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F I D O N E W S -- Vol.11 No.21 (23-May-1994)
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| A newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 |
| FidoNet BBS community | Published by: |
| _ | |
| / \ | "FidoNews" BBS |
| /|oo \ | +1-519-570-4176 1:1/23 |
| (_| /_) | |
| _`@/_ \ _ | Editors: |
| | | \ \\ | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 |
| | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 |
| |__U__| / \// | Tim Pozar 1:125/555 |
| _//|| _\ / | |
| (_/(_|(____/ | |
| (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. |
| | -- JOSEPH PULITZER |
+----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Submission address: editors 1:1/23 |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Internet addresses: |
| |
| Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
| Donald -- donald@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
| Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com |
| Both Don & Sylvia (submission address) |
| editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| For information, copyrights, article submissions, |
| obtaining copies and other boring but important details, |
| please refer to the end of this file. |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
========================================================================
Table of Contents
========================================================================
1. Editorial..................................................... 2
2. Articles...................................................... 2
Dear Madam Emilia........................................... 2
Subject: The Italian Crackdown?? (fwd)...................... 4
FidoNet Crackdown in Italy.................................. 5
BBS-PR Set for Rewrite...................................... 7
The Power Freaks are at it AGAIN!........................... 8
On the Subject of Fluff..................................... 9
Dear Net Citizen:........................................... 21
Ever Feel Like You're Being Watched?........................ 25
Nodelist Size (again)....................................... 28
INTERGREEK: An echo about Greek things and people........... 29
3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 30
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 2 23 May 1994
========================================================================
Editorial
========================================================================
I spent all day in the garden, re-arranging weeds. I dug things
up in one place, and poured water on them in another. I'm not
sure yet, if this experiment will work. If everything keeps
growing, with more room around it an in a manner conducive to it
being itself, then it will work.
We received a lot of somewhat duplicated news about problems
Fidonet is having in Italy. Apparently none of the Fidonet
nodes in Italy exist anymore. This is distressing.
It's interesting, to read the headers and trailers on all of
the relevent messages. Same topic, utterly diverse geographical
sources. The world is getting very small.
========================================================================
Articles
========================================================================
Dear Madam Emilia
Q: Dear Emilia, please help me. I feel left out and nerdish,
because all my friends on the Internet belong to clans, and I do
not even know what clans are. My friends are laughing at me
because I do not know how to belong with them.
A: Darling silly one, you are a member of Fidonet, and are
beautifully innocent in your ignorance. Clans appear to be
prestigious and important, and they are. This is not as
appealing as it seems. Consider the meaning of the term,
"old boys' network", and how bigotry and mindless exclusivity
have historically been perpetuated by such organizations.
Fortunately, our home-grown Fidonet is relatively free of
such pompous nonsense.
Q: But Emilia, prestigious clans are the movers and shakers
of the electronic-super-duper! I want to be able to help build
our new e-world. I don't want to sit in a lonely corner all by
myself, twitching.
A: If all you want to do is help build the e-world, then simply
correspond with people you like, and say what you really mean,
and help protect everyone's ability to do the same. Always help
anyone who wants to learn how to BBS with any spare time
available to you. "Rebels" who form groups and give themselves
titles primarily to distinguish themselves from other people are
wannabe terrorists, or inefficient fashion mongers. Real rebels
are mere honest humans who enjoy other humans, while finding funny
hats and secret decoder rings to be unnecessary.
Q: Oh, Emilia.. I have been reading "Stranger in a Strange
Land" by Heinlein, and .. um.. um.. I have a crush on Mike the
Martian. I am enamoured by his reverence for inter-personal
relations and his honesty and his utter failure to understand
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 3 23 May 1994
the nastier aspects of human culture. What should I do? I'm
DESPERATE!
A: Of course you are in love with Mike, dear. He is the only
character in Heinlein's book who does not objectify all women as
bubble-heads capable only of preparing and being meals. Mike
groks anyone who grocks, regardless of gender.
Q: but...dear Emilia, several of the female characters in the
book are brilliant. How can you suggest that Heinlein's writing
is sexist? You are desecrating my second favorite hero!
A: Sure some female characterrs are portrayed as having enough
brains to do what they are told to do. If they are so smart,
why are *all* authority figures in the book male? Heinlein is
just a tad dated, that's all. For example, the main authority
figure refers to "homosexual" males as "misguided". Use of this
term, "misguided", is very strange. It presumes that everyone
should be guided.
Q: I think you're hung up on ra-ra feminismism so you don't
grok the POINT of the book, which is epitomized by Mike. BTW, I
find the last cover of WIRED bears an uncanny resemblance to
Mike. Have you met Mike?
A: No. He's fictional.
Q: Stop being blasphemous! "Politeness" (you're an etiquette
expert, right?) requires tolerance and sensitivity towards other
peoples' idols. Or lack of idols. So, will you please gimme a break?
A: Sure, dear. You can talk to me all you like. I can always
press a page down key. But if you are truly writing from your
heart I probably won't. Everything else is boring, including
your namby-pamby "oh poor little me, I want to please you"
schtik.
Q; Do you think it is wrong of me to enjoy a book which
propogates a few totally misguided presumptions about gender
issues?
A: Yes. But, so what? Edit the nasty parts from your mind if
you don't like them.
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 4 23 May 1994
Subject: The Italian Crackdown?? (fwd)
From: Stanton McCandlish <mech@eff.org>
Message-Id: <199405161703.NAA26233@eff.org>
Subject: The Italian Crackdown?? (fwd)
To: eff-activists@eff.org, comp-org-eff-talk@cs.utexas.edu (eff.talk)
Date: Mon, 16 May 1994 13:03:15 -0400 (EDT)
Cc: alt-society-resistance@cs.utexas.edu (alt.society.resistance),
Cc:
[notes in brackets are mine. - mech@eff.org]
Forwarded message:
Date: Mon, 16 May 1994 12:29:14 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Fabrizio Sala <fsala@varano.ing.unico.it>
Subject: The Italian Crackdown??
To: BBS-L@SAUPM00.ing.unico.it
Cc: eff@eff.org
Hello. I'm the Sysop of one of the BBSs in Italy.
I'm writing this message in this list to inform you, the BBS
community, of what is going on in Italy.
Some days ago,starting from Pesaro (Italy), our Police started a
large perquisition through [inquisition against] many Amatorial
[amateur] BBSs, mostly connected to the main networks (One for
all: Fidonet... but also PeaceNet and many others)
They're getting everything they can find: computers, monitors,
drives, hard disks, floppy, cdrom, streamer tapes ...
everything, without looking if they are or not in any way
"illegal" ...
Generally, every network in Italy is now full of holes... and
many of us lost everything "in the name of the anti-piracy"...
Nobody of us is doing anything in any way illegal, but they are
still getting everything...
They got more than 50 BBS and Police's work is still going on...
I hope that everyone diffuses this message ... or in any way
tells everybody what's going on ...
...and if you have any way to help us...please do it!
We made our best to make the italian telecommunication scene
working... they are killing us!
See you later... if they don't get me!
_ end fwd _
Stanton McCandlish * mech@eff.org * Electronic Frontier Found.
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 5 23 May 1994
OnlineActivist "In a Time/CNN poll of 1,000 Americans conducted
last week by Yankelovich Partners, two-thirds said it was more
important to protect the privacy of phone calls than to preserve
the ability of police to conduct wiretaps. When informed about
the Clipper Chip, 80% said they opposed it." - Philip
Elmer-Dewitt, "Who Should Keep the Keys", TIME, Mar. 14 1994
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNet Crackdown in Italy
forwarded by Nigel Allen, 1:250/438
Here is a message that was posted to the misc.activism.progressive
newsgroup on Usenet. It should be of concern to sysops everywhere.
Contact the original poster, Cesare Dieni (cease@gn.apc.org),
if you need more information.
/* Written 7:03 PM May 18, 1994 by gn:cesare in igc:gn.announcemen */
/* ---------- "Fidonet Crackdown in Italy" ---------- */
From: Cesare Dieni <cesare@gn.apc.org>
Subject: Fidonet Crackdown in Italy
For your information I report what's happening in Italy at the moment
(N.B. after the last election a fascist governement succeded)....
Fidonet Crackdown in Italy
On May 10-12 1994, the first nationwide crackdown on telecom nets was
operated by Italian police.
Acting after a warrant issued by a Prosecutor in Pesaro, about 60
Bullentin Board Systems throughout the country have been visited and
searched by police officials.
Dozens of people were formally accused of "distribution of illegally
copied software and appropriation of secret passwords" under the law
approved by Italian Parliament in January this year.
In several cases police officials didn't know what to search for,
thus seizing computers, floppy disks, modems along with electric
outlets, answering machines, audiotapes, personal effects.
The raids also hit private houses and belongings, and in some places
sleeping people were abruptly woken up facing machine guns.
After searching probably around one third of the entire network -
that includes more than 300 BBSes - police officials closed several
Fidonet nodes, but no arrests were made.
A still inaccurate figure of people were charged with software
piracy, and dozens of computers and related devices were seized -
along with thousands of floppy disks, CD-Roms, W.O.R.M.S.
Moving after a suspected software piracy ring run by people involved
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 6 23 May 1994
in a Fidonet node, the crackdown started in the night between May 10
and 11 in Milano, targeting in the two following days BBSes in
Pesaro, Modena, Bologna, Ancona, Pisa and other cities.
Fidonet Italia, member of the worldwide Fidonet network, is a
non-profit organization devoted to distribution of shareware and
freeware programs as well as to electronic forums on topics ranging
from technological to social issues. An essential communication tool
for several groups and individuals throughout the country, Fidonet
Italia became an active multi-cultural vessel and distributor of
several different nodes dedicated to specific issues: Peacelink
(solidarity, human rights), Cybernet (cyberpunk), Ludonet (games),
Scoutnet, Amynet, and others. For thousands of Italian people,
Fidonet BBSes today are invaluable tools of information-exchange,
social activism and professional activities.
The network policy strictly prohibits any distribution of illegally
copied software and fraudulent appropriation of secret passwords.
Also, Fidonet is one of the few International organizations which has
always stated and pursued a clear position against unauthorized
copying software.
At the moment, the raids seems to be motivated by accusations against
two people involved in a Pesaro-based BBS who were using Fidonet
contacts to allegedly distribute illegal copies of computer programs.
However, there are no reasons for such a vast law enforcement
operation. Most likely the prosecutor acted simply on the basis of
the Fidonet telephone numbers list (publicly available) owned by the
two suspected of software piracy. The vast majority of the people
searched don't have any kind of relationship with the suspected, and
many of the search warrants stated a generic "conspiracy with
unknown" for the crime of software piracy.
Particularly, the random and arbitrary seizures of floppy disks and
personal computers are completely unmotivated, because every BBS is a
completely independent structure and each sysop is running his/her
own hardware and software.
The seizures will resolve in a great economic loss for these people
and their professional activities will be surely affected from
negative publicity. Some of them own small computer-related companies
while others are physicians, hobbyists, students who risk personal
savings to run their services.
Because police officials also seized electronic and paper archives
containing data and numbers of the people who logged onto Fidonet
nodes, it is evident that investigations are going even further -
thus violating the constitutional right to privacy.
The first result of this crackdown is that many Fidonet operators
decided to shut down immediately their systems all over the country,
fearing heavier police intrusions in both their public activities and
private lives.
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 7 23 May 1994
While the Italian Parliament recently approved specific laws about
copyright and piracy of computer software, there are still no rules
to protect personal privacy in the electronic medium. This
legislative void inevitably makes the sysop the only responsible
person about anything happens onto and around his/her own BBS.
Fidonet operators do not want and can not be the target of
undiscriminated raids that, forcing them to closing down their
activities, cause serious damages to themselves as well as to the
entire community.
In an article published Friday 13 by the newspaper "La Repubblica",
Alessandro Marescotti, Peacelink spokesperson, said: "Just when the
worldwide BBS scene is gaining general respect for its important role
at the community level, in Italy the law hits those networks that
have always been strongly against software piracy. Charging dozens of
honest operators with unmotivated accusations, the main goal of this
crackdown is directed against the social activities of small
community nets - thus clearing the space for commercial networking."
While terms and figures of the entire operation should still be
clarified, on Sunday 15 Fidonet Italia operators will meet in Bologna
to study any possible legal counter-action.
-- End of forwarded message -------
--
Cesare
-- End of text from cdp:headlines --
--------------------------------------------------------------------
This material came from PeaceNet, a non-profit progressive networking
service. For more information, send a message to
peacenet-info@igc.apc.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
X-Genie-From: R.Parson
BBS-PR Set for Rewrite
The next version of the Computer Bulletin Board Guide to Public
Relations is scheduled to be released 7-1-94. Author Robert Parson
says he is solicting comments and suggestions. "Several Sysops have
asked questions and have made suggestions since its first public
release. It's time for some adjustments."
Robert wrote the Guide to assist Sysops in dealing with the Media.
News Releases, Finding Media Outlets, and Why Sysops should have
Business Cards and Stationary are among the topics covered.
The next version will include more information on Crisis Management,
more News Releases that can actually be used by Sysops, and a new
section on Market Research.
The current version is BBS-PR15.ZIP, available at Paradox of Arkansas
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 8 23 May 1994
BBS 501 484 0944 (Fred Ayers, Sysop), and has also been distributed
on SDN. It is supported in the BBS Public Relations Conference on
Paradox.
Robert Parson is a Broadcast Journalist with over 15 years of
experience, and has been an active particpant in his local BBS
Community for over five years.
Robert can be reached at:
GEnie R.Parson
Internet R.Parson@genie.geis.com
Fido 1:3822/1
voice 501 646 9332
mail 2501 Phoenix
Fort Smith, AR 72901
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Power Freaks are at it AGAIN!
Steve Winter
FidoNet 1:18/98
ALL MODERATORS BEWARE!!! They're at it AGAIN!!!
I hope that everyone can look beyond the initial appearance of the
recent BOP. It's the same old thing. The RECs (or a handful of
power freaks that are influencing them) want to declare themselves
the owners of the backbone they are merely supposed to coordinate the
distribution of. The Postmasters want to be the editor-n-chiefs of
the magazines they help distribute (and hardly even that now with
Planet Connect on the scene).
Item 3 in the BOP 105 for "removing" an echo from the backbone reads:
3) There are no longer three RBCs requesting that the Backbone
distribute the conference to their regions.
A bit presumptious since Planet Connect is now distributing the
backbone. An echo could have a tremendous amount of traffic and be
invisible to the "RBC"s. Just think of the absolute ownership that
this would give to the technically obsolete REC's. This handful
would then have absolute ownership of hundreds of echos that
moderators built up (some like myself with years of work and great
expense).
Then, we have the real cute one, where a handful of people could
(instead of voting with their feet, or starting their own echo, like
I DID), they could mount a letter writing campaign and just trash an
echo until it generated enough complaints that: BINGO: We find item
#5 for removing an echo:
5) When such an excessive number of complaints about the conference
or its Moderator are received by the RBCs that a majority of them
vote to remove the conference from the Backbone.
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 9 23 May 1994
THE POSTMASTERS of FidoNet DO NOT have any authority to remove a
valid echo with a valid moderator just because its controversial and
a certain portion of SysOps don't like it.
IF you don't like an echo, DON'T CARRY IT, but don't force the issue
into a Federal court room by playing a few games and thinking that
new BOP is going to transfer ownership of echos from the moderators
to the "ZBC" or whatever.
I've watched as a handful of false christians tried to steal my echo,
then when they couldn't do that, they stole their echo name from my
echo description, they even sleazed it onto the backbone, but I think
they found out that building an echo is a bit more work and expense
than they had *ever* imagined.
No "BBC" club has the right to remove an established backbone echo
regardless of how many whiners they can get for an ongoing letter
writing campaign.
This sham is the SAME OLD WINE and not even hardly a brand new bottle.
The RECs are technically obsolete as is the ZEC in many respects. To
think that they can grab absolete ownership of the backbone by a
quick "BOP"... IT'S THE SAME old trip that has been tried and tried
before.
The Postmasters want to be editor-n-chiefs!!!!
Don't FALL FOR IT!! No group in FidoNet has the right to just vote
some moderator's echo off of the backbone. I can't imagine a
moderator worth his salt that would not take action if that were to
happen. It could be the end of FidoNet as a practical entity.
The MODERATORs are the owners of the echos, they always have been;
NOT the stars (now obsolete) or the coordinators (just about as
obsolete).
A handful of people, yet again, want to steal the ownership of the
FidoNet backbone echos from the moderators that built them from the
ground up.
Don't fall for it!!
Steve Winter PreRapture BBS 919-286-3606 USR-H16/V.32T
Moderator/founder HOLY_BIBLE (The Wholly Bible Echo)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
On the Subject of Fluff
by Rick Castle, 1:352/23
"Our inventions are wont to be pretty toys, which distract our
attention from serious things. They are but improved means to an
unimproved end, an end which it was already but too easy to arrive at;
as railroads lead to Boston or New York. We are in great haste to
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 10 23 May 1994
construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas,
it may be, have nothing important to communicate. Either is in such a
predicament as the man who was earnest to be introduced to a
distinguished deaf woman, but when he was presented, and one end of her
ear trumpet was put in his hand, had nothing to say. As if the main
object were to talk fast and not to talk sensibly. We are eager to
tunnel under the Atlantic and bring the Old World some weeks nearer to
the New; but perchance the first news that will leak through into the
broad, flapping American ear will be that Princess Adelaide has the
whooping cough. After all, the man whose horse trots a mile in a minute
does not carry the most important messages; he is not an evangelist, nor
does he come round eating locusts and wild honey."
-- Henry David Thoreau, from Walden, published 1854
The Problem of Fluff
--------------------
In the middle of the 19th Century, the telegraph became a very important
communication medium. As wires were stretched across North America,
information began to flow instantaneously. Telegraph offices became a
place where even isolated towns and villages could receive news as to
what was going on in the rest of the world.
It is hard to imagine a time when news and information sometimes took
days or weeks to arrive at its destination. We have telephones, fax
machines, television, radio and online computer services all linked
together with arrays of wires, fiber optics and satellites. The
quantity of the information is staggering.
Thoreau, when he wrote his journals at Walden Pond, was concerned not so
much as to whether Maine and Texas could communicate, but whether they
had anything useful to communicate. This became evident after the
invention of the telephone, when people would sit for hours talking to
someone about nothing in general.
The trend continues even on today's online services and bulletin boards.
There is so much idle chit-chat, users complain about the fact they read
a hundred messages, but only one or two messages, if any, have anything
of interest to them. This is actually quite good for the pay services.
They can bill more time to the user.
The problem which affects these services and networks is most of the
communication flow is fluff. Fluff is a message (or a portion of a
message) with information which isn't relevant to anything in the
conference. The person posting the message and the intended recipient
probably it doesn't care if it's relevant, either. It's just filler to
keep a conversation going. It is safe to assume that nearly 80% of
network message content contains fluff.
You've seen messages which contain fluff. They are present in just
about every conference on every online service and network. Its
presence is epidemic in proportion. Just ask any moderator of any
conference who has problems keeping discussions on topic. Generally all
topics degenerate into some kind of fluff over time.
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 11 23 May 1994
Fluff comes in many forms. Theory indicates the number of varieties may
be infinite. This is due to the dynamic nature of humankind and their
relationships to each other. When one person works to build something
of value, someone else will gunk it up with fluff. Whether this is
intentional or accidental is irrelevant. Everyone would like to think
they have something important to say. But those who have given a great
deal of thought to how we communicate with each other, knows this is a
fallacy. The greatest offenders in our current society are lawyers,
news media and government agencies.
Now with the electronic services providing a forum for anyone who can
get to a computer with a modem, the problem is growing exponentially.
Almost anyone can log on to an online service and voice their opinion.
They speak their mind with whatever authority they feel they have. They
sit back and wait for the recognition they feel they deserve. Sometimes
they are surprised to find out most don't really care about what they
said, and those who do will start feeding back some fluff.
We will discuss the more common varieties. Let's begin now starting
with the most common form.
Flame Fluff
-----------
I was always taught, "If you don't have something nice to say, don't say
it at all." It is important to keep your temper to at least a low boil
when dealing with someone who's opinions don't mix with yours. Most
folks do just fine with keeping their cool. Some go off so fast, you
don't know what's happened until you realize you're covered with manure.
Any discussion has the potential to escalate into a flame war. It is
difficult to understand why some debates go on for weeks with nary a
harsh word, while other crash, explode and burn with just a few
messages. (This is common among the participants of the WELDING
conference. For example, "Grab your rods, Roy, and let's go get the
#$$*@&%!")
Flame messages are fluff, pure and simple. They are the most common
form of it and normally don't contain any useful information. (An
exception is when one of the participant's sister's mating habits is
mentioned, which can be quite useful, especially when a phone number is
included.)
Some forms of flame fluff are illegal in some states. In fact, flame
fluff tends feed in itself until it grows out of control, sucking other
people into the conflict. Many of these new participants are merely
trying to put out the flames, eventually getting so deep they begin
spouting their own expletives. This is called Two-Alarm Flame Fluff.
Eventually, the conference moderator jumps in. He tries every possible
way to find a peaceful solution to the problem. Sometimes, the
moderator becomes involved in the "discussion". He threatens the
offending parties with loss of access to the conference. This will
either stop the problem or begin a new phase of messages where the
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 12 23 May 1994
moderator is called names such as Net-Nazi or Control Freak. This is
when the fluff has degenerated to Three-Alarm Flame Fluff.
By this time, it is quite possible the discussion has become noticed in
other conferences. Quite possibly one of the offending parties has gone
to one of these areas to rally support for his cause. Pretty soon there
are several moderators involved. Participants begin to lose their
access. Threats of legal action are thrown around. Law enforcement
becomes interested because of death threats. The discussion is now a
full fledged war spanning several conferences. People who had nothing
to do with the original disagreement are now having their own
disagreements. The messages are now at the Four-Alarm Flame Fluff
stage.
Now we come to the final stage. Five-Alarm Flame Fluff really is no
longer a form of fluff directly related to the subject which caused the
disagreements. All offending parties have lost access to the
conferences they were posting in. Five-Alarm Fluff comes in the form of
short notices and newspaper articles about the lawsuits, no-contact
orders and drive-by shootings which resulted from the electronic verbal
conflagration.
At this point, government agencies begin think about regulating
electronic communications. The proposals for modem licensing appear.
The legislation restricting our communications begin to flow through
congress and state legislatures.
It is best to avoid all forms Flame Fluff. Some networks provide
special conferences where people can vent their frustrations, keeping
other conferences clear of unnecessary clutter.
Intellectual Fluff
------------------
Intellectual fluff is generally produced by people who are trying to
intelligently participate in a discussion, but who fail miserably.
These discussions generally involve subjects such as politics, religion
or economics, where a participant must have at least a rudimentary
knowledge of what it being discussed.
All of us would like to think of ourselves as intelligent. We want to
be looked upon as competent. We want to project ourselves in our
communications as people who can answer questions with authority. At
least this is our view.
In reality, many people look like complete idiots (see Idiot Fluff
below). They convey their ideas using poor spelling and bad grammar.
Their logic is usually flawed, ending up being torn to shreds with a
single sentence by someone who knows what they are talking about.
Needless to say, the participant who gets the short end of the stick in
these exchanges usually resorts to flame fluff.
How do we keep things from escalating to this point? Keep the
discussions succinct and to the point. If you want to discuss the finer
point of Nietzsche, go to the NIETZSCHE conference. If you want to
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 13 23 May 1994
discuss the aesthetics of welded furniture, go to the WELDING
conference. If you want to start flaming, go to a flame conference and
beat yourselves to death. If you want to be involved in highly
intellectual exchanges, but can't deal with the demands of thinking,
just don't say anything.
Small Talk Fluff
----------------
Small talk fluff is tiny little messages sent between two people. These
messages usually contain no quotations of the previous message, so
keeping dialogue continuity can be difficult. A typical conversation
using this kind of fluff is best depicted using an example.
USER 1: Did you go to the movies?
USER 2: Yes.
USER 1: What did you see?
USER 2: Jurassic Park.
USER 1: Did you like it?
USER 2: It was great. I liked the special effects.
USER 1: They were great.
USER 2: I wonder how they did it.
USER 1: I think they used computers.
USER 2: I wish I had a computer like that.
USER 1: I might get a new computer.
USER 2: What kind of computer?
USER 1: I don't know. What's a good one?
USER 2: Well, I would only get one which would run Windows.
USER 1: Is that good?
USER 2: It means you will have a machine which can run about anything.
USER 1: What's so good about Windows?
USER 2: It makes the computer easier to use.
USER 1: Oh. Are you going to another movie, soon?
USER 2: Yes. I'll tell you about it when I do.
USER 1: That will be great.
This entire exchange was passed around a few thousand systems, all
around the world, over a period of several weeks, with the subject line
of Cannibals of the East Indies, and was posted in the WELDING
conference. Obviously, the moderator was either napping or, perhaps,
visiting the East Indies.
Liars' Fluff
------------
We now have a very curious form of fluff. Liars' fluff is used by
individuals with hidden agendas. It is basically just plain lies. The
motivation could be political, financial or for just plain fun.
Think about it. You can drop a hot piece of inside information
(Economic Fluff) about a company in a stocks conference. Or how about a
juicy tidbit (Electoral Fluff) about someone running for a political
office? Or even better, how about some information (Promiscuity
Fluff) about someone's sister? Like the person who just flamed you in
the WELDING conference.
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 14 23 May 1994
Sometimes two individuals will begin a cooperative effort to create the
appearance they are having a disagreement. This form of Liars' Fluff is
called Pseudo-flame Fluff. In reality, there is no disagreement, but a
carefully choreographed discussion. This is usually done to give one or
both of the parties an appearance of a position on an issue when the
opposite is really true.
Most forms of Liars' Fluff is generally posted using an alias name so
the real person can deny they did it.
Appointment Fluff
-----------------
This is a very curious kind of fluff and very difficult to understand.
So let's get a picture of what is happening.
Two people are having a discussion. One of the parties decides it would
be great if they met for lunch sometime. The other agrees. So the
first party sends a message to second party at 10:00 AM to meet for
lunch at 12:00 noon. Now, the first party goes to the designated
location and waits for the second party.
That evening, the second party gets the message, and states they just
received the message. The first party is quite upset because they were
stood up and begins to apply liberal helpings of flame fluff.
And so it goes on and on.
Why can't these people just pick up the phone and set the lunch date?
The technology we use is quite sophisticated and enjoyable to use, but
some things are better communicated through more traditional means,
like, for example, the telephone. It is a far better approach than
announcing to the whole world you're doing lunch.
Technical Fluff
---------------
Generally, most technical discussions are kept inside their own
conference. This is so the technical people (who populate every corner
of a computer network or online service) can discuss their obsession
with odd words and acronyms without fear of being laughed at. (Rumor
has they don't even use English but programming languages to convey
ideas.)
Problems arise when some of these discussions originate in conferences
where large gathering of non-technical people are sending messages
containing intellectual, appointment or small talk fluff. Most of these
users stay away from anything which contains an acronym. This is wise.
But what about those bold few who dare to display their technical
prowess without the slightest idea what they are talking about?
The result is technical fluff. Take the following exchange as an
example:
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 15 23 May 1994
TECH: Okay, to solve your modem problem, you will want to reset it
with the ATZ command from your term program. You should then
type ATS0=0 so it will not automatically answer the phone. You
can then issue the AT&W command to save the settings.
USER 1: Okay, thanks. My mom was getting quite upset when she heard
the noise when the modem answered the phone. Thanks again.
USER 2: Um, I am having a problem with my modem. I would like to fix
it but I can't find the problem.
TECH: What is the problem?
USER 2: Well, it's making a kind of scraping sound.
TECH: I don't think you have a problem with your modem. It doesn't
have any parts which could make a scraping sound.
USER 2: It's got to be the modem. Whenever I log in, and try to
download a file, I get an error message.
TECH: What kind of error message?
USER 2: I don't know. Just an error message. I think it is the way
the modem is hooked into the disk. I read about it somewhere
in a library book. I think it was from Time-Life. There was a
little line in a picture which went from the modem to this
little square marked CPU and back to the disk. I think that is
where the problem is. I would recommend the book to anyone. I
learned a lot from it.
The tech who managed to get entangled with this person is probably
kicking himself for even responding. He is probably thinking about
distributing some flame fluff. Most likely he won't even respond to any
more messages from this person. Technical people are like that.
A good rule of thumb is to never try and prove your technical abilities,
unless you have an unusual ability to use odd words and acronyms. Even
if you do have some technical knowledge, keep in mind there will always
be someone out there to prove you wrong. Technical people are elitists
by nature. They don't like having to explain themselves to people who
think they know what they are talking about.
Avoid the use of intellectual fluff when working with these people.
They don't like wasting time debating philosophy. Most technical people
have a difficult time with these kinds of subjects and will probably
ignore you.
Plagiarism Fluff
----------------
This is perhaps one of the most insidious forms of fluff. No, the
person entering the message hasn't stolen his message from someone else.
There's too much danger in getting caught. They post messages quoting
every line of a previous message. They then enter their response with a
one-liner comment.
The most common form of abuse is when someone else has entered an
emotional retort to a message with abundant quantities of foul language.
Someone takes offense, quotes the entire message, to the letter, and
says that they are offended. They may as well go out and preempt
television and radio broadcasts to make sure everyone knew someone said
a bad word. This does draw attention, but usually to the one taking
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 16 23 May 1994
offense which results in Flame Fluff being generated.
There also is the situation where someone has entered a multiple message
post. The respondent quotes, in full, all of the messages and cheerfully
adds at the very end of the very last message, "I agree".
Snort.
First Amendment Fluff
---------------------
When a person who takes pride in his views and presents them in a
precise way, they are generally regarded favorable light by most of the
people reading them. Any debates with this individual are generally
interesting, thought-provoking and a joy to participate in whether all
parties agree or not. These individuals will use their real names
because even though they may be controversial, they are willing to stand
up for what they believe in an open, honest and accountable way.
On the other hand, there are those who stir up controversy for the sake
of stirring it up. They usually hide behind an alias name and deny any
association between the "other" and the real person. When they are
attacked, they begin to quote constitutional law. This is known as
First Amendment Fluff.
First Amendment Fluff is a hybrid between Flame Fluff, Liars Fluff and
Intellectual Fluff, because it almost always involves a malicious
attack, usually contains false information and attempts unsuccessfully
to intellectually justify its existence. It is usually always
intermixed with Flame Fluff. The person using this form of fluff has a
stalker mentality, finding a particular person to attack. Sometimes
these attacks can last for years, unless intervention occurs from law
enforcement.
In all sincerity, I don't believe the founding fathers of the United
States had the intention of allowing freedom of speech to include
freedom to spout innuendo and lies. Its intent was to keep people from
being persecuted by the government for voicing their opinions. Ethical
principles are important when discussing controversial views. Those who
spout First Amendment Fluff tend to be in short supply of any form of
ethics.
Idiot Fluff
-----------
At one point or another, one comes across a message which makes no sense
whatsoever. No matter how you look at it, no matter how you read it, no
matter how you rescramble the words, it is virtually impossible to get
the meaning of what was said. This is called Idiot Fluff because the
person doing the posting was obviously an idiot. Here is an example:
Date: 22 Sep 93 14:06:04
From: John Doe
To: All
Subj: Hello
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 17 23 May 1994
--------------------------------------------------------------
i just got this computer have trouble log on and the messages
don't work right i am cannot find a job is there anybody who
knows why i will work for food thanks
The first question which arises is why does someone who is unemployed,
illiterate, hungry and not technically inclined posting a message
proving his unemployability, illiteracy, hunger and technical ignorance?
The answer is simply because he is an idiot. And what do idiots post?
They post Idiot Fluff.
Okay, I don't want to come across as someone who is insensitive to
people who have lost their jobs for economic reasons. Unemployed people
are not all idiots. It's just in today's competitive economy, more
idiots are being flushed out of their jobs. Just look at the last
election and all those in Congress who didn't return.
The major sub-type of Idiot Fluff is Illiteracy Fluff. Have you ever
noticed in most English based conferences, messages from Europe are far
better spelled and have better sentence structure than messages coming
from America? For most of these people, English is a second language.
It simply doesn't make sense. America is the number one supplier of
Illiteracy Fluff.
Now, Illiteracy Fluff is a sub-type of Idiot Fluff. Americans post the
most Illiteracy Fluff. When we put these facts together, the conclusion
is obvious.
Americans look like a bunch of idiots to the rest of the world.
Argument Fluff
--------------
The purpose of most electronic conferences is to have the ability to
discuss various points on a subject. Most conferences have a subject or
theme which keeps the discussion to a particular area of interest (i.e.,
religion, computer programming welding, etc.). Sometimes, a debate will
stray from the central issue. Usually the person who is losing the
battle will sidetrack a discussion on a minor point, mostly to avoid the
embarrassment of losing the debate on the main point. This is called
Argument Fluff.
Argument Fluff is sometimes difficult to detect because of its
similarity to other types of fluff. Flame Fluff, Liars' Fluff and
Intellectual Fluff are particularly prone to be disguised as Argument
Fluff. An alert participant in a debate will be able to see this ruse
and reverse the move.
Most of these diversions are performed by making claims which could not
possibly be proved or disproved. For example, with the sub-type of
Deity Fluff the comment such as "My God's better than your God" may be
made. There is no way for either party to positively prove this fact,
because it is a remark based on faith. It is hoped by the losing side
in the debate that this will cause the other party to drop his argument
and take the offensive with this as a new argument. A shrewd person
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 18 23 May 1994
would not be baited by this tactic. They would ignore it and continue.
One-Liner Fluff is a hybrid of Argument Fluff and Small Talk Fluff. Here
a person "defends" their position with comments such as "No, it doesn't"
or "On a cold day in hell". It is important to note the person posting
this kind of fluff will most likely be ignored. Eventually, they will
be frustrated to the point where they will post Flame Fluff in order to
get the attention they feel they deserve.
Political Fluff is a hybrid of Argument Fluff and Liars' Fluff. This is
prevalent in conferences where a lot of political debating is going on.
It is also common in election campaigns. There are a lot of promises
made, with no intent on keeping them.
Treatment for Fluff
-------------------
Fluff is best described as the conference version of the stuff that
grows under your bed. It will always appear and, eventually, you will
have clean it up.
Now that we have some categories of fluff defined, we can now look at
how we deal with it. We must be careful, however. In treating fluff,
we can wipe out a conference. Once you remove it from these areas, there
is usually nothing left. So it is safe to say, a little fluff is good
for a conference. It adds something to an otherwise void and sterile
environment.
We also need to be careful that the treatment doesn't end up being
legislated by the government. We all know it is difficult to get good
ethical policy from elected officials. We need to find a way which will
minimize government involvement.
Generally, conference content is policed by the moderator, if there is
one. Sometimes, several people will declare they are the rightful
moderator for a conference, and there will be a lot of flame fluff
generated. This is especially true in the WELDING conference, where the
moderator of the UNION conference and the moderator of the SCAB
conference are constantly fighting for control.
Once a moderator has been established, they must be careful to not be
too restrictive or flame fluff will generate. If they are too passive,
then all kinds of fluff will form spontaneously. Balance is key to
moderating a conference.
Some moderators can only create fluff. They sit quietly behind their
keyboards waiting to pounce on any indiscretion. When they find one,
they post messages which ask the offending parties to end the topic.
Some even go as far as sending private fluff e-mail to the originator.
These moderators are called fluffballs. (This name is not popular with
the moderators of the WELDING conference.) This conjures up an image of
someone soft and warm. This is a gross error for some fluffballs have
been known to carry semi-automatic weapons.
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 19 23 May 1994
One treatment for fluff involves removing these fluffballs, replacing
them with someone less fluffy. This does cause confusion for users of a
conference because the rules can sometimes change without notice. This
kind of extreme action needs to be avoided at all costs.
Another treatment involves the use of automated message packet scanners.
These kinds of programs have been in use for many years, primarily to
render flame fluff benign. A much more sophisticated scanner is needed
to detect and properly correct messages for other types.
Now, free speech advocates will probably dislike what is about to be
discussed (generating a large amount of First Amendment Fluff). Please
finish reading this discourse before jumping to conclusions. What I am
proposing is a fast and efficient way to automatically deal with the
problem of fluff.
The Fluff Finder
----------------
The Fluff Finder is software used to scan message packets and message
areas for fluff. At this time, its existence is purely theoretical.
Its development will involve many man-years of programming effort, so it
will be a few years before it can become a reality.
The heart of the program is the Fluff Engine. It's basically a library
of programs designed to support the scanning of messages for fluff
content. The rules of good taste and conferencing etiquette are its
main features. Who's good taste and etiquette it will support depends
on who develops the final product.
The Fluff Engine is designed to be transportable between platforms. A
shell is all that needs to be programmed if you were to move it from,
say, an MS-DOS platform to a MacIntosh or VAX. The core program will
remain uniform and consistent.
The engine is built using artificial intelligence techniques and so it
is more sophisticated than the traditional search and replace message
scanners. It can literally understand what you have entered, either
removing superfluous content or change it something less fluffy.
The program can scan for particular kinds of messages. In the case of
Small Talk and Appointment Fluff, it is very easy to scan messages for
brevity or lunch times. The engine can very easily transform the
statement "I'll meet you for lunch at noon on Wednesday" to "Call me so
we can do lunch." This saves other users from having to worry if anyone
actually showed up. Everyone is confident there will be no flame fluff
generated.
Advanced versions of the software can also transform actual meanings of
ideas within messages. This involves a lot of complex programming and a
database, called the Fluff Finder Fact File. Using this, the program
can search for meanings of common phrases and concepts. With recent
breakthroughs in artificial intelligence technology, and the continuing
drop in the cost of computer hardware, this feature will be well within
the reach of everyone very soon.
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 20 23 May 1994
Intellectual and Liars Fluff will be able to be handled by placing all
the works of humanity in the facts database. No point can be presented
without the Fluff Finder being able to check its validity. If the topic
is about someone's sister, which would probably not be in the database,
then the Fluff Finder calls the person's sister for verification. This
information is then stored in the database and used to modify or remove
the message.
Technical Fluff would be handled in a similar way. Because the Fluff
Finder is created by technicians, the software itself would be allowed
to generate an appropriate response. This leaves technical people time
to come up with new and improved software designs.
Idiot Fluff can only be deleted. It doesn't make sense, except for
maybe the person posting the message. But that makes no difference. It
gives them something to do while in the unemployment line.
A major feature of the Fluff Finder is where Flame Fluff would be
converted to something more helpful and positive. This can disarm many
potential conflicts. Let's illustrate this with an example. The
following message was a result of an unmonitored dialogue between two
users which got out of control. (NOTE: Offensive words and phrases
have been replaced with asterisks, using a crude word scanner, as to not
offend sensitive readers.)
Date: 22 Sep 93 14:06:04
From: John Doe on 1:352/23 Dimension 23 in Olympia WA
To: David Smith on 1:352/23.1 Point 23 in Olympia WA
Subj: Your sister
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello, David!
I think you are probably one of the most arrogant ******** that I
have ever seen. You obviously can't comprehend the advanced
concepts discussed in this area recently. A lobotomy would do you
no good what you need is a good *** ******* with a rasp file and a
stick of dynamite.
What this all means is, *** ****** you ****** ****** ******* *** **
* *****!
Obviously, this contains a liberal amount of flame fluff. This message
would appear as depicted above when only using a simple message scanner.
(The original text will not be made available.)
Now, we will see what happens when this message is scanned by the Fluff
Finder.
Date: 22 Sep 93 14:06:04
From: John Doe on 1:352/23 Dimension 23 in Olympia WA
To: David Smith on 1:352/23.1 Point 23 in Olympia WA
Subj: Your sister
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello, David!
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 21 23 May 1994
In all my past experiences, you have proven to me that your
intellect is only surpassed by your rectal qualities. Your
inexperience has severely impaired your ability in debating the
concepts recently discussed. Perhaps you should get a rasp file and
dynamite enema because a lobotomy would quite probably be
ineffective.
As the offspring of a female dog with Oedipus syndrome, maybe you
should go seek a sexual encounter!
See how much more fluid and cheerful this message is? And there is not
one offensive word. It changes a very destructive and potentially
harmful flame fluff message into a very friendly, helpful and positive
statement with lots of good advice. You can see the smile on David's
face right now, can't you?
The Fluff Finder technology promises to make the nearly impossible task
of monitoring all conversation a reality. Online services and networks
will rest easier knowing that any potentially problematic conversation
will be dealt with a minimum of human effort.
The Future
----------
In summary, the solution to this problem is two-fold. First, in order
to properly define what is needed to help solve the problem of fluff, it
needs to be defined. This document is merely a beginning to that end.
Only a few types have been discussed and illustrated here. Many more
still exist.
Once all the varieties of fluff are defined, then a specification for
the Fluff Finder can be compiled. It will be the task of dedicated
programmers to build it. The best way to accomplish this is through
financing via government program. The project could be overseen by a
citizen committee of people with good ethical standing. The end product
would be in the public domain, free to be used in a variety of software
products without cost to software developers.
With the Fluff Finder in hand, we can go into the future, confident the
rules of good taste will be taken care of for us. Only then can we
conference with our friends around the world, in a way Henry David
Thoreau would have been proud. Our communications will be concise, have
meaning, be without error, and, best of all, without offense!
(...sysop now removes tongue from cheek...)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Brock Meeks really is an A#1 type person. The LIttle Garden is
going to send some money." -Tom Jennings
Dear Net Citizen:
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 22 23 May 1994
How do you put a price on free and open dialogue on the Net?
How much are you willing to spend to preserve the concept of roboust
and open debate that have become a part of the Internet's culture?
$100? $50? $20?
What if the cost of helping to preserve an open and robust Net was
no more than $1.29? That's right, less than the cost of a fast
food hamburger. Freedom on the Internet for only $1.29... cheap
at twice the price.
A joke? Hardly. The free and open speech, indeed the First Amendment
rights of the Internet -- rights we've all enjoyed for decades -- are
now being challenged in court.
CyberWire Dispatch, the well-respected online newswire written and
developed for the Internet community by journalist Brock Meeks, is
the subject of a libel suit. CyberWire Dispatch has been at the
forefront of bringing the Net community timely and insightful
articles.
This suit was highlighted in a _Wall St. Journal_ article (April
22, page B1). The subject of a Dispatch investigation is suing
Meeks for simply doing what journalists in the traditional print
medium have done since the founding of newspapers: Print the
facts and let the public decide the outcome.
Brock and the Cyperwire Dispatch are examples of the "bottom up"
journalism that charachterizes the Net, where anyone with a modem can
compete with the traditional press. Of course, most of us don't come
to the Net with a lawyer in tow, or the resources to defend a legal
action taken against us in courts located hundreds of miles from our
homes.
This libel action is one of the earliest cases of libel involving
alleged defamatory statements published over a computer network.
It raises the extremely important legal and policy issues. It's impact
may well determine how and to what extent anyone feels free to express
strong opinions on the Net, wihtout being put at risk of legal action.
It is crucial that Brock have a strong defense and that the principles
that come out of this case provide the maximum protection to the
exercise of free and open speech as possible.
CyberWire Dispatch is unique because it's distributed solely in
electronic form. A service for the Net community at large. And
all CyberWire Dispatch articles are free. Meeks neither charges
anyone for receiving them; he gets paid nothing to write them.
For all these efforts, he's being sued. And being sued by a
company with a large financial backing. Meeks, on the other hand,
has no such resources. His attorney, Bruce Sanford of Baker &
Hostetler is arguably the finest First Amendment lawyer in the
U.S.
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 23 23 May 1994
And although he has agreed to represent Meeks at a reduced rate,
the cost of defending against this unmerited suit will not be
cheap.
We have formed this committee to lend our support in helping him
raise money for his legal defense. And all we're asking you to
send is $1.29. That's it. Why that price? The math is easy: $1
in an envelope with a 29 cent stamp applied.
Who can't afford $1.29 to help save the great freedoms we all
enjoy here today?
Can you send more? Of course. Any contributions will be
welcomed and accepted. Tax deductible donations also are
possible by following the instructions below.
All money sent for Meeks' legal defense fund will be go to that
purpose. All the administrative services for administering the
fund are being donated; 100% of your money goes to defer the
legal costs of this case.
You are encouraged to repost this message. But please, we urge
you to keep proper Net protocol in mind when reposting or cross
posting this message.
Thanks for your time. On behalf of Brock and for future
generations of electronic journalists, we appreciate your
contributions and support.
Sincerely,
Samuel A. Simon
President, Issue Dynmics, Inc.*
ssimon@idi.net
Mitch Kapor
Chair, Electronic Frontier Foundation*
Kapor@eff.org
David Farber
The Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunications Systems
University of Pennsylvania*
farber@central.cis.upenn.edu
Philip Elmer-DeWitt
Senior Writer
TIME Magazine*
ped@panix.com
Marc Rotenberg
Electronic Infomation Privacy Center*
epic@cpsr.org
Nicholas Johnson
Former FCC Commissoner*
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 24 23 May 1994
103-5393@mcimail.com
Jerry Berman
Electronic Frontier Foundation*
jbeman@eff.org
Mike Godwin
Electronic Frontier Foundation*
mnemonic@eff.org
*AFFILIATION IS FOR INDENTIFICATION PURPOSE ONLY
For Tax Deductible Donations:
Make Checks out to "Point Foundation" and clearly annotate on the check:
"For Legal Defense Fund."
Send those checks to:
Meeks Defense Fund
c/o Point Foundation
27 Gate Five Road
Sausalito, CA 94965
For those who don't care about the tax deductible status, send
contributions to:
Meeks Defense Fund
c/o IDI
901 15th St. NW
Suite 230
Washington, DC 20005
####################################################################
# Meeks Defense Fund | Internet: fund@idi.net #
# ---------------------------------------------------------------- #
# c/o IDI c/o Point Foundation #
# 901 15th St. NW 27 Gate Five Road #
# Suite 230 Sausalito, CA 9465 #
# Washington, DC 20005 #
####################################################################
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Samuel A. Simon
IDI (Issue Dynamics Inc) | Internet: ssimon@idi.net
901 15th St. NW Suite 230
Washington, DC 20005
(202)408-1400 (v/tdd)
(202)408-1134 (fax)
(202)408-1163 (BBS)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 25 23 May 1994
Ever Feel Like You're Being Watched?
You Will...
Digital Media has learned that the Clinton administration is debating
not if, but how, to create a card that every American will need in
order to interact with any federal government agency. Combined with
two potential executive orders and the Postal Service's designs on
putting its stamp on personal and business electronic transactions,
the card could open a window on every nuance of American personal and
business life.
The wrangling among the administration, the U.S. Postal Service, the
Internal Revenue Service and Department of Defense, emerged into the
public eye at this April's CardTech/SecureTech Conference. The
gathering of security experts was convened to discuss applications
for smart card and PCMCIA memory card technologies in business and
government. The Postal Service, at the conference presented a
proposal for a "general purpose U.S. services smartcard," which
individuals and companies would use to authenticate their identities
when sending and receiving electronic mail, transferring funds and
interacting with government agencies, such as the I.R.S., Veterans
Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services.
President Clinton is also considering signing two executive orders
that would greatly expand the government's access to personal
records, including an order that would allow the I.R.S. to monitor
individual bank accounts and automatically collect taxes based on the
results, said sources close to the White House. The collection
service will be presented as a convenient way to avoid filling out a
tax return. The White House did not respond to requests for comments
about this report.
The Post Office: We deliver for you. The Postal Service's U.S. Card
would be designed to use either smart cards (plastic cards with an
embedded microprocessor carrying a unique number that can be read by
a electromagnetic scanner and linked to computerized records stored
on a network) or PCMCIA cards, which can contain megabytes of
personal information. (You've probably seen this type card in AT&T's
"You Will" ad campaign, which shows a doctor inserting a woman's card
in a reader in order to access a recording of a sonogram). The Postal
Service said it is considering AT&T and other companies' smart card
technologies.
In a slide presentation at the conference, Postal representative
Chuck Chamberlain outlined how an individual's U.S. Card would be
automatically connected with the Department of Health and Human
Services, the U.S. Treasury, the I.R.S., the banking system, and a
central database of digital signatures for use in authenticating
electronic mail and transactions. The U.S. Card is only a proposal,
Chamberlain insists. Yet the Postal Service is prepared to put more
than a hundred million of the cards in citizens' pockets within
months of administration approval, he said.
"We've been trying to convince people [in the different agencies] to
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 26 23 May 1994
do just one card, otherwise, we're going to end up with two or three
cards," said Chamberlain. He said in addition to the healthcare card
proposed by President Clinton last year, various government agencies
are forwarding plans for a personal records card and a transactions
(or "e-purse") card. Chamberlain said the I.R.S in particular is
pursuing plans for an identity card for taxpayers.
Don't leave home without it. Though he did not name the U.S. Card at
the time, Postmaster General Marvin Runyon suggested that the Postal
Service offer electronic mail certification services during testimony
before the Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee in March. The
proposal is clearly intended as a way to sustain the Postal Service's
national role in the information age, since it would give the agency
a role in virtually every legally-binding electronic transaction made
by U.S. citizens. For instance:
* When sending or receiving electronic mail, U.S. Card users would be
able to check the authenticity of a digital signature to screen out
impostors.
* Banking transactions (notably credit card purchases) that depend on
authentication of the participants identities and an audit trail,
would be registered in Postal Service systems.
* Veterans, or for that matter college students and welfare
recipients, could check their federal benefits using the
identification data on their U.S. Cards.
* Visitors to an emergency room would have instant access to medical
records at other hospitals, as well as their health insurance
information.
These examples may seem benign separately, but collectively they
paint a picture of a citizen's or business's existence that could be
meddlesome at best and downright totalitarian at worst. Will buying a
book at a gay bookstore with a credit card that authenticates the
transaction through the Postal Service open a Naval officer up to
court marshal? If you have lunch with a business associate on a
Saturday at a family restaurant, will the IRS rule the expense
non-deductible before you can even claim it?
"There won't be anything you do in business that won't be collected
and analyzed by the government," said William Murray, an information
system security consultant to Deloitte and Touche who saw
Chamberlain's presentation. "This [National Information
Infrastructure] is a better surveillance mechanism than Orwell or the
government could have imagined. This goddamned thing is so pervasive
and the propensity to connect to it is so great that it's
unstoppable."
Deep Roots; Deep Pockets; Long History. Chamberlain said the Postal
Service has been working for "a couple years" on the information
system to back up the U.S. Card. He said the project was initiated by
the Department of Defense, which wanted a civilian agency to create a
national electronic communications certification authority that could
be connected to its Defense Messaging System. Chamberlain said the
Postal Service has also consulted with the National Security Agency,
proponents of the Clipper encryption chip which hides the contents of
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 27 23 May 1994
messages from all but government agencies, like law enforcement. The
National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research
Laboratories in Mountain View, Calif. carried out the research and
development work for Clipper.
"We're designing a national framework for supporting business-quality
authentication," said John Yin, the engineer heading up the U.S.
Card- related research for NASA Ames' advanced networking
applications group. "This is not specifically with just the Postal
Service. We'll be offering services to other agencies and to
third-party commercial companies that want to build other services on
the card." For example, VISA or American Express could link their
credit services to the U.S. Card.
Yin, who works on Defense Messaging Systems applications, said his
group has collaborated with "elements of Department of Defense" for
the past year, but would not confirm the participation of the
National Security Agency, a Department of Defense agency. The NSA is
specifically prohibited from creating public encryption systems by
the Computer Security Act of 1987. Yin also would not comment on the
budget for the project, which other sources said was quite large and
has spanned more than two years.
A false sense of security? According to Yin, the cards would allow
individuals or businesses to choose any encryption technology. "It's
not our approach to say, 'Here's the standard, take it our leave it,
'" he said.
"We're not trying to create a monopoly, rather it's an infrastructure
for interoperability on which a whole variety of services can be
built." Yet, NASA, which is a participant in the CommerceNet electric
marketplace consortium will "suggest" to its partners that they adopt
the U.S. Card certification infrastructure, he said.
The reality is that government agencies' buying power usually drives
the market to adopt a particular technology -- not unlike the way the
Texas Board of Education, the largest single purchaser of textbooks
in the U.S., sets the standard for the content of American classroom
curricula. Since, the administration has already mandated use of
Clipper and its data-oriented sibling, the Tesserae chip, in federal
systems it's fairly certain that the law enforcement-endorsed chips
will find their way into most, if not all, U.S. Cards. Even in the
unlikely event that one government agency should weather the pressure
and pass on the Clipper chip, it's still possible to trace the
source, destination, duration and time of transactions conducted
between Clippered and non-Clippered devices.
"Most of this shift [in privacy policy] is apparently being done by
executive order at the initiative of bureaucracy, and without any
Congressional oversight or Congressional concurrence, " Murray said.
"They are not likely to fail. You know, Orwell said that bureaucrats,
simply doing what bureaucrats do, without motivation or intent, will
use technology to enslave the people."
EDITOR'S NOTE: Digital Media has filed a Freedom of Information Act
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 28 23 May 1994
request for Clinton and Bush Administration, Postal Service, NSA,
Department of Defense, NASA, I.R.S. and other documents related to
the creation of the U.S. Card proposal.
-- Mitch Ratcliffe
Copyright 1994 by Mitch Ratcliffe and Seybold Publications.
Mitch Ratcliffe
Editor in Chief
Digital Media: A Seybold Report
444 De Haro St., Ste. 128
San Francisco, Calif. 94107
415.575.3775 office
godsdog@netcom.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nodelist Size (again)
by Jim Tinlin, 1:212/0
-= Cutting the Fat =-
I agree with Gary Gilmore (FNEWS1118) concerning reducing excess items
in the nodelist. I am a fledgling NC (NET212 has only been on the
books for about 2 months now) and learning the ropes quickly and with
lots of mistakes.
One item I've always had a difficult time warming up to is the
nodelist, it's inhumane size and unwieldly stature makes it a real pain
to work with. I have gone to great lengths to make sure "our" net
nodelist is devoid of some of the fluff that exists rampant in the full
nodelist.
To parallel some items previously discussed, I offer the following
thoughts:
HOLDS - do away with them. Why do we need a HOLD flag located in the
nodelist for more than a week? I submit the NC (who's
responsible for the net-nodelist anyway) should remove any
nodes that exceed this time period. It's just as easy to get
back into the nodelist anyway.
FLAGS - get rid of the redundancy. I think most of them are a waste
and hold over from "older" modems. If the redundancy is
necessary in specific cases, leave it in...if not, drop the
V42B if the modem is V32B.
I also think there should be a move afoot to update the flags
to today's standards, since 9600 is a bit "slow" by most
people's systems. Not that it makes a *lot* of difference in
the nodelist, but it's nice to have accurate information about
a node that you're calling. I know it would sway me one way or
the other on some connections (say FREQ'ing a file) if I knew
the real story about how long I'd be paying LD phone bills to
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 29 23 May 1994
get that important file.
LISTINGS - I know multiple listings are considered by some to be a
status symbol or pure waste, but I can see a few situations
where the additional listing is important. In our net we have
3 major "hubs" and a Planet Connect location (presently it just
happens to *be* one of the hubs). This makes our system very
flexible since a change in ownership of a hub (or the Planet
Connect node) doesn't require everyone in the net to re-work
their route files. We just change the nodelist to reflect the
new person acting as the hub and things keep moving.
And why do people put "BBS" after the name of the BBS, isn't it
kinda obvious that it's a BBS??? Well, if it's MO or non-CM
maybe not, but think of all the bytes that can be saved just by
shaving off those 3 letters (18,000 times!!!). OK, so this is
going a bit overboard...and I'm starting to sound like Andy
Rooney ;^)
Why did I write this article??? Maybe it's just ego (gee, how many
people are going to read this article...better yet, how many people
really care?) or activism...my little piece of bush beating. I don't
intend to convince *everyone* but maybe this article (and many more)
will instill the idea that FidoNet has to work together to keep itself
strong or it will fall upon itself, a crumbling mass of overweight
structure.
Thanks for taking the time to read this...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
INTERGREEK: An echo about Greek things and people
INTERGREEK announcement
by Alejandros Diamandidis, 2:410/9.9, adia@eng.auth.gr
Hello people of Fidonet everywhere! I'd like to inform you of a new
echo, INTERGREEK. This echo was made so that greek people away from
Greece (and they are quite a few!) would be able to chat about their
country, but of course it attracted people who are not of greek origin
but are interested in matters concerning Greece. We now have regular
conversations about greek culture and politics with people outside
Greece.
The echo was created by Nasos Liagos, 2:410/113, who is the moderator
(not that a lot of moderation is required, but just in case!). The echo
currently goes to zones 1, 2, 3 and 5, and about 50 messages are posted
per week. The nodes to contact about a feed in the U.S. are Steve Laris
in Astoria, NY (1:278/514), who feeds the echo to Pennsylvania and
Toronto (Ontario), or Karen Mintzias in Redondo Beach, CA (1:102/125)
who passes it on to Vancouver (British Columbia). Karen also feeds the
echo to Chris Keladis (3:712/416) who passes it on to the zone 3
backbone. In zone 5 you can contact 5:7101/3. Finaly, in
zone 2, besides being carried by most of the nodes in R41 the echo
is also carried by 244/3310, 301/813, 310/3 and others throughout
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 30 23 May 1994
Europe.
We'd like more people, both Greek and not, to participate. If you
know someone who may be interested, please tell them about INTERGREEK!
If you'd like more information, you can contact the moderator or
Basilis Tsapas, 2:410/13, who is also the R41C. Thanks for reading
this announcement!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
========================================================================
Fidonews Information
========================================================================
------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ----------------
Editors: Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees
Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell,
Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar
Tom Jennings
"FidoNews" BBS
FidoNet 1:1/23
BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS)
Internet addresses:
Don & Sylvia (submission address)
editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
Donald -- donald@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca
Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com
(Postal Service mailing address)
FidoNews
128 Church St.
Kitchener, Ontario
Canada
N2H 2S4
Published weekly by and for the members of the FidoNet international
amateur electronic mail system. It is a compilation of individual
articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. The
contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the
rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in these articles are those
of the authors and not necessarily those of FidoNews.
Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is
Copyright 1994 Sylvia Maxwell. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or
distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in
other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or FidoNews
(we're easy).
OBTAINING COPIES: The-most-recent-issue-ONLY of FidoNews in electronic
form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or
Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet.
PRINTED COPIES may be obtained from Fido Software for $10.00US each
FidoNews 11-21 Page: 31 23 May 1994
PostPaid First Class within North America, or $13.00US elsewhere,
mailed Air Mail. (US funds drawn upon a US bank only.)
INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org,
in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews. If you would like a FAQ, or
have questions regarding FidoNet, or UUCP<==>FidoNet gateways, please
direct them to David Deitch (1:133/411@fidonet) at
deitch@gisatl.fidonet.org.
SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in
FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file
ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable
from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it.
"Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered
trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission.
Asked what he thought of Western civilization,
M.K. Gandhi said, "I think it would be an excellent idea".
-- END
----------------------------------------------------------------------

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