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Computer underground Digest Sun Dec 21, 1997 Volume 9 : Issue 92
ISSN 1004-042X
Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu)
News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu)
Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
Ian Dickinson
Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
CONTENTS, #9.92 (Sun, Dec 21, 1997)
File 1--UK - Have Your Say to the Government! (fwd)
File 2--Urgent Action: WA state HOUSE BILL 2209
File 3--Book Review: "Internet Dreams" by Stefik
File 4--No Electronic Theft Act; who's to judge?
File 5--Cyber Patrol to Block Hate Speech
File 6--SPECIAL REPORT: Censorware in the Stacks
File 7--Islands in the Clickstream - December 21, 1997
File 8--The Censorware Project
File 9--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 May, 1997)
CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN
THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 1997 11:09:09 -0600 (CST)
From: Avi Bass <te0azb1@corn.cso.niu.edu>
Subject: File 1--UK - Have Your Say to the Government! (fwd)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date--Fri, 12 Dec 1997 09:52:07 +0000
From--Steven Clift <clift@freenet.msp.mn.us>
Subject--UK - Have Your Say to the Government! (fwd)
Enclosed are two messages about the UK Freedom of Information
Consultation that has been set up by UK Citizens Online Democracy
with the support of the UK Cabinet Office.
To date it represents the best organized interactive online event
with an interface into the governmental decision-making process. It
is one to follow closely and hopefully apply lessons from in
similar online efforts in your own countries and communities.
In the future if you are interested in updates about similar
efforts from round the world, please sign-up for the monthly
Democracy Notes newsletter. Send a message to:
listserv@tc.umn.edu
In the body of your message, write:
subscribe do-notes "Your Name (Place)"
Sincerely,
Steven Clift
Democracies Online - http://www.e-democracy.org/do
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date-- Fri, 12 Dec 1997 11:40:20 +0200
To-- working-group@democracy.org.uk
From-- irving@democracy.org.uk (Irving Rappaport)
Subject-- Have Your Say to the Government!
The government would be grateful if you could distribute this message widely:-
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Have Your Say to the Government! See - http://foi.democracy.org.uk/
===============================
UK Citizens' Online Democracy (UKCOD) is delighted to announce that for the
first time in Britain the general public can participate in the preparation
of a law by interacting directly with a Government Minister via the
internet.
An independent, non-partisan web site supported by the Cabinet Office
has been set up by UK Citizens' Online Democracy (UKCOD) to enable the
public to provide the Government with feedback on its proposals for
Britain's first Freedom of Information Act and to pose questions directly
to Dr David Clark, the Minister responsible for the Freedom of Information
proposals.
You can have your say to the Government and the Minister NOW at:-
http://foi.democracy.org.uk/
Dr Clark said, "Before we produce the draft Freedom of Information
Bill, I am keen to hear people's views on our proposals. The UKCOD
website will be a quick and convenient route for people to provide
this feedback. I look forward to taking part in the online discussion
planned for the New Year."
So don't be shy, help make history! Have Your Say to the Government at:-
http://foi.democracy.org.uk/
And a big thank you to our sponsors - AOL, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable
Trust, Sun Microsystems and GX Networks.
Irving Rappaport
UK Citizens' Online Democracy
Longer Version - (Press Release):
================================
GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS INDEPENDENT "HAVE YOUR SAY" PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION WHITE PAPER
UK Citizens' Online Democracy launches ground-breaking debates on the
Internet
Web site available at http://foi.democracy.org.uk/ from 11th December
An independent, non-partisan web site supported by the Cabinet Office
has been set up by UK Citizens' Online Democracy (UKCOD) to enable the
public to provide the Government with feedback on the proposals within
the Freedom of Information White Paper, published on 11th December.
The consultation period will last until 28 February 1998.
The web site, "Have Your Say" is located at
http://foi.democracy.org.uk and features background information,
interactive discussion, press comment, and the chance to pose
questions directly to Dr David Clark, the cabinet Minister for Public
Service. The public's comments and submissions will be taken into
consideration before the Freedom of Information Bill is drafted next
year.
This is the first time in this country that the general public will be
able to participate in the preparation of a law by interacting
directly with the Government Minister via the internet prior to a
Bill's passage through Parliament.
Dr Clark said, "Before we produce the draft Freedom of Information
Bill, I am keen to hear people's views on our proposals. The UKCOD
website will be a quick and convenient route for people to provide
this feedback. I look forward to taking part in the online discussion
planned for the New Year."
Dr Stephen Coleman, Chief Political Consultant to UKCOD said, "This is
an important test which could set a precedent for the relationship
between government and the public. If this consultation is successful
and provides greater public access, perhaps similar consultations
could be set up in the future as part of the legislative process."
Alex Balfour, UKCOD's Content Director said, "The 'Have Your Say'
website will be a historic opportunity for the public to play a
meaningful part in the framing of new legislation. Much has been said
about the potential of electronic democracy, but very little has
happened. 'Have Your Say' is electronic democracy in action."
The Cabinet Office has agreed to publicise UKCOD's initiative. Dr
Clark will join members of the public in a moderated online question
and answer session which will take place over a period of two weeks
early in the New Year. He will also participate in a live online
discussion.
Villagers of Trimdon in the Prime Minister's constituency played an
important role in the development of the web site, carrying out
initial tests.
This ground-breaking consultation is part of UKCOD's continuing
programme of experiments in interactive democracy. It follows the
successful First Time Voters Forum and Politicians Forum earlier this
year in which Tony Blair, John Major, Paddy Ashdown and
representatives of fourteen national political parties all
participated.
UK Citizens' Online Democracy (UKCOD) is a not-for-profit organisation
that promotes public education and participation in the democratic
process and co-ordinates research in the field of 'electronic
democracy'. AOL Bertelsmann donated its web-design services to UKCOD
in support of the initiative.
UKCOD has been funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and its
commercial sponsors include AOL, Sun Microsystems, GX Networks, and
the Computing Services and Software Assoc.
For further information and media comment on UKCOD's online public
consultation on the Freedom of Information White Paper, please contact
Paul Andrew at HMC on 0410 159375 or Stephen Coleman at UKCOD on 0171
483 4233 or Alex Balfour at UKCOD on 0410 348616. Or email:-
alexb@democracy.org.uk
-------------------------------------------------------
Steven L. Clift, Director, Democracies Online
3454 Fremont Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55408 USA
Tel: 612-824-3747 E: clift@freenet.msp.mn.us
http://www.e-democracy.org/do/ - Democracies Online
http://freenet.msp.mn.us/people/clift/ - Home Page
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 1997 21:05:37 -0800 (PST)
From: "T.L. Kelly" <room101@TELEPORT.COM>
Subject: File 2--Urgent Action: WA state HOUSE BILL 2209
The WSDMA, a "labor" organization, has quietly asked the Washington Dept.
of Labor and Industry to strip computer professionals making over $27.63
an hour of their overtime.
Furthermore, the proposed law is written in such a way as to exempt "Any
employee who is a computer system analyst, computer programmer, software
engineer, software developer or other similarly skilled worker" even from
the minimum wage provisions of Washington state law.
If approved, the law will be adopted Dec. 31, 1997, and become effective
Feb. 1, 1998.
The WSDMA's largest member is Microsoft, the largest employer of computer
contractors in the region with an estimated 3-5,000 such employees. The
company recently lost a labor case brought by a group of contract workers.
It is the company's acknowledged policy to employ contract workers to
avoid the cost of benefits, vacation, etc.
Recent applicants have confirmed to me that Microsoft explicitly
*requires* all contract workers to work "a minimum of 50-55 hours a week".
The Boeing Company is also a member of the WSDMA.
The WSDMA's legal move was kept secret. The "request" was not reported in
the local press until the day AFTER the public comment period had ended.
The author of that story has acknowledged he learned of the proposal in
October, but did not cover it because he "didn't appreciate the
significance". One wonders how he manages to cross the street
successfully.
The "public" hearing was scheduled for the Tuesday before Thanksgiving
from 10 am to noon -- in Tumwater, WA, several miles south of Olympia.
The vast majority of the state's contract workers live in Seattle and
neighboring communities far to the north.
The WSDMA's own street-level membership was not informed of the move, let
alone invited to comment.
It should be noted that computer professionals are already barred from
labor organizing by a Cold War-era federal law. It seems the time has
come to work to get that law overturned on Constitutional grounds. But
first...
THE PERIOD FOR PUBLIC COMMENT ON THE OVERTIME LAW HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL
DEC. 19 -- NEXT FRIDAY.
Management and owners have had nearly two months to comment, we have less
than a week. Please make it count.
Comments can be sent to Linda Merz of the Washington State Dept. of Labor
and Industry at (360) 902-5403 or merl235@lni.wa.gov
Please be clear, relatively brief, and most importantly courteous (even if
firm).
Comments of up to 10 pages may be faxed to (360) 902-5300 or snail mailed
to:
Greg Mowat, Program Manager
Employment Standards
Department of Labor and Industries
P.O. Box 4-4510
Olympia, WA 98504-4510
Below is an excerpt from the proposed law, HOUSE BILL 2209. As you can
see, it applies to just about anyone working in the computer and web
industries.
(source: http://www.wa.gov/lni/pa/w128-535.htm )
(1) Any employee who is a computer system analyst, computer programmer,
software engineer, software developer or other similarly skilled worker
will be considered a "professional employee" and will be exempt from the
minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Washington Minimum Wage Act
if:
(i) Applying systems analysis techniques and procedures to determine
hardware, software, or system functional specifications for any user of
such services; or
(ii) Following user or system design specifications to design, develop,
document, analyze, create, test or modify any computer system, application
or program, including prototypes; or
(iii) Designing, documenting, testing, creating or modifying computer
systems, applications or programs for machine operation systems; or
(iv) Any combination of the above primary duties whose performance
requires the same skill level [...]
RESOURCES ONLINE
News Stories (both of 'em -- literally)
Temporary software workers to lose OT
http://www.seattletimes.com/extra/browse/html97/temp_120597.html
Software temps gain time to fight OT changes
http://www.seattletimes.com/extra/browse/html97/temp_121097.html
Info from WA State Dept of L&I
http://www.wa.gov/lni/pa/over.htm
http://www.wa.gov/lni/pa/w128-535.htm
HOUSE BILL 2209 as posted on the WA Legislature Site
http://leginfo.leg.wa.gov/pub/billinfo/house/2200-2224/2209_022697
WA Legislature Site
http://leginfo.leg.wa.gov/
WSDMA
http://www.wsdma.org
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 13:26:06 -0800
From: Rob Slade <Rob.Slade@sprint.ca>
Subject: File 3--Book Review: "Internet Dreams" by Stefik
Source - TELECOM Digest Tue, 9 Dec 97 Volume 17 : Issue 345
((MODERATORS' NOTE: For those not familiar with Pat Townson's
TELECOM DIGEST, it's an exceptional resource. From the header
of TcD:
"TELECOM Digest is an electronic journal devoted mostly but
not exclusively to telecommunications topics. It is
circulated anywhere there is email, in addition to various
telecom forums on a variety of public service systems and
networks including Compuserve and America On Line. It is also
gatewayed to Usenet where it appears as the moderated
newsgroup 'comp.dcom.telecom'. Subscriptions are available to
qualified organizations and individual readers. Write and tell
us how you qualify:
* ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu * ======" ))
==================
BKINTDRM.RVW 971113
"Internet Dreams", Mark Stefik, 1996, 0-262-19373-6, U$30.00
%A Mark Stefik stefik@parc.xerox.com
%C 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142-1399
%D 1996
%G 0-262-19373-6
%I MIT Press
%O U$30.00 800-356-0343 fax: 617-625-6660 curtin@mit.edu
%O www-mitpress.mit.edu
%P 412
%T "Internet Dreams: Archetypes, Myths, and Metaphors"
If you don't know where you're going, that's probably where you'll end
up. A great many statements, pronouncements and opinions regarding
the current "extended" Internet (or, in Quarterman's term, the Matrix)
and any future developments from it are based not on reality, but on
unconscious assumptions that the net is a library, TV, playground,
workshop, meeting place, alternate world, community, market, or some
other metaphor. Stefik has collected and excerpted visions from a
variety of sources to try and present a range of options, and to
promote discussion of these underlying assumptions: are they valid,
are they helpful, and what are they missing? The articles come from
classics such as Vannevar Bush's "As We May Think" (his "memex" is
often cited as the seminal idea behind hypertext and the World Wide
Web), through the artistry of Julian Dibbell's "A Rape in Cyberspace"
(items as compelling as this are seldom found in technical works), to
Scott Cook's bad-tempered "Technological Revolutions and the Gutenberg
Myth."
Part one looks at the metaphor of the library. Hypertext, the move
from books to digital media, intelligent agents, currency in
literature, intellectual property values, non-informational aspects,
and the preservation of culture are included in the topics raised.
For those who have looked at the net as a cultural entity, the library
is the symbol most frequently used for comparison. Still, these
essays do manage to present the classic ideas without being
repetitious.
Part three looks at the electronic marketplace and commerce. The
business approach to the net tends to be the least examined aspect:
those interested in the Internet as a sales tool simply want to get on
with it and close the deal. "Business on the net" books tend to be
simplistic and seldom have a solid grasp on the reality of either the
technology or the culture of the net. While brief, this section
covers every pertinent topic that I have seen discussed in almost all
books on the digital economy, and makes a reasonable introduction to a
generally sloppy field.
Parts two and four appear, to me, to be very strongly related. Part
two looks at email, and does a decent job. Part four looks at other
forms of computer mediated communication, but primarily emphasizes
real-time social communication. (The particular example used is the
MUD - multiple user domain - but IRC - Internet Relay Chat - would be
very similar.) On the one hand, therefore, the two parts are simply
alternate technologies with the same objective. In correspondence
with Stefik, he has noted that he was trying to bring out the image of
the sense of place involved in chat "rooms." In hindsight, his
objective is accomplished, although not strongly. I may be the wrong
person to note this distinction, since long experience with mailing
lists has given me a sense of "place" in regard to them as well.
The metaphors that might be called passive entertainment (newsgroup
lurking and Web browsing) and work get rather short shrift.
It is, of course, not possible to examine all the metaphors for the
net and would be very difficult to collect all the common ones. Those
presented are a good start, and a prompt for further discussion.
(While archetypes and myths do get frequent mention, their use does
not contribute greatly to the book in its current form.) Hopefully,
this work may promote further explorations of other Matrix metaphors -
which, in turn, may lead to an expanded second edition.
copyright Robert M. Slade, 1997 BKINTDRM.RVW 971113
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 20 Dec 1997 23:54:59 +0000
From: wouter van den berg <wfberg@dds.nl>
Subject: File 4--No Electronic Theft Act; who's to judge?
Just one of the many scary aspects of the NET-Act, is that whether or
not copyright infringment is a criminal offense is dictated by the
"retail value". Of course, what this value is, is primarily a result
of the pricing-policy of the publisher. The gravity of this new
crime is thus a result of considerations made by the publisher of a
work, and not of considerations by an independent court.
One way to abuse this is to put a pricetag on, for example, your
homepage. If it's visited by some-one you dislike, you can then press
charges. Also, publishers could start selling software for prices of
thousands of dollars, but give away discount-coupons in the stores
themselves, reducing the actual money paid to an original, feasable
price, but the offense of copying would still be very grave.
This effectively undercuts the courts and 'due course of law', and
to me, a non-laywer, sounds suspisiously uncontitutional.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 1997 21:25:23 +0000
From: David Smith <bladex@bga.com>
Subject: File 5--Cyber Patrol to Block Hate Speech
Source - fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu
Cyber Patrol to block hate speech
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,17431,00.html?dtn.head
Summary -- Cyber Patrol has teamed up with the Anti-Defamation League
to offer a "special version" of sites reviewed by the ADL.
Here's the weirdest thing about the story --- if you access a site on
their "hate list" you don't get a block, but rather you get redirected
to the ADL website.
Blocking access isn't enough -- you will now be told what to read and
what to think about prejudice, bigotry, and race relations.
I don't have anything for or against the ADL -- just that history
dictates that this power will be used and abused to stifle thought and
free expression.
I wonder if "special versions" is the future direction that Cyber
Patrol will take, and if we will, for example, see the Christian
Coalition Cyber Patrol version.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 22 Dec 1997 10:23:23 -0500
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject: File 6--SPECIAL REPORT: Censorware in the Stacks
Source - fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu, cypherpunks@toad.com
=======
The Netly News (http://netlynews.com/)
December 22, 1997
SPECIAL REPORT: Censorware in the Stacks
by Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com)
Antiporn crusaders and free speech advocates have
locked horns for years over whether public libraries may
cordon off large portions of the Internet. A lawsuit to be
filed today against a Virginia county promises to answer
that question and set new guidelines for free speech in the
stacks.
Mainstream Loudoun, a local group, and 11 other
plaintiffs are challenging Loudoun County's decision to
adopt one of the country's most iron-handed Internet
policies, The Netly News has learned. In October, the
library board voted to buy software called X-Stop that
forbids both children and adults from visiting many
sexually explicit web sites -- and plenty of innocuous ones
too, such as Quaker and AIDS resources.
The plaintiffs hope to persuade a federal judge that
X-Stop's overzealousness violates not just traditions of
intellectual freedom in libraries, but the First Amendment
as well. The 47-page complaint, which calls the
restrictions "a harsh and censorial solution in search of a
problem," also challenges a rule encouraging librarians to
look over your shoulder and make snap judgments on which
web sites should be off limits.
[...]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Dec 1997 14:44:03
From: Richard Thieme <rthieme@thiemeworks.com>
Subject: File 7--Islands in the Clickstream - December 21, 1997
Islands in the Clickstream:
The Digital Forest
When the Viking lander sent the first pictures from the surface
of Mars, I watched with my neighbor, a video ham, as the Martian
desert painted itself slowly down his monitor in narrow bands.
That desert was compelling. I burned to go to Mars, and even
imagined that I might. So I was deeply disappointed when space
exploration went onto the back burner.
Yet, only twenty years later, the exploration of near-earth space
by tele-robotic sensory extensions of ourselves is happening at
every level of the electromagnetic spectrum. Human beings will
certainly follow.
The exploration of what Europeans called the "New World" excited
plenty of interest too. Then things died down. Europe went about
its business as usual, but beneath the surface, the structure of
the world had indeed shifted. After a lull, Europeans poured onto
the continent.
I write this column in Wisconsin. It's only been a few hundred
years, but the landscape I see from my window is a design that
reflects the rectangles and planes of the male European mind.
After any breakthrough, we fall back into our comfort zone.
Growth for individuals as for civilizations moves in waves.
I remember this as I read an article by Gary Chapman in the Los
Angeles Times, "The Internet May Be the Latest Media Darling, but
It's No Baywatch." Chapman is disappointed by the gap between the
hype about the Internet and the reality. He debunks "myths" about
the Internet's impact on society.
I don't think he can see the forest for the digital trees.
Myth 1: Everyone will be online.
Chapman: Use of the Internet is limited. "An astonishing 1.6
billion people, worldwide, tune into Baywatch every week. The
entire global Internet-using population is 4% of the Baywatch
audience."
Bigger picture:
(1) The Internet, only a few years old in its current
incarnation, is being adopted faster than any previous
technology. People weren't watching Baywatch when television was
four years old; they weren't watching anything.
(2) "Internet" is the current name for the network of networked
computers. The realities behind the name are evolving into new
forms, many hidden in the infrastructure itself. Just as
automobiles are becoming electronic devices riding on mechanical
platforms, we live increasingly inside an electronic
infrastructure. The Internet is not just email or the World Wide
Web. It is the entire matrix of electronic connectivity.
Myth 2: There will be a huge increase in the varieties of opinion
expressed in society because of the ease of online publishing.
Chapman: "There is an almost limitless variety of opinion to be
found on the World Wide Web and in online forums," but "the
dynamic range of opinion in mainstream America appears to be
narrowing, not expanding."
Bigger picture:
Chapman is still looking to the "space" defined by the mainstream
media to see what's "real." Multiple sources of influence ARE
evolving on-line but they're butterflies that can't be caught in
that net. Their very transitoriness and fluidity makes them
difficult to define.
Myth 3: There will be lots of cool jobs for creative people who
will work in cyberspace.
Chapman: The hope that the World Wide Web would foster a
renaissance in writing and art appears to have died. Writers who
flocked to the "new media" are disillusioned.
Chapman again: Nobody makes money from the new media. Most
information-rich sites lose money like crazy, or, at best, break
even. If you want to get wealthy, he says, write a screenplay, a
mystery novel or a computer game.
Bigger picture:
(1) Every transformation of the technology of the Word --
writing, the printing press, electronic media -- magnifies rather
than eliminates the media that came before. There are more books
and magazines than ever, but that shouldn't be a surprise.
Writing did not eliminate speech; the printing press did not end
writing.
The inability to quickly predict which creative jobs will be
viable in cyberspace does not mean that they aren't emerging. We
always try to port forms of the old technologies into the new
media. That never works. The new media teach us over time how to
use them. The dynamic marketplace incubates the forms that are
viable.
(2) Some sites are making lots of money, e.g. sex sites. It's no
coincidence Chapman cites Baywatch as an example. The cutting-
edge work to make streaming video and audio easy and seamless is
being done at sex sites because people are willing to pay for it.
This was true too of VCRs, first used for x-rated films. Mass
markets for Hollywood movies and educational videos followed.
(3) The Internet will not REPLACE anything. It redefines the
relationship of symbolic content (text, images, sounds) to itself
and to the human symbol-user. The Internet, as McLuhan said of
the electric light, is pure information, an example of context as
content. The Internet is redefining how we use other media.
Myth 4: Government will fade in significance, perhaps into
irrelevance.
Chapman: Government, at all levels, is actually becoming bigger
and more powerful.
Bigger picture:
Shortly before the French Revolution, had you suggested that the
monarchy, the aristocracy, the church -- everything -- would come
down all at once, you would have been thought crazy. The sudden
reorganization of everything at a higher level of complexity is
called hierarchical restructuring. Because the changes leading to
it are exponential, happening everywhere at once, it is invisible
until it happens. The Berlin Wall. The Soviet Union.
Governments will evolve into forms appropriate to the economic
and social structures generated by the technological
transformation of our planet, just as nation states emerged in
the past few centuries.
Chapman was probably once as excited as he is now disappointed.
Gary, just you wait.
In the short term, predictions are always exaggerated; in the
long term, they're always short-sighted. As Alan Kay said,
perspective is worth fifty points of IQ.
It IS all happening, but we don't know yet what IT is. Emergent
realities must wait for the language with which we can discuss
them and the seers and prophets who give them names.
**********************************************************************
Islands in the Clickstream is a weekly column written by
Richard Thieme exploring social and cultural dimensions
of computer technology. Comments are welcome.
Feel free to pass along columns for personal use, retaining this
signature file. If interested in (1) publishing columns
online or in print, (2) giving a free subscription as a gift, or
(3) distributing Islands to employees or over a network,
email for details.
To subscribe to Islands in the Clickstream, send email to
rthieme@thiemeworks.com with the words "subscribe islands" in the
body of the message. To unsubscribe, email with "unsubscribe
islands" in the body of the message.
Richard Thieme is a professional speaker, consultant, and writer
focused on the impact of computer technology on individuals and
organizations.
Islands in the Clickstream (c) Richard Thieme, 1997. All rights reserved.
ThiemeWorks on the Web: http://www.thiemeworks.com
ThiemeWorks P. O. Box 17737 Milwaukee WI 53217-0737 414.351.2321
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 21 Dec 1997 16:19:49 -0500
From: Paul Kneisel <tallpaul@nyct.net>
Subject: File 8--The Censorware Project
((Forwarded from Jamie McCarthy))
December 22, 1997 - The Censorware Project, a newly formed
organization founded by net activists and writers, today announced
the release of its report, "Blacklisted by Cyber Patrol: From Ada
to Yoyo." <http://www.spectacle.org/cwp/>
The report takes a close look at over 100 sites blocked by the
highly-regarded web filtering software from MicroSystems (a
subsidiary of The Learning Company).
Previous reports about the accuracy of Cyber Patrol have brought
to light some blocks of sites which can be called inappropriate at
best. "From Ada to Yoyo" presents many more bad blocks, but the
report also takes an in-depth look at special topics: the blocking
of internet service providers; of gay sites, including a
neighborhood with over 20,000 users; of newsgroups; and the
subject of whether such a product is appropriate to censor what
adults may see in public libraries.
"I was stunned by some of the sites which were blocked," said
Jamie McCarthy, a Michigan-based software developer who is a
founder of the Censorware Project and author of the report. "Some
of the errors at least made sense: there were pages which could be
mistaken for explicit material, even though they were not.
"But some were bizarre. The town of Ada, Michigan is just an
hour's drive from my house: it has a website about local politics,
which is blocked as containing full frontal nudity and sexual
acts. It's baffling."
"We have only scratched the surface in this report of the problems
with CyberPatrol," said James S. Tyre, a free speech attorney in
Pasadena, California. "Products as riddled with flaws as
CyberPatrol have no business in public libraries, which are arms
of the government. Libraries exist to promote knowledge and
ideas, but CyberPatrol's bad blocks and reblocks of sites it said
would be unblocked demonstrate vividly that its agenda is not to
promote the free flow of ideas."
The Censorware Project's mission is to call public attention to
the flaws of blocking software and its inappropriateness in public
institutions such as libraries. For more information, please
contact Jamie McCarthy at jamie@mccarthy.org. 22 December 1997
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 7 May 1997 22:51:01 CST
From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu>
Subject: File 9--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 May, 1997)
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------------------------------
End of Computer Underground Digest #9.92
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