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Computer Undergroud Digest Vol. 05 Issue 03
Computer underground Digest Wed Jan 13, 1992 Volume 5 : Issue 03
ISSN 1003-032X
Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET)
Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
Copy Editor: Etaionet Shrdlu, Junior
CONTENTS, #5.03 (Jan 13, 1992)
File 1--Moderators' Cornered
File 2--STEVE JACKSON GAMES TRIAL DATE SET
File 3--Re: COM DAILY ON F.C.C.
File 4--with regards to the DoJ's keystroke logging notice
File 5--Re: White Sands (SIMTEL-20) and copyrighted software
File 6--Re: Dorm Room Raid (CuD #5.02)
File 7--Follow-up to CuD #5.02 File 2 [Re: Dorm Room Raid (CuD #4.67)]
File 8--CFP-3 Scholarships Available
File 9--Canadian Media and BBSes
File 10--United Kingdom Software Seizure Laws
File 11--High Students charged in Computer Burglaries (Reprint)
File 12--Comments on _Hacker_Crackdown_
Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are
available at no cost from tk0jut2@mvs.cso.niu.edu. The editors may be
contacted by voice (815-753-6430), fax (815-753-6302) or U.S. mail at:
Jim Thomas, Department of Sociology, NIU, DeKalb, IL 60115.
Issues of CuD can also be found in the Usenet comp.society.cu-digest
news group; on CompuServe in DL0 and DL4 of the IBMBBS SIG, DL1 of
LAWSIG, and DL0 and DL12 of TELECOM; on GEnie in the PF*NPC RT
libraries and in the VIRUS/SECURITY library; from America Online in
the PC Telecom forum under "computing newsletters;" on the PC-EXEC BBS
at (414) 789-4210; in Europe from the ComNet in Luxembourg BBS (++352)
466893; and using anonymous FTP on the Internet from ftp.eff.org
(192.88.144.4) in /pub/cud, red.css.itd.umich.edu (141.211.182.91) in
/cud, halcyon.com (192.135.191.2) in /pub/mirror/cud, and
ftp.ee.mu.oz.au (128.250.77.2) in /pub/text/CuD.
European readers can access the ftp site at: nic.funet.fi pub/doc/cud.
Back issues also may be obtained from the mail server at
mailserv@batpad.lgb.ca.us.
COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST is an open forum dedicated to sharing
information among computerists and to the presentation and debate of
diverse views. CuD material may be reprinted for non-profit as long
as the source is cited. Some authors do copyright their material, and
they should be contacted for reprint permission. It is assumed that
non-personal mail to the moderators may be reprinted unless otherwise
specified. Readers are encouraged to submit reasoned articles
relating to computer culture and communication. Articles are
preferred to short responses. Please avoid quoting previous posts
unless absolutely necessary.
DISCLAIMER: The views represented herein do not necessarily represent
the views of the moderators. Digest contributors assume all
responsibility for ensuring that articles submitted do not
violate copyright protections.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 93 13:21:32 CST
From: Moderators <tk0jut2@mvs.cso.niu.edu>
Subject: File 1--Moderators' Cornered
WHAT'S COMIN' UP: CuD will come out twice-weekly for the next two
weeks or so, then we'll be back on the once-a-week schedule. The
continuation of the SPA (Software Publisher's Association) articles
resumes next week with a few interviews and commentary. The Steve
Jackson Games trial begins next week, and we'll keep readers
up-to-date on it.
++++++
SUBMITTING TO CuD: To submit a piece to Cud, simply write something
up and send it over. We obviously cannot print everything we receive,
but we try to reflect the diversity of readers' views. Some
guidelines:
Articles should:
1. Be written in English (or a reasonable variant), make sense,
and address a timely or relevant topic related to computer
culture (see the statement of purpose in the header, above)
2. AVOID excessive quotes. Unless the exact wording of a post is
relevant to the respondent's message, it is generally more
effective to summarize a previous post (WITHOUT MISREPRESENTING)
than to cite.
3. AVOID unnecessary flaming and excessive ad hominem attacks.
Posts should address issues, not personalities.
We encourage research/scholarly/think-piece papers of up to 6,000 to
7,000 words. We also encourage reviews of books related to
cyber-issues. For more on publishing guidelines, request a FAQ
(frequently asked questions) file from us.
++++++
SUBBING/UNSUBBING TO CuD: To Sub, simply send a one-line "SUB"
request, BUT BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR ADDRESS. Not all mailers include
a workable address in the header info. WHEN UNSUBBING, *PLEASE*
include the address you've subbed under. It doesn't take a brain
surgeon to figure out that a one word msg that says only "unsub" and a
"From:" line that isn't from the subbed address will cause problems.
May seem obvious, but some folks can't quite figure out that if we
don't know the original sub address, then we can't readily delete it.
++++++
CuD'S FACT-CHECKERS: We are periodically criticized for running an
article written by a reader--not by ourselves--that may contain
inaccurate information or a debatable interpretion of information. We
are then berated for "not checking our facts," for running false
information, or for not doing our homework.
Although it may surprise some, CuD HAS NO FACT CHECKERS. We do not
check every line of every post to insure accuracy. CuD is a forum for
debate and issue-raising: We provide a forum for an exchange of views,
but we are not paid enough (in fact, we're not paid at all) to
function as fact-checkers for articles that we, ourselves, do not
write. We attempt to assure total accuracy in our own pieces, and on
the (increasingly rare) times we're in error, we correct it and
apologize. But, we can't be responsible for relatively minor errors of
others. If an gross inaccuracy is made we'll generally contact the
author, but if we aimed for zero-tolerance on the miscues of others
CuD would appear quarterly instead of weekly.
The best way to deal with inaccuracies is to invest some time and
send in a correction or an alternative interpretation.
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 13:29:02 -0500
From: Gerard Van der Leun <van@EFF.ORG>
Subject: File 2--STEVE JACKSON GAMES TRIAL DATE SET
Newsnote from the Electronic Frontier Foundation | 12/23/92 |
STEVE JACKSON GAMES TRIAL DATE SET
Mike Godwin, General Counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation,
announced today that the case of Steve Jackson Games, et.al. v. The
United States Secret Service et. al. will go to trial in Austin, Texas
on Tuesday, January 19, 1993.
+=====+===================================================+=============+
| EFF |155 Second Street, Cambridge MA 02141 (617)864-0665| van@eff.org |
+=====+===================================================+=============+
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 02:35:15 EDT
From: Dorothy Denning <denning@CS.GEORGETOWN.EDU>
Subject: File 3--Re: COM DAILY ON F.C.C.
James Love distributed an article from Communications Daily that
included some highly critical remarks by himself and Marc Rotenberg
about the appointment of Ron Plesser as head of the Clinton transition
effort on the FCC. Below is a follow-up article from Comm. Daily
that offers a much more positive view of the appointment. I have
worked with Ron in the past and the views expressed here are more
consistent with my own observations.
Dorothy Denning
denning@cs.georgetown.edu
+++++++++++++++++
from PRIVACY Forum Digest, Vol. 01: Issue 28
Date--Sat, 12 Dec 1992 13:46:00 -0500
From--Andrew Blau <blau@eff.org>
Subject--Other Perspectives on Clinton FCC Transition Pick
TELECOM Digest V12, #895 reprinted an article from %Communications
Daily% by Art Brodsky on the FCC transition. Here's a follow-up
article that fills out the picture a bit, by the same writer. It
appeared in the December 9, 1992 issue of %Communications Daily%. I
am posting it here with permission. Communications Daily is published
by Warren Publishing, Inc., 2115 Ward Court, N.W. Washington, DC
20037.
Copyright 1992 Warren Publishing, Inc.
Communications Daily
December 9, 1992, Wednesday
SECTION: Vol. 12, No. 237; Pg. 2
HEADLINE: Plesser Praised;
CLINTON TRANSITION TEAM STARTS REVIEW AT FCC
BODY:
Transition team for Clinton Administration paid first visit to FCC
Tuesday, meeting with Chief of Staff Terry Haines. FCC transition team
currently is composed of eight persons and its charge has been
described as effort to take "snapshot" of operations at agency, rather
than go into great policy detail or make personnel recommendations.
"Their mission is to come up to speed with what's going on at the
Commission and report back to superiors," we were told. Team has been
assigned office space on 5th floor of FCC hq.
Composition of team makes clear that effort is being made to work
closely with Congress, even before Clinton takes office. About half of
team members are congressional staffers. Senate Commerce Committee is
represented by Antoinette (Toni) Cook (who has been mentioned often as
possible FCC chmn.) and John Windhausen, while House side is
represented by David Leach from Commerce Committee and Gerald Waldron
from Telecom Subcommittee. (Telecom Subcommittee staffer Larry Irving
also will be working on telecommunications infrastructure issues for
another part of transition). Transition team at FCC also includes
Howard U. Prof. Clay Smith, ex-chmn. of Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (husband of Patti Smith, who is deputy dir. of policy and
planning for FCC associate managing dir.) and Prof. Henry Parrett of
Villanova U. Others will be named later.
Transition team leader is attorney Ronald Plesser of Washington
office of Baltimore law firm Piper & Marbury. His appointment was
strongly criticized by public interest groups (CD Dec 7 p1), who cited
his positions on policy issues and suggested conflicts of interest in
his representation of clients Information Industry Assn. (IIA) and
Direct Marketing Assn. (DMA). Plesser met Tues. at FCC with Haines.
Later, Haines met with bureau and office chiefs and commissioner aides
to inform them what is going on, and asked them to give full
cooperation.
However, others in public policy sector praised Plesser, who was
strong supporter of ACLU's Information Technology Project and who once
worked for consumer advocate Ralph Nader. Cathy Russell, counsel for
Senate Technology Subcommittee, said Plesser was "sensitive to privacy
considerations." While acknowledging he's "strong advocate for his
clients," she said Plesser understands privacy concerns and works to
"bring clients to the table with the ACLU to hash things out."
Plesser, she said, has been "very reasonable with us" and she was
surprised that public interest groups "would attack him on that."
Similarly, Jerry Berman, head of Washington office of Electronic
Frontier Foundation, called Plesser "one of the leading advocates of
the Freedom of Information Act, and a supporter of making an
electronic Freedom of Information Act." Plesser has brought IIA "much
further toward recognizing public access to information than they
[IIA] originally were doing, and brought DMA to the table in signing
off on some privacy rights," Berman said. "I don't think that's an
accurate description [to say he is out of mainstream]. [ Plesser]
makes a great effort to balance interests." Sheryl Walter, gen.
counsel of National Security Archive, said Plesser did significant pro
bono work on case for her group on Freedom of Information Act on
behalf of reporter Raymond Bonner, who was working on book about
Philippines Pres. Marcos. In terms of experience with Archives,
"we've found him to be very supportive of government disclosure."
OMB Watch Exec. Dir. Gary Bass said it "makes good sense" to have
Plesser and others familiar with issues involved. Bass said he would
like to see more public interest sector representation in transition,
but said critics of Plesser are "reacting because of his institutional
role." If Plesser were "the sole person deciding policy, I would have
a real problem with that," Bass said, but transition team focus is
narrower.
James Davidson, former staff dir. for House Judiciary Committee and
ex-Senate staffer who wrote much of Privacy Act in 1974, said of
Plesser: Ron Plesser has won more cases upholding freedom of
information than any litigator in the country. Davidson added: "There
is no more good advocate for good information policy" than Plesser.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 92 10:55:33 -0800
From: jet@NAS.NASA.GOV(J. Eric Townsend)
Subject: File 4--with regards to the DoJ's keystroke logging notice
Please keep in mind that the policy was intended for federal
government computer systems. There have been a couple of cases of
people getting off the hook because they were "illegally tapped"
--their keystrokes were logged without notification or a court
warrant.
You may not realize it, but the government operates under an entirely
different set of rules than private businesses. The US government can
order me to kill another human; it can search my workplace (a
government office) without a warrant; and it can execute tight control
over its resources. (A running joke around here is "Hey, get your
privately owned coffee cup off of that NASA desk -- that desk is for
official government use only!") If nothing else, we have the
occasional public outrage over "government tax dollars fund christmas
parties".
The legality of the keystroke logging message in the private sector is
another matter entirely. I don't think the DoJ seriously expected
that message to ever leave the sphere of intragovernment
communications.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 93 09:17:59 EST
From: morgan@ENGR.UKY.EDU(Wes Morgan)
Subject: File 5--Re: White Sands (SIMTEL-20) and copyrighted software
In CuD5.03, rio!canary!chris@UUNET.UU.NET(Chris Johnson) writes:
>He was recently a student at a university which
>has Internet access (I do not, or I'd verify the following).
As a general rule, one should not make allegations that one cannot
verify. It's a rather unhealthy practice, unless one aspires to
a political career. 8)
>He mentioned that the White Sands Missile Range (an obvious DoD
>installation) had one of the largest collections of ftp accessible
>computer files. He said they had everything imaginable.
This is true. wsmr-simtel20.army.mil (192.88.110.20) is one of the
largest collections of publicly distributable software in the world.
Its archives are mirrored by wuarchive.wustl.edu (128.252.135.4),
which is *the* largest collection in the world. I believe that
oak.oakland.edu (141.210.10.117) also mirrors the simtel20 archives.
>Now, it's true I haven't looked myself, nor did I specifically ask him
>at the time if they had copies of copyrighted images, data or programs
>as the conversation was about other topics. But I have seen other ftp
>sites "libraries", and there's next to no doubt in my mind the White
>Sands site must have megabytes of copyrighted materials.
Well, you are dead wrong.
The maintainers of the SIMTEL20 archives keep an extremely vigilant
watch over their collection(s). They'll remove a package if there
is *any* question of its copyright/distribution status. The fine
folks at St. Louis (wuarchive.wustl.edu) have a similar policy. I
help maintain the wuarchive collection, and I can assure you that
our "moderator's mailing list" regularly takes care of problems such
as this.
I'm not saying the copyrighted materials don't find their way into
ftp archives. SIMTEL20 is constantly saturated with ftp sessions,
and wuarchive.wustl.edu has over 1200 ftp connections *per day*. With
thousands (yes, *thousands*) of anonymous users, it's a near-certainty
that some of them will upload copyrighted material. However, you can
rest assured that it is gone as soon as we find out about it. In fact,
almost all uploads to "major" ftp sites are screened before they are
placed in the general archives.
[ If you should happen to find a piece of copyrighted material on ]
[ an ftp site, *please* let the moderators/administrators know ]
[ about it. We don't claim to be infallible, and user feedback ]
[ is always welcome! ]
I can't speak for all ftp archives/archivists (heck, a single-user
Sun SPARCStation can be set up as an anonymous ftp archive), but most
of the "major players" in the archiving game make a regular practice
of eliminating copyrighted materials.
>Perhaps someone out there would like to take a look and see just how
>legal they are.
Perhaps you would like to check things out yourself before waving red flags.
>Of course, the federal government seems more interested in busting
>college students and other individuals than say, cleaning up its own
>act.
In recent years, many "community computing" operations have come under
public scrutiny/censure/concern. Examples include the St. Catherine's
BBSs mentioned earlier in this issue of CuD, the Steve Jackson Games
incident, Usenet newsgroups (the infamous alt.sex.* "scandals"), and
<in all likelihood> your local adult BBSs. In fact, CuD was founded,
in part, to discuss this very trend. Why on earth would you want to
contribute to this downward spiral with unsubstantiated <indeed, false>
allegations? I'm sure that there will be some people who see your
original posting WITHOUT seeing this reply; those people will, in all
likelihood, associate SIMTEL20 with pirated software. That's both in-
correct and undeserved. You do a disservice to both SIMTEL20 (and, by
extension, those sites which mirror its collection) and the people who
maintain the archives. With all of the "institutional" paranoia among
the media and other so-called watchdogs, we don't really need arbitrary
accusations like this.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 12:01:42 PST
From: Wes Plouff -- MLO3-3/E67 DTN 223-2677 11-Jan-1993 1448
Subject: File 6--Re: Dorm Room Raid (CuD #5.02)
Chris Johnson discusses a story he heard about a big FTP archive at
White Sands Missile Range, and speculates that "there's next to no
doubt in my mind the White Sands site must have megabytes of
copyrighted materials." He then exhorts the Federal government to
clean up its own act before persecuting students.
This story undoubtedly refers to the SIMTEL20 archives of MS-DOS, CP/M
and other public domain software. Sure, there's plenty of copyrighted
software there. Problem is, it's all there perfectly legally as
freeware, shareware and vetted commercial demos. The contents of
SIMTEL20 are tightly controlled by its archivist, Keith Petersen, and
are highly trusted in the MS-DOS world. The full name of the archive
node is WSMR-SIMTEL20.Army.Mil. For more information, read the Usenet
newsgroup comp.archives.msdos.announce, or buy the SIMTEL CD-ROM.
Just a few facts.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 21:37:29 CST
From: Kevin Andrew Buhr <buhr@CCU.UMANITOBA.CA>
Subject: File 7--Follow-up to CuD #5.02 File 2 [Re: Dorm Room Raid]
In CuD #5.02 File 2, <uunet.uu.net!rio!canary!chris> writes:
| This reminded me of a conversation I had with my brother over the
| Christmas holiday. He was recently a student at a university which
| has Internet access (I do not, or I'd verify the following). He
| mentioned that the White Sands Missile Range (an obvious DoD
| installation) had one of the largest collections of ftp accessible
| computer files. He said they had everything imaginable.
|
| Now, it's true I haven't looked myself, nor did I specifically ask him
| at the time if they had copies of copyrighted images, data or programs
| as the conversation was about other topics. But I have seen other ftp
| sites "libraries", and there's next to no doubt in my mind the White
| Sands site must have megabytes of copyrighted materials.
The archive of which you speak has hundreds of megabytes of
copyrighted material. However, all of this copyrighted material is
shareware or freeware: the authors who hold the copyrights have made
explicit allowances for its free distribution subject to certain
terms. I can assure you that there is next to no material in the
White Sands archive (also known as the Simtel archive) that resides
there in violation of the respective copyrights.
| Of course, the federal government seems more interested in busting
| college students and other individuals than say, cleaning up its own
| act.
While it might be very true that some agents of the U. S. Federal
Government are hypocritical at the best of times, you couldn't be more
wrong about this particular archive.
Keith Petersen (<w8dsz@TACOM-EMH1.Army.Mil>, <uunet!umich!vela!w8sdz>,
or <w8sdz@Vela.ACS.Oakland.Edu>), who maintains the MSDOS, MISC, and
CP/M archives at SIMTEL20, takes great pains to screen the incoming
files for, among other things, possible copyright violations. His
efforts are appreciated by a great many. Feel free to contact him if
you would like more information about his screening policies.
In the future, be more cautious before making these kinds of claims.
Mr. Petersen has at least once found his future employment in jeopardy
thanks to internal "restructuring". The higher-ups evidently ask
themselves, "why do we employ someone to maintain a free archive for
the benefit of the general public?" Articles like yours can have no
positive effect in this kind of climate.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 25 Dec 92 16:59:20 EST
From: mcmullen@MINDVOX.PHANTOM.COM(John F. McMullen)
Subject: File 8--CFP-3 Scholarships Available
The Third Conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy (CFP-3) will
provide a limited number of full registration scholarships for
students and other interested individuals. The conference is sponsored
by ACM SIGCOMM, SIGCAS & SIGSAC and will be held 9-12 March, 1992 at
the San Francisco Airport Marriott Hotel in Burlingame CA.
The conference will be attended by computer and library scientists,
legal scholars, government officials, information industry and other
private sector representatives, law enforcement officials, civil
liberties advocates and many others. Active participants will include
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Staff Counsel Mike Godwin,
Georgetown University Computer Science Chair Dorothy Denning,
California County District Attorney Don Ingraham, SRI's Peter G.
Neumann, Autodesk's Jim Warren (founder of InfoWorld, The West Coast
Computer Faire and the CFP conferences), New York State Police Senior
Computer Crime Investigator Donald Delaney, George Trubow of the John
Marshall Law School, Rand Corp's Willis Ware, Lance J. Hoffman of
George Washington University, IBM's Barbara Simons and CPSR's Marc
Rotenberg. The conference is chaired by Bruce Koball, a key planner of
CFP 1 & 2.
These scholarships will cover the full costs of registration,
including three luncheons, two banquets, and all conference materials.
Scholarship recipients will be responsible for their own lodging and
travel expenses. Persons wishing to apply for one of these fully-paid
registrations must send a request (no more than two typewritten pages)
postmarked by 15 January 1993. The request should concisely contain
the following information:
1. Personal Information -- Name, Address, Phone, E-Mail Address,
School or Employment Affiliation.
2. Category and Supporting Information -- Student, Academic, Law
Enforcement Official, "Hacker", etc. We are particularly interested in
providing scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students majoring
in computer or information science, journalism, law, law enforcement,
political science, and related disciplines as well as "hackers" and
law enforcement officials who could otherwise not attend the
conference.
3. A specific statement saying that you will attend the entire
conference and that you understand that you are responsible for your
own transportation and lodging expenses related to the attendance.
4. A paragraph explaining why you are interested in attending the
conference and what use you expect to make of the information obtained
at the conference.
5. A paragraph explaining the need for the financial assistance and
stipulating that, without the scholarship, attendance is not possible.
6. A statement committing the recipient to write a short summary (2
pages minimum) of the recipient's evaluation of the conference,
complete with recommendations for subsequent conferences. The paper is
to be submitted to the scholarship chair no later than March 31, 1993.
The request should be sent by email to:
John F. McMullen
mcmullen@mindvox.phantom.com
or by mail to:
John F. McMullen
CFP-3 Scholarship Committee
Perry Street
Jefferson Valley, NY 10535
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 2 Jan 93 13:52:03 -0500
From: carterm@SPARTAN.AC.BROCKU.CA(Mark Carter)
Subject: File 9--Canadian Media and BBSes
The following article appeared on December 30th, on the front page of
the St. Catharines Standard. While reiterating much of the articles
appearing on July 25, this new one (again by the same authors) presents
new information, significantly interviews of two more sysops.
However, the person they state to be sysop of Interzone is actually
the co-sysop. Further, Interzone is hardly a good example of local
boards. It is not connected to Fidonet, meaning that the message
areas it has are basically filled with obscenities, the primary
attractions of Interzone are the on-line games, and it is sponsored by
a commercial interest, which pays the phone bills.
The other sysop they interviewed is someone who's board was up for
about six months (not particularly recently, since I never heard of it)
before it had to go down when the sysop moved to a new apartment.
What I'd like to know is, how does the sysop of a board that no longer
exists get interviewed by the Standard when the local NEC does not?
Apart from the factual inaccuracies and narrow-minded presentation,
however, I think the main thrust of the article was for the authors to
pat each other on the back and claim credit for the self-regulation
that was already on local boards. How this warranted the front page,
I'll never know.
And of course, the Standard continues with it's practice of looking at
one or two boards out of the hundreds available in Niagara, and then
presenting those boards as the standard to judge others by.
Following is the verbatim transcript of the article:
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Limits Set On Access to Computer Porn:
But Explicit Images, Stories Still Available
(By Paul Forsyth and Andrew Lundy, Standard Staff)
A local crackdown has made it harder for kids in Niagara to get access
to hard-core pornography via their computer screens.
Until recently, local computer bulletin boards offered an array of
X-rated photographs and stories to anyone with a phone and a computer.
But after recent reports by the Standard on the phenomenon, some
boards-- electronic "meeting places" run by hobbyists through their
home computers-- have begun to restrict access to hundreds of explicit
files.
Now it's much more difficult for kids to view the files, which contain
still photos and animated images ranging from topless women to
depictions of bondage and bestiality. That's not to say computer
pornography has disappeared in St. Catharines and cities and towns
across Canada. Board operators have no legal obligation to impose age
restrictions, and there are no signs government will step in to
control something which has slipped through the legislative cracks.
Users logging on to Interzone, a board with one of St. Catharines'
widest selection of hard-core pornography, now have to ask
specifically for access to the files, provide a driver's licence
number and undergo other verification like answering a telephone call.
The board, like dozens of others in Niagara, had minimal restrictions
when the issue of computer pornography was first publicized in July.
"We just took a look at it and figured we should do something (about)
it ... take a look at what we were doing," said Interzone operator
Matt Mernagh. In a letter to the editor several months ago, a defiant
Mernagh decried any attempts to regulate bulletin boards. He said it
wasn't his responsibility to make sure kids were denied access to
X-rated areas of his board-- where a photo of two women engaging in
bestiality was stored along with dozens of other explicit images.
Kenneth Werneburg's St. Catharines bulletin board, Alleycat's
Emporium, also had pornography files until it shut down recently.
Other board operators besides Mernagh are opting for access
restrictions now since publicity over the issue surfaced, he said.
"When I was running the board I felt that I should be able to run the
board however I felt like doing," he admitted. "Basically I just
said, 'If (kids) want (pornography), they can have it,'" he said. "I
didn't even think twice about ... open access to it all."
The Standard reports created "quite a stir" among board operators who
were angered at first by the publicity, he said. "Most of the
(operators) now, I think, feel they have a responsibility to screen
it. It seems that quite a few people have restricted access to that
sort of stuff and taken it out completely in some cases."
But operators say pornography remains among the most-asked-for files
on boards, which also offer selections ranging from games to computer
virus-fighting programs. One St. Catharines high school student
removed X-rated files from the board he operates when contacted in
July, but reintroduced them later-- according to an electronic memo on
the board--due to "popular demand."
Police say there are no laws forcing bulletin boards to prevent kids
from accessing X-rated files. And most of the explicit images are
legal under the Criminal Code of Canada.
Besides, police say, even if restrictions were put in place in Canada,
computer-wise kids could simply call the United States, or anywhere
else in the world, to retrieve pornography through their phone lines.
Michael Werneburg, who operated Alleycat's Emporium along with his
brother, Kenneth, said animated pornographic images-- some finding
their way on to local boards from Italy, France and Spain-- are
growing in popularity. The federal Department of Communications has
no plans to begin censoring what is transmitted over phone lines, said
Communications Minister Perrin Beatty.
In a recent interview in St. Catharines, Beatty wasn't even aware of
the existence of computer pornography.
"Anything related to pornography is particularly the responsibility of
the minister of justice," he said. Niagara Falls MP Rob Nicholson,
assistant to Justice Minister Kim Campbell, said the government plans
to introduce a bill in the new year aimed at redefining pornography
under the Criminal Code.
But he admitted it will be a difficult process and couldn't say if new
legislation will specifically address computer pornography. "We're
wrestling with the whole subject" of pornography, he said.
Opposition MPs say wide-open access to computer pornography is an
example of laws not keeping pace with rapid technological changes.
"It's disgusting to think that children have access to this," said
Mary Clancy, Liberal critic for the status of women and associate
communications critic.
"The great difficulty with this whole computer and communications
explosion is control." Ian Waddell, NDP justice critic, said legal
chaos could erupt if lawmakers don't keep pace with changes in
technology. "If that happens we're throwing in the towel in law and
order."
------------------------------
Date: 11 Jan 93 18:19:32 EST
From: Gordon Meyer <72307.1502@COMPUSERVE.COM>
Subject: File 10--United Kingdom Software Seizure Laws
The European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) has
agreed on a new procedure to combat software piracy. The new
agreement is that a single ELSPA official can seize all illegal
software found to be on sale in a public place, rather than each
software publishing company having to dispatch their own agent to
seize their respective products. The new initiative will be
administered by FAST (Federation Against Software Theft?) and will
include a crack down on the recently escalating incidents of bootleg
software being sold from the trunks of automobiles.
(From--ST Applications #25 Jan 1993 p: 6)
++++++++++++
"Great Britain Trading Office Settles on Sampling Case"
The Dorset Trading Standards Office has dropped their case against
South West Software Library, a public domain software distribution
company. The Office had seized thirty disks from SWSL, claiming that
13 of them violated the Copyright Designs and Patents Act. Some of
the disks seized were demo versions of commercial applications, but
the focus of the prosecution was on disks containing digitized or
'sampled' portions of popular songs and movie soundtracks. The Office
maintained that there is no difference between a sampled sound demo
and an illegal bootleg cassette. All charges were dropped in exchange
for an admission of guilt from the husband and wife owners of SWSL.
Reportedly, the officer in charge of the matter referred to the seized
disks as 'tapes' through out the several month case, perhaps
reflecting a basic ignorance of technology as is often displayed by
enforcement officials in the United States.
(From--ST Applications #25 Jan 1993 p: 6)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 17:02:44 EST
From: sc03281@LLWNET.LINKNET.COM(Cheshire HS)
Subject: File 11--High Students charged in Computer Burglaries (Reprint)
From the 1-7-93 Issue of The Cheshire Herald (Front Page)
Typed by Lord Valgamon (YUNSANJ@YALEVM.YCC.YALE.EDU)
THREE CHS STUDENTS CHARGED IN BURGLARIES
Former CHS Student Also Charged in Case
by Amy Carpenter, Herald Staff
Three Cheshire High School students and a former student charged
with the theft of $23,000 worth of computer and electronic equipment
from the high school have turned themselves in to Cheshire police.
Jared D Bishop, 17, of 500 South Meriden Road, William J Vallo,
17, of 1081 South Meriden Road, and John Beltrami, 17, of 12 Woodland
Drive, have each been charged with 6 counts of third-degree burglary,
6 counts of third-degree conspiracy to
commit burglary and first-degree larceny by common scheme,
police said.
Brendan Monahan, 17, of Littleton, New Hampshire, was
charged with third-degree burglary, third-degree conspiracy
to commit burglary and third-degree larceny, police said.
-Lesser Charges
Monahan, a former CHS student, received the lesser charges
because he is believed to have participated in only 1 of 6 burglaries
at the high school, said Detective Thomas Stretton.
Bishop and Vallo turned themselves in last week, and Beltrami and
Monahan turned themselves in early this week, Stretton said.
All four were released to the custody of their parents
and are scheduled to appear in Meriden Superior Court on
January 14, police said.
((Remainder of article deleted))
------------------------------
Date: 12 Jan 93 10:17:43 GMT
From: rhogan@ALUDRA.USC.EDU(Ron Hogan)
Subject: File 12--Comments on _Hacker_Crackdown_
First, I'm going to jump back about four years to my freshman days at
Notre Dame. The first semester, independent reading on avant-garde
movements of the 20th century led to the discovery of the Futurist
Manifesto, and Marinetti's declaration "Time and space died
yesterday." The second semester, during my research for a paper on
the founding of the Interstate Commerce Commission, I ran across the
following line in the 1888 ICC report: "The railroads can be said to
annihilate time and space."
21 years before Marinetti.
The point of this, I guess, is that the avant-garde, the cutting edge,
the oppositional, whatever you want to call it, is engaged in more
than a simplistic, dualistic relation with the dominant culture.
Foucault can talk about power relationships a lot better than I can--
I just want to say that a good many of the oppositional movements of
the last century owe a substantial chunk of their existence to the
development of technology within the dominant system.
Not just on the level of quotes drawn from different documents. The
fact is that the railroads did annihilate time and space, or at least
they shrunk time and space a little bit. And it wasn't just freight
and people that they were transporting from place to place-- but
information. The systems of railroad tracks that crisscrossed the
continents can be seen as a prototype of the telecommunications
networks that we have today. A rough prototype, to be sure, and one
which would soon be replaced by telegraphs and telephones, but a
prototype nonetheless.
All of which is a long way of introducing Bruce Sterling's THE HACKER
CRACKDOWN. In this book, Sterling examines the power dynamics that
are taking place "on the electronic frontier", the interaction between
hackers and the telephone company, hackers and the Secret Service,
hackers and the judicial system, etc. But he doesn't just deal with
the surface material, the scandal du jour stuff you can pick up by
reading the paper. He does an excellent job of compiling and
synthesizing that material, and showing how it all pieces together,
but there's more to it than that.
What Sterling provides the reader with is an institutional examination
of the forces that are in collision on the electronic frontier. That
examination can only come about in a full and meaningful way when one
realizes that cyberspace has been in existence for about 130 years.
Sterling puts the invention of the telephone as the creation of
cyberspace, and details the story of how Alexander Graham Bell's
machine became the basis of the American Bell Company, later bought
out by the Morgan cartel and transformed into American Telephone and
Telegraph. The history of AT&T is outlined; Sterling shows how it was
that they acquired and maintained their control over the phone system,
and how the breakup in the 80s changed the rules of the game.
He applies this institutional/historical analysis to all sides of the
issue-- the details on the founding of the United States Secret
Service, and the later development of interdepartmental conflict
within the Federal Government between the USSS and the FBI is
particularly useful.
One specific advantage of an institutional analysis is related to a
point that Sterling himself makes about the telephone, that it is
"technologically transparent." We accept it as part of our everyday
lives, without realizing the depth and the complexity of the system
that lies behind it. The same is true of the institutions that
Sterling examines. A close look at the Secret Service allows the
reader to discover it anew, to go far beyond those aspects which are
taken for granted.
And to question both that which is discovered and that which is
assumed. Sterling grounds this book thoroughly in the practical side,
outlining that which has happened, which is happening now, and may
happen tomorrow. But he also talks about the implications of all
those events: what they mean. Even a seemingly random encounter with
a homeless person can lead to a digression on the ramifications of the
growth of the computer sphere of influence within the public
communities, and the rising distinction between computer literates and
illiterates that results.
For a book with a potentially overwhelming array of data, the clarity
of the presentation is noteworthy. This is scientific journalism at
its sharpest, not jargonized beyond the scope of the general reader,
and it's also political commentary. The two elements come together
seamlessly through Sterling's razor-sharp prose.
I think that any future book about the social implications of
cyberspace is going to have to refer to Sterling's groundbreaking work
here at one level or another. This one book, IMHO, does more than any
book I've seen to show what's *really* at stake on the electronic
frontier, and how it got that way in the first place.
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING:
Avital Ronell: THE TELEPHONE BOOK: TECHNOLOGY, SCHIZOPHRENIA, ELECTRIC SPEECH
David Hawke: NUTS AND BOLTS OF THE PAST
Mike Davis: CITY OF QUARTZ (not really related to the topic, but it
does for the city of Los Angeles what Sterling does for cyberspace)
Lewis Shiner, SLAM
------------------------------
End of Computer Underground Digest #5.03
************************************
