867 lines
38 KiB
Plaintext
867 lines
38 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
||
|
Computer underground Digest Wed Jan 24, 1996 Volume 8 : Issue 07
|
||
|
ISSN 1004-042X
|
||
|
|
||
|
Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@MVS.CSO.NIU.EDU
|
||
|
Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
|
||
|
Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
|
||
|
Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
|
||
|
Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
|
||
|
Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
|
||
|
Ian Dickinson
|
||
|
Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
|
||
|
|
||
|
CONTENTS, #8.07 (Wed, Jan 24, 1996)
|
||
|
|
||
|
File 1-- From TIME: Quittner on hate groups (fwd)
|
||
|
File 2--ALERT - Bernie S. Sentencing Friday
|
||
|
File 3--Response to the Simon Wiesenthal Center
|
||
|
File 4--CompuServe and "pornography"
|
||
|
File 5--CompuServe and "pornography"
|
||
|
File 6--MCI to ban Spammers
|
||
|
FIle 6--Re: Letter from Simon Wiesenthal Center to ISPs
|
||
|
File 7--ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update 1/10/96
|
||
|
File 8--Re: Cu Digest, #8.01 - CI$ case
|
||
|
File 9--Re: Notifcation Letter AOL.COM (fwd)
|
||
|
File 10--EFF 96 Pioneer Awards - nominations due Feb. 15
|
||
|
File 11--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 16 Dec, 1995)
|
||
|
|
||
|
CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN
|
||
|
THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
|
||
|
|
||
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 18:16:40 -0600 (CST)
|
||
|
From: David Smith <bladex@BGA.COM>
|
||
|
Subject: File 1-- From TIME: Quittner on hate groups (fwd)
|
||
|
|
||
|
---------- Forwarded message ----------
|
||
|
From--ped@well.com (Philip Elmer-DeWitt)
|
||
|
Date--Mon, 15 Jan 1996 12:17:14 -0500
|
||
|
|
||
|
The following is copyright material from the 1/22/96 issue of TIME, posted
|
||
|
by permission.
|
||
|
|
||
|
HOME PAGES FOR HATE
|
||
|
|
||
|
A campaign to limit the voices of white supremacists on the Internet has
|
||
|
defenders of the First Amendment worried
|
||
|
|
||
|
By Joshua Quittner
|
||
|
|
||
|
On the Internet, when people want to chat about the bleaker side of
|
||
|
life, they often find their way to alt.support.loneliness. The forum,
|
||
|
a Usenet newsgroup, is open 24 hours a day for anyone who wants to
|
||
|
post messages lamenting a breakup with a spouse, or how tough it is to
|
||
|
meet people or find true love or even a true date. It s a moderately
|
||
|
popular group. Or it was, before the Carolinian Lords of the
|
||
|
Caucasus showed up.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The CLOC, an unabashedly white-supremacist organization based in
|
||
|
Columbia, South Carolina, takes pride in running locals off of certain
|
||
|
innocuous parts of Usenet with its race baiting. Members claim to have
|
||
|
emptied out half a dozen forums already, including, improbably,
|
||
|
alt.fan.barry-manilow and alt.food.dennys. If you want an organization
|
||
|
which makes things happen, visit our victims and learn first-hand what
|
||
|
kind of a group we are, they boast at their World Wide Web site, which
|
||
|
features an image of a burning cross. CLOC is clearly on the forefront
|
||
|
of the great war for Aryan domination of the Internet.
|
||
|
|
||
|
This virtual hooliganism may sound absurd. For people who rely on the
|
||
|
Internet to communicate, though, it s a real and growing problem. Like
|
||
|
more conventional groups, racists have discovered that the Net is a
|
||
|
marvelous way to get their message out to a huge audience at low cost.
|
||
|
Last week, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the world s largest Jewish
|
||
|
human rights organization, decided that enough is enough. Citing the
|
||
|
rapidly expanding presence of organized hate groups on the Internet,
|
||
|
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the center s associate dean, sent letters to
|
||
|
hundreds of Internet access providers, asking them to help draft a
|
||
|
code of ethics that would squelch Websites that promote bigotry and
|
||
|
violence.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Predictably, civil libertarians are uneasy about the proposal, seeing
|
||
|
it as yet another assault on free speech in cyberspace. Congress has
|
||
|
already signaled its intent to enact legislation that would
|
||
|
criminalize indecent=
|
||
|
|
||
|
speech online, rather than adopting the less onerous restriction
|
||
|
against obscene speech that is the print standard.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Yet Cooper claims that his letter is very much in keeping with the
|
||
|
Constitution and with traditional media practice. He argues that the
|
||
|
First Amendment also protects publishers who choose not to disseminate
|
||
|
materials they find offensive. Most mainstream newspapers and
|
||
|
magazines, for example, won t run ads from racist or hate groups. The
|
||
|
people who sell access to the Internet, he believes, should start
|
||
|
behaving the same way. In effect, says Cooper, this is a recognition
|
||
|
that the Internet has come of age. We re not looking for prior
|
||
|
restraint or to keep these guys off the Internet. We re saying adopt
|
||
|
the same approach to the First Amendment that your brothers have done
|
||
|
in traditional media.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Among purists, though, the whole point of the Internet is that it isn
|
||
|
t like traditional media. A wide spectrum of viewpoints is tolerated
|
||
|
and even encouraged online, especially on the freewheeling,
|
||
|
anarchistic Usenet.. The notion is that, for the first time in
|
||
|
history, anyone can express his or her views to a mass audience. As a
|
||
|
result, Cooper s proposal is stirring up opposition from cyberspace
|
||
|
denizens on both the left and the right.
|
||
|
|
||
|
It s gotten a cold reception from Internet access providers too. The
|
||
|
answer to hateful speech is more speech, says Sameer Parekh, president
|
||
|
of Community ConneXion, a popular provider in Berkeley, California.
|
||
|
By banning hate groups from the Net, he says, you are promoting the
|
||
|
idea that they might actually have something valuable to say. The
|
||
|
campaign has given even the hate-mongers a chance to sound
|
||
|
civic-minded. Says Milton John Kleim Jr., a self-described white
|
||
|
nationalist Usenet Viking whose writings also appear on many racist
|
||
|
Web pages: What Mr. Cooper doesn t understand is the fact that there
|
||
|
are a lot of people in our society who are very angry--the angry white
|
||
|
male theme. A lot of these angry white males, if they re prohibited
|
||
|
from venting their views, might actually come forward and do
|
||
|
something.
|
||
|
|
||
|
But what if freedom of speech destroys an environment, as victims of
|
||
|
the Carolinian Lords of the Caucasus know it can? They re real idiots,
|
||
|
says Jay D. Dyson, who used to post messages to the
|
||
|
alt.support.loneliness group until the invasion by CLOC. Dysonexplains
|
||
|
that at first CLOC members used the forum to troll for new members. It
|
||
|
s frightening because these [lonely] people at are the lowest point
|
||
|
in their lives and a drowning man will grasp at anything to keep from
|
||
|
going under. Later, though, the postings turned nasty and even
|
||
|
threatening. A CLOC leader, who uses the screen name Racial Theorist,
|
||
|
says his organization doesn t mean anyreal harm: What this thing is
|
||
|
about is having fun. And shock value.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Perhaps. But it s finished as far as Dyson and his friends are
|
||
|
concerned. Last week the lonely folks decided to deal with the
|
||
|
racists in their own way. They voted to create a special kind of
|
||
|
newsgroup where unruly intruders can be evicted. No one should be
|
||
|
forced to tolerate intolerance, even in cyberspace. With reporting by
|
||
|
Chris Stamper/New York
|
||
|
|
||
|
Copyright 1996 Time Inc.
|
||
|
|
||
|
--Philip Elmer-DeWitt
|
||
|
ped@well.com TIME Magazine
|
||
|
www.pathfinder.com=
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 06:48:44 -0500 (EST)
|
||
|
From: Emmanuel Goldstein <emmanuel@2600.COM>
|
||
|
Subject: File 2--ALERT - Bernie S. Sentencing Friday
|
||
|
|
||
|
I just found out that Bernie S. will be sentenced this Friday morning
|
||
|
at 9 am in Easton, PA for the crime of removing batteries from a tone
|
||
|
dialer several years ago. This is defined as a victimless misdemeanor
|
||
|
for which the judge in this small town (under considerable influence
|
||
|
from the Secret Service) set bail at $250,000. He could get two years
|
||
|
in prison at sentencing. Press attention could be very helpful in
|
||
|
avoiding a sentence as irrational as the bail setting - right now the
|
||
|
only influence these people are getting is from the Secret Service and
|
||
|
they want to put Bernie S away for as long as they can. If you're not
|
||
|
entirely up to date on this story, finger bernies@2600.com for all of
|
||
|
the details.
|
||
|
|
||
|
If you know of anyone who will cover this story, please get ahold of
|
||
|
them right away so they can plan on being there. If anyone is interested
|
||
|
in going, let me know so we can hopefully fill some cars from NYC.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Sentencing is scheduled for Friday, January 26 at 9 am
|
||
|
Courtroom 5
|
||
|
Northampton County Government Center
|
||
|
7th and Washington Street
|
||
|
Easton, PA 18042-7492
|
||
|
|
||
|
(610) 559-3020 (district attorney)
|
||
|
|
||
|
case # 2173-1993
|
||
|
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs. Edward E. Cummings
|
||
|
Misdemeanor 2 - tampering with physical evidence
|
||
|
|
||
|
Please help spread the word.
|
||
|
|
||
|
emmanuel@2600.com
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 18:46:24 -0600 (CST)
|
||
|
From: David Smith <bladex@BGA.COM>
|
||
|
Subject: File 3--Response to the Simon Wiesenthal Center
|
||
|
|
||
|
In response to recent efforts by the Simon Wiesenthal Center to request
|
||
|
that ISPs voluntarily create acceptable use policies that prohibit hate
|
||
|
speech, one of my recommendations to CuD readers is to fill out the
|
||
|
online survey at their web site, http://www.wiesenthal.com. Particularly
|
||
|
if you believe, like I do, that the remedy of choice for bad speech is
|
||
|
more speech, not enforced silence.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The survey asks questions about your thoughts on hate speech, freedom of
|
||
|
speech, the First Amendment, what are the best measures to restrict
|
||
|
racism online, whether you think the SWC is being productive or not, etc.
|
||
|
|
||
|
FWIW, I agree with the SWC's assertion that internet service providers
|
||
|
have the legal right to dictate terms of service to include acceptable
|
||
|
use guidelines prohibiting hate speech.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Where I disagree is the assertion that ISPs have a moral obligation to
|
||
|
excercise those rights. The free speech model is preferable.
|
||
|
|
||
|
I also disagree with the metaphor comparing an ISP to a media outlet like
|
||
|
CNN. The telephone company is a more apt comparison. If I commit a
|
||
|
crime using my phone, no one threatens to drag Southwestern Bell into
|
||
|
court, yet somehow Real/Time Systems, my ISP, would be.
|
||
|
|
||
|
David Smith * dp : 304-6308 * Ask me about
|
||
|
bladex@bga.com * * fighting censorship
|
||
|
President, EFF-Austin * http://www.io.com/~efaustin * of the Internet
|
||
|
Board of Directors, CTCLU * http://gopher.aclu.org *
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 06:39:50 -0800 (PST)
|
||
|
From: steve@AWWWSOME.COM(M. Steven McClanahan)
|
||
|
Subject: File 4--CompuServe and "pornography"
|
||
|
|
||
|
>Thomas Wulfing, a spokesman at the German Embassy, London, told
|
||
|
> d.Comm, "There have been no comments on the situation from the German
|
||
|
> national or the Bavarian governments. My latest information is that it
|
||
|
> was the Munich prosecutor who authorised this action. It's good that
|
||
|
> we clarify this thing. As far as I know the prosecutor has taken up
|
||
|
> that issue. He wants a way of banning the free access to pornography
|
||
|
> on the Internet and within that plan has informed CIS. And CIS as far
|
||
|
> as I know has agreed because it has no interest whatsoever in
|
||
|
> promoting pornography."
|
||
|
|
||
|
This is, as is much of the material surrounding this controversy,
|
||
|
self-aggrandinzing rhetoric. Although, the seeming alliance between CIS
|
||
|
management and the Bavarian prosecutor is rather interesting.
|
||
|
|
||
|
CompuServe is not interested in promoting pornography _from which it does
|
||
|
not profit directly_. Look in many of the graphics forums and you will see
|
||
|
things that would make Senator Exon's blood boil, (although I imagine that
|
||
|
wouldn't be too hard). When it comes to selling things in the "Electronic
|
||
|
Mall," and their classifieds, CompuServe seems to have lost sight of their
|
||
|
desire not to promote pornography. The German's may being trying to save
|
||
|
the world, but, as always, CIS is trying to keep you buying from their
|
||
|
advertisers, instead of from the Internet.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Prior to becoming and ISP, I shopped three times a week in CompuServe's
|
||
|
Electronic Mall. Now, with the web and T1 accesss, why should I both to put
|
||
|
up with CompuServe's "Electronic Mall," which pales in comparison to the
|
||
|
WWW.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The real issue, as I see it, is how much money CompuServe can make. Not
|
||
|
that they have a particular concern for, or against, pornography and/or
|
||
|
being prosecuted for distributing it. The traditional online services are
|
||
|
dinosaurs sinking the proverbial ooze of the swamp and will do anything to
|
||
|
survive, even through their time is long since past.
|
||
|
|
||
|
>
|
||
|
> For the service provider, the whole process of providing access is
|
||
|
> becoming far too complex. The service provider is simply the
|
||
|
> messenger, not the provider of content, and as such there is no reason
|
||
|
> why the messenger should be shot.
|
||
|
|
||
|
As an ISP, I say "here, here" to that.
|
||
|
|
||
|
If it is true that those you don't remember history are doomed to repeat
|
||
|
it, then it is important to remember that in 1913, at a beer hall in
|
||
|
Munich, Bavaria, a German fascist totalitarian regime was born. It is also
|
||
|
interesting to note that Adolf Hitler spent less than 2 years locked up in
|
||
|
a castle, (which was supposedly a "prison"), for attempting to overthrow
|
||
|
the duly constituted, government, because he, (an Austrian, no less),
|
||
|
didn't like the terms of the Treaty of Versailles the government was
|
||
|
enforcing. One wonders how long the Germans will put so-called
|
||
|
"cyber-criminals" in jail for distributing a photograph of a naked person,
|
||
|
(even if that person isn't extremely seditious).
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
|
||
|
M. STEVEN McCLANAHAN, MICP
|
||
|
aWWWsome NET SERVICES
|
||
|
(http://awwwsome.com/)
|
||
|
|
||
|
"YOUR BUSINESS ON-RAMP TO THE INTERNET"
|
||
|
Internet Presence, Technical Support & Training,
|
||
|
|
||
|
Computer Consulting via:
|
||
|
MEDLaw Consulting & Silicon Alchemy Computer Systems UNLTD
|
||
|
(http://awwwsome.com/medlaw/) (pending)
|
||
|
(916) 226-WEBB (voice) / (916) 226-9300 (fax)
|
||
|
|
||
|
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
|
||
|
Entire contents of message, copyright 1995, M. Steven McClanahan, MICP
|
||
|
|
||
|
customers who use its Internet service to persistently send
|
||
|
unsolicited electronic mail for mass distribution - a practice
|
||
|
called spamming in Internet slang. The prohibitions include
|
||
|
sending e-mail to more than 25 users if complaints are received,
|
||
|
posting articles to Usenet or newsgroups that fall outside their
|
||
|
subject charter, and posting an identical article or
|
||
|
advertisement to multiple Usenet or newsgroups.
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Mon, 22 Jan 1996 22:49:20 -0600 (CST)
|
||
|
From: David Smith <bladex@BGA.COM>
|
||
|
Subject: FIle 6--Re: Letter from Simon Wiesenthal Center to ISPs
|
||
|
|
||
|
Here is the letter that one ISP wrote in response to Rabbi Cooper's
|
||
|
request to deny service to people who engage in hate speech.
|
||
|
|
||
|
David Smith * dp : 304-6308 * Ask me about
|
||
|
bladex@bga.com * * fighting censorship
|
||
|
President, EFF-Austin * http://www.io.com/~efaustin * of the Internet
|
||
|
Board of Directors, CTCLU * http://gopher.aclu.org *
|
||
|
|
||
|
---------- Forwarded message ----------
|
||
|
Date--Thu, 18 Jan 1996 09:48:33 -0900
|
||
|
From--Sky Dayton <sky@earthlink.net>
|
||
|
|
||
|
David,
|
||
|
|
||
|
Follows is our letter to the SWC.
|
||
|
|
||
|
I didn't have a chance to post it to the newsgroup. The noise/bandwidth
|
||
|
ratio there looks really bad, and it'll probably just get drowned out.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Sky
|
||
|
|
||
|
--
|
||
|
|
||
|
Rabbi Abraham Cooper
|
||
|
Simon Wiesenthal Center
|
||
|
9760 West Pico Boulevard
|
||
|
Los Angeles, CA 90035-4792
|
||
|
|
||
|
Dear Rabbi Cooper:
|
||
|
|
||
|
Thank you for your letter of January 9th. I though I would take the
|
||
|
opportunity to respond to your concerns directly.
|
||
|
|
||
|
EarthLink Network views the Internet as an incredible new communications
|
||
|
medium, with the potential of creating a global community in a way never
|
||
|
before seen. Through a heightened interaction among peoples, we hope the
|
||
|
Internet will help to help break down geographic, economic, political,
|
||
|
religious and other barriers. On the Internet, there is no "people over
|
||
|
there". On the Internet, everyone is right here.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The Internet today reflects our society in every way. All ends of the
|
||
|
spectrum utilize it to communicate their message. Thus, it's no surprise to
|
||
|
find hate groups on the Internet. The Internet is a perfect reflection of
|
||
|
information available in the analog world.
|
||
|
|
||
|
While we personally abhor discrimination and bigotry based on sex, race,
|
||
|
creed or any other reason, we will not censor communications sent through
|
||
|
our network. Our subscriber agreement requires legal use, but our policing
|
||
|
stops there.
|
||
|
|
||
|
As a principle, Internet access companies are not concerned with the
|
||
|
qualities of content that travel over their networks. We are "common
|
||
|
carriers" of information. Content providers such as America Online and
|
||
|
Compuserve are a different story. They manufacture and control information.
|
||
|
We merely route information, in the form of bits, to people who use our
|
||
|
service.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Online services are analogous to newspapers and magazines. Internet access
|
||
|
companies are analogous to postal services and phone companies.
|
||
|
|
||
|
For as long as we provide access, EarthLink Network will work to ensure the
|
||
|
legal and free use of the Internet. I urge you to take part in this
|
||
|
activism. But I caution you that the Internet will reject any form of
|
||
|
censorship. Rather than try to enforce a code as you propose, I suggest you
|
||
|
let the Internet community make its own judgment about content. You may be
|
||
|
surprised at what you find.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Sincerely,
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Sky Dayton
|
||
|
CEO & Chairman
|
||
|
|
||
|
--
|
||
|
Sky Dayton, CEO | Voice: 213-644-9500
|
||
|
EarthLink Network, Inc. | Fax: 213-644-9510
|
||
|
sky@earthlink.net | 3171 Los Feliz Blvd.
|
||
|
http://www.earthlink.net | Los Angeles, CA 90039
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1996 16:54:49 -0500
|
||
|
From: ACLUNATL@aol.com
|
||
|
Subject: File 7--ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update 1/10/96
|
||
|
|
||
|
----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
January 10, 1996
|
||
|
ACLU CYBER-LIBERTIES UPDATE
|
||
|
A bi-weekly e-zine on cyber-liberties cases and controversies
|
||
|
at the state and federal level.
|
||
|
----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
IN THIS ISSUE:
|
||
|
|
||
|
* The Fourth Horseman of the Internet -- Hate Mongers -- Rears Its Ugly
|
||
|
Head Again
|
||
|
|
||
|
* German News Magazine "Der Spiegel" Tells the Real Story About
|
||
|
CompuServe's Ban of Sex-Related Newsgroups
|
||
|
|
||
|
* Virginia Legislature Considers Strict Labeling Requirements for Online
|
||
|
Content
|
||
|
|
||
|
* ACLU of Washington Settles Internet Parody Case; Student Gets Second
|
||
|
Chance at National Merit Scholarship
|
||
|
|
||
|
* Where Oh Where is the Telco Bill?
|
||
|
|
||
|
* ACLU Speaks on Cyber-Liberties
|
||
|
|
||
|
----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
STATE PAGE (Legislation/Agency/Court Cases)
|
||
|
----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
* The Fourth Horseman of the Internet -- Hate Mongers -- Rears Its Ugly
|
||
|
Head Again
|
||
|
|
||
|
Just in case the Pornographers, Hackers, and Pedophiles didn't scare you away
|
||
|
from the Internet, the Simon Wiesenthal Center raised another spectre for you
|
||
|
to fear -- the Neo-Nazis and other Hateful Undesirables on the Net. The
|
||
|
Simon Wiesenthal Center has been trying for almost two years to rid the
|
||
|
Internet of hate speech, and one of their techniques is commendable and
|
||
|
appropriate -- the use of more speech to expose and humiliate these
|
||
|
intolerant groups. The Center has an excellent web page that tracks the
|
||
|
online activities of hate groups and urges online users to post other
|
||
|
accounts of online hate. See http://www.wiesenthal.com.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Unfortunately, rather than simply exercising their own First Amendment right
|
||
|
to protest such groups, the Center has waged an all-out war to deny such
|
||
|
groups of their equivalent free speech rights. The war has fueled an already
|
||
|
hysterical rush by both private business and government to censor the Net
|
||
|
unnecessarily. It is particularly troublesome that an organization like the
|
||
|
Wiesenthal Center that is dedicated to promoting tolerance would seek to
|
||
|
erode the liberty most necessary for a free and tolerant society -- free
|
||
|
speech.
|
||
|
|
||
|
In August 1994, the Wiesenthal Center waged its first campaign by presenting
|
||
|
a dossier to the Federal Communications Commission that documented hate
|
||
|
speech on online networks. (While the Center has never attempted to define
|
||
|
just what it means by "hate speech," it appears to be referring primarily to
|
||
|
anti-black, anti-gay and anti-Semitic speech.) The FCC turned the dossier
|
||
|
over to the U.S. Justice Department, who knows better than to pursue any hate
|
||
|
groups on the basis of their speech alone. (See US News and World Report,
|
||
|
9/8/94.) In fact, when the Senate subcommittee on terrorism held hearings in
|
||
|
May 1995 on the use of online services by terrorist and anti-government
|
||
|
groups, DOJ's Deputy Assistant Attorney General Robert Litt testified that
|
||
|
the government must be careful not to "trade off the guarantees of the Bill
|
||
|
of Rights in order to uphold our duty to ensure domestic tranquillity." See
|
||
|
"Hate Speech on Internet Called Protected by Constitution," New York Times,
|
||
|
5/12/95.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Shortly after the Oklahoma City bombing, the Wiesenthal Center was again
|
||
|
successful in fueling the mainstream press hysteria about hate groups
|
||
|
organizing through online media. See, e.g., "The Internet: Far-Right Groups
|
||
|
Get Mainstream Access," San Francisco Chronicle, 4/22/95. Yet while no
|
||
|
evidence ever conclusively linked the Internet with the plotting of the
|
||
|
Oklahoma bombing, the press ignored the incredible array of online resources
|
||
|
that were devoted to assisting citizens in the aftermath of the tragedy.
|
||
|
Within hours after the bombing, Internet users could find up-to-date
|
||
|
information about the rescue effort, learn how to send money or provide other
|
||
|
assistance to victims and their families, and provide tips in the search for
|
||
|
suspects.
|
||
|
|
||
|
This week, the Wiesenthal Center launched the latest weapon in its battle to
|
||
|
rid online networks of hate groups -- it issued a plea to Internet Service
|
||
|
Providers to pledge "to refuse or terminate service to any individual or
|
||
|
group that exploits our services to promote an agenda of hate or violence."
|
||
|
See "Group Urges an Internet Ban on Hate Groups' Messages," New York Times,
|
||
|
1/10/96. The Center's letter shows both a lack of understanding of online
|
||
|
technology and a lack of respect for a truly democratic communications
|
||
|
medium.
|
||
|
|
||
|
In both the New York Times story and in a radio talk show debate with the
|
||
|
ACLU's Ann Beeson, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Center,
|
||
|
suggested that it wasn't targeting online discussion forums like Usenet, but
|
||
|
rather was targeting the Internet's World Wide Web. That would imply that a
|
||
|
service provider who adopted the code of ethics would have to censor a
|
||
|
message posted to a hate group's web page but could let slide the same
|
||
|
message if posted to a Usenet newsgroup -- a nonsensical result.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The Rabbi's rationale for applying different standards to Usenet and the Web
|
||
|
was that individuals "don't have a chance to respond to hate speech on the
|
||
|
Web." That is simply incorrect -- almost all web pages include e-mail
|
||
|
addresses that allow anyone who comes across the site to communicate with the
|
||
|
site's creators. The distinction also ignores the fact that most online
|
||
|
users initially encounter particular web sites by using search engines like
|
||
|
Yahoo. Any search for "White Supremacy" or "Aryan Nation" brings up not only
|
||
|
those sites that support such ideas, but also many sites (including the Simon
|
||
|
Wiesenthal web page!) that denounce hate speech and provide information on
|
||
|
how to oppose hate groups.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The Wiesenthal Center's answer to hate speech gives no credit to the growing
|
||
|
number of Internet sites created specifically to track and expose hate
|
||
|
groups. For example, "The Hate Page of the Week" provides a link to a
|
||
|
different hate group each week and encourages users to flame the site. See
|
||
|
http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~efx/hpotw.html. "The Net Hate Page" also
|
||
|
provides links to hateful web sites, tracks the activities of hate groups,
|
||
|
and discusses ways to fight them. See http://www.vir.com/Shalom/hatred.html.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The Wiesenthal Center has also suggested that it is merely asking online
|
||
|
providers to act like other "publishers" of information, like newspapers and
|
||
|
radio broadcasters, who traditionally refuse to provide a platform for hate
|
||
|
speech. But that's a bad idea for several reasons. First, as Prodigy and
|
||
|
other large commercial providers know, choosing to edit online information is
|
||
|
a two-edged sword that can make online providers liable for the libelous acts
|
||
|
of its users. See _Stratton-Oakmont Inc. v. Prodigy Services Co._, No.
|
||
|
31063/94 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., 5/24/95). Second, many small Internet Service
|
||
|
Providers just don't have the resources to monitor all the web sites housed
|
||
|
on their systems.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Finally, and most importantly, service providers have already proved woefully
|
||
|
inept at determining just what speech is "offensive" -- whether it is
|
||
|
sexually explicit or hateful. A few examples include America Online's
|
||
|
hilarious censorship of gay video titles (see Cyber-Liberties Update
|
||
|
12/6/95), CompuServe's ban of newsgroups on disability and gay issues in an
|
||
|
effort to satisfy a German prosecutor (see article later in this issue), and
|
||
|
AOL's short-lived screening of the word "breast" from online educational
|
||
|
materials on breast cancer.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Because online providers are not government entities, there is currently no
|
||
|
constitutional remedy against online providers who decide to censor. But it
|
||
|
is in the providers' own best interest _not_ to censor but rather to follow
|
||
|
Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis' advice regarding speech that offends:
|
||
|
"[T]he remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence." _Whitney
|
||
|
v. California_, 274 U.S. 357, 377 (1927).
|
||
|
|
||
|
The ACLU calls on all service providers to reject the Wiesenthal Center's
|
||
|
code of ethics for online hate speech. We urge all online users to write to
|
||
|
their service providers and urge them to respect their free speech right to
|
||
|
respond openly and publicly to online speech that is offensive or
|
||
|
disagreeable.
|
||
|
|
||
|
A copy of the letter that the Wiesenthal Center sent to hundreds of Internet
|
||
|
service providers is available on their web site at
|
||
|
http://www.wiesenthal.com.
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Fri, 5 Jan 1996 00:58:37 +0100 (GMT+0100)
|
||
|
From: Steffan Henke <henker@INFORMATIK.UNI-BREMEN.DE>
|
||
|
Subject: File 8--Re: Cu Digest, #8.01 - CI$ case
|
||
|
|
||
|
Hello, just a quick reply to the CI$ case:
|
||
|
|
||
|
> One way to prevent such things from happening again is to make sure that
|
||
|
> this censorship is not in the economic best interest of Compuserve, and
|
||
|
> Germany. If they want to interfere with First Amendment rights, then we
|
||
|
> should exercise our First Amendment rights to not communicate with them.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Who is "them" in that case ? Germans ? All the CI$ users ?
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
> then do not accept their standards. If you are a Compuserve subscriber
|
||
|
> then cancel your account.
|
||
|
|
||
|
That decision would make sense, indeed. But other providers (AOL, eg. do
|
||
|
also censor)
|
||
|
|
||
|
> Germany and Compuserve have chosen to selectively cut themselves off
|
||
|
> from the rest of the internet community, let's make it a complete
|
||
|
|
||
|
These are very bad prejudices. I'm German, but I have not chosen to cut
|
||
|
myself off from the rest of the internet community. Not at all.
|
||
|
On the contrary, we have many progressive powers who are strongly against
|
||
|
censorship. I count myself as one of these.
|
||
|
|
||
|
> separation. Do not send any E-mail to Compuserve or Germany. Do not
|
||
|
> reply to any newsgroup posts, and do not access any of their web pages.
|
||
|
|
||
|
What about the case when Italian Fido BBS were raided by the Italian
|
||
|
police ? What do you suggest ? Ignore all the Italian sysops and BBS ?
|
||
|
BTW, my homepage is http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~henker
|
||
|
Too sad you won't have a look at it. But I'll never know because you'll
|
||
|
never answer this email. YOU stop communication, not German users who are
|
||
|
strongly against censorship.
|
||
|
|
||
|
> If you receive E-mail, then simply ignore it, send a copy of this
|
||
|
> letter, or your own explanation that you will no longer use a system
|
||
|
|
||
|
Are you really honestly suggesting this ?
|
||
|
|
||
|
> that censorship of the 'net is not acceptable and will only succeed in
|
||
|
> destroying the 'net.
|
||
|
|
||
|
That is true indeed.
|
||
|
|
||
|
> The World Wide Web should allow the exchange of any ideas around the
|
||
|
> world. It should not be limited to the minimum acceptable ideas that
|
||
|
|
||
|
You're drifting away from the CI$ case. What does the WWW have to do with
|
||
|
the censorship of newsgroups ?
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Anyway, happy new year to CUD... 1996 does not start that good.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Steffan
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
... Our continuing mission: To seek out knowledge of C, to explore
|
||
|
strange UNIX commands, and to boldly code where no one has man page 4.
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 1996 14:01:15 -0600 (CST)
|
||
|
From: Carlton Hogan <carlton@gopher.ccbr.umn.edu
|
||
|
Subject: File 9--Re: Notifcation Letter AOL.COM (fwd)
|
||
|
|
||
|
Dear America Online:
|
||
|
|
||
|
I received this E-mail today, informing me that copyrighted work
|
||
|
created by me was to be made available on America On-line. Although
|
||
|
I have allowed dissemination of the work (a glossary of AIDS, medical,
|
||
|
and clinical trials terminology) by non-profit groups, I regret that
|
||
|
I cannot allow America Online (henceforth referred to as AOL) to profit
|
||
|
from distribution of this document.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Specifically, I am troubled by AOL's denial of service and "TOS"
|
||
|
penalties imposed on subscribers for usage of sexually explicit
|
||
|
language, discussion of gay sexuality, and one infamous case, the use
|
||
|
of the word "breat" by breast cancer survivors. In addition, I am
|
||
|
dissapointed that AOL, rather than helping to fight censorship of the
|
||
|
Internet, is instead implicitly supporting such efforts.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Severe restrictions in allowable language are troubling in a number of
|
||
|
regards. Indecent speech, short of obscenity, has been found worthy
|
||
|
of protection by the US Supreme Court. William Jennings Bryan said that
|
||
|
it was speech that some might find objectionable that most needed
|
||
|
protection. What AOL and other internet censors are perpetrating will
|
||
|
make material easily found in any library forbidden on the Internet.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Most importantly, I work in the field of HIV/AIDS. Sexually explicit,
|
||
|
anatomically precise information is one of our most effective tools in
|
||
|
fighting the transmission of HIV. Likewise, any description of clinical
|
||
|
manifestations may refer to genital or peri-anal areas, common sites
|
||
|
of opportunistic infection. Restricting speech on the Internet may,
|
||
|
thereby, directly cost lives.
|
||
|
|
||
|
For these reasons, I cannot in good conscience allow AOL, if it continues
|
||
|
it's current policies, to distribute my work, especially when you
|
||
|
are profiting from such propagation. I ask you to immediately
|
||
|
cease and desist. Failure to comply will result in further action.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Sincerely,
|
||
|
|
||
|
Carlton Hogan
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Hi there,
|
||
|
|
||
|
America Online's client software offers full integration of the Net into
|
||
|
the AOL Service. We also offer access through our Service to various World
|
||
|
Wide Web sites on the Net. We think your site will be very attractive to
|
||
|
our members and accordingly, we will be providing a link on the AOL Service
|
||
|
from time to time to your site and will be generally using the tools and
|
||
|
procedures available on the Internet.
|
||
|
|
||
|
We believe the link to your site will prove to be beneficial to AOL, our
|
||
|
members, and to you.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Please feel free to reply to this note or contact us at Weblink@aol.com if
|
||
|
you need any additional information.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Currently we are pointing to: http://www.teleport.com/~celinec/glossary.htm
|
||
|
|
||
|
Thanks,
|
||
|
America Online/Web Division
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 16:30:47 -0800
|
||
|
From: Stanton McCandlish <mech@EFF.ORG>
|
||
|
Subject: File 10--EFF 96 Pioneer Awards - nominations due Feb. 15
|
||
|
|
||
|
THE FIFTH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL EFF PIONEER AWARDS:
|
||
|
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
|
||
|
Deadline: February 15, 1996
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
In every field of human endeavor,there are those dedicated to expanding
|
||
|
knowledge,freedom,efficiency and utility. Along the electronic frontier,
|
||
|
this is especially true. To recognize this, the Electronic Frontier
|
||
|
Foundation established the Pioneer Awards for deserving individuals and
|
||
|
organizations.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The Pioneer Awards are international and nominations are open to all.
|
||
|
|
||
|
In March of 1992, the first EFF Pioneer Awards were given in Washington
|
||
|
D.C. The winners were: Douglas C. Engelbart, Robert Kahn, Jim Warren, Tom
|
||
|
Jennings, and Andrzej Smereczynski. The 1993 Pioneer Award recipients were
|
||
|
Paul Baran, Vinton Cerf, Ward Christensen, Dave Hughes and the USENET
|
||
|
software developers, represented by the software's originators Tom
|
||
|
Truscott and Jim Ellis. The 1994 Pioneer Award winners were Ivan
|
||
|
Sutherland, Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman, Murray Turoff and Starr
|
||
|
Roxanne Hiltz, Lee Felsenstein, Bill Atkinson, and the WELL. The 1995
|
||
|
Pioneer Award winners were Philip Zimmermann, Anita Borg, and Willis Ware.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The Fifth Annual Pioneer Awards will be given in Boston, Massachusetts, at
|
||
|
the 6th Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy in March of 1996.
|
||
|
|
||
|
All valid nominations will be reviewed by a panel of judges chosen
|
||
|
for their knowledge of computer-based communications and the technical,
|
||
|
legal, and social issues involved in computer technology and computer
|
||
|
communications.
|
||
|
|
||
|
There are no specific categories for the Pioneer Awards, but the following
|
||
|
guidelines apply:
|
||
|
|
||
|
1) The nominees must have made a substantial contribution to the
|
||
|
health, growth, accessibility, or freedom of computer-based
|
||
|
communications.
|
||
|
|
||
|
2) The contribution may be technical, social, economic or cultural.
|
||
|
|
||
|
3) Nominations may be of individuals, systems, or organizations in the
|
||
|
private or public sectors.
|
||
|
|
||
|
4) Nominations are open to all, and you may nominate more than one
|
||
|
recipient. You may nominate yourself or your organization.
|
||
|
|
||
|
5) All nominations, to be valid, must contain your reasons, however
|
||
|
brief, for nominating the individual or organization, along with a means of
|
||
|
contacting the nominee, and your own contact number. Anonymous nominations
|
||
|
will be allowed, but we prefer to be able to contact the nominating
|
||
|
parties in the event that we need more information..
|
||
|
|
||
|
6) Every person or organization, with the single exception of EFF staff
|
||
|
members, are eligible for Pioneer Awards.
|
||
|
|
||
|
7) Persons or representatives of organizations receiving a Pioneer
|
||
|
Award will be invited to attend the ceremony at the Foundation's expense.
|
||
|
|
||
|
You may nominate as many as you wish, but please use one form per
|
||
|
nomination. You may return the forms to us via email to
|
||
|
|
||
|
pioneer@eff.org
|
||
|
|
||
|
You may mail them to us at:
|
||
|
|
||
|
Pioneer Awards
|
||
|
c/o Mike Godwin
|
||
|
2163-A North Valley St.
|
||
|
Berkeley, CA 94702
|
||
|
|
||
|
Just tell us the name of the nominee, the phone number or email address at
|
||
|
which the nominee can be reached, and, most important, why you feel the
|
||
|
nominee deserves the award. You may attach supporting documentation.
|
||
|
Please include your own name, address, and phone number.
|
||
|
|
||
|
We're looking for the Pioneers of the Electronic Frontier that have made
|
||
|
and
|
||
|
are making a difference. Thanks for helping us find them,
|
||
|
|
||
|
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
|
||
|
|
||
|
-------EFF Pioneer Awards Nomination Form------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Please return to the Electronic Frontier Foundation the following
|
||
|
information about your nominee for the Pioneer Awards:
|
||
|
|
||
|
Nominee's name:
|
||
|
|
||
|
Title:
|
||
|
|
||
|
Company/Organization:
|
||
|
|
||
|
Contact number or email address:
|
||
|
|
||
|
Reason for nomination:
|
||
|
|
||
|
Your name and contact information:
|
||
|
|
||
|
Extra documentation attached:
|
||
|
|
||
|
DEADLINE: ALL NOMINATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER
|
||
|
FOUNDATION BY MIDNIGHT, EASTERN STANDARD TIME U.S., February 15, 1996.
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 1995 22:51:01 CDT
|
||
|
From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu>
|
||
|
Subject: File 11--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 16 Dec, 1995)
|
||
|
|
||
|
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 (815-753-0303), 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
|
||
|
Send it to CU-DIGEST-REQUEST@WEBER.UCSD.EDU
|
||
|
(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);
|
||
|
and on Rune Stone BBS (IIRGWHQ) (203) 832-8441.
|
||
|
CuD is also available via Fidonet File Request from
|
||
|
1:11/70; unlisted nodes and points welcome.
|
||
|
|
||
|
EUROPE: In BELGIUM: Virtual Access BBS: +32-69-844-019 (ringdown)
|
||
|
Brussels: STRATOMIC BBS +32-2-5383119 2:291/759@fidonet.org
|
||
|
In ITALY: ZERO! BBS: +39-11-6507540
|
||
|
In LUXEMBOURG: ComNet BBS: +352-466893
|
||
|
|
||
|
UNITED STATES: etext.archive.umich.edu (192.131.22.8) in /pub/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/ (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 #8.07
|
||
|
************************************
|
||
|
|