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Netizens-Digest Volume 1 Number 524
Netizens-Digest Saturday, October 11 2003 Volume 01 : Number 524
Netizens Association Discussion List Digest
In this issue:
[netz] AP - "Iraqi ingenuity key to return of Internet" (fwd)
[netz] Amateur Compterist Vol 11 No 2 - Netizens: Then and Now
[netz] What the Net Means to Me
[netz] Special issue of Noema - 10 year anniversary of The Net and Netizens
Re: [netz] Local Netizenship
[netz] Internet use in Canada levels off (fwd)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2003 22:05:41 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jay Hauben <jrh@umcc.ais.org>
Subject: [netz] AP - "Iraqi ingenuity key to return of Internet" (fwd)
Hi,
I thought readers of the netizens list would be interested in this article
about Internet activity in Iraq. I saw it on the Universal Access list
from Canada cpi-ua@vancouvercommunity.net. It appeared originally on the
telecom-cities mailing list whose website is:
http://www.informationcity.org/telecom-cities
Take care.
Jay
- -----Original Message-----
From: Anthony Townsend [mailto:anthony.townsend@nyu.edu]
Sent: Sunday, June 01, 2003 10:23 PM
To: Urban Technology & Telecommunications
Subject: AP - "Iraqi ingenuity key to return of Internet"
Iraqi ingenuity key to return of Internet
By Jim Krane
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD Amr Bakr and the rest of Iraq have been cut off from the
Internet since American missiles demolished antennas and transmitters
atop the Iraq Ministry of Information building early last month.
Mr. Bakr, a computer repairman, is an Internet addict. These days
he finds himself in need of a fix.
"I miss it a lot," said Mr. Bakr, sitting in a computer-repair shop
next to one of Baghdad's shuttered state Internet cafes. "I used to use
it at least five to six hours a day."
Although Mr. Bakr and other Iraqis are upset about the slicing of
their precious tether to the world, they're also optimistic about the
future of the Internet in Iraq, where access was available to a tiny
minority and then under severe restrictions.
"I consider it as a gate to the 21st century for Iraqis who have
been living in a dark age," said Shakir Abdulla, director general of
the State Company for Internet Services, the agency that distributed
the Internet in Iraq. "This will change their mentality."
For the past few weeks, Mr. Abdulla's technicians have been
hammering together an Internet base station that will soon serve a
50-seat Internet cafe and some homes for the first time since April.
Until then, Internet access comes through only personal satellite
phones carried mostly by reporters here or through a cafe in the city's
Babil district with five computers hooked up to a satellite phone.
When it arrives, an unfettered Internet will nudge Iraqi society in
new directions, offering business opportunities, alternative politics
and contact with people abroad. Such leaps in communication can also
stoke unrest.
"It's not clear that shopping is what they've got in mind. Or maybe
shopping is exactly what they have in mind," said Jonathan Zittrain, a
professor at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and
Society. "The respective popularity of each function of the Internet is
very culturally derived."
For now, the Internet here is barely a memory.
The country's 65 or so Internet cafes where most Iraqis logged on
have been looted. Employees of the State Company for Internet
Services took home the few surviving machines for safekeeping.
Power sources are unreliable. Most of the phones in Iraq don't
work, so widespread Internet access is not likely until they are fixed.
But there is hope and action.
The state company's engineers salvaged one of its satellite
transceivers from the burned-out Ministry of Information and winched it
atop a two-story building in the al-Adel neighborhood in West Baghdad.
After weeks of cobbling and calibrating, the dish was able to send
and receive a satellite signal about a week ago. It's a temporary earth
station, soon to be an Internet cafe.
"We built it from scrap. We had to weld it and build it manually,"
said Mr. Abdullah, a gray-haired man whose fingers fidget over a string
of wooden prayer beads.
With 50 computers squirreled away, and security guards and a diesel
generator at the ready, the Baghdad cafe will offer the public its
first taste of the Internet since early April.
"It's a challenge for us to work under these conditions. But we've
got good minds," said Maathir Fahad, 32, a database programmer in a
blue head scarf who is helping prepare the cafe, a blocky concrete
house sitting behind a tall hedge.
One incentive is that the company already paid for a year's worth
of satellite Internet bandwidth, which is still being beamed from space.
Mr. Abdulla said he has asked the U.S.-led Organization for
Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for a satellite base station
and transmitter to replace the wrecked ones.
Even before the war, Iraq was no haven for Internet surfers. The
country of 24 million was one of the last in the region to join the
Internet community, counting about 250,000 users, almost all of whom
surfed the Web in state-run cafes, Mr. Abdulla said.
Home access was permitted only last year, with just 25,000 accounts.
The country used less than 10 megabits per second of Internet
bandwidth, about the same amount as a big-city office building in the
United States and the lowest of any Arab country, according to
TeleGeography Inc., a Washington-based consulting company.
Iraq's Ministry of Information blocked much of the Web and
permitted only e-mail from Iraq-based servers that sent copies of
messages to the government, Mr. Abdulla said. No private Yahoo e-mail,
no chat rooms, no opposition news or political sites, no pornography.
Still, "Iraqis were very happy with that service," Mr. Abdulla said.
Because the Internet here will largely be rebuilt from scratch, it
can be configured in the prewar manner with all traffic funneled
through a central location, making censorship easier, or it can be
rebuilt with multiple earth stations, which will make filtering more
difficult to impose later.
And if Iraqis receive unfettered access from the start, Mr.
Zittrain said, future regimes will have a difficult time trying to
censor it later.
"It's a lot harder to take something away from someone than to
deprive them of something all along," Mr. Zittrain said.
When he gets the Internet up and running again, Mr. Abdulla says,
all filters and restrictions will be off "unless we as a company
decide to block porn."
- ---
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 20:51:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jay Hauben <jrh@umcc.ais.org>
Subject: [netz] Amateur Compterist Vol 11 No 2 - Netizens: Then and Now
Hi,
July 6, 2003, is the 10th anniversary of Michael Hauben's posting of his
research paper "Common Sense: The Net and the Netizen". (See
http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/CS/Common_Sense1.txt). With the continued
growth and spread of the Internet and of the concept of the Netizen, it
seems appropriate to look back and to reflect on the impact that not only
the Internet has had, but also, and perhaps as importantly, that the
emergence and consciousness of the Netizen has had on society.
To mark this occasion we announce the Amateur Computerist Vol 11 No 2
"Netizens: Then and Now" available at:
http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/text/ACn11-2.pdf
In exploring online, it soon becomes evident that the concept of
the Netizen has inspired many to actively work to make the online
world a better place. The issue documents some of this activity.
See especially the article Netizens Then and Now
http://umcc.ais.org/~jrh/acn/text/acn11-2.articles/acn11-2.a13.txt
Michael would welcome these efforts just as ten years ago in 1992-1993 he
welcomed those who wrote him describing their efforts to contribute to the
growth and spread of the Internet as a public communications medium.
Michael would be honored that others continue his efforts today.
The netizens and the continuing development and application of
the concept of the netizen that we document in these pages, is
indeed something to celebrate.
Thank you dear Michael and thanks to all those who have taken up
the torch to carry it on.
For the Amateur Computerist
Jay Hauben
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2003 11:14:48 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jay Hauben <jrh@umcc.ais.org>
Subject: [netz] What the Net Means to Me
Hi,
Sunday July 6, 2003 marks 10 years since Michael Hauben first posted
"The Net and the Netizens" on Usenet. To commemorate that event I am
posting here a short piece from 1995 where Michael outlines what the net
meant to him.
Comments and reflections are welcomed.
Take care.
Jay
What the Net Means to Me
by Michael Hauben
The Net means personal power in a world of little or no personal
power. (other than those on the top - who are called powerful because
of money, but not because of thoughts or ideas.) The essence of the
Net is Communication, of personal communication between individual
people, and between individuals and those who in society who care (and
do not care) to listen. The closest parallels I can think of are
several fold:
- Samizdat Literature in Eastern Europe.
- People's Presses - The Searchlight, Appeal to Reason,
Penny Press, etc.
- Citizen's Band Radio
- Amateur or Ham radio.
However the Net seems to have grown farther and be more accessible
than the above. The audience is larger, and continues to grow. Plus
communication via the Net allows easier control over the information -
as it is digitized and can be stored, replied to, and easily adapted
to another format.
The Net is the vehicle for distribution of people's ideas, thoughts
and yearnings. What commercial service deals with the presentation of
ideas? I do not need a computer to order flowers from FDT or clothes
from the Gap. I need the Net to be able to voice my thoughts, artistic
impressions, and opinions to the rest of the world. The world will
then be a judge as to if they are worthy by either responding or
ignoring my contribution.
Throughout history (at least in the U.S.A.), there has been a
phenomenon of the street corner Soapbox. People would "stand up" and
make a presentation of some beliefs or thoughts they have. There are
very few soapboxes in our society today. The 70s and 80s wiped out
public expression to the public via the financial crisis and growing
sentiment of put your money where your mouth is. In the late 80s and
early 90s, the Net has emerged as a forum for public expression and
discussion. The Net is partially a development from those who were
involved with the Civil Rights, Anti-War struggles and Free Speech
movements in the 60s. The personal computer is also a development by
some of these same people.
Somehow the social advance rises from the fact that people are
communicating with other people to help them undermine the upper hand
other institutions have. An example is people in California keeping
tabs on gas station prices around the state using Netnews. More
examples of people reviewing music - rather than telling others, you
should really go buy the latest issue of magazine X (rolling stones,
etc) as it has a great review. This is what I mean by people power -
people individually communicating to present their take on something
rather than saying go get commercial entities' X view from place Y.
This is people contributing to other people to make a difference in
people's lives. In addition, people have debated commercial companies'
opposition to the selling of used CDs. This conversation is done in a
grassroots way - people are questioning the music industry's profit
making grasp on the music out there. The industry definitely puts
profit ahead of artistic merit, and people are not interested in the
industry's profit making motive, but rather great music.
Representation of two things:
- Way of expressing one's voice - when that voice generally
does not have a place in the normal political order.
- Way of Organizing and questioning other peoples experiences
so as to have a better grip on a question or problem.
Someone regaining control of one's life from society.
These are all reasons why I feel so passionately about 1) keeping the
Net open to everyone, and having such connections being available
publicly, and 2) Keeping the Net un-commercialized and un-privatized.
Commercialism will lead to growing emphasis on serving oriented rather
than sharing oriented uses of the Net. Like I said before, it is NOT
important for me to be able to custom order my next outfit from the
Gap or any other clothing store. Companies should develop their own
networks if they wish to provide another avenue to sell their
products. In addition, commercial companies will not have it in their
interest to allow people to use the Net to realize their political
self. Again let me reemphasize, when I say politics, I mean power over
one's lives, and surroundings. And this type of politics I would call
democracy.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reprinted from the Amateur Computerist Vol 11 No 1, May 1, 2002.
The whole issue or a subscription is available for free via email.
Send a request to jrh@ais.org or see http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2003 00:37:18 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ronda Hauben <ronda@panix.com>
Subject: [netz] Special issue of Noema - 10 year anniversary of The Net and Netizens
Pier Luigi Capucci, Noema director, and his students have published a special
issue of their online journal Noema in celebration of the 10 year anniversary
of the posting on Usenet of The Net and Netizens by Michael Hauben
http://www.noemalab.com/sections/specials/netizen/main.html
"This is a draft, originally in text format, which would have led to the
book Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet,
by Michael and Ronda Hauben, published by the IEEE Computer Society in 1997
and which also appears in an online edition. "Netizen" is today a common
and widespread term. We can find it on many occasions, debates, articles,
essays, art exhibits, political acts (like the Netizens Protection Act
introduced by the U.S. Congress against online spamming in 1997)...
search engines can show about 100.000 instances of this word. The "Netizen"
concept involves a new and extended vision of our society, which we are
hardly shaping and redefining with many social, ethical, political,
cultural issues to be aware of.
Michael Hauben, who coined the term "Netizen" and
gave it a meaning, posting his research on Usenet just ten years ago,
died suddenly in New York on June 27, 2001, at 28. His research, starting
from the origins and development of Usenet to the diffusion of the Net
(he participated in online communities since the early 1980s), is
fundamental for understanding the current information society, from sharing
information to online communication and participation, from the rising and
diffusion of the Internet communities to the net policies. He is one of
the pioneers who can envisage the future and help us to find the way.
With Michael we believe in a vision of the online world as a powerful and
positive place.
We greatly thank Ronda Hauben for the permission to
republish this draft and the help in this Noema issue on the Netizen
idea.
Pier Luigi Capucci, Noema director"
It is exciting to see this special issue of Noema in honor of Michael
and netizens.
Ronda
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Jul 2003 13:40:59 -0400
From: Elizabeth Fish <mcgctr@fordham.edu>
Subject: Re: [netz] Local Netizenship
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
- --------------E39BD199BB02B08AFDDD4506
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I am sorry, but how do I sign off of this list serve? I have an email address that
was passed along with the job. Thank you.
- --mcgctr@fordham.edu
Howard C. Berkowitz wrote:
> >Howard wrote in part,
> >
> >I think in part because e-mail messages don't have the effect of "holding the
> >floor" -- if one person (say, me) rambles on endlessly, others don't have to
> >listen or to wait -- most lists get by with very few limitations on
> >participation.
>
> You raise a very interesting point, and one relevant to widespread
> net use. Personally, I receive 300-1000 emails a day, and while I
> use spam filters and the like, half a dozen rambling posts from this
> individual don't even prompt me to set up filters.
>
> But the response of 4-6 households was to remove themselves from the
> list, one couple saying they "felt invaded." To me, that's massive
> oversensitivity, but it may be consistent with the feelings of
> nontechnical users of a presumably focused resource.
>
> >Some impose limits on how often someone can post within a given
> >time period, to make it harder for one or a few people to dominate discussion.
> >Many lists ban attachments.
>
> Of course. There are many technical fixes. What, frankly, surprised
> me is the intensity of negative reaction. I will note,
> incidentally, that my community has an extremely high amount of
> Internet connectivity and a generally high education level.
>
> >Often, when no limits are imposed despite what
> >seem to be indefensible abuses, the rationale is not that the abusers have
> >a "right" to do what they do, but that no one has the authority to limit it
> >(anarchy obtains) and/or that the costs of regulation exceed the costs of non-
> >regulation.
>
> Add to that the knowledge of how to respond to the nuisance. I don't
> think I'm boasting to say I could set up a workaround in under an
> hour.
>
> >
> >I realize that I'm begging many questions! It's an interesting
> >topic. (On the
> >issue of demonstrations, I'll just say that one reason it's legal to require
> >permits for marches is the perceived need to reconcile free speech rights with
> >other needs and values.)
>
> I'm inclined to start another thread about the complex tradeoffs
> between anonymity and accountability in the net.
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------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 08:38:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jay Hauben <jrh@umcc.ais.org>
Subject: [netz] Internet use in Canada levels off (fwd)
Hi,
I thought readers of the Netizens list might be interested in the level of
use of the Internet reported in Canada. I am forwarding this from the
Canadian Universal Access list cpi-ua@vancouvercommunity.net.
Take care.
Jay
- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 19 Sep 2003 00:58:07 -0500
From: Paul Nielson <p.nielson@shaw.ca>
Reply-To: cpi-ua@vancouvercommunity.net
To: cpi-ua@vcn.bc.ca
Subject: [CPI-UA] Internet use in Canada levels off
CBC News Online Last Updated Thu Sep 18 18:41:31 2003
a.. Household Internet Use Survey
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/030918/d030918b.htm
OTTAWA-- Internet use among Canadian households has levelled off after a
surge during the late 1990s, according to Statistics Canada.
Some 7.5 million households had at least one person who used the Internet
regularly either at work, school, a public library or another location,
according to data from the Household Internet Use Survey (HIUS).
The figures were only up four per cent from 2001, compared to increases in
use of 19 per cent in 2001 and 24 per cent in 2000.
Households accounted for 51 per cent of the total Internet use in 2002.
Households with high income, members active in the labour force, those
with children still living at home and people with higher levels of
education accounted for the highest Internet use.
Many homes had already adopted the Internet, so growth rates are reduced.
Three quarters of households using the Internet regularly from home
reported that someone went online at least once a day, compared with 73
per cent the year before.
Two out of three households (65 per cent) using the Internet from home
reported spending 20 or more hours each month surfing, up from 63 per cent
in the previous year.
Canadians still use the Internet mostly for e-mail and general browsing.
But growing numbers of households rely on the Internet to obtain
information on their health, to research and make travel arrangements and
to obtain information from various levels of government.
Specialized uses such as electronic banking are also increasing.
Internet use was highest in Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Copyright © 2003 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
------------------------------
End of Netizens-Digest V1 #524
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