The cyberspace rights attorney and creator of a classic internet adage reflects on liberties, whisky and rock climbing alone

Back in 1990 – before users referred to the internet as the World Wide Web and a negligible number of mavericks held discussions on Usenet newsgroups, the Well, and Bulletin board systems (BBS) – Mike Godwin, then an Austin law student, created one of the first internet memes.

It was called "Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies", and the assertion went like this:

"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."

After he seeded Godwin's Law within various BBS threads, it caught on with ease, even morphing into different versions of the same basic idea, much like the ubiquitous "condescending Willy Wonka", or, aptly, "Hitler's reactions to things". Now, anyone who wields "Godwin's Law" in any forum knows they're talking about pretty much the same thing, regardless of context.

It was a rhetorical term, a counter-meme for the projective "meme" (in an older sense) already commonly used both online and off. Godwin meant Godwin's Law to get people to think a little harder about history, and recognize that Nazi crimes are not merely "handy tropes" for "net.blowhards" railing against abortion or general censorship. This excludes actually defensible comparisons, like those of two different superpower's warring tactics – and of course, humor: Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi" is deliberately extreme. "Feminazi", not so much.

Randall Munroe’s webcomic xkcd putting the Law in action. Photo: xkcd.com/261/

Eventually, even Glenn Greenwald had to defend his essay comparing propoganda tactics employed by the US government in its Iraq invasion to those used by the Nazis. Critics cited the law – a "distorted" version – and as the online debate gathered momentum, even Godwin himself appeared in the comments section of Greenwald's articles, explaining that his law sought to "discourage frivolous, but not substantive, Nazi analogies and comparisons". Using words delicately, in other words, means that when history is actually repeating itself, we'll be able to recognize it and then give it a name that everyone can understand.

Godwin was hired right out of law school by the Electronic Frontier Foundation – a non-profit umbrella of legal counsel that seeks to extend the constitution's protections into cyberspace. He first worked on Steve Jackson Games, Inc v United States Secret Service, a wrongful raid of the company's headquarters in response to an employee's digital distribution of a document that was public physically.

"I knew this was a first amendment case, and that the secret service had overstepped its bounds, due generally to fear and suspicion of new computer media."



Offline, there's (usually) a general expectation that we'll only be physically followed or frisked if we are suspected of doing something wrong – but with one new technology after another, that expectation narrows. For example, as phone companies collect on our usage, by necessity, federal agencies often act as though collecting that information is not actual intrusion. With new technologies, it not only becomes easier and cheaper for government agencies to spy, but sometimes the law in cyberspace is treated as up to interpretation.

When the FBI demanded Wikipedia remove the agency's official seal from its corresponding article, Godwin was general counsel to the Wikimedia Foundation, and wrote back:

"The Bureau's reading of [Section 701: Official badges, identification cards, other insignia] is both idiosyncratic … and, more importantly, incorrect."

Godwin knew that the FBI's demand was a fraudulent prohibition of seal usage by its general counsel:

"If I had sent a dreadfully earnest letter, they would have at best disagreed or, worse, sued me and the Wikimedia Foundation. Perhaps they would have won, and shaped future policy."

The real goal of his catty, three-page response, he says, was to embarrass a bureaucratic agency with humor – he pointed out its redaction of vital words defining the proper usage of Section 701 in its accusatory letter, and how it led the FBI to call Wikipedia's use of its seal "problematic".

"I hope you will agree that the adjective 'problematic,' even if it were truly applicable here, is not semantically identical to 'unlawful,'" Godwin wrote at the time. It worked. Over 150 newspapers covered the exchange, and the New York Times published the FBI's seal along with its own coverage. Online.

We sent Mike Godwin our Status Update survey:

What was your first screen name?

I think it was "Johnny Mnemonic" – from the William Gibson short story, which I knew and loved years before the movie adaptation. (Gibson's screenplay for that adaptation, though, is excellent and far better than the movie as released.)

What was your worst day ever?

I have a number of worst days, but probably the very worst, especially in terms of long-lasting impact, was when I was 15 and hit by a car while bicycling in my hometown, Houston. My front teeth were knocked out, and the teeth on each side were shattered. I ended up having emergency root canals after which the teeth were reimplanted.

My father was in the room with me during the procedure, holding my hand – I squeezed his hand (because the pain was so intense) so hard that I bruised it. These days, those teeth have all been replaced by dental implants. Much better.

What is your favorite smell?

I like how my cat smells. I'm also fond of human pheromones, which I fancy at times I can detect.

What cocktail are you most like and why?

Jack Daniel's, neat. Strong taste, but there are some subtleties to it if you cultivate the taste for it.

What are three items you will always find in your refrigerator?

Swiss cheese, dill pickles, diet cola.

What were you doing at midnight last night?

Catching up on recorded episodes of Elementary, a modern-day Sherlock Holmes series. (I'm also fond of the British updating of Holmes, Steven Moffat's Sherlock, but there are no new episodes to watch yet.)

What did the last text message you received say?

From a friend in Cambridge: "Mike I'm so sorry. I finished in the store and got onto the T in autopilot and I forgot to call you back!!"

What is a word you say a lot?

Memetic. See here.

Who was your first crush?

Jane Peebles, Pershing Junior High School, Houston, Texas. My first kiss. She later became my first girlfriend.

What was your worst injury ever?

See above. Second worst may be a retinal blood clot that damaged my vision in one eye.

What is the last song you listened to?

Un-break My Heart, Toni Braxton.

What's one of the scariest things you've ever done?

Climbing up a rock face in Austin, Texas, and realizing that nobody knew what I was doing, so that if I fell I'd likely be undiscovered for days or weeks. This in the middle of the climb.

Who would you invite to your ideal dinner party?

William Shakespeare. Salman Rushdie. Ursula K Le Guin. Hillary Clinton.