753 lines
34 KiB
Plaintext
753 lines
34 KiB
Plaintext
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Computer underground Digest Sun Apr 16, 1995 Volume 7 : Issue 30
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ISSN 1004-042X
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Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET)
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Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
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Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
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Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
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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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Copy Desecrator: Emo Shrdlu
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CONTENTS, #7.30 (Sun, Apr 16, 1995)
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File 1--Kevin Poulsen Sentenced to 51 Months
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File 2--When Doctors go Bad
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File 3--CDT POLICY #8 -- Leahy Introduces Alternative to CDA (fwd)
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File 4--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 19 Mar, 1995)
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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: Thu, 13 Apr 1994 11:19:03 CST
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From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@mindvox.phantom.com>
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Subject: File 1--Kevin Poulsen Sentenced to 51 Months
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National Public Radio reported this past week that Kevin Poulsen was
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sentenced in federal court in Los Angeles to 51 months in prison, a
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new record for "hacking" crimes. Poulsen was also orded to pay
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$58,000 in restition for rigging the telephones of Los Angeles radio
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stations to win prizes that included cash and a Porsche automobile.
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Poulsen still faces federal charges for alleged espionage.
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------------------------------
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Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 20:17:38 -0400 (EDT)
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zodiac@interlog.com . Thanx.
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Subject: File 2--When Doctors go Bad
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WHEN DOCTORS GO BAD
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One of Toronto's legendary net.ranters rants and raves about
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net.ravers and ravers
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by
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K.K.CAMPBELL
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Just over a year ago, TC! brought you a thrill-a-minute story I wrote
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about "Doctor"Joe Baptista -- the government-irritant who was
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mercilessly faxing-bombing [Ontario legislature] Queen's Park through
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his email-to-fax setup, supposedly ringing up $3.5 million in
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paper/administrative costs.
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Since then, Baptista's partner, "Doctor" Robert Riley, has led an
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attack on another front: Freedom Of Information requests. The
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provincial government actually rewrote the FOI guidelines so that no
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single person could have an excessive number of FOI requests at any
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one time. Call it the "Doctor" clause.
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Recently, five police chief from larger Ontario cities asked the
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Ontario government to permit them to ignore further requests from
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either Baptista or Riley -- a move which immediately interested the
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newsmedia and civil rights groups. The "Doctors" made the front page
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of the Globe and Mail [Canada's second largest daily newspaper].
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They call themselves "The Doctors" because Baptista says that when he
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uses the attribution, he gets better tables in restaurants. No member
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of the Doctors is a conventional doctor. (NOTE: Toronto sysadmin and
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devout Courtney Love Math Boy Ken Chasse dubbed him !Dr Baptista --
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using the programming operator !, which means "not." Thus he's
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Not-Doctor Baptista. The term !Doctors is commonly used today.)
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Baptista's height of Internet noteriety came when he teamed-up with
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netter Tom Evans (evans@reptiles.org). This dynamic duo grated on
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the nerves of thousands in Ontario (and beyond). The !Doctors
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practically owned newsgroup ont.general for a while. In August,
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Baptista was voted Kook Of The Month in Usenet newsgroup
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alt.usenet.kooks .
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But it all fell apart shortly thereafter. The two had a very public
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falling out in Usenet. Acting as a sort of !Doctor anti-matter, Evans
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mercilessly ridiculed Baptista into relative silence. To Ontario
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Usenetters, it was a rather surreal site. Today, Baptista rarely posts
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-- and when he does, Evans usually appears and roasts Baptista alive;
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in response, Baptista mumbles something like "We have nothing to say
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to you," and the thread dies.
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Thus ended the reign of Ontario's first (and some think greatest)
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net.loon. On the anniversary of that TC! article, I called up Tom
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Evans for an interview. Evans is editor/publisher of a net ezine
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called Net.scandal -- which chronicles the weird and wild and wacko
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aspects of the net.community. Evans is hoping to finally get some
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dedicated bandwidth he can use to provide free accounts to "wayward
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kids" -- to let them create mayhem online, not on the streets.
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* * * * *
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KKC: I must admit, Tom... last April or so, When I first saw you
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posting in ont.general, in full !Doctor mode, I thought you were a...
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you know... a fucking asshole.
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TE: [laughs] Ya, that's the way I came across. The Doctor thing never
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completely fit with me. I didn't know anything about netiquete. And I
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didn't give a shit about it. I'm just an outlaw from nowhere, as far
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as they knew. And I acted like an asshole. I'm the first to admit it.
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KKC: What drew you to Usenet?
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TE: I'd just stumbled out of the Fido world. I came to Usenet,
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plodding around in hipwaders in these newsgroups bellowing "HI!" -- a
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complete clueless newbie. But I watched what was going on, and some
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particular people caught my interest: the bigmouths! [grins] The ones
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causing the trouble. I could tell who was arguing a conservative
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position and who's a radical and who's just an idiot.
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KKC: How did you get involved with the !Doctors?
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TE: I was on Magic BBS one night. It uses First Class software. As I'd
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been on FidoNet, I didn't know how to parse a header to post to the
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newsgroups. Plus I was using a DOS machine that I had never used
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before. Since there's a chat feature in First Class, I saw 45 people
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on at midnight, I thought I'd ask someone for help. What name, of all
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those people, do I just happen to pick out? Robert Riley. Didn't know
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him from Adam. Complete coincidence.
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He says. 'Sure, what's your phone number, I'll phone you up.' He does
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and we yap away, and he finally says, 'Hey, I live just down the
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street. Want me to come over and show you how to work your machine?' I
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shrugged, sure. Drop over. I didn't know he was this major gay boy
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yet...
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So over he comes and sets my machine up with Q-Term and all the rest
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of it. Ran smoothly. After, he's sitting in the chair, and we talk,
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until he asks, 'Ever hear of Joe Baptista?' I said, 'God, that's
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really funny that you mention that name because I was just busting a
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gut laughing today when reading an article about this guy in Toronto
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Computes!: 'The Beast That Stalks The Government.' I had the best
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fucking laugh reading that.
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Rob says, 'Oh, that's us!' What'ya mean, that's us? 'We're Doctors!
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We've been doing this for quite a while.' Doing what? 'Ohh, we have
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fun. And we use fax machines...'
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So picture it: here I am, a complete clueless newbie, without ANY idea
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of the net, and meet these guys, who seem to be activists and have a
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beef with Canada. Rob gives me Joe's number and I phone the next day.
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We talk and swap addresses. Joe promises to drop over sometime and
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smoke a joint. Sure enough, he's there the same night. And we got
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along _famously_. We were_pals_. I supported him _completely_.
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KKC: You guys must have spent some nights getting high and roaring
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with laughter at the reactions from the humorless tightass
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conservatives on the net...
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TE: Oh God! I'd split my sides! Joe was one of the biggest sources of
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comic relief in my life! But remember, I am a naive kid from St
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Catharines who keeps forgetting there are often darker motives behind
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people's actions. I was completely bedazzled by these !Doctor guys who
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seemed to know so much. And they really stirred up the pot. As for all
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these names I kept seeing in groups like ont.general, howling about
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the horrible things the !Doctors were supposedly doing, to me they
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were just a bunch of conservative assholes in need of a good kicking
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anyway. Fuck them.
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My thing was reposting stuff I thought funny from other groups to
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ont.general. I didn't know anything about how threading works -- I'm
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using a First Class site, at tvo.org , right?
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KKC: And you thought ont.general is just some local BBS group, where
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you post anything and everything...
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TE: Exactly. "Here's a funny article from alt.best.of.internet ! Read
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this, gang!" Naturally, people then flamed me, saying, "Look, we can
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get this stuff by reading alt.best.of.internet ourselves, so stop
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reposting it to ont.general. Well... That just FUELLED me! [laughs] It
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made me want to do it more! And Joe was saying, 'Oh, great! Just keep
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bugging them. Do whatever you want.'
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KKC: You starting calling yourself "Doctor Tom Evans, PR director."
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How did that happen?
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TE: I proposed I be Joe's "PR manager". I mean, I got a few smarts
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going. I worked in the advertising biz for eight years. Master of
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misinformation. So I went out to Ontario newsgroups banging Joe's drum
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for him. And damned if I didn't start coming up with some fans for the
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guy! We were getting attention. Even from the media. Shift magazine
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phoned us up for an article and wanted to meet for lunch. I choose to
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have it in the cafeteria at Toronto General Hospital -- what better
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place for the Doctors, right? (Shift didnt do a story, though... I
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think they thought we were too "out there" for the Ontario General
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Arts Council, or whoever it is who funds them.)
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KKC: It would certainly seem that since your departure from the
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!Doctors, Baptista's star (or anti-star) set...
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TE: Hmmm. I think the !Doctors that to themselves. And I warned Joe
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about it. Fun is fun, but I'm a man of integrity. I won't call in the
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cops to harass people. I began to see that darker nature in him,
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threatening people on a personal level. Getting them in trouble in
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real life. I said, "Joe, that's just malicious." I'm not interested in
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destroying things or people. I'm interested in ridiculing the piss
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outta someone in Usenet, and cause them so much grief they never want
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to login again, but I'm _not_ interested in getting them into legal
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trouble with the police or disrupting their personal lives or getting
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them fired, or_anything_ like that. I don't want to take this thing
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out of cyberspace.
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And I don't want the police at _my_ door. I made it clear that if Joe
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was going to cause me real life grief, then I couldn't have anything
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to do with the !Doctors.
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Of course, the reason _Joe wanted_ to use my name and phone number as
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PR man at the bottom of his faxes and net posts was because he had to
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move back into his Mom's house. Joe is Portuguese. With some Latin
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men, the most important person in their lives is "Mom." The one thing
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you do not do is shame your mother in any way or you go straight to
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hell.
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Problem is: what Joe loves _most_ in life is seeing the _reaction_ to
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what he does. For him to do a fax spam, and for there not to be a
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contact number for him, is just completely pointless. What's the point
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if you can't hear the complaints?
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KKC: Hear the echo...
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TE: Ya, hear the echo. Joe tried a few fax-spams with no number at the
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bottom -- because he couldn't use _Mom's_ number, and his _own_ phone
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was cut for owing 800 beans to Ma Bell. So he wanted to start adding
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my number, since I'm the "PR guy."
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I said, "Joe, I'm- I'm- I'm not sure. I don't THINK so... I don't know
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if I would end up liking that." Because I'm a low-profile guy. I'm an
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eccentric that doesn't want to be in the public eye. Unless it's on my
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own terms [like the net]. I don't want someone else's publicity
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dogging me around. And I do NOT want The Steam at my front door. But I
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agreed to give it a shot and see.
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Well, first fax-net press release he used me on was the [member of
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provincial parliament Donald] Cousens article. Joe had some phone spat
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with Cousen's secretary. He issued a "press release" calling her a
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human larvae.
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KKC: That's the one where he says she's in heat...
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TE: Ya, that she acted like she was a 'bitch in heat.'
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KKC: And that's the one that got him elected KOTM.
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TE: Right! And damned if that isn't the first one with my name and
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phone number on the bottom as the PR Director! So MPP Cousens and 15
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other people --including the Globe and Mail -- phoned me! I sure
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didn't like the feedback from that. Cousen's secretary herself even
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called me, insisting this was hate mongering, subject to Canada's
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anti-hate laws. I got scared. That's my bottom line: I don't like
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cops, I don't like jail, I've never been in jail, and I'm never gonna
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go. So I replied I had nothing to do with it. Naturally, she asked why
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my name was on the bottom.
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I said: "Welllll, I'm the PR company..."
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She said: "Then I suggest your _company_ finds out exactly who the
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heck you are PRing."
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I replied: "Good point. I will. Thank you very much for calling."
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I phoned Joe immediately and said, "OK, that's the end of that. I'll
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let this one fly, you had fun with Cousens, fine. I don't want my name
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on any more." And, indeed, Joe stopped -- _for the moment._
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KKC: Until after the Doctor-Q. The trigger of your split... [NOTE: The
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"Doctor-Q" was a barbeque bash held last summer at Evans' downtown
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Toronto house. It was attended by Homolka-trial-ban-breaker Gordon
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Domm, the net's own Homolka-rumor-monger "Abdul" (abdul@io.com) and
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various other personages. It was a mellow substance-drenched event.]
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TE: Right. I did all the work for that party. I paid $800 to get that
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beer and food and got $725 back. In retrospect, it's real lucky that
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was ALL I lost. My fault, though. I don't blame anyone else for that.
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But then Joe starts bugging me for money from it, figuring I pocketed
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a profit! And then he starts demanding money, and later an
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"accounting." He didn't lift a finger for the bash. He didn't stay to
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clean up. He didn't do a frigging thing. He's a lazy pig. He's a slug.
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He's a complete slug.
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His excuse, of course, for being a slug is [in whining Baptista
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impersonation] "Well, I have this condition, I was hit over the head,
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and I can't remember anything..."
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KKC: He told me that once. _Does_ he have a "memory condition?"
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TE: Well... He _did_ get beat up by a landlord. But let me tell you,
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he sure knows how to remember if you owe him ten bucks from three
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months ago.
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KKC: He called me once saying he thought it was Monday -- it was
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Friday.
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TE: I think it all started as kind of a joke. But I also think people
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have the capacity to programme themselves that they actually _are_
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brain damaged if they work hard enough at work.
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I mean, maybe I'm wrong. But there's no big scar on his head. Not that
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I've seen. As I understand it, he just got a couple of good swats in
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the head from his landlord. No one's ever told me about "The tragic
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day Joe had to go to intensive care." I mean, the kind of memory loss
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we're talking about here suggests, to me, severe head trauma.
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KKC: But "brain damage" aside, you were impressed with !Dr Joe's
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ability to mercilessly irritate civil servants.
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TE: Oh yeah. He WAS a chartered accountant, remember. That's the
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reason he knows how to get at government. First thing you learn as an
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accountant is that paper can cost a company more than anything else.
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The administration. And that's exactly his attack. Some people think
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Joe is perceptive and remarkable and all that, Joe is just doing what
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an accountant does -- sends papers to places he knows have to file and
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respond.
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KKC: Bob Allisat seems to have taken up Baptista's mantle as Toronto's
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reigning net.kook. How did he fit into the !Doctors.
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TE: Bob was never a full Doctor, because he never really liked or
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trusted Joe. When I first saw him, Bob was on all the First Class
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BBSs. I saw him at Magic, ranting about Magic sysadmin "Merlin," how
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his stuff was being censored... or calling Matrix administrator child
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molesters or whatever. It was vicious stuff. Lamer stuff. But Bob was
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a _true_ ranter and a raver.
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I worked to pull all these guys together because _I love ranters_. I
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love them! [laughs] They're my entertainment! I brought Bob into the
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circle. Here I am the Net.Scandal PR man, and all these guys fit
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perfect into the net.scandal. I aimed to compile rant talent and drum
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up such a stink that something entertaining had to come of it! So I
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got Allisat on the blower and said, "We gotta meet, Bob! I like what
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you've got to say."
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Bob CAN write. If he got rid of his self-centred attitude -- and the
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whiney "Ohhhh, everyone is picking on me" -- he'd be a star. Another
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thing about Bob is that he never resorts to stupid threats -- like
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physical violence. Not like stupid people, like this "Alexmac" asshole
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at Internex, who threatened to have Bob's knees broken. People who
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don't have a higher education resort to violence.
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But Bob's whole "Captain Parkdale" thing makes me laugh -- he hasn't
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lived in Parkdale that long. And anyway, the real energy in Parkdale
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right now isn't the sad cases living on welfare, it's the booming
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artist community living at Liberty and Atlantic and King St. It's the
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highest concentration of art in the city. I used to live at King and
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Dufferin and everybody in there is a cracker artist of some sort. It's
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booming. So I told him: 'THIS is the what the new Parkdale is, not
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this idea you have for connecting all the nuts at 999 Queen.'
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[NOTE: Right around this time, someone from Allisat's system uploaded
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an anonymous post about a Portuguese community priest -- calling the
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priest a "Nazi, thief, child molester," etc. Baptista saw it and faxed
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it out to everyone, adding Tom Evans' home phone number on the bottom,
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implying Evans wrote it. Evans emphatically denies having anything to
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do with it.]
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KKC: Didn't Allisat delete you from his system? Censor you?
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TE: Yes, he did. Bob's biggest fear is being sued. He got rid of me at
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psc.org because he feared a big lawsuit was coming over the Portuguese
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priest thing. And at the same time, UUNet Canada had cut off
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Baptista's system. It's my opinion that Allisat put two and two
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together and figured I was going to get SO vocal over both events that
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he would get sued. So he killed me.
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Joe's putting my name on the bottom of that Portuguese priest story
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was as dirty as you can get. He sent it out to everyone in the friggin
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Portuguese world. I sure got lots of calls from Portuguese people.
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People had long been warning me: you are NEVER going to get
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government/private sponsorship for your idea of putting rebellious
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youth on the net if you have Baptista in your ranks. "You're not going
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to get it." They were right. It would never happen.
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KKC: Two other !Doctors -- Rob Riley and Bruce Lloyd -- tried to
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convince the police to raid and shut down Interlog Internet Services
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last September. It was personal revenge against Interlog owner Matt
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Harrop (mharrop@interlog.com), but they fooled CITY TV into thinking
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they were "caring citizens worried about child porn." Turned out they
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uploaded tons of vile material themselves.
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TE: Exactly. And that's the whole thing with the !Doctors. There's an
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'honor among thieves' code in cyberspace that cannot be broken. They
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broke it. And that's why Joe and Rob are not welcome in my home
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anymore. They don't have that honor, don't even understand what it is.
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I've told them that if they could distinguish between friends and
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enemies, they'd be at the top of the charts. The real enemy isn't the
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grunt in the trench, like say [Toronto UNIX guru] Jim Mercer; the
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enemy is the overblown, overpayed, overstuffed, over-egoed politician.
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KKC: So you think "The Doctors" are gone for good?
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TE: Yes and no. Joe has almost no support from anyone in the
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net.community at all anymore. But they aren't gone. This freedom of
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information thing with the Ontario governmenthas a lot of play in it.
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The !Doctors have simply regrouped and gone quiet. That's partly why
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Joe's just shut his fat little mouth.
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KKC: Many people call you a "prankster." You call it irritainment, I
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believe.
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TE: Ya, I do. And it's so easy. It doesn't have to involve technical
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tricks, just knowing human nature.
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For instance, I know Joe's biggest fear, almost obsessive worry, is
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that his stuff is being cancelled. See, Joe's only weapon in life is
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Usenet. The threat that his words are going to be canceled is
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paramount. So I thought, dandy, I'm going to fan those flames. I used
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along dead account of mine at [Ken Chasse's] Sonic Interzone to start
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the rumor, saying, "Goodness, I can't see posts from Joe anywhere!"
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And the Doctors freaked!
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It's like fishing. And all these little tricks we try to write about
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in Net Scandal. Sometimes you get bites and nibbles. But you are
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always hoping you get the hook right down the throat so you can really
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haul on them. [laughs]
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------------------------------
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Date: Sat, 8 Apr 1995 22:56:14 -0500
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From: jim thomas <tk0jut1@CS.NIU.EDU>
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Subject: File 3--CDT POLICY #8 -- Leahy Introduces Alternative to CDA (fwd)
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------- start of forwarded message -------
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From--jseiger@cdt.org (Jonah Seiger)
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Date--7 Apr 1995 15:46:59 -0500
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----------------------------------------------------------
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****** ******** *************
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******** ********* *************
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** ** ** *** POLICY POST
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** ** ** ***
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** ** ** *** April 7, 1995
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** ** ** *** Number 8
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******** ********* ***
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****** ******** ***
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CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY
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----------------------------------------------------------
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A briefing on public policy issues affecting civil liberties online
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---------------------------------------------------------
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CDT POLICY POST 4/7/95 Number 8
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CONTENTS: (1) Senator Leahy Introduces Alternative to Communications
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Decency Act
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(2) Leahy Statement on Introdcution of S. 714
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(3) Text of S. 714
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(4) About the Center For Democracy and Technology
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This document may be re-distributed freely provided it remains in its
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entirety.
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--------------------------------------------------------
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SUBJECT: Senator Leahy Introduces Alternative to Exon/Gorton
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Communications Decency Act
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Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) today introduced the "Child Protection, User
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Empowerment, and Free Expression in Interactive Media Study Bill" (S. 714).
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The bill represents an alternative to Senator Exon (D-NE) and Senator
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Gorton's (R-WA) "Communications Decency Act", which would criminalize the
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transmission of any content deemed "obscene, indecent, lewd, lascivious,
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filthy, or harassing."
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Leahy's bill would direct the Department of Justice, in consultation with
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the Commerce Department, to conduct a study to address technical means for
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empowering users to control information they receive over interactive
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communications systems such as the Internet, commercial online services,
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independent BBS's, and future interactive media. The bill is being
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co-sponsored by Senators Bob Kerry (D-NE) and Herb Kohl (D-WI), and is
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expected to generate support across party lines.
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The Communications Decency Act, which Leahy seeks to replace, is now
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pending before the Senate as part of the "Telecommunications Competition
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and Deregulation Act of 1995' (S. 652).
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In a statement announcing the introduction of the bill, Senator Leahy urged
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Congress to carefully consider the implications of imposing content
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restrictions on interactive media. "Heavy-handed efforts by government to
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regulate obscenity on interactive information services will only stifle the
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free flow of information, discourage the robust development of new
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information services, and make users avoid using the system" Leahy said.
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Instead, Leahy urged a careful consideration of possible alternatives
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before Congress attempts to legislate in this area. Under the legislation
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introduced today, the Department of Justice, in consultation with the
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Department of Commerce, would examine:
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* Whether current laws prohibiting the distribution of obscenity and child
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pornography by means of computers are sufficient.
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* Whether current law enforcement resources are sufficient to enforce
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existing laws.
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* The availability of technical means to enable parents and other users to
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control access to "commercial, non-commercial, violent, sexually explicit,
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harassing, offensive, or otherwise unwanted" content.
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* Recommendations to encourage the development and deployment of such
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technologies
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* The availability of technical means to promote the free flow of
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information consistent with Constitutional values.
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The Center for Democracy and Technology commends Senator Leahy for his
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leadership on this issue and his efforts to promote the free flow of
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information in cyberspace. CDT will work to support Senator Leahy's
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efforts and to develop alternatives to content restrictions in interactive
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media.
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----------------------------------------------------------
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LEAHY STATEMENT ON INTRODUCTION OF S. 714
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STATEMENT OF SENATOR LEAHY
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On Introduction of The Child Protection, User Empowerment, and Free
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Expression In Interactive Media Study Bill
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April 7, 1995
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Mr. President: I rise today to introduce a bill calling for a study by the
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Department of Justice, in consultation with the U.S. Department of Commerce
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on how we can empower parents and users of interactive telecommunications
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systems, such as the Internet, to control the material transmitted to them
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over those systems. We must find ways to do this that do not invite
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invasions of privacy, lead to censorship of private online communications,
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and undercut important constitutional protections.
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Before legislating to impose government regulation on the content of
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communications in this enormously complex area, I feel we need more
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information from law enforcement and telecommunications experts. My bill
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calls for just such a fast-track study of this issue.
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There is no question that we are not living through a revolution in
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telecommunications with cheaper, easier to use and faster ways to
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communicate electronically with people within our own homes and
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communities, and around the globe.
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A byproduct of this technical revolution is that supervising our children
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takes on a new dimension of responsibility. Very young children are so
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adept with computers that they can sit at a keypad in front of a computer
|
|
screen at home or at school and connect to the outside world through the
|
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Internet or some other on-line service. Many of us are, thus, justifiably
|
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concerned about the accessibility of obscene and indecent materials on-line
|
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and the ability of parents to monitor and control the materials to which
|
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their children are exposed. But government regulation of the content of all
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computer and telephone communications, even private communications, in
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violation of the First Amendment is not the answer -- it is merely a
|
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knee-jerk response.
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|
Heavy-handed efforts by government to regulate obscenity on interactive
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information services will only stifle the free flow of information,
|
|
discourage the robust development of new information services, and make
|
|
users avoid using the system.
|
|
|
|
The problem of policing the Internet is complex and involves many important
|
|
issues. We need to protect copyrighted materials from illegal copying. We
|
|
need to protect privacy. And we need to help parents protect their
|
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children. Penalties imposed after the harm is done is not enough. We need
|
|
to find technical means from stopping the harm done before it happens.
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|
My bill calls for a study to address the legal and technical issues for
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|
empowering users to control the information they receive over electronic
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interactive services. Instead of rushing to regulate the content of
|
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information services, we should encourage the development of technology
|
|
that gives parents and other consumers the ability to control the
|
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information that can be access over a modem.
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|
|
Empowering parents to manage what their kids access over the Internet with
|
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technology under their control is far preferable to some of the bills
|
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pending in Congress that would criminalize users or deputize information
|
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service providers as smut police.
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Let's see what this study reveals before we start legislating in ways that
|
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could severely damage electronic communications systems, sweep away
|
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important constitutional rights, and undercut law enforcement at the same
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time.
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I ask unanimous consent, to have printed in the record at this pint, the
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"Child Protection, User Empowerment, and Free Expression in Interactive
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Media Study" bill.
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|
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-----------------------------------------------------------
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TEXT OF S. 714
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104th Congress
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1st Session
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S. 714
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-------------------------------
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IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
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Mr. Leahy introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
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to the committee on_______
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-------------------------------
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A BILL
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To require the Attorney General to study and report to Congress on the
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means of controlling the flow of violent, sexually explicit, harassing,
|
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offense, or otherwise unwanted material in interactive telecommunications
|
|
systems.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
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|
States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. STUDY ON MEANS OF RESTRICTING ACCESS TO UNWANTED MATERIAL
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IN INTERACTIVE TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS.
|
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|
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(a) STUDY AND REPORT. -- Not later than 150 days after the date of
|
|
enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall complete a study and
|
|
submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on
|
|
the Judiciary of the House of Representatives a report containing --
|
|
|
|
(1) an evaluation of whether current criminal laws governing the
|
|
distribution of obscenity over computer networks and the creation and
|
|
distribution of child pornography by means of computers are fully
|
|
enforceable in interactive media;
|
|
|
|
(2) an assessment of the Federal, State, and local law enforcement
|
|
resources that are currently available to enforce those laws;
|
|
|
|
(3) an evaluation of the technical means available to --
|
|
|
|
(A) enable parents to exercise control over the information that
|
|
their children receive and enable other users to exercise control over the
|
|
commercial and noncommercial information that they receive over interactive
|
|
telecommunications systems so that they may avoid violent, sexually
|
|
explicit, harassing, offensive, or otherwise unwanted material; and
|
|
|
|
(B) promote the free flow of information consistent, with
|
|
Constitutional values, in interactive media; and
|
|
|
|
(4) recommendations to encourage the development and deployment of
|
|
technical means, including hardware and software, to enable parents to
|
|
exercise control over the information that their children receive and
|
|
enable other users of exercise control over the information that they
|
|
receive over interactive telecommunications systems so that they may avoid
|
|
harassing, violent, sexually explicit, harassing, offensive, or otherwise
|
|
unwanted material.
|
|
|
|
(b) CONSULTATION -- In conducting the study and preparing the
|
|
report under subsection (a), the Attorney General shall consult with the
|
|
National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the
|
|
Department of Commerce.
|
|
|
|
----------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY
|
|
|
|
The Center for Democracy and Technology is a non-profit public interest
|
|
organization. The Center's mission is to develop and advocate public
|
|
policies that advance constitutional civil liberties and democratic
|
|
values in new computer and communications technologies.
|
|
|
|
Contacting us:
|
|
|
|
General information on CDT can be obtained by sending mail to
|
|
<info@cdt.org>
|
|
|
|
CDT's www site is up! Visit us at http://www.cdt.org/
|
|
|
|
Our ftp and gopher sites will be up soon.
|
|
|
|
voice: 202.637.9800
|
|
|
|
------------------------------
|
|
|
|
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 1995 22:51:01 CDT
|
|
From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu>
|
|
Subject: File 4--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 19 Mar, 1995)
|
|
|
|
Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are
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available at no cost electronically.
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|
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CuD is available as a Usenet newsgroup: comp.society.cu-digest
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|
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Or, to subscribe, send a one-line message: SUB CUDIGEST your name
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Send it to LISTSERV@VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU
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The editors may be contacted by voice (815-753-0303), fax (815-753-6302)
|
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or U.S. mail at: Jim Thomas, Department of Sociology, NIU, DeKalb, IL
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60115, USA.
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|
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To UNSUB, send a one-line message: UNSUB CUDIGEST <your name>
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Issues of CuD can also be found in the Usenet comp.society.cu-digest
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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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violate copyright protections.
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------------------------------
|
|
|
|
End of Computer Underground Digest #7.30
|
|
************************************
|
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