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Computer Undergroud Digest Vol. 09 Issue 07
Computer underground Digest Wed Feb 5, 1997 Volume 9 : Issue 07
ISSN 1004-042X
Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu)
News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu)
Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
Ian Dickinson
Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
CONTENTS, #9.07 (Wed, Feb 5, 1997)
File 1--Re - Internet Forum in Italy (CuD 9.04)
File 2--Court upholds Internet case as free speech (fwd)
File 3--Christopher Schanot sentenced in St. Louis
File 4--Cybersitter & Wallace
File 5--PROTEST: "Remember the Blackout"
File 6--Panel - Copyright and the Net: Is Legislation the Answer?
File 7-- The (1997) 7th Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy
File 8--The Information Superhighway Transportation System
File 9--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 13 Dec, 1996)
CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN
THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 23:14:12 -0800 (PST)
From: caponi@SSSUP1.SSSUP.IT
Subject: File 1--Re - Internet Forum in Italy (CuD 9.04)
The CU Digest #9.04 report "Internet Forum In Italy Subjected To
Censorship" was incomplete and inaccurate. As owner of the mailing
list censored, I would like to offer here more info for a better
understanding of the event. Hosted on a server located at Bologna
University, the mailing list LISA (Lista Italiana Sull'Accesso a
Internet) launched in early 1995 as an unmoderated area devoted to
discussion about social, cultural and economic aspects related to
the development of the Internet in Italy.
In these two years, discussion topics concerned many different
issues, such as net regulation, censorship, netiquette and online
behavior. As with most of similar lists, sometimes subscribers
opinions were strongly different occasionally leading to some sort
of personal animosity. In these cases, I called anyone (both in
public and in private) to the respect of other people words and
invited all users to get along with the netiquette, helding each
subscriber accountable for his/her own content, as clearly stated
in the charter list.
On November 1996, the president of a political association,
involved with electronic communications and repeatedly criticized
on the list, contacted the University professor in charge of the
computer department where LISA was hosted. He asked for an
official intervention to stop that verbal criticism, and the
faculty member decided to close down the mailing list. No
previous attempt to contact myself, the list owner, was ever made:
I simply received the notification announcing the list immediate
closure. Two days later, I managed to get LISA re-opened at the
Utah University.
Nobody is questioning the right of Bologna University officials to
cancel any hosted list, but this decision (and its circumstances)
was a very harsh termination of an open discussion. LISA is an
on-going exchange of different points of view: what we were facing
was an attempt to restrain uncomfortable opinions, to silence an
area devoted to open confrontation on the Net.
Well beyond this single event, we netizens must keep close
attention to any concealment to stop the flow of free speech. In
the LISA case and anywhere in the world, we are forced to deal
with attempts to prevent public discussion, to refuse the
diversity of opinions. Choosing censorship instead of an open
debate is something we will never be willing to silently accept.
Laura Caponi
Owner of LISA
Lista Italiana Sull'Accesso a Internet
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 13:38:15 +0600
From: jthomas@VENUS.SOCI.NIU.EDU(Jim Thomas)
Subject: File 2--Court upholds Internet case as free speech (fwd)
((MODERATORS NOTE: The original poster's address was garbled
in transit))
By MaryAnne George and Jeff Martin
Knight-Ridder Newspapers
DETROIT -- Former University of Michigan student Jake Baker wrote on
the Internet about raping, torturing and murdering women. But he
didn't threaten them -- at least not under federal law, a court
ruled Wednesday.
Civil libertarians, who feared regulation of the vast reaches of
cyberspace, cheered the ruling. But others said it means women's
safety will take a backseat to free speech.
Ruling 2-1, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals panel in
Cincinnati upheld a June 1995 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge
Avern Cohn in Detroit dismissing charges against Baker. Cohn had
said the writings were constitutionally protected as free speech.
Baker, 22, now a computer science major at the University of
Pittsburgh, is the first person to be prosecuted for Internet
writings in a case that drew a storm of controversy about regulating
cyberspace.
.................
(c) 1997, Detroit Free Press. Distributed by Knight-Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
Copyright Chicago Tribune (c) 1997
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 3 Feb 1997 15:56:49 -0600 (CST)
From: Bruce Umbaugh <bumbaugh@LISTS.WEBSTERUNIV.EDU>
Subject: File 3--Christopher Schanot sentenced in St. Louis
According to Saturday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Feb. 1,
copyrighted article by Tim Bryant), Christopher Schanot, was
sentenced Friday by U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry. The
judge called Schanot "obviously . . . very skilled" and
expressed a desire that he not be influenced by others "who may
not have your best interests at heart." Predictably, the
prosecutor called him a computer genius, and his own attorney
noted that he intended no harm.
According to the report, Schanot admitted in November "that he
had installed secret programs into a Southwestern Bell computer
system in St. Louis and in another system in New Jersey, giving
him access to the computer files of the seven regional phone
companies." SWB and BELLCORE put the cost of "clean up" at
US$80,000. The piece reports that the U.S. attorney's office
says Schanot originally gained access using a Southwestern Bell
employee's account, the employee having given his son access and
the son having shared the account information with Schanot.
Schanot should be released in about six weeks, according to the
article, since he has served jail time and been in a halfway
house for four and one-half months. (The sentence is five
months imprisonment and six months in a halfway house.)
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 30 Jan 97 08:23:58 -0500 (EST)
From: kkc@COMPETITOR.NET(K.K. Campbell)
Subject: File 4--Cybersitter & Wallace
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHO'S WATCHING THE 'WATCHERS'?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
by
K.K. CAMPBELL
Net.column
The Toronto Star
Thursday, January 30, 1997
One of the most controversial aspects of cyberspace is censorship. A
widely accepted solution to eliminating the "unwanted" is self-imposed
censorship, through special software which blocks out types of content
not desired.
The appeal of these programs is that people needn't rely on distant
authority to dictate acceptability. We police ourselves; or at least we
have some control over how we will be policed.
The news media have generally blessed "blocking software" with
unexamined sprinklings of warm praise. After all, who dares suggest
that stopping your 5-year-old from seeing graphic gore, violence or sex
is bad? What could go wrong with that?
But, now critics are starting to ask, who is "watching the watchers?"
Could these watchers themselves develop more "creative applications"
for their power to silence? Could they apply their own personal
prejudices, or even their own hidden agendas?
Or is that paranoid nonsense?
Ask U.S. author Jonathan Wallace (jw@bway.net). Wallace says
California's Solid Oak software, which produces Cybersitter blocking
software, has added his site to its "block list" in retaliation for
critical remarks he made about the company.
Solid Oak claims 900,000 registered Cybersitter users.
Wallace, a New York-based software business executive and attorney is
co-author of the book _Sex, Laws and Cyberspace_ (Henry Holt, $34.95).
Net.column will discuss the book with its author next installment.
He's also editor of the monthly Webzine _The Ethical Spectacle_, which
focuses on "the intersection of ethics, law and politics in our
society."
The Webzine recently asked readers to not purchase Cybersitter because
of continuing reports of Solid Oak's "unethical behavior."
"In the book," Wallace says in a press release explaining his current
attitude to Cybersitter, "we took the position -- naively, I now think
-- that use of blocking software by parents was a less restrictive
alternative to government censorship. We never expected that publishers
of blocking software would block sites for their political content
alone, as Solid Oak has done."
Solid Oak unequivocably denies there is a political agenda of any kind
et work.
"Absolutely, 100 per cent not," Marc Kanter told the Toronto Star in a
phone interview. Kanter is Solid Oak's vice president of marketing.
"There is no hidden political agenda."
Kanter says someone criticizing Cybersitter would not be blocked. He
says Wallace's site is blocked because it "links information on how to
hack Cybersitter. We do not allow our customers to have hacking
information for the program."
Wallace told The Star that's not true. "There's no such information on
my site, nor is there on Peacefire's. I link to some pages maintained
by Glen Roberts, who -- along with some political commentary on
Cybersitter, and analysis of its blocking policy -- offers a (legal)
work-around. However, since his site is separately blocked by
Cybersitter, there is no reason for them to block my site as well."
Kanter dismisses Wallace's complaints. "The guy didn't do any
homework," Kanter says. "There are a few people who are right-wing
activists who are out there that are trying to defame the filtering
program. This is what leads to stories like you are doing -- and
hopefully you are not supportive of their actions."
Wallace didn't know what to make of that. "I've been called a
communist, a socialist, and a wild-eyed civil libertarian, but no one
has ever called me right wing before," he says. "Kanter has obviously
never read _The Ethical Spectacle_."
While Cybersitter, with fanfare, claims its mission is to block Web
sites containing pornography, obscenity, gratuitous violence, hate
speech, criminal activity, etc., an increasing number of investigative
Net.journalists also claim Cybersitter, without fanfare, blocks access
to Web sites based on political criteria.
FOR OUR OWN GOOD
This brouhaha began last summer when CyberWire Dispatch revealed
Cybersitter blocks sites based on political agenda, such as the
feminist National Organization for Women (www.now.org).
Dispatch journalist/editor Brock Meeks asked Solid Oak CEO Brian
Milburn (bmilburn@solidoak.com) about that.
"Milburn isn't shy about it," Meeks reported. "He was outright
indignant when he originally told Dispatch: 'If NOW doesn't like it,
tough'."
Solid Oak threatened to sue Dispatch for its article, but things
quieted down.
In December, the issue erupted again when 18-yearold Bennett Haselton
(bennett@peacefire.org) wrote an article about the company's selection
of blocked sites: "Cybersitter: Where Do We Not Want You To Go Today?"
(www.peacefire.org/censorware/CYBERsitter.html).
Haselton takes computer science and math at Vanderbilt University.
"Peacefire" is his own creation, a teen cyberrights group, average age
15.
According to various Net.journalists, Solid Oak now threatened Bennett
with a lawsuit and even tried to get the Peacefire site booted from its
host system (media3.net) by telling Media3 that Haselton was making it
"his mission in life to defame our product" by "routinely" publishing
names of sites blocked by Cybersitter.
(It should be noted it's easy to figure out which sites are blocked,
the software provides an output list. Try "playboy.com" -- blocked. Try
"whitehouse.com" -- okay. Try "peacefire.org" -- blocked. Try "now.org"
-- blocked.)
Unsuccessful in his pressure against Media3, Milburn instead included
the peacefire.org domain in Cybersitter's block list.
On Dec. 9, HotWired picked the story up
(www.wired.com/news/story/901.html). NetAction Notes
(www.netaction.org) quickly followed suit. Haselton told his story to
the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the EFF assured him it would
represent him, should Solid Oak deliver on its threat to sue.
On Dec. 20, The Netly News (http://netlynews.com) continued the
investigation of Cybersitter. Aside from the irony of Cybersitter
censoring the newsgroup alt.censorship, it "blocks dozens of ISPs and
university sites such as well .com, zoom.com, anon.penet.fi, best.com,
webpower.com, ftp.std.com, cts.com, gwis2.seas.gwu.edu, hss.cmu.edu,
c2.org, echonyc.com and accounting.com. Now, sadly, some libraries are
using it."
BLACK LIST TO BLOCK LIST
Wallace read the reports of legal threats against the teenager and
thought "Milburn was acting like the proverbial 800-pound gorilla."
So Wallace added a link on _The Spectacle_'s homepage called "Don't Buy
Cybersitter."
"I wrote the company," he says, "informing them of my actions and
telling them that they misrepresent their product when they claim it
blocks only indecent material, hate speech and the like."
Wallace says Solid Oak responded by adding his Webzine to its block
list. Learning of this, Wallace wrote Milburn and Solid Oak tech
support.
"I pointed out that _The Spectacle_ does not fit any of their published
criteria for blocking a site," he says. "I received mail in return
demanding that I cease writing to them and calling my mail 'harassment'
-- with a copy to the postmaster at my ISP."
Kanter acknowledges this. "He spoke to us more than once or twice -- he
continued to send mail -- mail like that is considered 'not wanted' and
is automatically sent back."
By the end of our phone conversation, Kanter had dropped the
"right-wing activist" explanation of who was behind the Cybersitter
complaints and offered a new one:
"Some of this rhetoric was started by someone we believe to be a highly
-- how do you put it? -- a highly homosexual individual, who did not
believe we should have the right to block any sites or links to
alternative lifestyles. That's how a lot of this got started."
Why is the National Organization for Women site blocked?
"Very simple. It contains links to gay and lesbian hardcore material. I
was on their page this morning, and there is a lot of offensive
material linked directly. Just go to their links page and start looking
at 'gay' and 'feminism.' Our parents don't want that kind of stuff."
I asked if he really meant "hardcore" -- suggestive of full-penetration
images/stories.
"Yes, by links through links," he clarifies. If someone followed the
links starting at now.org, they'd eventually find hardcore sexual
material.
Kanter says parents are not permitted to know which sites Cybersitter
blocks.
"That list is not given to anybody under any circumstances -- including
law enforcement agencies that have requested it." He says it's to
prevent the list from "getting into the wrong hands."
It would be a cybermap to naughtiness for some kids. And parents aren't
allowed to remove blocked sites from Cybersitter, although they can add
to the list.
Cyber-rights activists claim the incident underscores warnings they've
issued for years: While censorship software may first aim to protect
children against "pornography," it can quickly be adopted for political
agendas.
_The Ethical Spectacle_ is at www.spectacle.org. Solid Oak's Web site
can be found at www.solidoak.com.
-30-
Copyright 1997 K.K. Campbell
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 5 Feb 1997 16:23:21 -0800
From: --Todd Lappin-- <telstar@wired.com>
Subject: File 5--PROTEST: "Remember the Blackout"
THE CDA DISASTER NETWORK
February 5, 1997
Greetings!
Dave Winer -- a Silicon Valley software developer, essayist, and friend --
passed along a message today marking the first anniversary of the "Paint
the Web Black" campaign, which took place almost one year ago, on February
8, 1996, to mourn President Clinton's signing of the CDA into law.
Over 5000 Web sites participated in the 1996 campaign -- during which
Webmasters were encouraged to blacken the backgrounds of their Web pages to
protest the passage of America's first Internet censorship legislation. The
campaign was so successful (and so visually compelling) that newspaper and
television journalists throughout the US took notice of the story --
showing the world for the first time that the Internet community is capable
of rallying as a political force.
Dave is planning an event to commemorate this anniversary, so I'll let him
tell you all about it in his own words...
Work the network!
--Todd Lappin-->
Section Editor
WIRED Magazine
PS: I should mention that Voters' Telecommunications Watch and the Center
for Democracy and Technology were instrumental in organizing the protest
last year, so I want to send them my belated thanks. Like the Electronic
Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union that Dave
mentions below, these groups also "deserve and require our support."
================================
Date--Wed, 5 Feb 1997 13:23:14 -0800
From--dwiner@well.com (DaveNet email)
Subject--Remember the Blackout
---------------------------------------
Amusing Rants from Dave Winer's Desktop
Released on 2/5/97; 1:23:14 PM PST
---------------------------------------
A short piece, in the middle of much website work, to remind everyone
that Saturday February 8 is the first anniversary of an important
event in our new medium -- the web blackout of 1996.
It's already history. In some circles it's not fashionable to
remember that the United States government attempted to censor free
speech on the Internet. I believe it would be cynical to overlook it.
We defeated the law, even though we re-elected many of the
politicians who tried to outlaw free speech in the name of protecting
children.
I'm building a website that will go live on Saturday to commemorate
the protest, and to serve as a monument to the spirit of free speech. To
remind us that this is a worldwide community, and no political system
has the power to enforce its standards of decency on the medium.
The battle to retain our rights is ongoing. Important organizations
such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil
Liberties Union deserve and require our support. It's easy to lose
sight of the principles that we believe in, to be distracted by
questions of corporate survival, of fear or greed. These are
interesting issues, no doubt. But this is a creative and expressive
medium and to protect its potential, unqualified free speech is
essential.
I played a small role in the web blackout last year. This year I hope to
facilitate, to organize more sites and help to spread the word that
free speech is not an option, not something that can be traded or
limited and that no compromises are possible.
<http://www.scripting.com/davenet/misc/blackout/>
If you run a democracy-related site, large or small, please visit the
page before Saturday and register. If you know someone who does,
please pass this on. And if you value free speech, please visit the
site on Saturday or later. It'll be a fascinating trip thru Internet
history, if nothing else!
Remember the blackout. Remember why it was necessary. Don't let
people use children as an excuse to deprive people of their power to
express themselves.
Dave Winer
-------------------------------------------
News & Updates: <http://www.scripting.com/>
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
This transmission was brought to you by....
THE CDA DISASTER NETWORK
The CDA Disaster Network is a moderated distribution list providing
up-to-the-minute bulletins and background on efforts to overturn the
Communications Decency Act.
To SUBSCRIBE, send email to <majordomo@wired.com> with "subscribe
cda-bulletin" in the message body. To UNSUBSCRIBE, send email to
<info-rama@wired.com> with "unsubscribe cda-bulletin" in the message body.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1997 22:03:10 -0500
From: Dave Banisar <banisar@EPIC.ORG>
Subject: File 6--Panel - Copyright and the Net: Is Legislation the Answer?
Copyright and the Net: Is Legislation the Answer?
ACM97: The Next 50 Years of Computing
Sunday March 2 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Fairmont Hotel San Jose, CA
Sponsored by the U.S. Public Policy Committee of ACM (USACM)
Panelists: Hank Barry, Pam Samuelson, Mark Stefik, Gio Wiederhold
Moderator: Barbara Simons, Chair, USACM
o What is the role of copyright in all-electronic publication world?
Will it be replaced by contract law?
o Can the needs of authors who want to publish for renown (academics) and
authors that want to publish for pay (entertainment etc) be handled in one
mechanism?
o Should browsing on the World Wide Web of full copyrighted texts be made
illegal because people make temporary copies in their computer's memory
when they look at a web page?
o Should online service providers, including libraries and universities,
have to monitor user accounts in order to enforce copyright laws?
o Should firms that compile data have intellectual property rights so
that scientists and news reporters can't use the data without permission
or payments?
o How should existing differences in national copyright be handled in a
networked world where national boundaries and are little more than a
speedbump on the information superhighway?
o Does technological protection for copyrighted works inherently undermine
fair use ?
These and related issues will confront the 105th Congress in the coming year.
They will also be examined by this panel, which will discuss controversies
surrounding the extension of copyright law to deal with cyberspace.
Examples include: How does proposed legislation reflect the net?
How much influence have lobbyists for the entertainment industry had
in writing legislation? What should be the role of professional
societies in analyzing policy initiatives?
We will discussed legislation and international treaties that
have been proposed by the White House. We will also examine both
technical and legal approaches to problems created by the net,
as well as how various approaches might impact the
science, technology, and business communities.
A significant amount of time will be allowed for audience
interaction in the discussion.
Biographical sketches
Hank Barry is member of the firm of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
and is Chairman of the firm's Interactive New Media practice group.
He represents publicly and privately-held companies in the multimedia,
software, computer, on-line and entertainment industries. Hank has authored
numerous articles in the fields of venture capital, interactive
media and technology transactions. He currently serves on the
Editorial Board of the Cyberspace Lawyer.
Hank received his law degree in 1983 from Stanford University,
where he was managing editor of the Stanford Law Review.
Pamela Samuelson is a Professor at the University of California at Berkeley
where she holds a joint appointment at the School of Information Management
and Systems and in the School of Law. She has written and spoken
extensively on the challenges posed by digital technologies for the law,
particularly in the field of intellectual property. She is a Contributing
Editor of Communications of the ACM and a Fellow of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation.
Mark Stefik is a principal scientist at the Xerox Palo Alto Research
Center. At Stanford University he received a Bachelor of Science degree in
mathematics in 1970 and a Ph.D. in computer science in 1980. His current
research activities are in approaches for creating, protecting, and reusing
digital property. Stefik is review editor for the international
journal "Artificial Intelligence" and has authored two books on
AI-related topics and a third book on the Internet.
Gio Wiederhold is a professor of Computer Science at Stanford
University, with courtesy appointments in Medicine and Electrical
Engineering. His research focuses on large-scale software construction,
specifically applied to information systems, the protection
of their content, often using knowledge-based techniques.
Wiederhold has authored and coauthored more than 250 published papers
and reports on computing and medicine. Wiederhold received a degree
in Aeronautical Engineering in Holland in 1957 and a Ph. D. in Medical
Information Science from the University of California at San Francisco
in 1976. He has been elected fellow of the ACMI, the IEEE and the
ACM. He currently serves on the ACM Publications Board,
focusing on the move to electronic publication.
Barbara Simons received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from U.C. Berkeley
in 1981. She joined the Research Division of IBM in 1980;
she is currently working in IBM Global Services.
Simons is a Fellow of both the American Association for the Advancement
of Science (AAAS) and ACM. In 1995 she was selected as one of 26 Internet
"Visionaries" by c|net, and in 1994 Open Computing included her in its list
of the top 100 women in computing. She was awarded the 1992 CPSR Norbert
Wiener Award for Professional and Social Responsibility in Computing.
Simons founded and chairs USACM, the ACM U. S. Public Policy Committee.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 1997 11:26:04 -0800 (PST)
From: Bruce R Koball <bkoball@well.com>
Subject: File 7-- The (1997) 7th Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy
The Seventh Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy
March 11-14, 1997
San Francisco Airport Hyatt Regency; Burlingame, California
Sponsored by ACM SIGCOMM & SIGSAC
CFP'97 : Commerce & Community
CFP'97 will assemble experts, advocates, and interested people
from a broad spectrum of disciplines and backgrounds in a balanced
public forum to address the impact of new technologies on society.
This year's theme addresses two of the main drivers of social and
technological transformation. How is private enterprise changing
cyberspace? How are traditional and virtual communities reacting?
Topics in the wide-ranging main track program will include:
PERSPECTIVES ON CONTROVERSIAL SPEECH
THE COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE NET
GOVERNMENTAL & SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF DIGITAL MONEY
INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON CRYPTOGRAPHY
CYPHERPUNKS & CYBERCOPS
REGULATION OF ISPs
SPAMMING
INFOWAR
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND INFO-PROPERTY
THE 1996 ELECTIONS: CREATING A NEW DEMOCRACY
THE COMING COLLAPSE OF THE NET
CFP'97 will feature parallel-track lunchtime workshops during the
main conference on topics including:
THE CASE AGAINST PRIVACY HOW A SKIPTRACER OPERATES
CYBERBANKING HOW THE ARCHITECTURE REGULATES
RIGHTS IN AVATAR CYBERSPACE NATIONAL I.D. CARDS
PUBLIC KEY INFRASTRUCTURES EUROPEAN IP LAW
SEXUAL HARASSMENT IN CYBERSPACE VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES
DOMAIN NAMES ARCHIVES, INDEXES & PRIVACY
GOVERNMENT REGULATION OF ECASH CRYPTO AND THE 1st AMENDMENT
The conference will also offer a number of in-depth tutorials on
subjects including:
* The Economics of the Internet
* Regulation of Internet Service Providers
* The Latest in Cryptography
* The Constitution in Cyberspace
* Info War: The Day After
* Personal Information and Advertising on the Net
* Transborder Data Flows and the Coming European Union
* Intellectual Property Rights on the Net: A Primer
INFORMATION
A complete conference brochure and registration information are
available on our web site at: http://www.cfp.org
For an ASCII version of the conference brochure and registration
information, send email to: cfpinfo@cfp.org
For additional information or questions, call: 415-548-2424
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 6 Feb 1997 00:22:55 -0800 (PST)
From: B Jones <ae750@freenet.unbc.edu>
Subject: File 8--The Information Superhighway Transportation System
A while ago I was talking to my freenet's sysadmin and
I quipped that freenets are bicycles on the information
superhighway. Upon seeing your CuD 9.04 issue, and the
item on OS airlines, I was inspired enough (or insipid
enough, take your pick) to do what follows.
THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM:
---------------------------------------------------
BBSs: A skateboard. Usually dressed up to look cool, but can't
really go anywhere. You hitch rides on cars to pretend to go
fast. Only useful as local transportation.
Freenets: Bicycles. Not very fast, you can't carry very much,
but you can get from A to B, and can do whatever you need to.
Usually you end up eating dust from some jerk in a Trans-Am.
LANs/WANs: Local bus system. Limited area of where you can go,
but you can get transfers to other transportation systems.
Ethernet: Highspeed railways. Very fast, but can only go where
track exists. Adding new track is expensive, usually only where
management decides to build.
ISPs: Rental cars on Interprovincial/Interstate Highways. Fast,
and you can move a lot of information (think of baud rate as
maximum vehicle weight). If you can't afford gas (hourly rates
on ISPs) or the monthly payments, you can't go anywhere.
ARPA/MilNet: Tanks, trucks, and jeeps. The roads cross military
installations, but connect to the highways.
AOL: Cars that have unlimited mileage. Only 100 cars exist for
the 500,000 users, but no rules exist to force people to share
them. The cars can only be taken where the roadmap says you can
go, and they often break down. (You still have to pay for using
the car, even if you didn't get a chance to. No refunds.)
Compuserve: Edsels.
AT&T/MCI/Sprint/Cable: GM, Ford, and Chrysler. They haven't
built any cars yet, and want a government created monopoly to
make it illegal for anyone else to build cars.
Netscape/Internet Explorer: GUIded scenic tours of the Internet.
A lot of tourist stops on the way, meant only to look good.
Lynx: The same itinerary as Netscape/MSIE, but you drive
yourself; you're too busy reading the map to see the sights.
ARCHIE: Rand-McNally atlas, a photo album, and a phone book. You
can find out about the place, but not actually go there.
FTP/Gopher: Not a transportation method; actually, it's UPS and
Federal Express.
Finger: Fodor's guide books.
Telnet/IRC: Good old Ma Bell. You don't actually go anywhere,
you just connect to the other end.
Usenet: A bulletin board in a post office.
E-mail: The postal service. (About as slow as the real post
office when compared to the Web.)
BITNET: A courier service being bought out by the post office.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 1996 22:51:01 CST
From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu>
Subject: File 9--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 13 Dec, 1996)
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End of Computer Underground Digest #9.07
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