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Computer underground Digest Sun June 22, 1997 Volume 9 : Issue 48
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ISSN 1004-042X
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Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu)
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News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu)
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Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
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Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
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Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
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Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
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Ian Dickinson
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Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
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Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
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CONTENTS, #9.48 (Sun, June 22, 1997)
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File 1--Georgia Internet Regulations Ruled Unconstitutional
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File 2--Islands in the Clickstream
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File 3--Re CuD 9.46 - Blocking Software and Germany
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File 4--McCain speaks out on S. 909
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File 5--New York Judge Prohibits State Regulation of Internet
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File 6--Response to "Purpose of CuD"
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File 7--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 May, 1997)
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CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN
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THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
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---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Date: Sat, 21 Jun 1997 00:16:03 GMT
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From: "ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update Owner"@newmedium.com
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Subject: File 1--Georgia Internet Regulations Ruled Unconstitutional
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Georgia Ruling available online now, New York summary available now and
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Ruling on the way at http://www.aclu.org/issues/cyber/censor/censor.html
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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ACLU Wins First-Ever Challenge to a State
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Internet Censorship Law in Georgia
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Friday, June 20, 1997
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ATLANTA -- As the nation awaits a Supreme Court decision on Internet
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censorship, a federal district judge here today struck down a state law
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criminalizing online anonymous speech and the use of trademarked logos as
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links on the World Wide Web.
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Ruling simultaneously in ALA v. Pataki, another ACLU challenge to state
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Internet regulation, a Federal District Judge in New York today blocked the
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state from enforcing its version of the federal Communications Decency Act
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(CDA).
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In ACLU v. Miller, Federal District Court Judge Marvin Shoob today granted
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the ACLU's request to enjoin Georgia's statute restricting free speech
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in cyberspace and denied the State's request to dismiss the suit.
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The Court agreed with the ACLU, Electronic Frontiers Georgia and
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others that the statute is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad because
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it bars online users from using pseudonyms or communicating anonymously
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over the Internet. The Act also unconstitutionally restricts the use of
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links on the World Wide Web which allows users to connect to other sites.
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In the Court's decision, Judge Shoob noted that Georgia's law, "sweeps
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innocent, protected speech within its scope." He went on to say that it,
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"affords prosecutors and police officers with substantial room for
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selective prosecution of persons who express minority viewpoints. . . .
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[Moreover,] Georgia already has in place many less restrictive means to
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address fraud and misrepresentation."
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"The Court's order goes straight to the First Amendment flaws with the
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statute." said Scott McClain of Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, cooperating
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attorneys for the ACLU. "Judge Shoob viewed the statute exactly as the
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Plaintiffs did: as a vague, overbroad, unconstitutional restriction on
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free speech and privacy on the Internet."
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"The Court recognized that anonymity is the passport for entry into
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cyberspace for many persons," said Gerald Weber, Legal Director of
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the ACLU of Georgia. "Without anonymity, victims of domestic violence,
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persons in Alcoholics Anonymous, people with AIDS and so many others
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would fear using the Internet to seek information and support."
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"We are very pleased with the Judge's decision," said Robert Costner,
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Executive Director of Electronic Frontiers Georgia. "This injunction
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clears the way for Electronics Frontier Georgia to release our anonymous
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remailer services on the Internet."
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Georgia's lawsuit was the first challenge to state cyberspace laws and
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statutes restricting privacy on the Internet.
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Today's ruling came as the nation awaits word from the U.S. Supreme
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Court in Reno v. ACLU, the ACLU's challenge to Internet censorship
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provisions of the federal Communications Decency Act (CDA).
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"Today's decisions in New York and Georgia say that, whatever limits
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the Supreme Court sets on Congress's power to regulate the Internet,
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states are prohibited from acting to censor online expression," said
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Ann Beeson, an ACLU national staff attorney and member of the legal
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teams in the New York, Georgia and federal cases.
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"Taken together, these decisions send a very important and powerful
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message to legislators in the other 48 states that they should keep
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their hands off the Internet," Beeson added.
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The Georgia lawsuit was filed on September 24, 1996, by the ACLU on behalf
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of 14 plaintiffs. The 14 individual plaintiffs and organizations named in
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the ACLU v. Miller are: American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia; The
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AIDS Survival Project; the Atlanta Freethought Society; Atlanta Veterans
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Alliance; Community ConneXion; Electronic Frontier Foundation; Electronic
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Frontiers Georgia; Rep. Mitchell Kaye; Ken Leebow; Bruce Mirken; Bonnie L.
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Nadri; Josh Riley; John Troyer; and Jonathan Wallace.
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========
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ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update Editor:
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Lisa Kamm (kamml@aclu.org)
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American Civil Liberties Union National Office
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125 Broad Street
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New York, New York 10004
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To subscribe to the ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update, send a message
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to majordomo@aclu.org with "subscribe Cyber-Liberties" in the
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body of your message. To terminate your subscription, send a
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message to majordomo@aclu.org with "unsubscribe Cyber-Liberties"
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------------------------------
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Date: Sat, 14 Jun 1997 06:06:33
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From: Richard Thieme <rthieme@thiemeworks.com>
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Subject: File 2--Islands in the Clickstream
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Islands in the Clickstream:
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Fractals, Hammers, and Other Tools (An Intellectual Fractal Puzzle)
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by
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Richard Thieme
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"Fractint" was one of the first computer programs I
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encountered that blew my mind. (It's still out there on the
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Internet. Download one if you want to try it.)
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Fractint generates fractals. Fractals are mathematical
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formulae that express complex realities with elegant simplicity.
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Before computers, you had to have a mathematician's mind to grasp
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the relationships expressed by fractals. Computers enabled those
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relationships to be represented pictorially. Fractint lets you
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generate images of fractals, then cycle through them in thousands
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of colors. The vision of a fractal in action is stunning.
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Fractals often resemble natural objects. Simple formulae
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using recursion generate images that look like branching trees,
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clouds, coastlines, or fern leaves. Seeing those images on a
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computer changed how I saw the natural world. The computer
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generated a different framework for looking at and comprehending
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the "real" world.
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Fractals are self-similar at all scales. If you magnify a
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section of a fractal, then magnify a section of the section, each
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one looks similar, like nested wooden dolls. You can keep
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magnifying smaller and smaller pieces until the image on your
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monitor is part of something so big that, if you spread it out,
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it would stretch from the sun to the orbit of Jupiter.
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My wife, who is not a techno-geek, looks up now as we walk
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through a forest or watch clouds move through the sky and says,
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"Fractals."
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This brave new tool, the computer, is programming us to see
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things in its own image, teaching our minds as well as our mouse-
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clicking hands how to use it.
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Fractint also taught me that intellectual property, as we
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have known it, is over.
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The concept of an "author" who owned "a work" was invented
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by the printing press. The printing press fixed words in text and
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created an illusion of permanence, of something solid "out
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there." Students are still surprised to learn that Shakespeare
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did not care to preserve his plays for future generations.
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"Writing for future generations" was a conceit thinkable only
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after we had fully internalized the world of text and thought of
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books as artifacts that would last.
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Fractint was built by "the Stone Soup Group," programmers
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who worked collaboratively online. Some of their names are known,
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but many are anonymous. A collective wrote the program, just as
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monasteries in the middle ages created illuminated manuscripts
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without a thought for the name of an "author" or owner of the
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"intellectual property."
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Cultural artifacts like laws (copyrights, patents) are tools
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too. The shape of those tools is determined by our information
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systems. After we use them a while, we forget that, and they
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become part of the background noise of our lives.
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Fractals are a metaphor not only for what I see "out there"
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but also for what I observe within myself. Every decade or so, I
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discover myself in transition to another developmental stage.
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Each stage includes and transcends everything that came before.
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My psyche is self-similar at all scales, just like a fractal.
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Civilizations too go through developmental transitions, and
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they too include and transcend everything that came before.
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Back to tools.
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It is said in the consulting business that "to the person
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with only a hammer, every problem looks like a nail." Our tools
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structure our perception and frame our possibilities for action.
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I asked a number of engineers what tools they commonly
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use. All but one said "computer" first. Some added t-square, or
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architect's rule, or drafting board. Only one said pencils,
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although everybody uses them. Nobody said "words."
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We only notice the new tools in our kit, like computers.
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Those we were given by prior generations disappear into the
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background. I notice that most people mean by the word
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"technology" the technology that has been invented since they
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were children.
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The evolution of tools and the hands that hold them or the
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minds that think them is a cultural process. It's a chicken-and-
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egg kind of thing. Did we build more complex bridges and
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buildings because we had better tools, or did tools evolve that
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enabled us to build better bridges and buildings?
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Computers simulate what we call "reality" but that "reality"
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in fact consists of nested levels of symbols. Digital images are
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images of texts, texts are images of writing, writing is an image
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of spoken words. They are all artifacts, nested in levels of
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abstraction that are self-similar at all scales.
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Before human beings spoke, the artifacts or tools generated
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by language did not exist. We call those tools ideas, concepts,
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mental models. They are the building blocks of our maps of
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reality. Because they are modular, we can connect words and ideas
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in an infinite number of ways and build more ideas, more
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elaborate frameworks or architectures that enable us to build
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everything from bridges to religions.
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Like speech, writing, and print, the computer is a tool that
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shapes our perceptions into forms the computer can use. If we are
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to bring our ideas to the computer, they must be expressed in
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language the computer understands.
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To the person with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
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To human beings who use speech, the only ideas we can think are
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ideas we can express in words. In a civilization transformed by
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interaction through networked computers, we will think only
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thoughts that can be simulated or manipulated by the single
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electronic network that mediates communication and the flow of
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information.
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The world looks to me like fractals because Fractint taught
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me to perceive the world as fractals. Engineers will build the
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kind of infrastructure that networked computers teach and enable
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them to see and think. The physical structures of civilization
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will be determined by how computers think.
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Everything is a flowing, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus
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said. If only he'd had a PC and a program like Fractint! Then he
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could have seen that flowing in thousands of colors, fractals of
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unimaginable simplicity and complexity, self-similar at all
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scales.
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I bet it would have blown his mind.
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**********************************************************************
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Islands in the Clickstream is a monthly column written by
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Richard Thieme exploring social and cultural dimensions
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of computer technology. Comments are welcome.
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Feel free to pass along columns for personal use, retaining this
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signature file. If interested in (1) publishing columns
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online or in print, (2) giving a free subscription as a gift, or
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(3) distributing Islands to employees or over a network,
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email for details.
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To subscribe to Islands in the Clickstream, send email to
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rthieme@thiemeworks.com with the words "subscribe islands" in the
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body of the message. To unsubscribe, email with "unsubscribe
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islands" in the body of the message.
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Richard Thieme is a professional speaker, consultant, and writer
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focused on the impact of computer technology on individuals and
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organizations.
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Islands in the Clickstream (c) Richard Thieme, 1997. All rights reserved.
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ThiemeWorks P. O. Box 17737 Milwaukee WI 53217-0737 414.351.2321
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------------------------------
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Date: Wed, 18 Jun 1997 00:51:52 +0200 (MET DST)
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From: Ulrich Mayring <nospam@127.0.0.1>
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Subject: File 3--Re CuD 9.46 - Blocking Software and Germany
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Hello,
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just a quick note from a non-expert:
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Any screening and monitoring software is subject to privacy laws.
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Here in Germany most of the features of the monitoring software
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you are describing in cu-digest.946 would be illegal. To wit:
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Legal is: Recording whether an employee uses the Internet as part
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of his job or as a private person, PROVIDED the employer has the
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agreement of the employee to record such information. (How the
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software would know is quite beyond me, though).
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Illegal is: Recording exactly WHAT the employee surfing as a
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private person looks at. You can't record URLs, you can't record
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UseNet groups, you definetely can't snoop in on his email. It
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doesn't matter if the employee agrees or not - it is illegal to
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monitor anything of what an employee does as a private person.
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After all your employer is not allowed to read your paper mail
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either, should you bring it to the office. Most of what a
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monitoring software records is breach of privacy in Germany.
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Also, if the company has an organized union chapter (called
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Betriebsrat, which is very common in Germany), they have to be
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notified of any and all monitoring going on with or without the
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consent of the employee.
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I am not sure about other countries, but here in Germany
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"internet usage monitoring" by software is subject to the same
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privacy law (called Datenschutzgesetz) as are surveillance
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cameras and the like.
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For more information on this aspect of monitoring, I would
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recommend consulting a law expert, as I am only repeating what I
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read in a German computer magazine (the article was written by an
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attorney).
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Otherwise, keep up the good work with CuD,
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Ulrich Mayring
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------------------------------
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Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 12:40:01 -0800
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From: "--Todd Lappin-->" <telstar@wired.com>
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Subject: File 4--McCain speaks out on S. 909
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Source - fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu
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June 20, 1997 - 12:30 pm PST
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Just got off the phone with Senator McCain. Here are some highlights of
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our brief, 5 minute conversation -- a conversation during which he used the
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term "national security" repeatedly, and with strong emphasis.
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Against that backdrop, McCain repeatedly stated that he's willing and eager
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to negotiate on the provisions of the "Secure Public Networks Act."
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All are welcome to use this material, with proper attribution:
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--Todd Lappin-->
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Section Editor
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WIRED Magazine
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-------------------------------------
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McCain on the rationale behind S. 909 (with allusion to his wartime
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experience):
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"I've always said that national security is a primary concern -- and based
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on my own experience, I've had a lot of time to consider how important that
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really is."
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McCain on the software industry:
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"Frankly, I'm somewhat surprised that the software industry would be so
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willing to downplay the dangers of child porn... This stuff is out there,
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and we can't allow child pornographers to hide by encrypting that material.
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"I'm astonished that any industry would consider their priorities to be so
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important that they override national security concerns."
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McCain on Pro-CODE:
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"I'm all for Pro-CODE -- except for it's impact on national security.
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McCain on the future:
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"I promise you, now that we've adopted this legislation, we will sit down
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and work this out with all the parties involved. As I've said before, from
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a practical standpoint, we can't override a presidential veto. With this
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bill, we've established that the President of the United States has
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authority over national security."
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------------------------------
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Date: Sat, 21 Jun 1997 00:16:03 GMT
|
||
|
From: "ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update Owner"@newmedium.com
|
||
|
Subject: File 5--New York Judge Prohibits State Regulation of Internet
|
||
|
|
||
|
New York Judge Prohibits State Regulation of Internet
|
||
|
|
||
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
|
||
|
Friday, June 20, 1997
|
||
|
|
||
|
NEW YORK -- As the nation awaits a Supreme Court decision on
|
||
|
Internet censorship, a federal district judge here today blocked
|
||
|
New York State from enforcing its version of the federal
|
||
|
Communications Decency Act (CDA).
|
||
|
|
||
|
Ruling simultaneously in ACLU v. Miller, another ACLU challenge to
|
||
|
state Internet regulation, a Federal District Judge in Georgia
|
||
|
today struck down a law criminalizing online anonymous speech and
|
||
|
the use of trademarked logos as links on the World Wide Web.
|
||
|
|
||
|
In ALA v. Pataki, Federal District Judge Loretta A. Preska issued
|
||
|
a preliminary injunction against the New York law, calling the
|
||
|
Internet an area of commerce that should be marked off as a
|
||
|
"national preserve" to protect online speakers from inconsistent
|
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|
laws that could "paralyze development of the Internet altogether."
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|
||
|
Judge Preska, acknowledging that the New York act was "clearly
|
||
|
modeled on the CDA," did not address the First Amendment issues
|
||
|
raised by the ACLU's federal challenge, saying that the Commerce
|
||
|
Clause provides "fully adequate support" for the injunction and
|
||
|
that the Supreme Court would address the other issues in its
|
||
|
widely anticipated decision in Reno v. ACLU. (The Court's next
|
||
|
scheduled decision days are June 23, 25 and 26.)
|
||
|
|
||
|
"Today's decisions in New York and Georgia say that, whatever
|
||
|
limits the Supreme Court sets on Congress's power to regulate the
|
||
|
Internet, states are prohibited from acting to censor online
|
||
|
expression," said Ann Beeson, an ACLU national staff attorney who
|
||
|
argued the case before Judge Preska and is a member of the ACLU v.
|
||
|
Miller and Reno v. ACLU legal teams.
|
||
|
|
||
|
"Taken together, these decisions send a very important and
|
||
|
powerful message to legislators in the other 48 states that they
|
||
|
should keep their hands off the Internet," Beeson added.
|
||
|
|
||
|
In a carefully reasoned, 62-page opinion, Judge Preska warned of
|
||
|
the extreme danger that state regulation would pose to the
|
||
|
Internet, rejecting the state's argument that the statute would
|
||
|
even be effective in preventing so-called "indecency" from
|
||
|
reaching minors. Further, Judge Preska observed, the state can
|
||
|
already protect children through the vigorous enforcement of
|
||
|
existing criminal laws.
|
||
|
|
||
|
"In many ways, this decision is more important for the business
|
||
|
community than for the civil liberties community," said Chris
|
||
|
Hansen, a senior ACLU attorney on the ALA v. Pataki legal team and
|
||
|
lead counsel in Reno v. ACLU. "Legislatures are just about done
|
||
|
with their efforts to regulate the business of Internet 'sin,' and
|
||
|
have begun turning to the business of the Internet itself. Today's
|
||
|
decision ought to stop that trend in its tracks."
|
||
|
|
||
|
Saying that the law would reduce all speech on the Internet to a
|
||
|
level suitable for a six-year-old, the American Civil Liberties
|
||
|
Union, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the American Library
|
||
|
Association and others filed the challenge in January of this
|
||
|
year.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The law, which was passed by the New York legislature late last
|
||
|
year, provides criminal sanctions of up to four years in jail for
|
||
|
communicating so-called "indecent" words or images to a minor.
|
||
|
|
||
|
In a courtroom hearing before Judge Preska in April, the ACLU
|
||
|
presented a live Internet demonstration and testimony from
|
||
|
plaintiffs who said that their speech had already been "chilled"
|
||
|
by the threat of criminal prosecution.
|
||
|
|
||
|
"This is a big win for the people of the state of New York," said
|
||
|
Norman Siegel, Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties
|
||
|
Union. "Today's ruling vindicates what we have been saying all
|
||
|
along to Governor Pataki and legislators, that they cannot legally
|
||
|
prevent New Yorkers from engaging in uninhibited, open and robust
|
||
|
freedom of expression on the Internet."
|
||
|
|
||
|
The ALA v. Pataki plaintiffs are: the American Library
|
||
|
Association, the Freedom to Read Foundation, the New York Library
|
||
|
Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free
|
||
|
Expression, Westchester Library System, BiblioBytes, Association
|
||
|
of American Publishers, Interactive Digital Software Association,
|
||
|
Magazine Publishers of America, Public Access Networks Corp.
|
||
|
(PANIX), ECHO, NYC Net, Art on the Net, Peacefire and the American
|
||
|
Civil Liberties Union.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Michael Hertz and others of the New York firm Latham & Watkins
|
||
|
provided pro-bono assistance to the ACLU and NYCLU; Michael
|
||
|
Bamberger of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal in New York is also
|
||
|
co-counsel in the case. Lawyers from the ACLU are Christopher
|
||
|
Hansen, Ann Beeson and Art Eisenberg, legal director of the NYCLU.
|
||
|
|
||
|
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
||
|
|
||
|
ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update Editor:
|
||
|
Lisa Kamm (kamml@aclu.org)
|
||
|
American Civil Liberties Union National Office
|
||
|
125 Broad Street
|
||
|
New York, New York 10004
|
||
|
|
||
|
To subscribe to the ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update, send a message
|
||
|
to majordomo@aclu.org with "subscribe Cyber-Liberties" in the
|
||
|
body of your message. To terminate your subscription, send a
|
||
|
message to majordomo@aclu.org with "unsubscribe Cyber-Liberties"
|
||
|
in the body.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The Cyber-Liberties Update is archived at
|
||
|
http://www.aclu.org/issues/cyber/updates.html
|
||
|
|
||
|
For general information about the ACLU, write to info@aclu.org.
|
||
|
PGP keys can be found at http://www.aclu.org/about/pgpkeys.html
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 1997 18:06 -0400
|
||
|
From: jay holovacs <holovacs@IDT.NET>
|
||
|
Subject: File 6--Response to "Purpose of CuD"
|
||
|
|
||
|
((MODERATORS NOTE: We did not realize that Mike Oar's original
|
||
|
post was intended only for th CuD editors, because there
|
||
|
was no indication that distribution was restricted, and his
|
||
|
post seemed far more articulate than a simple "FWIW" note.
|
||
|
We apologize to him for the misunderstanding and appreciate
|
||
|
his good nature in other private mail.))
|
||
|
|
||
|
I feel compelled to address some of the comments made by Mike Oar in CUD 9.44
|
||
|
|
||
|
Oar says:
|
||
|
[You may guess that I tend to draw a middle of the road
|
||
|
perspective on censorship. I believe that participants
|
||
|
(on-liners) need to be more civil than they now are, and that
|
||
|
those that aren't continue to destroy the reputation and ability
|
||
|
of the "real" users to use the information that is/could be out
|
||
|
there.]
|
||
|
|
||
|
There is *no* middle of the road on censorship. Either you
|
||
|
support free speech or you don't. All else is just a matter of
|
||
|
degree ("I approve of censoring the stuff I find too offensive").
|
||
|
And there will always be plenty of people wanting to control stuff
|
||
|
you would find acceptable.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The battle for free speech is always fought at the sleazy edges,
|
||
|
because that is always what is attacked first. The internal
|
||
|
publications of some of the organizations who are now claiming
|
||
|
only to want to keep "porn" out of the hands of children indicate
|
||
|
the eventual goal of restricting the availability of erotica to
|
||
|
adults as well. Some of these same people favor government
|
||
|
enforcement of their religious values. (By contrast, there is not
|
||
|
much room for a hidden agenda to a free speech purist--Keep
|
||
|
everything open--period)
|
||
|
|
||
|
As has been pointed out before, the First Amendment was not
|
||
|
written to protect innoffensive speech or speech approved by the
|
||
|
majority (which normally needs no protection), but the right of
|
||
|
the minority to contradict majority opinions and sensibilities.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Oar expresses a legitimate complaint: the uncivil nature of some
|
||
|
on the net. It is not quite so clear what he is proposing, though
|
||
|
placing his reference in a paragraph on censorship implies
|
||
|
possible government involvement: Perhaps "civility police"... can
|
||
|
you spell "Singapore"?
|
||
|
|
||
|
And who are his "real users" anyhow? The corporate commercial
|
||
|
crowd who would like one more bland shopping mall? Or is it the
|
||
|
individuals who finally have a chance at exercising a little free
|
||
|
speech on their own soapbox (something long denied in the
|
||
|
corporate moderated media)?
|
||
|
|
||
|
Oar continues: [I also believe that while there's nothing
|
||
|
inherently wrong with annonimity, it is often abused and used to
|
||
|
cover up sick and disgusting acts by those who are simply too
|
||
|
cowardly or perverse to reveal their true identity.]
|
||
|
|
||
|
Is this a suggestion that anonymity be limited? If identity can be
|
||
|
traced, then such anonymity is useless. If undesirable speech can
|
||
|
be traced, then dissidents and government critics can be traced.
|
||
|
Freedom can bring out the worst in people as well as the best.
|
||
|
Should we oppose freedom? Governments do not like anonymity, and
|
||
|
every one of them, from North Korea and Burma to the USA will
|
||
|
assure you that *their* surveillance of citizens is responsible,
|
||
|
and for the greater public good (though, of course, "other
|
||
|
governents" may be abusing their own power).
|
||
|
|
||
|
Oar:
|
||
|
[There are real issues to deal with as technology becomes more
|
||
|
readily available to the world. It's no longer the play ground of
|
||
|
the select few who can learn how to program or spend endless
|
||
|
hours on-line. . .
|
||
|
snip...
|
||
|
it begins to become the responsibility of those that
|
||
|
create it to do all that they
|
||
|
can to educate the users to it's proper use.
|
||
|
snip...
|
||
|
I think it is our charge as the creators of technology
|
||
|
to promote and insure it's
|
||
|
proper use...]
|
||
|
|
||
|
Interesting mutiple references to "proper use." I suspect that
|
||
|
concepts of proper use vary widely, and am deeply suspicious of
|
||
|
any attempt to define "proper use" for the net.
|
||
|
|
||
|
I doubt there is a more important function for the net anywhere in
|
||
|
the world than political change and opening peoples' minds to
|
||
|
alternative ideas. This is often controversial and
|
||
|
confrontational. It cannot be accomplished in an atmosphere of
|
||
|
(even relatively benign) state control. Keeping the net wide open
|
||
|
is a top priority; if we give up this freedom even in the name of
|
||
|
"community benefit", this power for change is lost. Sure, some of
|
||
|
the dregs will come along with the flow, but that is the price of
|
||
|
a free society.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Barry Goldwater (with whom I disagree on many points) correctly
|
||
|
said "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice..."
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Jay Holovacs
|
||
|
holovacs@mail.idt.net
|
||
|
|
||
|
PS: Meeks *sometimes* uses vulgar language in his columns (often he does not),
|
||
|
but there is a strong tongue in cheek flavor in those writings. You still have
|
||
|
the
|
||
|
right to disagree, but give your sense of humor a little slack.
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Thu, 7 May 1997 22:51:01 CST
|
||
|
From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu>
|
||
|
Subject: File 7--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 May, 1997)
|
||
|
|
||
|
Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are
|
||
|
available at no cost electronically.
|
||
|
|
||
|
CuD is available as a Usenet newsgroup: comp.society.cu-digest
|
||
|
|
||
|
Or, to subscribe, send post with this in the "Subject:: line:
|
||
|
|
||
|
SUBSCRIBE CU-DIGEST
|
||
|
Send the message to: cu-digest-request@weber.ucsd.edu
|
||
|
|
||
|
DO NOT SEND SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE MODERATORS.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The editors may be contacted by voice (815-753-6436), fax (815-753-6302)
|
||
|
or U.S. mail at: Jim Thomas, Department of Sociology, NIU, DeKalb, IL
|
||
|
60115, USA.
|
||
|
|
||
|
To UNSUB, send a one-line message: UNSUB CU-DIGEST
|
||
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Send it to CU-DIGEST-REQUEST@WEBER.UCSD.EDU
|
||
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(NOTE: The address you unsub must correspond to your From: line)
|
||
|
|
||
|
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 DL1 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 Delphi in the General Discussion database of the Internet SIG;
|
||
|
on RIPCO BBS (312) 528-5020 (and via Ripco on internet);
|
||
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CuD is also available via Fidonet File Request from
|
||
|
1:11/70; unlisted nodes and points welcome.
|
||
|
|
||
|
In ITALY: ZERO! BBS: +39-11-6507540
|
||
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|
||
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UNITED STATES: ftp.etext.org (206.252.8.100) in /pub/CuD/CuD
|
||
|
Web-accessible from: http://www.etext.org/CuD/CuD/
|
||
|
ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4) in /pub/Publications/CuD/
|
||
|
aql.gatech.edu (128.61.10.53) in /pub/eff/cud/
|
||
|
world.std.com in /src/wuarchive/doc/EFF/Publications/CuD/
|
||
|
wuarchive.wustl.edu in /doc/EFF/Publications/CuD/
|
||
|
EUROPE: nic.funet.fi in pub/doc/CuD/CuD/ (Finland)
|
||
|
ftp.warwick.ac.uk in pub/cud/ (United Kingdom)
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
The most recent issues of CuD can be obtained from the
|
||
|
Cu Digest WWW site at:
|
||
|
URL: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest/
|
||
|
|
||
|
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. Authors hold a presumptive copyright, 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.
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
End of Computer Underground Digest #9.48
|
||
|
************************************
|
||
|
|