“So John Gilmore linked to my post today.”

“You mean Dan Gillmor.”

“Nope. John Gillmore — Center for Citizen Media”

“Wrong guy. You’re talking about Dan.”

I looked it up. James was right. I shouldn’t have to look it up. I’ve worked with one and been pingbacked by the other, so I ought to know. But for ten years, I’ve never been able to get it straight.

I can’t be the only one who’s completely confused.

THREE Gillmorre-ish guys who are doing (or have done) important things for the Internet. Plus a tech author. And three of their names start with “J”.

Time for some disambiguation.

John Gilmore was Sun employee #5 and now he’s rich and does good things with his money. He was one of the founders of the Electronic Freedom Foundation, one of my favorite organizations. He also started the “alt” newsgroups and the cryptography organization Cypherpunks. John is an abrasive libertarian who says what he thinks (and sometimes what a lot of the rest of us were thinking). He also campaigns for more rational security and drug laws. I worked with him in 1997 when I hosted a meeting in New York to work out the technical details for a new centralized domain name registry for the subsequently-quashed IAHC (predecessor to ICANN). John is a total pain in the ass and (yet) deserves our support. John is totally freaky looking.

Dan Gillmor is the odd man out. He spells his last name differently and his first name doesn’t start with J. That’s one way to tell him apart. The other is to look at his work in journalism and Internet policy. Dan runs the Center for Citizen Media and writes about and practices grassroots journalism. He’s an influential guy working in the front lines to preserve free speech so that bloggers can write important stuff. My closest connection to Dan is that he linked to this blog. Dan looks as if he could be affiliated with Harvard’s Berkman Center, which in fact he is.

James Gilmore was Republican Governor of Virginia (1997 - 2002) and one-time Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Now he’s a lawyer at a big Washington D.C. firm which definitely does not work for you and me. Jim Gilmore had an important early impact on Internet policy — he consistently campaigned against Internet taxes, arguing that it would stifle Internet innovation, and put together a Virginia State Internet Policy. Jim looks like every other politician from the Republican Party who isn’t Ted Stevens.

Jason Gilmore. I don’t know anything about Jason. I don’t have a photo of Jason. I never heard of him until I started writing this post. But he is a Gilmore, and since his last name ends in “e”, his first name starts with the obligatory “J”. Jason wrote a book called Beginning PHP5 and MySQL: From Novice to Professional, which got mixed but mostly positive reviews on Amazon.

$5 Amazon Gift Certificate to anyone who sends me a photo and brief bio of Jason to complete my Gilmore/Gillmor collection.

Tags: john gilmore, dan gillmor, james gilmore, jim gilmore, jason gilmore, internet policy, citizen journalism, eff, electronic freedom foundation, cypherpunks, disambiguation

Posted by Antony in: Internet Governance