Co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Barlow was an American poet, essayist, cyber-libertarian political activist, and former lyricist for the Grateful Dead. He was a retired Wyoming cattle rancher who was associated with both the Democratic and Republican parties. From May 1998, he served as a Fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet and Society.
Barlow served as vice-chairman of the EFF's board of directors. The EFF was designed to mediate the "inevitable conflicts that have begun to occur on the border between Cyberspace and the physical world." The organization sought to build a legal wall that would separate and protect the Internet from territorial government, and especially from the U.S. government.
Barlow was also a Fellow with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School and Diamond Management & Technology Consultants, and a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. He spent much of his time on the road, lecturing and consulting.
