dangerous?”
The Internet is slowly creeping into every aspect of its users’ lives
.
Everyone knows about the Internet and how it is taking over the lives of the human race
.
John Perry Barlow and
Andrew Keen, two essayists, describe how Cyberspace and the Internet’s interactions with users have transformed in recent years
.
They trace the Internet’s growth and describe how it will be able to predict what Internet users want to do the next day and what they should do for a living
.
Through various rhetorical devices and with varying success, each argues that such changes
John Perry Barlow, a former board of director of the Whole Earth Lectronic Link and a cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which advocates keeping government regulations out of the Internet, writes a compelling essay to the Governments of the Industrial
World, the “giants of flesh and steel
.
” Barlow’s essay neatly states that the Internet is an independent, self generating, and adapting system and is, therefore, best left to its own evolution
.
Barlow’s “The Declaration Of the Independence of Cyberspace” is an argument for stronger democracy, greater liberty, and more freedom
.
Unfortunately, it fails to convince because of its rhetorical shortfalls
.
It does not provide enough concrete evidence as to why government should not have interaction with the people on the Internet
.
Cyberspace never was, and never

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The essay is presented with minimal background information on the Governments of the
Industrial World and then abruptly switches to information about the Internet and Cyberspace
.
His reluctance or inability to confront topics fully brings into question the validity of his central argument .
John Barlow titles his essay “A Declaration” ­ an obvious allusion to
The Declaration of
Independence ­ because he is proclaiming to his audience that government should keep out of
Cyberspace
. In doing so, Barlow attempts to add gravitas and popularity to his cause
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He seeks to draw parallels between himself and the founding fathers
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He is fighting for freedom from the government authority on the Internet just as they fought for independence
.
Even his language