269 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
269 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
* Are all sysops criminals?
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Tom Jennings
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FidoNet 1:125/111
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usenet ...hoptoad!kumr!anomaly (anomaly@FIDONET.ORG)
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24 Nov 90
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The U.S. Constitution does not grant us rights. "Our" government
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does not grant us rights. They have nothing to give us, other
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than ostensibly services which it provides from our taxes. (I'll
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leave that one alone here.)
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The Constitution simply admits that, as humans, we have certain
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rights, and that the government recognizes this, and promises not
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to take them away. THAT was the revolutionary idea behind this
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government.
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This is an incredibly important difference, and one which our
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gov't doesn't like to emphasize. They want it to appear that they
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are the defenders of all that is good, when in reality they are
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one of the worst offenders.
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* * * * *
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Tim Pozar & I just got back from the Hackers Conference 6.0. (The
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Hackers' Conferences are an invite-only social event for the
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creative weirdos who make up at least part of the forces behind
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the (mostly) software frontier. When they were started in '84,
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the micro software industry was still somewhat laughable in
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large-industry terms (though given a lot of credibility (sic) by
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the IBM PC a few years before), and "hacker" usually meant more
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or less what "ham" did in amateur radio.
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I've been to four of them so far, 1, 2, 4 and 6. The first two
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were great, the 4th not so, in my peculiar opinion. It was too
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... isolated. The whole trickle-down thing revisited. Like this
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-- "We're making the tools that will benefit the world" and all
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that rot, and if it only cost $500, everyone could buy one.
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(Forgetting that they themselves are 1% of 1% and $500 is an
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unthinkable figure for *most* US citizens -- and growing.)
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But this year was different.
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* * * * *
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The unix-based usenet network has many corporations that pay for
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telecomm costs, unlike us bums who pay for it ourselves, or on
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the sly where possible. Until a year or so ago, FidoNet was not
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considered a "real" network, whatever that is. Part of it was
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simple snootiness, but a big part was simply that we sprung up
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from a place no one was expecting, and even when the wilder of
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the "traditional network" bunch looked in the right direction,
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they weren't sure of exactly what it was they were seeing ... you
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have to admit we are a curious bunch.
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People don't just "build" networks. They are expensive, take all
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that expensive minicomputer hardware, and who takes care of all
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those user accounts? What user accounts?! Where's your VAX? Hey
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wait a minute ...
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* * * * *
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Some INTERNET nodes specialize in FTP'able (filereqestable)
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files; utilities, documents, that sort of thing, just like
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FidoNet nodes do. One specialized in .GIF picture files,
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including some of variously erotic content. The (gov't) sponsors
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of the net (in keeping with the current censorious trend) ordered
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the stuff "off". The Finnish offered to take the files, where
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they quickly became 70% of the traffic ... and indication of
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their U.S. popularity.
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Then the feds (I forget the branch) told the Fins: if you
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continue to provide those files to the U.S., we will cut all of
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your network connections. The Fins had no choice; survival comes
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first.
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* * * * *
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The Hackers Conference was in a ski-lodge in Tahoe City, starting
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Friday afternoon, ending Sunday afternoon. Sleep optional. Dinner
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served at midnight. (Us vegetarian types had to sludge through
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greasy sauce-laden meat and such. Where "mint tea" is some grim
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lipton-clone where I swear they simply held a mint-leaf over the
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mixing vat ...)
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After the usual preliminaries (beer, M&M's, 10,000 "hello"s,
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finding rooms, etc) the fun begins -- a 48 hr long bullshit
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session, interrupted with food, sleep and occasional
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not-well-organized "sessions".
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In one of the bigger sessions, someone asked "how many people had
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been interviewed recently by the FBI?" Fully 1/4th raised their
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hands.
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* * * * *
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The FidoNet is nothing if not contradictions -- independent,
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unpredictable, paranoid, decentralist, self-sufficient, flexible,
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reactionary, technically sophisticated ... Some wonder how we get
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anything done. I wonder how anyone ELSE gets things done!
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What appears to be a liability to the "rest of the world", our
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"lack of organization", lack of resources (90's code word for
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money) may be our long-term survival and later cause for<6F>
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rejoicing.
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Corporate "resources" don't come without strings, as the usenet
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may be about to find out. This past weekend, that bastion of
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liberalism (well, liberal capitalism; well, capitalism) Apple
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Computer just pulled the plug on the alt.sex.* newsgroups. (Their
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equiv. of echo conferences; ".*" means just what you DOS users
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might guess; it's a lot of conferences!) (Apple was a very big
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"backbone" distribution node.) Why? "Too controversial" or some
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such. I'm sure it's a "good reason". And of course they can do
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it, just like that. It is not unthinkable it will start a "run"
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on plug-pulling.
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Before we get too snooty ourselves, we have to keep in mind that
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we are just as vulnerable, maybe more so -- we don't have the
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resources to defend ourselves, nor the connections (yet) to the
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network community (though thanks to Tim Pozar we have ufgate
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(usenet/fidonet gateway) and INTERNET status). WE NEED THOSE TO
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SURVIVE. And we can do it while maintaining our utter and
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complete independence. And, the INTERNET will learn from us.
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* * * * *
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To a few people, the high number of (ahem) interviewees was not a
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surprise. Mitch Kapor and John Barlow both had funny (if it was
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fiction) and foreboding (because of the feds power and ignorance)
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"interviews". The story is quite interesting, and was available
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on The Well and in print. To make a long story short, they have
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formed the EFF -- Electronic Frontier Foundation -- to defend
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First, (protected speech) and Fourth, (unreasonable
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search/seizure) Constitutional Amendments, as well to monitor
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ECPA (Electronic Communications Privacy Act) and other
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violations, and to work with legislators to work out fair laws.
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What was most heartening to me, was the approach -- instead of
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defending only the "nice, upstanding", positive-image type cases,
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they went for the real issues -- the kids and families getting
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busted at gun point by the feds, where literally every piece of
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electronics removed from the house, no recourse, no reason, no
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charges filed. The Niedorfer case, where the claimed $70K "stolen
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file" is found to be a brochure available to anyone for under
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$14. (And the press still calls it "stolen 911 software".) Steve
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Jackson Games; computers seized because an employee allegedly had
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on his home BBS a copy of the E911 doc (they were confused as to
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the location of the BBS; they later claimed that S.J's cyberpunk
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games (role playing like Dungeons & Dragons) were actually
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instructions on how to break into real-life computers!)
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In another case, the FBI thought that (1) John Draper (aka Cap'n
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Crunch) was CEO of AutoDesk and (2) AutoDesk was involved in Star
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Wars research, because they worked with something called
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"hyperspace". Yup -- it's hilarious, only they have guns,
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secrecy, bureaucracy and the power to evade legal process and
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accountability. And, you get hung in the press because their
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version of "reality" is so ... heavy.
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It is so rare to find someone who acts "from the heart" in their
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life, politics and actions, willing to put reputations at stake
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and correctly defend the "undefendable" first, not last. I have
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nothing but good things to say about EFF and it's supporters.
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* * * * *
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This years FidoCon should be the best one yet. I'm actually
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looking forward to going, a rare event. (I'll drive out in my
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propane-powered '63 Rambler.) John Barlow, now of EFF fame, will
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be speaking. And you ought to listen -- not only is he an
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interesting speaker (and lyricist for the Grateful Dead!), the
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subject is Your Personal Future -- our governments actions
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against all too ordinary citizens, and what the EFF is doing, and
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what you can do as well.
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We all went through some internal hell these last few years, of
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which the growth and death of IFNA was merely a symptom. Look --
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the FidoNet doubled in size every few months for years, and is
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still growing at a rate that is completely, bar-none,
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unprecedented. How many of you have broad-based communications
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skills or experience? How many of you had telecomm. and/or
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conferencing experience before FidoNet? Simple experiences of
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speaking in a large group of diverse people? And I mean as in
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communications with humans, not hacking. Very few of us, I'm
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afraid, and while it's been a serious problem, it (1) affords us
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a fresh perspective and (2) simply something we have to deal
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with. The fun is in the learning.
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I think we are heading for the fourth phase of FidoNet growth
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(innocent start, echomail, paranoid self-consciousness, ...). The
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timing is good -- we have some real work cut out for us.
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* * * * *
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So this year's Hackers Conference was different. How? Finally
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they reached my level of paranoia. There was an edge of stark
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reality in the air. A bit more tied to the planet.
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Personally, it completed a circle. Now, every single thing I'm
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involved in is officially disliked and under investigation and
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infiltration by police of one sort or another. I think those that
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though "well, you must have somehow brought it on yourself" are
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starting to see, it's not like that at all ...
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* * * * *
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By the way -- you might have heard about the nonsense at Prodigy
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-- the idiotic administrators using broadscale censorship
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(correct word) to squash dissent. What you probably don't know --
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because the reports themselves were self-censored -- was that the
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original discussion, purged by Prodigy, was over gay rights and
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anything to do with gay people. This is what Prodigy claimed was
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"offensive material".
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Shame, shame, on the so-called liberal types who in their turn
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did not report that. It was not simply not including the gay
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angle; it was intentionally removed, a very different thing.
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Everyone suffers from that removal.
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* * * * *
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(1) The usenet is our ally. We need as many interconnections with
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it, and other networks, as is reasonably possible. We are all
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under attack. Besides, it's technically interesting.
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(2) Don't fall for what Pastor Martin Niemoller did; ("In Germany
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they first came for the Communists and I didn't speak because I
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wasn't a Communist...") We're all "commies" in that sense -- the
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brat hackers are simply the thin edge of the wedge. Criminals are
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criminals -- which is decided in a court of law, not with a
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sealed search warrant and intimidation.
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(3) Watch for EFF stuff in the net, or contact them directly. EFF
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Inc, 112 Second St, Cambridge MA 02142. voice (617)-864-0665, or
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usenet eff@well.sf.ca.us Bug 'em for an echo conference. Tell 'em
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you are from the FidoNet.
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(4) The First Conference on Computers, Freedom & Privacy will be
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held 25 - 28 March 91 at the SFO Marriott. The goal is to open
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channels of communication between network and telecomm experts,
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info/datacomm providers, law enforcement, prosecutors,
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constitutional exports, computer users and civil libertarians.
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Attendance will be limited to 600 people. The event is sponsored
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by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, and chaired
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by Jim Warren (of West Coast Computer Faire, amongst other
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notorieties). CFPconf, 345 Swett Rd, Woodside CA 94062, FAX
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(415)-851-2814, or usenet jwarren@well.sf.ca.us
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* * * * *
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It is of more importance to the community that
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innocence should be protected than it is that
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guilt should be punished, for guilt and crimes
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are so frequent in the world that all of them
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cannot be punished, and many times they happen
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in such a manner that it is not of much consequence
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to the public whether they are punished or not. But
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when innocence itself is brought to the bar and
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condemned, especially to die, the subject will
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exclaim, "It is immaterial to me whether I behave
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well or ill, for virtue is no security". And if such
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sentiment as this should take place in the mind of
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the subject there would be an end to all security
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whatsoever.
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-- John Adams
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