614 lines
30 KiB
Plaintext
614 lines
30 KiB
Plaintext
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Computer underground Digest Sun Mar 29, 1998 Volume 10 : Issue 20
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ISSN 1004-042X
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Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu)
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News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu)
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Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
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Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
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Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
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Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
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Ian Dickinson
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Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
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Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
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CONTENTS, #10.20 (Sun, Mar 29, 1998)
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File 1--Wanted ASAP: Expert witness for Mitnick trial
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File 2--Hotmail.com sues spammers (presss release)
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File 3--X-Stop lawsuit
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File 4--Ban on Internet Porn Leads to Suit
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File 5--Re: Brian Milburn (Cu Digest #10.17 Sun 8 Mar 98)
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File 6--[Cyberpatrol PR] Demo for OECD in Paris
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File 7--"The Air We Breathe" (Islands in the Clickstream 21 Mar '98)
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File 8--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 March, 1998)
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CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN
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THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
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---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 19:33:00 -0500
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From: "Evian S. Sim" <evian@escape.com>
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Subject: Subject: File 1--Wanted ASAP: Expert witness for Mitnick trial
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Computer Expert Witness Needed *Immediately*.
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A computer expert is needed immediately to testify as an expert witness
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in an ongoing criminal matter in Federal District Court in Los Angeles.
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Kevin Mitnick is seeking a highly credentialed expert in computer
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security, telecommunications, system and network administration to testify
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in this highly publicized computer "hacking" case.
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This will be a groundbreaking case and is expected to attract significant
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media coverage. Testimony will be required as early as March 30, 1998 in
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Los Angeles, California. Further testimony will be needed at trial, later
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this year. Expert witness fees will be paid by the federal court.
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Qualified candidates must have an advanced degree and be knowledgeable in
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DOS, Windows, SunOS, VAX/VMS, and Internet operations. Experience with
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cellular telephone networks is a plus. Previous expert testimony and/or
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publication are preferred.
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Qualified candidates please contact Mr. Mitnick though his appointed
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defense counsel, Donald C. Randolph, Esq. at (310) 395-7900.
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------------------------------
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Date: Sun, 22 Mar 1998 16:09:20 -0600
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From: jthomas@SUN.SOCI.NIU.EDU(Jim Thomas)
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Subject: Subject: File 2--Hotmail.com sues spammers (presss release)
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Hotmail Takes the Offensive Against Spammers
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LEADING FREE WEB-BASED E-MAIL PROVIDER TAKES AGGRESSIVE LEGAL ACTION
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www.hotmail.com
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Sunnyvale, CA - January 26, 1998- Hotmail (www.hotmail.com), the
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world's largest Web-based e-mail service with 10 million active
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accounts, today announced that it has filed suit in federal court
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against eight organizations. The suit alleges that the offenders
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forged Hotmail's "hotmail.com" domain name into the return addresses
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of unsolicited commercial and offensive e-mail messages that
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wrongfully identified Hotmail as the originating service.
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Hotmail has a strict anti-spam policy that begins with the Hotmail
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Terms of Service. These terms - which prohibit members from various
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abuses of the service, including the transmission of spam and
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offensive material - are strictly enforced by Hotmail's customer
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service operation. Hotmail also is a leading participant in numerous
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anti-spam efforts, including the Center for Democracy & Technology's
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monthly ad-hoc meetings in Washington, DC, advising the FTC on the
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issue. Hotmail is also a top-ten contributor to the "spam-L" mailing
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list - an active and well respected anti-spam community.
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Hotmail has implemented a number of site-wide technical measures
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designed to make it extremely difficult to send spam from a Hotmail
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account. Where these efforts have practically eliminated
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Hotmail-originated spam, it is possible to create e-mail messages
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outside of the Hotmail system and insert an "@hotmail.com" e-mail
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address in the header, making it appear to have been sent by a Hotmail
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member. This practice is widespread and is a problem for many large
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ISPs and e-mail providers. Such forged return addresses (found in the
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header of the e-mail message) disguise the originator's identity and
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redirect the angry response to the unknowing service provider.
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"The transmission of spam is a practice widely condemned in the
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Internet community and is of significant concern to Hotmail," said
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Randy Delucchi, director of customer support for Hotmail. "We will
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continue to pursue those whom we believe deceitfully hide behind
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Hotmail's trusted brand and name, and hold them responsible under
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federal laws."
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In its complaint, Hotmail notes that deceptive practices of spammers
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damage its reputation and business. Hotmail alleges trademark
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infringement and dilution, unfair competition, violations of the
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federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, as well as fraud and libel. The
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suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages against each
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of the eight defendants, named below:
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Van$ Money Pie; ALS Enterprises, Inc.; LCGM, Inc.; Christopher Moss
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d/b/a Genesis Network; Claremont Holdings Ltd.; Consumer Connections
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(Charlotte, N. Carolina); Palmer & Associates (San Diego, Calif.); and
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Financial Research Group (El Cajon, Calif.).
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The action, filed in United States District Court for the Northern
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District of California, San Jose Division, also asks the court for a
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preliminary and permanent injunction against the spammers.
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About Hotmail
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Hotmail, a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, is the world's
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leading provider of globally accessible free Web-based electronic
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mail. Hotmail's service was recently named on PC Computing's coveted
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"A List" as the best in Web Communications, was given CNET's highest
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ratings in all categories for free e-mail, and received critical
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acclaim from PC Magazine's John C. Dvorak. Because Hotmail's
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award-winning service is hosted entirely on the Internet, e-mail is
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now available at any Web terminal.
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Hotmail is a password-protected, feature-rich e-mail system that also
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offers advanced capabilities including: instant mail delivery, MIME
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and UUEncoded file attachments; personal address books; spell
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checking; filtering and embedded hyper-links. Because Hotmail is
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Web-based, users can send, view and navigate entire Web pages within a
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Hotmail message.
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In addition, your Hotmail address is permanent. Whether you change
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ISPs, jobs, or move out of the country, you can always access a
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Hotmail account from Web connected devices. Advertising banners
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similar to those seen on other Web sites support Hotmail. Hotmail is
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also a leading advocate of anti-spam measures in the e-mail industry.
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To sign up, simply set your Web browser to http://www.hotmail.com.
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------------------------------
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Date: Tue, 10 Feb 1998 10:02:15 -0600 (CST)
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From: John McAnally <a10jmm1@nirvana.acs.niu.edu>
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Subject: Subject: File 3--X-Stop lawsuit
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From Edupage:
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SUIT CHALLENGES USE OF FILTERING SOFTWARE IN PUBLIC LIBRARY
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The American Civil Liberties Union and a columnist for the San Francisco
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Examiner are among eight plaintiffs challenging the constitutionality of a
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decision by a library in Loudon County, Virginia, to use filtering software
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to block certain Internet sites from its publicly available computers. The
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X-Stop software, which is intended to screen out obscene material or
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sexually explicit language, is blocking sites that include some mainstream
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newspapers, a Methodist church, a university women's association, and a
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safe-sex page for teenagers. An ACLU attorney says: "We should hold
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libraries to the higher standards of the First Amendment. You simply can't
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block books that are constitutionally protected." The chair of the
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library's board says: "The library has the right to choose the material in
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its library. We could become the financers of pornography." (AP 8 Feb 98)
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------------------------------
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Date: Tue, 24 Mar 1998 13:40:03 +0100
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From: Anonymous <this-will-bounce@zoom.nu>
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Subject: Subject: File 4--Ban on Internet Porn Leads to Suit
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Source - fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu
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> Los Angeles Times
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> Saturday, March 21, 1998
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>
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>
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> Libraries' Ban on Internet Porn Sparks Lawsuit
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>
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> Courts: Libertarian Party says county system's rules violate 1st
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> Amendment. Patrons are required to sign a form promising not to view
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> sex sites.
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>
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> By SCOTT HADLY, Times Staff Writer
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>
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> Free speech advocates in Ventura County are knocking heads with
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> county officials over an attempt to keep Internet surfers away
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> from pornography at public libraries.
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> Ventura County's library system requires users of branch
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> computer terminals to sign a form promising they will not view
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> sexually explicit material. But such a requirement is
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> unconstitutional, says the Libertarian Party of Ventura County in
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> a lawsuit filed March 3.
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> The restrictions violate the 1st Amendment rights of library
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> patrons, said attorney William John Weilbacher.
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> "This isn't about the merits of pornography," said
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> Weilbacher, who filed the suit. "It's about the government having
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> no business saying what you can and cannot look at."
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> The suit is one of many that have sprouted up across the
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> nation that pit civil libertarians against public libraries that
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> attempt to keep smut off their public-access terminals.
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> Public libraries in Kern County in February ended a policy of
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> using software filters to block access to sexually explicit
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> Internet sites after threats of a lawsuit by the American Civil
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> Liberties Union.
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> A similar case is now pending in Orange County, and in
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> Virginia a library agency vowed to fight all the way to the
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> Supreme Court a challenge to its policy of blocking access to
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> pornography.
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> While many filters effectively block out pornography, they
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> also can block out sites that have information on such things as
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> AIDS and breast cancer, opponents argue.
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> Last year the American Library Assn. adopted a resolution
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> condemning the use of filter programs to block constitutionally
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> protected speech.
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> Weilbacher said even though the Ventura library system does
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> not have a computer filtering system, the rules that require
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> patrons to sign a form saying they will not access certain sites
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> is going too far.
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> "The general rule is that the government is not allowed to
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> regulate speech," he said. "It's perfectly fine to regulate
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> unlawful speech like child pornography, but they're crossing the
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> threshold by restricting adults from viewing what is legal."
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> Eleven members of the Libertarian Party of Ventura County are
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> listed as plaintiffs on the case, including Andrea Nagy, who
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> recently attempted to open the county's first club to dispense
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> medicinal marijuana.
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[...]
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------------------------------
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Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 12:45:56 +0000
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From: Benjamin Kaiser <juju_ben@mail.geocities.com>
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Subject: Subject: File 5--Re: Brian Milburn (Cu Digest #10.17 Sun 8 Mar 98)
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Several people have expressed an interest in finding out what
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Cybersitter blocks. I recently did a paper on blocking software, and
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found the following file.
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The first part is a list of words or thoughts that Cybersitter deems
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inappropriate for children, and removes from all text transmitted
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or recieved while the program is active.
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It is followed by a list of domains that Cybersitter forbids access
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to. These include pornographic sites, sites that advocate
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alternative lifestyles, sites that criticise Cybersitter, or blocking
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software in general, and quite a few universities and ISP's that had
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a few pages, somewhere on their servers, that were deemed
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inappropriate.
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I have no idea how up to date this file is.
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I found it several months ago at
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http://atropos.c2.net/~sameer/cybersitter.txt
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<list deleted- CuD>
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Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 15:15:36 -0800 (PST)
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From: "Carl M. Kadie" <kadie@eff.org>
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Subject: Subject: File 6--[Cyberpatrol PR] Demo for OECD in Paris
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Source - fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu
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[A press release that may be of interest to FC.
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- Carl
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Disclaimer: I speak for myself, not EFF, not my employer, not the Learning Co.
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PARIS, March 25 The Learning Company, Inc. (NYSE: TLC), today
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demonstrated its Internet filtering software, "Cyber Patrol," at an
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international forum of policymakers examining Internet content and the
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role of regulation.
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The educational forum, attended by official delegates to the Organization
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for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), follows two years of
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investigation by the OECD's Committee for Information, Computer and
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Communication Policy into how countries are dealing with content in
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the new online medium.
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"We are honored to have been invited to represent the filtering
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industry at this forum," said Susan Getgood, director of corporate
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communications for The Learning Company. "We plan to demonstrate how
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Internet filtering technology provides users with the ability to
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effectively manage the content they access over the Internet better
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than any national law ever could."
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Governments around the globe have been grappling with whether or
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not to attempt to regulate content on the Internet, including material
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that is pornographic, violent or otherwise objectionable to some
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audiences. The forum today precedes a meeting on Thursday by OECD
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delegates, who are expected to discuss whether additional work is
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required to finish compiling an "inventory" of how member states are
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addressing Internet content.
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Some OECD member states have pushed for the creation of guidelines
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for countries to follow in drafting regulations on Internet
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content. The United States, after the failure last year of the
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Communications Decency Act, now supports a policy of self-regulation
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and empowerment of individual computer users designed to encourage the
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free flow of information. This allows the Internet to achieve its full
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potential as an economic and educational tool.
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"Our role is to demonstrate for delegates the best,
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state-of-the-art and most widely used filtering technology,"
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Ms. Getgood said, adding that "Cyber Patrol" is available over the
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Internet to users in all the countries represented at the OECD.
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The OECD Forum: Internet Content Self-Regulation included 18
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speakers on four panels from companies and organizations such as the
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Associazione Italiana Internet Providers, the Australian Information
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Industries Association, Telecom Service Association of Japan, Groupe
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Bull of France, Sympatico/Medialinx of Canada, AT&T and IBM of the
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United States.
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"Cyber Patrol" is the most international of the leading
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U.S. filtering software products. It is available in multiple
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languages and can be downloaded over the Internet from anywhere in the
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world. This spring, The Learning Company will introduce localized,
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retail versions of "Cyber Patrol" software in France, the Netherlands
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and the United Kingdom, with Spanish and German language retail
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versions to follow later in the year. A Japanese language version is
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already available through a distributor in Japan. In addition, "Cyber
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Patrol" is available in French and German to European subscribers
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accessing the Internet over CompuServe, and is offered by a growing
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number of telecommunications companies, such as British Telecom and
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New Zealand Telecom, that provide Internet access.
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Ms. Getgood noted that in addition to being the filtering software
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most widely-used by families and schools wishing to manage children's
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access to the Internet, a growing number of businesses throughout
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Europe are using network versions of "Cyber Patrol" to manage employee
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access to the Internet.
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"Cyber Patrol" allows parents to tailor access to the Internet to
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each individual child according to age and maturity. The software
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filters Internet content based on a proprietary list of sites compiled
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over more than two years by a team of teachers and parents who have
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researched more than five million sites on the World Wide Web. This
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list, called the CyberNOT list, contains more than 50,000 sites deemed
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inappropriate because of nudity, violence, hate speech, graphic and
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shocking images, and material that encourages the inappropriate use of
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drugs and alcohol. "Cyber Patrol" software also contains a list of
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kid-friendly sites that parents can use for younger children as a
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restricted "cyber playground." These educational and entertaining
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sites comprise the CyberYES list. Both lists are constantly updated.
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Parents can add or delete individual sites to customize the list
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to a family's own values and beliefs. Parents also can choose to
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filter using a system known as PICS. PICS systems in use today include
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rating systems that support self-labeling by Web site owners and
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independent, third-party labeling bureaus.
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"Cyber Patrol" does more than simply control access to the
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Web. Families can control the amount of time each week children spend
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surfing the Net and select which hours each day a child is allowed
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online. Parents can control participation in chat rooms, while a
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feature called ChatGard allows families to protect their children from
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inadvertently divulging personal information to strangers online.
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In the United States, "Cyber Patrol" is the parental control
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technology offered by America Online, CompuServe, Prodigy, AT&T,
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Ameritech, GTE and dozens of individual Internet Service Providers. In
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the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on the Communications Decency Act,
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"Cyber Patrol" was cited by the court as a way of protecting children
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that did not infringe on Americans' right of free speech. Since the
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court's decision, the software has grown in popularity and
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sophistication.
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The OECD, founded in 1960, includes Austria, Australia, Belgium,
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Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland,
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Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,
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Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and
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the United States.
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The Learning Company, Inc. develops, publishes and markets a
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family of premium software brands that educate across every age, from
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young children to adults. The company's products are sold in more than
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23,000 retail stores in North America and through multiple
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distribution channels including school sales, online, direct marketing
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and OEM. The company also develops, publishes and distributes products
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internationally through subsidiaries in France, Germany, the United
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Kingdom, Holland and Japan, and with distributors throughout Europe,
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Latin America and the Pacific Rim. The Paris headquarters of The
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Learning Company, TLC Edusoft, are located at 132, boulevard
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Camelinat, 92247 Malakoff, telephone 33 1 46 73 05 55; fax: 33 1 46 73
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05 65. The company's corporate headquarters are located at One
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Athenaeum Street, Cambridge, Mass. 02142; telephone 617-494-1200; fax
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617-494-1219. The corporate Web site is located at www.learningco.com,
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and Customer Service can be reached at 617-494-5700.
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NOTE: All trademarks and registered trademarks are properties of their
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respective holders.
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------------------------------
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Date: Mon, 23 Mar 1998 14:25:07 -0600
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From: Richard Thieme <rthieme@THIEMEWORKS.COM>
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Subject: Subject: File 7--"The Air We Breathe" (Islands in the Clickstream 21 Mar '98)
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Islands in the Clickstream:
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The Air We Breathe
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Nothing is harder to see than what we believe so deeply we don't know we
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believe it. That's why a frontal assault on our core beliefs is always
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doomed. Our minds think they themselves are under assault, rather than the
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beliefs they have adopted, and defenses go into gear to rationalize,
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minimize, or deny what they're hearing. Or else the anomalous data creates
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so much cognitive dissonance that our minds just plain shut down.
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The degree to which technologies of communication, surveillance and control
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have insinuated themselves into our everyday lives is striking. Here in
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Wisconsin, a bill just sailed through the legislature that expanded the
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state's authority to collect health care information. The bill allows the
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Office of Health Care Information to collect and publish financial and
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other data from doctors and health care providers in addition to data
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gathered from hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers.
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Remarkable to those concerned about "function creep" was the lack of
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concern on the part of the public. Everyone pretty much lined up on behalf
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of "efficiency and safety," the two horsemen of the apocalypse of privacy
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rights. The legislative committee was "stacked" on behalf of the measure
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and the public was informed after the fact, the bill having been called
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suddenly the night before the vote was scheduled.
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This is a holographic slice of a bigger picture. The technologies of
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linkage and the power of those who profit from using them are the true
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weapons of information warfare. That war is fought not with lasers and
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satellites patrolling the "high ground" of earth orbit, but in the trenches
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of our daily lives. Because the consequences of ubiquitous linkage are
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often invisible, the average person - with limited time and mental
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resources - is unaware that the hidden infrastructure of a global political
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economy is being built out of the mundane data of their lives.
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When I recently pressed a career officer in the intelligence community
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about practices that alarmed me, he maintained that those practices were
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illegal, hence nonexistent. After a few drinks, however, he acknowledged
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that many intelligence agents find it easier to ask forgiveness than
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permission and act accordingly. That all-too-human reality is why we will
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pay in the future for every time we refuse to speak or act in the present
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on behalf of the privacy that secures our freedoms. Without secure
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boundaries, there are no individuals =85 and no individual rights. The
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primacy of the collective, a by-product of the transforming power of
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information technology, is paradoxically entering mainstream thinking as a
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priority through the political action of those who believe they are
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supporting a conservative, business-friendly agenda.
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It's as if the entire world is joining NATO, justifying Cold War behaviors
|
|
by invoking the Evil Enemy. But unlike the Cold War, when there was at
|
|
least another camp, the "other side" now means people anywhere who oppose
|
|
the converging self-interested policies of the
|
|
military-industrial-information complex.
|
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|
|
|
|
And now for something completely different.
|
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|
Children's toys are often an early warning system in which the future first
|
|
becomes visible.
|
|
|
|
"Sound Bites" is the name of a new technology recently introduced at the
|
|
annual Toy Fair in New York. A person inserts a lollipop in a Sound Bites
|
|
holder, and when they bite into it, sound vibrations travel through their
|
|
teeth to the inner ear where they are heard as normal sounds. This magical
|
|
effect lets snackers hear music (guitars, drums, or sax), special effects,
|
|
or voices.
|
|
|
|
The notion of slipping advertisements, propaganda, or suggestions into our
|
|
meals is so outrageous I expect it to be adopted without a murmur. One
|
|
imagines voices coming into our heads from every artifact. Deserts in the
|
|
company cafeteria, basketballs as we dribble down the court, even sex toys
|
|
will all have something to say. Everything will be a means for
|
|
communication =85 as indeed, everything already is, but today those messages
|
|
are still mostly implicit, while these songs and jingles will be as
|
|
explicit and close to our noses as bumper stickers.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And now for something even more different.
|
|
|
|
A hobby in which I have indulged myself for years is the investigation of
|
|
UFO phenomena. It's an interesting puzzle, requiring cross-referencing
|
|
texts in the public record with the confidences of mostly plain people, as
|
|
well as intelligence agents, air force officers, and airline pilots. Like
|
|
most amateur investigators, I find that ninety per cent plus of what I read
|
|
or hear can be explained or discarded, but - again, like most - the
|
|
remaining accounts are pretty compelling.
|
|
|
|
Yet what interests me as much as the data is the widespread ridicule that
|
|
greets even the most reasonable statements about the phenomena, e.g. it is
|
|
worthy of investigation, if only as a psychological or sociological
|
|
phenomena. One hesitates even to mention this interest because of that
|
|
predictable response.
|
|
|
|
Such ridicule apparently became official policy around 1953. Before that,
|
|
for five years (1947-1952), UFO phenomena was taken seriously by
|
|
governments in public and private. An early head of Project Blue Book
|
|
stated that behind the Pentagon's closed doors, the argument was not about
|
|
the reality of the phenomenon, but whether its origins were Russian or
|
|
extraterrestrial. A widespread wave of sightings in 1952 became the point
|
|
of departure for a policy of debunking. Air force fighter pilots and
|
|
commercial airline pilots alike have told me how they and their colleagues
|
|
learned quickly not to risk their careers or reputations by making a report
|
|
or going public with details of an encounter.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Indifference to the erosion of privacy rights =85 candy that sings to our
|
|
brains =85 a policy of public ridicule that discredits innocent people.
|
|
|
|
It is easier than ever to engage in sleight-of-hand, manufacture a
|
|
consensus, and manipulate dissent. Yet the truth too is boosted by
|
|
technology. Truth too sings to our brains, and the linkage technologies
|
|
that magnify the fictions we seem to need to sleep easily in our beds will
|
|
disseminate as well the truths that fuel our hunger for knowledge and our
|
|
passion to be free.
|
|
|
|
**********************************************************************
|
|
|
|
Islands in the Clickstream is a weekly column written by
|
|
Richard Thieme exploring social and cultural dimensions
|
|
of computer technology. Comments are welcome.
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Feel free to pass along columns for personal use, retaining this
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signature file. If interested in (1) publishing columns
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online or in print, (2) giving a free subscription as a gift, or
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(3) distributing Islands to employees or over a network,
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email for details.
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To subscribe to Islands in the Clickstream, send email to
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rthieme@thiemeworks.com with the words "subscribe islands" in the
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body of the message. To unsubscribe, email with "unsubscribe
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islands" in the body of the message.
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Richard Thieme is a professional speaker, consultant, and writer
|
|
focused on the impact of computer technology on individuals and
|
|
organizations.
|
|
|
|
Islands in the Clickstream (c) Richard Thieme, 1998. All rights reserved.
|
|
|
|
ThiemeWorks on the Web: http://www.thiemeworks.com
|
|
|
|
ThiemeWorks P. O. Box 17737 Milwaukee WI 53217-0737 414.351.2321
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|
|
------------------------------
|
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|
|
Date: Thu, 7 May 1997 22:51:01 CST
|
|
From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu>
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Subject: Subject: File 8--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 March, 1998)
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Or, to subscribe, send post with this in the "Subject:: line:
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The most recent issues of CuD can be obtained from the
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COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST is an open forum dedicated to sharing
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------------------------------
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End of Computer Underground Digest #10.20
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************************************
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