226 lines
9.2 KiB
Plaintext
226 lines
9.2 KiB
Plaintext
The Anarchist Computer Network - A Year Later -by Will Kemp
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A year ago, i wrote an article called "A Proposal To Set Up An Anarchist
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Computer Network", which was originally published in the australian paper
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"The Anarchist". I've recently discovered it was also reprinted by the
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british paper "Freedom", the italian "Umanita Nova" and the french "Monde
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Libertaire". As the net has now become a reality in Australia and my ideas
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and knowledge have developed a long way beyond the point they were at a year
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ago, i feel it's time to write a follow-up.
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The @NET really began in Melbourne, Australia's second biggest city, with an
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anarchist BBS called "The Xchange". This started in early 1993 as a dial-in
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bulletin board system (BBS), which allowed people with their own computers
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and modems to call in via the telephone system to swap messages and read text
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files. For a couple of years, it ran this way, with no network connections -
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and not very many users. Late in 1994, we connected it up the to Internet,
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giving the users access to international email which allows them to send and
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receive electronic mail to and from other Internet users all round the world.
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At this point, the number of users grew dramatically.
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A couple of months before The Xchange was connected to Internet, in about
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November 1994, "Byteback" BBS began in Brisbane, two thousand kilometres to
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the north of Melbourne, operating from Holus Bolus Anarchist Bookshop. It had
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an Internet connection from the beginning and provided the same service as The
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Xchange, allowing people to dial in from home with their own computers.
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However, this bulletin board could also be used by coming into the shop and
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this allowed people who didn't have computers to get access to the network.
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Sadly, Holus Bolus closed down at the end of July this year, leaving Byteback
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homeless and without its dial-in line. However, it's still running and is
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available to the anarchist movement in Brisbane and hopefully one day it will
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be fully operational again.
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During this period, things were happening in Sydney too. "The Media Room"
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was established by an anarchist collective who were working towards setting
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up an open access multi-media resource centre. They established Internet
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links around the end of 1994 and by mid 1995 had their own BBS running,
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called "Catalyst". Originally the Media Room was based at Jura Books,
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but is now operating from Black Rose bookshop. Jura are now working on
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setting up their own media group.
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In February 1995 an anarchist bookshop opened up in Melbourne, called
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Barricade. Soon after opening, there was a public access computer terminal
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in the shop, which was connected to Internet via The Xchange BBS. For the
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few months between Barricade opening, and Holus Bolus closing, three of
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the four anarchist bookshops in Australia had public access, internet-linked
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computers.
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However, although the anarchist communities of Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne
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all have the possibility of constant cheap communication with each other,
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this network doesn't seem to be used very much in that way yet. It's early
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days in the development of such a resource and it obviously takes time for
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people to find out how they can use it, as they've been so isolated from
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each other for so long. But i feel sure that if i write a follow-up again
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in another year, this situation will have changed completely.
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Strangely enough, access to this network seems to have developed and improved
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international links much more rapidly than domestic ones. The most notable
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example of this is the link between European Counter Network (ECN) in Italy
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and The Xchange BBS in Melbourne. The Xchange now receives a constant flow
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of news from the ECN BBS in Padova. The two BBSs also jointly produce a
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regular English-language electronic newsletter which summarises these
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postings, along with a full translation of one or two longer documents from
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Italy's 'self-organised' left.
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There have also been links built with La Linea Lliure BBS in Barcelona in
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Catalunya, Spunk Press - an international collective which maintains an
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archive of anarchist literature on Internet - and several other anarchist
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groups and individuals around the world.
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* * *
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At the time of the original article, i'd had no contact with Internet and
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knew virtually nothing about it. Because of this, i made no mention of it
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in that article. However, thanks to the guidance of a few anarchist friends
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who knew more about these things than i did, i quickly came to realise that
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the job of setting up an anarchist network would be made much easier and
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cheaper - and more effective - if we used Internet as our means of
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communication. Since that time too, general public knowledge and use of
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Internet has grown at a fantastic pace.
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The original technology (known as Fidonet Protocol) which we'd envisoned
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using for the net would have limited us in a lot of ways, due to the
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fact that it would have been more expensive to operate and we wouldn't
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have had the instant international access we now have with Internet. However,
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it would have given us some short term advantages that we didn't get from
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Internet. Firstly, it would have restricted our internal network
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communication to other BBSs on our own network, which would probably have
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meant there would by now be a lot more communication between the australian
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cities. It would also have meant we could have had closer links with ECN in
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Italy, as this is the type of network they have. La Linea Lliure in Barcelona
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also operates this system and ECN in Germany have a similar network.
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However, Fido Protocol is not compatible with Internet and i believe that in
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the long run, all these networks and BBSs will gradually change over to using
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Internet as their communication medium. The reason for using Internet is
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that it's become so much cheaper to operate than Fido (which has to be done
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with long-distance phone calls) and that it gives you access to a vastly
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wider network and one that's expanding at such a pace that the anarchist
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movement can't afford not to have a voice there. Internet is undoubtedly
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going to become one of the most important forms of media within a very short
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time and i'd say it will eventually overtake television as the main form
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of mass media in the world. Unlike television, however, we've got a chance
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to have a significant voice in this medium, but we must get in there now
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if we're going to get the chance to develop this influence.
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I'd like to see more anarchist groups around the world setting up their
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own network links, as this will certainly help us communicate with each
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other more easily and effectively. And with better communication, we can
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only build a bigger and stronger global anarchist movement. The groups
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with existing network links can provide help and advice for people and
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collectives who want to set up their own computer systems. I've written
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a book called: "Message Sticks In Cyberspace - an anarchist guide to
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computer communication" ("message sticks" are traditional communication
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mediums used by australian aboriginal people.) This book aims to take
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people who know virtually nothing about computers and, with simple
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explanations, get them to the point where they can set up a Bulletin Board
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and run a network. So far this book is only available from Australia, but
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hopefully there will soon be copies for sale in Europe.
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* * *
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Contacts
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--------
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The Xchange BBS
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P.O. Box 1052
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Preston
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Victoria 3072
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Australia
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Tel (BBS): 03-388 0018
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Email: compcoll@xchange.apana.org.au
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Catalyst BBS
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Black Rose Anarchist Bookshop
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583a King St
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Newtown
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New South Wales 2042
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Australia
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Email: cat@lyst.apana.org.au
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WWW: http://www.usyd.edu.au/~cjmount/cat/
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Byteback BBS
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Email: root@byteback.apana.org.au
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En Linea Lliure BBS
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-------------------
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C/ de la Cera, 1 bis
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08001 Barcelona
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Catalunya
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Tel (BBS): ++34-3-3290783
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Fax: ++34-3-3290858
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Fidonet: 2:343/121.80
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Email: joanma <ellokal@pangea.upc.es>
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Indian BBS
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(Tarragona)
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Tel (BBS): ++34-77-550485
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Fidonet: 2:343/302.
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Email: c/o joanma <ellokal@pangea.upc.es>
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ECN Bologna (European Counter Network)
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--------------------------------------
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Tel (BBS): 051-520986
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Email: fam0393@iperbole.bologna.it
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WWW: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/ecn/ecnbo.htm
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Italian Anarchist Computer Book
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-------------------------------
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Digital Guerrilla -- guida all'uso alternativo di computer, modem e reti
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telematiche.
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100 pages A5 (15 x 21 cm).
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10.000 lire (that is, about 6 US $, plus 2 $ for shipping and
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handling outside italy) -- in italy you can get it in many squats, social
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centres and infoshops. interested people in foreign countries can email
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lpaccagn@risc1.gelso.unitn.it
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An electronic html version of the book will be available on the
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internet in a month or so.
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Spunk Press
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-----------
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Electronic Anarchist Archive
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Email: spunk-info-request@lysator.liu.se
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WWW: http://www.cwi.nl/cwi/people/Jack.Jansen/spunk/Spunk_Home.html
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Ftp: ftp://etext.archive.umich.edu/pub/Politics/Spunk/
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Message Sticks In Cyberspace
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----------------------------
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by post from:
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Black Rose Books
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563a King Street
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Newtown
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N.S.W. 2042
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Australia
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$10 (australian) including post and package
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international money orders only please.
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The author of this article
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--------------------------
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Email: will@desire.apana.org.au
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END
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