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Computer Undergroud Digest Vol. 10 Issue 37
Computer underground Digest Sun July 5, 1998 Volume 10 : Issue 37
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
Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
Ian Dickinson
Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
CONTENTS, #10.37 (Sun, July 5, 1998)
File 1--Islands of the Net (Italy) Restituted! (fwd)
File 2--Folklore- "Spammers Will Hurt You if You Challenge Them"
File 3--Next: Pigs That Fly? (NETFUTURE #72 Reprint)
File 4--The (long) NIGHT OF THE LIVING (brain) DEAD (pt 1)
File 5--Imaginary Gardens. The Eyes of a Child. June 26, 1998
File 6--REVIEW: "net.wars", Wendy W. Grossman
File 7--Couple of announcements from DC-ISOC
File 8--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 25 Apr, 1998)
CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ApPEARS IN
THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 Jul 1998 19:46:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Arturo Di Corinto <arturo@Psych.Stanford.EDU>
Subject: File 1--Islands of the Net (Italy) Restituted! (fwd)
Good news! The server of Islands in the Net has been unseized!
It`s not on line yet, but so far We have:
-28 Mirrors
--1 Protesta(k)tion Kit
--4 Interrogations to the Parliament
--1 new machine
--1 declaration from the Federations of the Italian Press in favour of InR
--several press release indignant at the judge and the police
--HUNDREDS NEW FRIENDS :)
WHAT THE POLICE WANT
--log-files of the so-called defamatory message (silly)
WHAT The Judge Wants
--understand how to "seize" a messagge without seizing the server :)))
(stupid)
WHAT WE WANT
--TO BUILD a CROSSBORDER COOPERATION WITH SUBJECTS "LIKE" US
(hopefully)
Thanks to everyone who supported us!
For more info, please go to: http://ecn.nodo50.org
----------------------------------------------------------
July 1, 1998
An Isole nella Rete (INR) representative and his lawyer filed a claim for
the restitution of INR server to the Vicenza Prosecutor office this
morning.
Prosecutor Paolo Pecori said he had already ruled accordingly yesterday
afternoon.
The INR server will be delivered back to the Bologna provider office by
the Postal Police tomorrow.
This result is due to the strong and prompt reaction of the
Internet community, both on the local and global level.
Particularly active were the INR members and the hundreds of
people and other associations which had been involved with the INR
activities over the last two years. This worldwidespread network
proved able to strongly voice and implement a high level of
solidarity and cooperation which, in a matter of hours after the
server seizure, led to the digital community spontaneaously
organizing to firmly defend its rights against any legal abuse.
by Bernardo Parrella
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 4 Jul 1998 18:38:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: editor@TELECOM-DIGEST.ORG
Subject: File 2--Folklore- "Spammers Will Hurt You if You Challenge Them"
((MODERATORS' NOTE: For those not familiar with Pat Townson's
TELECOM DIGEST, it's an exceptional resource. From the header
of TcD:
"TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but
not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is
circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various
telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and
networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also
gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to
qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell
us how you qualify:
* ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * ======" ))
==================
Source - TELECOM Digest Sat, 4 Jul 98 Volume 18 : Issue 105
From- Michael A. Covington <covington@mindspring.com>
Subject- Folklore- "Spammers Will Hurt You if You Challenge Them"
Date- Fri, 3 Jul 1998 11:05:44 -0400
Recently I was warned by a well-meaning netizen that I should not
challenge spammers because if challenged, they'll do all kinds of
things like mail-bomb me, steal my credit card numbers (how?), turn me
in to the police on false charges, etc. etc.
Balderdash. That sounds like a rumor started by a spammer. In three
years as computer security chairman at the University of Georgia, I've
never encountered a spammer with any detectable amount of courage. If
anybody actually tried to do those things, we'd gleefully catch and
prosecute them.
One *sure* way to turn a neighborhood over to criminals -- either in
physical space or in cyberspace -- is to get everybody afraid of
*imaginary* crimes that haven't happened and haven't even been
threatened. Criminals love it when that happens. Let's not let it
happen to the Net.
Michael A. Covington / AI Center / The University of Georgia
http://www.ai.uga.edu/~mc http://www.mindspring.com/~covington <><
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Bravo! Amen! In the case of real
neighborhoods and real people (as opposed to the net) those stories
are often spread by the police; they do not like citizens trying to
horn in on their 'law and order' monopoly. Consider how the police
always like to give you the BS about 'if someone tries to rob you or
hold you up (at place of business for example), never resist, always
give them whatever they want; why, they might try to hurt you or they
might have a gun, etc.' ... to which I always tell the cop he is full
of it. If someone tries to hold me up or assualt me, my response is to
try and kill them; yours should be too. Certainly I value my own life,
but I am the sort of stubborn person that if some person wants to rob
me of five or ten dollars, I'd just as soon see them -- if they get
caught -- be tried on murder charges as well. You might try living
your life in the manner Johann Sebastian Bach lived his; he was not
afraid of death, in fact he welcomed it. His attitude was 'take me
anytime, Lord ...'. I am neither afraid of death, nor do I 'welcome'
it; but if I cannot live my life in peace and quiet and harmony with
others then damned if I am going to let my assilant do it either.
*Never* submit to a crime against yourself with at least making the
assailant wish he had left you alone. Blind him, maim him, cripple
him, whatever. That way the police can have something real to complain
about instead of their all-to-frequent nonsensical belly aching.
Now regards the same principle and the net: When you have some form
of practical and effecient recourse against a spammer, **use it**.
Stay within the law -- even in a physical assualt you should try to
do only what is necessary to stop the act -- but definitly make the
spammer come to grips with the realities of the net ... make certain
he goes away realizing his spamming was not a smart thing to do.
We often times have tell-free numbers for them; use those numbers in
a way to make sure the spammer understands the vast readership on
the net and how so many millions of people saw his message. <grin>.
If he has a *valid* email address, I suggest punishing his ISP if
the ISP otherwise won't assist. Make sure they feel the wrath. Make
certain they go away wishing they had never even gotten an internet
access account.
As Mr. Covington points out, most of them are cowards. And if they
want to steal your credit card numbers or use your address for their
email, I say **good** -- great in fact. Cause now you really have
a good beef with them, and a way to force the issue and see them in
jail. Why settle for erasing spam all day and complaining about it
when maybe you can induce one of the goofs to act out against you
so you can *really* kick his ass good? <grin> PAT]
------------------------------
From: Stephen Talbott <stevet@MERLIN.ALBANY.NET>
Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1998 13:55:36 -0400
Subject: File 3--Next: Pigs That Fly? (NETFUTURE #72 Reprint)
((MODERATORS' NOTE: It's no secret that technology, science,
and information aren't neutral. But, it never hurts to
remind those who think otherwise)
Source: NETFUTURE (Technology & Human Responsibility) #72
Editor: Stephen L. Talbott (stevet@oreilly.com)
On the Web: http://www.oreilly.com/~stevet/netfuture/
You may redistribute this newsletter for noncommercial purposes.
Next: Pigs That Fly?
--------------------
Andrew Kimbrell, founder of the International Center for Technology
Assessment in Washington, D.C., describes one of the "classic" experiments
in genetic engineering this way:
Dr. Vernon Pursel inserted the human growth gene in a pig. Pursel
hoped to create giant pigs that would be major meat producers. The
problem was that though the human growth gene was in every cell of the
pig's body it did not act in the manner the scientists expected.
Instead of making the pig larger it made it squat, cross-eyed, bow-
legged, smaller than an average pig, with huge bone mass, a truly
wretched product of science without ethics. Pursel tried to find a
silver lining in his experiment gone wrong by claiming that the pig was
leaner. Pursel's argument was that people are worried about
cholesterol, so maybe we can sell this as lean pig. Did he really
think the public was ready for pork chops with human genes?
That pig strikes me as a good metaphor for the constructions of the
Information Age. The prevailing notion is that we have this massive
collection of information -- exemplified by several hundred thousand
snippets of human genetic code -- which we can merrily pass from one
database to another, inserting this piece here and that piece there.
But there is no such thing as an "objective piece of information". Like a
word in a sentence, a bit of information *means* a particular thing only
within a given context. Pursel's pig symbolizes the kind of result you
get when you ignore context and try to build things from the bottom up --
that is, when you start with the reduced products of your sophisticated
analyses, forgetting what it was you were analyzing in the first place.
Context in the present case means, to begin with, the pig itself. Pursel
was willing to see fragments of DNA -- and even lean pork chops -- but did
not care to see the pig. Such is the technological mindset we now trust
to re-engineer the human being.
Exactly the same trust is at work wherever information is glorified as the
decisive form of capital, the basis for problem-solving, and the
fundamental ingredient of all knowledge.
(Kimbrell's remark, incidentally, occurs in a remarkable new book from the
Sierra Club, called *Turning Away from Technology*, edited by Stephanie
Mills. I hope to review it in the near future.)
==================
NETFUTURE is a newsletter and forwarding service dealing with technology
and human responsibility. It is hosted by the UDT Core Programme of the
International Federation of Library Associations. Postings occur roughly
once every week or two. The editor is Steve Talbott, author of "The
Future Does Not Compute: Transcending the Machines in Our Midst".
You may redistribute this newsletter for noncommercial purposes. You may
also redistribute individual articles in their entirety, provided the
NETFUTURE url and this paragraph are attached.
Current and past issues of NETFUTURE are available on the Web:
http://www.oreilly.com/~stevet/netfuture/
http://www.ifla.org/udt/netfuture/ (mirror site)
http://ifla.inist.fr/VI/5/nf/ (mirror site)
To subscribe to NETFUTURE, send an email message like this:
To: listserv@infoserv.nlc-bnc.ca
subscribe netfuture yourfirstname yourlastname
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 09 Jun 1998 23:46:17 -0400
From: Tom Truex <sleddog@k-line.org>
Subject: File 4--The (long) NIGHT OF THE LIVING (brain) DEAD (pt 1)
SOURCE: oNline Christian eMagazine
1. Request to be put on the subscription list by sending email to
sleddog@k-line.org with the Subject, "SUBSCRIBE EMAG"
2. BBS, Davie, FL, USA: 954-792-8355
3. World Wide Web: http://www.k-line.org
4. FidoNet (1:369/155), FREQ, using the magic word, "EMAG."
================================================================
EDITORIAL: THE (long) NIGHT OF THE LIVING (brain) DEAD, part 1
================================================================
It is true that a picture paints a thousand words. Sometimes
though, the words are--like the chalkboard in Bart Simpson's
classroom--the same words written over and over and over.
Moreover, upon close inspection, the thousand words may be "I am
stupid", repeated three hundred thirty three times{1}.
The term "GUI" (graphical user interface) is seldomly used.
Because it is almost always assumed. There still are text based
programs. Even brand new, off the shelf{2}, Windows 95 text based
programs. For example, I run a computer bulletin board system
(BBS) that is largely text based. The supporting programs and
miscellaneous cyber-glue hacks that hold it together are largely
text based. But my case is an exception to a rule that is as wide
and deep as the Grand Canyon. New software--especially consumer
oriented software--is almost exclusively graphical in nature.
That is, lots of pretty pictures and cute icons. Which is a
shame, because the GUI is largely responsible for what I view as
the failure of the utility of personal computing to keep pace with
the technological advances in personal computing.
In former times, personal computers came in big boxes that
said "IBM PC" on the outside.{3} You got a CPU with an 8088
processor, dual 5 1/4 inch floppy disk drives, and a monitor with
pixels almost the size of green marbles. No hard drive. No sound
card (what's a sound card?). No CD-ROM. It did however, have ROM
that started PC-BASIC when you flipped up the ON switch.
If you remember those early PC's--or if you have heard such
tales from your grandpa, or some other cyber-codger--then you
recall, or have heard of, the absolute awe with which we viewed
the power of those machines. Awe because of the frame of
reference. Early PC's from my perspective, were compared to
typewriters. The ability to edit, copy and "word process"
compared to a top of the line typewriter was breathtaking.
Database management and spreadsheets were veritable miracles. The
man-hour{4} savings were worth a fortune to offices like mine. Of
course we no longer frame our comparisons in terms of
typewriters. Indeed, most people never use a typewriter. Most
kids have never seen one. Surely, typical business applications
have come a long way since the first PC. But the majority of the
increased hardware and software technology has been misspent on
pretty pictures and cute icons. Is there any sane reason why a
word processing program used to fit on one 360k floppy disk; but
now requires 60 or 80 Megabytes. That's a lot of 360k floppies!
Hey, I like the spell check and grammar check. The fonts can be
useful on occasion. It's even nice to be able to print in
colors. Those features hog a few bytes. But not two hundred
times as many bytes.
The CD-ROM points to another vast intellectual wasteland.
Surely the CD-ROM was about the most exciting thing that I can
recall about computing. I had visions of the whole public library
packed into a plastic disk that I could slip into my shirt
pocket.{5} Alas, there have been some noble efforts. I have a
nice personal library on CD-ROMs. Of course, I didn't just
stumble into the local computer store and make my selections out
of the discount bin. But to be fair, my tastes in reading
material are not always mainline. IMHO, the CD-ROM should have
been a huge reservoir in which to store accumulated human
knowledge, information and data. Instead, the CD-ROM is reduced
to the launching pad for bloated programs and lots and lots and
lots of pretty pictures. And sound clips and video clips.
I do not care if the hordes of consumer buyers want easy to
use, out of the box, plug and play products. It certainly doesn't
bother me that such products are used and enjoyed. If there's a
market some day for computers with pink shag carpet glued to the
side, that's fine with me. If people want them, then
manufacturers should make them and vendors should sell them. My
complaint is that the price of superfluous products is the lost
opportunity to have really good, useful applications. If the
computer industry is catering to the lowest common denominator,
then it is not catering to what I perceive as good and useful.
Namely the perfection of products that will improve my
productivity and my mind; not just catch the attention of my eyes
and ears. As consumer computer products continue to converge with
consumer entertainment products, the result will be not unlike an
intellectual train wreck.
I had to chuckle when I picked up a computer magazine the
other day. There was a article about some of the electronic
magazines to which I subscribe. Beside the short blurb about
Computer Underground Digest (CuD){6} was a picture of the CuD web
page. To tell you the truth, I was a reader of CuD for quite a
while before I even knew that they had a web page. CuD is all
text. When you get it via email or their newsgroup, you either
view it on your computer monitor, or you print it out on your
printer. No pretty pictures. Just text. Though the picture on
the CuD web page has nothing to do with the publication, the
computer magazine felt compelled to offer up a little graphical
reinforcement. I suppose that if I understood real magazines I
wouldn't question the fact that pictures are what sell magazines.
As of right now, no pictures are scheduled for my publication,
oNline Christian eMagazine.{7}
A few weeks ago, I visited a little horror show at my
daughters' elementary school that the educators titled "technology
night." I suppose that I should sleep easier with
the knowledge that the County School Board has mandated the use
of sophisticated blocking software and "firewalls" (those terms
can be used interchangeably, in case you didn't know{8}) to
prevent my kids from seeing any evil sights/sites. Also to be
blocked{9} are "any entertainment sites"; with the Disney web
page named as an example{10}. This IS education, after all.
But, again I digress. The real heart stopping, spine jolting,
slap in my slackjawed, unshaven face with a cold giant squid
(figuratively speaking, of course), was tucked in the back room
of the "technology center." (Remember when they used to call
that place a "library"?) In the aforesaid back room was
percolating my worst case scenario of the abuse of the GUI. The
computer program on display, we soon learned, was designed for
Kindergarten students. The simultaneous "oohs" and "ahhs" of
the other parents sufficiently covered my quiet gasp of blind,
stark terror. The software being exhibited looked like a cheap
Saturday morning cartoon{11}. The animation and sound really
rivaled what you see on television. Except that the assorted
barnyard cartoon figures invited the kid at the mouse to click
on various images to get a favorable response.{12} Complete with
the annoying sort of sound clips that used to intoxicate kids
into feeding more coins into the machines at the video arcade.
My daughters tell me that such programs make the learning
process more interesting.{13} But I see such programs as the
training grounds for future generations of computer users.
Future consumers with an insatiable appetite for an ever more
sophisticated parade of sound and sights gushing from their
computers. Content? Well, only if necessary to either enhance
the show, or to justify it's use in schools. My generation grew
up watching mindless trash spewing out of the family
television. Now we neither expect nor demand anything better
from television. I fear that future generations will neither
expect nor demand anything better from personal computers.
FOOTNOTES
{1}For the mathematicians, add the word "done" at the end.
{2}Not the "shelf" of retail computer superstores of course. I
mean off the shelf of shareware or mail order specialty software
vendors.
{3}I still have such a box in my attic. It's crammed full of
Christmas ornaments.
{4}Or woman-hours, in most cases.
{5}Copyrights and royalties you ask??? Oh yeah--guess it might
not have worked after all.
{6}One of my personal favorite publications.
{7}Except of course for the picture of my late pet chicken,
Betty, on my web page.
{8}Note for the humor impaired-> ;-)
{9}Or "firewalled". See previous note.
{10}I can think of a lot of good reasons to block the Disney web
page. The fact that it contains "entertainment" isn't one of
those reasons.
{11}The mouths usually move when the characters are talking, but
the background scenery doesn't move too much.
{12}The keyboard wasn't used.
{13}See Angie's article printed elsewhere in this issue of
oNline Christian eMagazine.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 09:47:15 -0500
From: Richard Thieme <rthieme@thiemeworks.com>
Subject: File 5--Imaginary Gardens. The Eyes of a Child. June 26, 1998
The Eyes of a Child
by Richard Thieme
I used to be amused when I was an Episcopal priest that people thought of
ministry as detached from "real life." The truth is, one hears just about
everything, from the biting stings of an overly scrupulous conscience to
obvious denial that enables people who commit murder to sleep peacefully as
if they have done nothing more than swat a few flies.
And yet =85 the perspective of the years sometimes vanishes and one hears
with clarity the still small voice of the child inside.
This morning it is Microsoft - again - on the front page of the Wall Street
Journal, doing its best to destroy a bankrupt entrepreneur whose daughter
has leukemia. Their brigade of lawyers - trained to delay justice and
slaughter the innocent - claim that "Internet Explorer" is a generic term
(you know, like windows) and that nobody can own it. Their disingenuous
arguments remind me of tobacco company executives, solid citizens dressed
in thousand dollar suits, lying to Congress about human beings they
knowingly killed and cover-ups that testify to the depth of the river of
blood through which they waded eye-deep in hell to a pusher's profits.=20
So this is the question: when those folks in the front seats at dinners in
their honor tell those bold-faced lies, does that child's voice ever reach
their ears? Do they even know they are lying or have they convinced
themselves that the appearance of integrity is just another card to play in
a crooked game?=20
Jane Wagner said, I am getting more and more cynical all the time and I
still can't keep up. But cynicism is the pain of disillusioned idealists
who - once in a while - see with the eyes of a child, hear that child's
voice, and remember the kind of world we dreamed it could be.=20
********************************************************************
Imaginary Gardens is a daily reflection on techno/spirituality --
the interaction between ourselves, computer technology, and the
ultimate concerns of our lives.
To subscribe to Imaginary Gardens, send email to
rthieme@thiemeworks.com with "subscribe gardens" in the body of
the message. To unsubscribe, send an email to
rthieme@thiemeworks.com with the word "unsubscribe gardens" in the body
of the message.
Imaginary Gardens and the weekly column, Islands in the
Clickstream, are archived at the ThiemeWorks web site at
http://www.thiemeworks.com.
Copyright 1998 Richard Thieme. All rights reserved.=20
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 3 Jul 1998 10:32:26 -0800
From: "Rob Slade, doting grandpa of Ryan and Trevor" <rslade@sprint.ca>
Subject: File 6--REVIEW: "net.wars", Wendy W. Grossman
BKNETWRS.RVW 980329
"net.wars", Wendy W. Grossman, 1997, 0-8147-3103-1, U$21.95
%A Wendy W. Grossman wendyg@skeptic.demon.co.uk
%C 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012-1091
%D 1997
%G 0-8147-3103-1
%I New York University Press
%O U$21.95 800-996-6987 fax 212-995-3833 feedback@nyupress.nyu.edu
%P 236 p.
%T "net.wars"
I'm still not quite sure about this title. Wars there are, but mostly
either fairly genteel or heavily one-sided. Most of the descriptions
seem to be more about the warring camps than the wars themselves.
Like a great many Internet books, this one starts with a history. But
it is history with a difference. The writing is both personal *and*
relevant, a combination almost impossible to achieve. Grossman has
already admitted, in the introduction, that objectivity is futile, and
further notes that each person comes to the net from a different
perspective, and therefore experiences a different net. Yet the story
of The Great Renaming and The Year September Never Ended are of much
greater moment to current Internet users than DARPA's distant
wonderings about nuclear war hardened communications systems. The war
dealt with in chapter one is, of course, that between netizen and
newbie. One important social point is not made: this battle is not
new, and has been fought every year between the "occupying" forces on
the net, and the equal number of newcomers (an automatic consequence
of the net's doubling of size in every year since about 1980.) The
material may occasionally jar those with the most esoteric technical
understanding (Gilmore's censorship aphorism does also refer to the
technical difficulty of impeding the net), but these isolated
instances only serve to point out that the author is otherwise well
familiar with the net and its myriad uses. Chapter two looks to the
fight between commercial and non-commercial forces, and in particular
the emergence of spam in various forms. It's America OnLine (AOL)
versus the net in chapter three's thoroughly researched and documented
piece. The aol.com domain was the system Internauts loved to hate for
a while, although that position is rapidly being assumed by
hotmail.com nowadays.
Chapter four looks at the issue of encryption, and there are enough
fights there for anyone. Again, the finer technical points of
cryptography are questionable, but the general discussion is good. I
have written before (cf BKOPGPUG.RVW) about the ironies attendant upon
PGP (Pretty Good Privacy); in view of the recent change in ownership
of PGP Inc. Grossman's comments about Zimmermann as the most trusted
cryptographer on the net are yet one more iron in the file. The
discussion continues in chapter five with more emphasis on the issue
of key escrow and export controls.
For those who know something of it, but are not themselves
Scientologists, the shenanigans surrounding that group are completely
mystifying. Grossman's account of the battles royal surrounding
alt.religion.scientology, in chapter six, is fascinating, but even
more intriguing are the fairly glaring holes in the story. (The
material that *is* included provides a fairly obvious explanation for
what is not.)
Chapter seven looks at the issue of censorship and the various
government measures in relation to it. As one who lives outside the
confines of the United States I very much appreciated the fact that
Grossman has lived abroad and therefore knows that 1) the First
Amendment does not, strictly speaking, hold outside the US and 2)
nobody outside the US really cares all that much about the First or
the Constitution it amends. The moral dilemmas of censorship, its
technical infeasibilty, and the contraindicated side effects are
mostly dealt with quite well. I found it a bit of a pity that Rimm's
purported "study" and the other ill-advised reactions were not
discussed in more detail. This omission is fully rectified in chapter
nine, although it's hard to understand why the pieces are not only
separate but separated.
Grossman's take on the issue of women in cyberspace makes for a very
informative and useful chapter eight. Eminently fair and reasonable,
the material dismisses trivialities to deal with real, and much
larger, concerns. The same is true of chapter ten's view of hackers--
if you read it all together. There is a lovely irony in one
individual`s comment on women that really captures the social ethic of
the whole milieu.
While Grossman is obviously, and openly, biased in favour of the net,
she is also clearsighted about its shortcomings. One such is the fact
that even in the world's least regimented society there are misfits,
and a number are documented in chapter eleven. Chapter twelve is a
solid overview of the difficulty of defining the net, and its
demographics. (Just for the record, Netscape started using cookies in
1995, and MS's Internet Explorer uses a directory with multiple files
in place of the more compact COOKIE.TXT.) The question of the net
contribution to democracy is briefly reviewed in chapter thirteen.
Chapter fourteen looks at the unkillable question about whether the
net is dead, dying, or can die. Most of chapter fifteen appears to
deal with electronic commerce. Chapter sixteen rounds off the book
but I'm not sure in which direction: part of it seems to look at the
actions the Internet can take in regard to politics, and part seems to
examine what kind of politics might develop on the net.
In choosing to present the various, sundry, and possibly warring
groups involved with the Internet Grossman has done what Rheingold
didn't quite accomplish in "The Virtual Community" (cf. BKVRTCOM.RVW).
net.wars provides the non-netted reader with a real feel for the real
Internet. For all of the author's protestations that each person
approaches the net distinctly, she has certainly been able to isolate
the common ground of the long time Internaut. Those who know the net
will find the content familiar and enjoyable, and those who don't will
definitely learn something. Would that this could be made required
reading for everyone buying a new account. Or does that just make me
one of the grumpy old guard from chapter one ...
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998 BKNETWRS.RVW 980329
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 01 Jul 1998 15:00:23 -0400
From: Russ Haynal <russ@NAVIGATORS.COM>
Subject: File 7--Couple of announcements from DC-ISOC
Hello DC-ISOC . . . Just a couple of quick announcements that
might be of Interest to members in the Washington DC Metro Area.
(A couple of DC-ISOC meetings will be planned for the fall months)
- Russ Haynal
E-Gov VOLUNTEERS
The Internet Society is looking for volunteers to help staff their
booth during the Next Week's E-Gov 9298.
July 7 - 10 * E-GOV '98 * The National Electronic Government
Conference and Exposition. Washington Convention Center,
Washington, D. C., 150 nationally known experts will help you
understand the transformation to Electronic Government. More than
200 leading companies will show you
new technology enabling faster, better government services. The
year's biggest event devoted exclusively to Electronic
Government. More information is available at http://www.e-gov.com
Anyone Interested in volunteering, should contact The Internet
Society Headquarters:
Mary Burger
mburger@isoc.org
703-648-9888
Martin Burack (Executive Director of ISOC) would like to know if ther
e are any ISOC members in the D.C. area who speak Spanish and
might be available July 16th for a live TV broadcast (and maybe
call-in questions) to Latin America. One person is already lined
up to participate, but ISOC would like to have a back-up.
Please contact martin at ISOC headquarters: 703 648 9888 or
burack@isoc.org
from Gabe Goldberg...
DC computer/network users are welcome at international user group
meeting in Washington in August.
One of the oldest computer user groups in the world, SHARE, will
meet in Washington this summer, August 16-21. Historically focused
on IBM mainframe/enterprise computing, SHARE also covers network,
Internet/intranet, workstation, server, and many other current
topics. SHARE's "big tent" allows one-stop shopping for
information and resources critical to large and complex
information technology organizations.
As a long-time SHARE participant, I'm enthusiastic about attending
one of the rare (three times in 20 years) SHARE meetings in
Washington. And I'm pleased that SHARE has agreed to let local
user group members attend at the discounted SHARE member
registration rate and save more than $200. I'm helping SHARE
communicate with local user groups, and hope to help user group
members understand what SHARE offers.
Briefly quoting SHARE literature:
For more than 40 years, SHARE has brought together top industry
representatives for learning, networking, and advocacy purposes.
SHARE's vision of the future includes providing technology,
connections, and results for its members.
Technology: SHARE provides comprehensive technical educational
programs using the practical, hands-on knowledge of its members
and leading developers and innovaters.
Connections: SHARE provides peer networking to thousands of IT
professionals across the country and allows members to connect
with IBM and top information technology organizations.
Results: The end result of the technical education and industry
connections SHARE provides is the implementation of new
solutions within member organizations.
-- More than 40 years old, one of the first computer user groups
founded
-- Offers cost-effective training, hands-on class/lab experience
-- Meets twice yearly around United States
-- Average week-long meeting attendance over 2000 people
-- Next meets in Washington, DC, August 16-21, 1998
(third visit to DC in 20 years)
-- Includes 800+ technical sessions in several themed program tracks
including Internet/intranets, and full-day tutorials (e.g., All You
Wanted to Know About the World Wide Web and TCP/IP, But Were Afraid
to Ask; Jump Start to Java Programming; Year 2000 Technologies,
Methodologies, and Tools)
-- Participation allows networking with colleagues. influencing vendors
-- Volunteering builds organizational, presentation, management skills
-- Resources enhance business solutions, technical skills,
preventive maintenance, career development
-- Technology exchange allows dialogue with vendors (e.g., IBM,
Computer Associates, Microsoft)
-- SHARE is courting/collaborating with Washington-area user groups,
raffling free day registrations
For more Information: Gabe Goldberg, gabe@acm.org, or <http://www.sha
re.org>
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 25 Apr 1998 22:51:01 CST
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