Are we gatewayed to Usenet?
Last night when I entered the newsgroups of my system (Netcom) I was given the choice of subscribing to a new newsgroup, "cypherpunks.list". I did with alacrity, to discover what was going on. Here's a sample of what's appeared so far (a screen in "tin"): ... 21 1 PC random number hardware Jon Boede 22 Need Info Christopher M. Wis 23 Wired 1.6 is not yet publically available Timothy C.Ma y 24 Caller ID Wabasha-Kellogg Hi 25 Tropez phones Wabasha-Kellogg Hi 26 1 TEMPEST, Van Eyck Radiation, and Eavesdroppin Timothy C. May 27 (fwd) Clipper and Tipper on Route 666 Timothy C. May 28 [alt.security.pgp] pgp.iastate.edu service di warlord@MIT.EDU 29 Mark Abene (Phiber Optik) sentenced Doug Merritt 30 TEMPEST Defenses and average Van Eck Gear... nobody@shell.porta 31 Nymalizer, politics on the list Greg Broiles 32 Test of this list... Timothy C. May I believe someone has gatewayed the list onto Netcom, which is available to many thousands of subscribers, including local POPs (points of presence) in Washington, D.C., Boston, Atlanta, Austin, and of course all up and down the West Coast. Is this such a good idea? And should it be unilaterally done? If there was discussion of this, I must've missed it somehow (which I doubt). It does look like it may've been a one-shot affair, as the recent messages to the List proper have not appeared in the newsgroup. Also, I posted a test message to the group, which appears above as item #32, but which appeared only in the newsgroup and not on the List proper (two hours have passed, so it may eventually appear). Certainly our List is not a deep, dark secret, and certainly we know the list is gatewayed into some local networks, but I really worry about everything we say hear being readable by anyone with a newsfeed. It also opens us up to more disruptive flaming and puerile argumentation. --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^756839 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. Note: I put time and money into writing this posting. I hope you enjoy it.
tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May) wrote:
Last night when I entered the newsgroups of my system (Netcom) I was given the choice of subscribing to a new newsgroup, "cypherpunks.list". I did with alacrity, to discover what was going on. ...
I believe someone has gatewayed the list onto Netcom, which is available to many thousands of subscribers, including local POPs (points of presence) in Washington, D.C., Boston, Atlanta, Austin, and of course all up and down the West Coast.
Well, I read the list here as a local newsgroup on cmu.edu, it's not uncommon at some sites to do this, as it cuts down on incoming mail. If it becomes a problem, we could restrict posting access to "registered" users, as is done on extropians, but I think it might be a bit premature or possibly counterproductive to take such a step on this list. I prefer reading it a local newsfeed, since there is no digest version availiable, and because it allows me to keep my personal mail seperate from the list. I would reccommend that if certain sites become a problem by attracting flamers, communists, liberals, or government authoritarian types, that we could remove them on a case-by-case basis.
Gateways to local usenet groups are fairly common for the list. CMU is behind one, and there are several others. The most frequent reason given is that it is easier to read a large list with news software rather than mail software. (I am just passing this own; don't quibble with me over it.) What I find most interesting is that I cannot identify where netcom is getting their feed from. None of the netcom addresses on the distribution list appear to be gateway addresses, nor have I heard from any netcom administrator about making such a gateway. There are 34 netcom accounts on the list. Perhaps if enough of you asked where this distribution came from the answer would appear. Eric
participants (3)
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hughes＠ah.com -
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tcmay＠netcom.com