-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- I found this surfing USENET. Very interesting... From: cmfaltz@panix.com (Titania) Subject: SIEGAL STRIKES AGAIN -- HEADS UP, FOLKS; CENSORS GETTING READY Date: 5 Jan 1995 09:28:40 -0500 Organization: The Q Continuum Lines: 112 Message-ID: <3egvmo$lfg@panix.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: panix.com Chck the blurb at the end of this reprint from the San Francisco Chronical -- bitch Siegel is complaining about net hoods again, while supplementing her income providing a how-to book for those hoods -- oh, she would say her book is informative, bringing Net abuses and scams to the public knowledge, but human nature being what it is, how much do you wanna bet scum have been buying up her little tome for ideas? Check 'er out, everyone -- she's the face of the enemy -- get ready. Reprinted from Monday's SF Chronicle *Anarchy, Chaos on the Internet Must End* Martha S. Siegel Elections are over, and, for better or worse, recognized leadership is installed and working in most places. Yet, in Cyberspace, the electronic world dominated by the much vaunted Internet, there is not much order. This huge international computer web tying together about 30 million people is governed by no one. What an amazing state of affairs. The most powerful commu- nication medium ever invented is being left to the equivalent of mob rule. Last year was the year of the Internet in the media. Clearly it is now in the mainstream. Nonetheless, judging by what you read or hear, the key question of who runs it is not even an issue. It is more fun, after all, to contemplate shopping in an electronic mall or how to order a pizza through a modem. No matter, if you scratch the surface of this big, happy party, the need for firm direction is all too obvious. Also reported in the press is an expanding array of Internet problems. Unregulated broadcasting of sexually explicit material that is readily available to children usually heads the list, but on-line sexual harassment, profanity, defamation, forgery and fraud run close seconds. The secretiveness that computer communications allows is a special reason why abuse is easy. National and personal security are serious considerations when anyone can, with complete anonymity, send encrypted information worldwide via the Internet. Such problems are further exacerbated by a computer in Finland called the Anonymous Server, which exists for the sole purpose of laundering computer messages, much like dirty money is laundered through small island nations. Consequently, if you want to, say, threaten someone with death, your risk of retribution is small, courtesy of the Anonymous Server. Nowhere are Cyberspace difficulties more evident than in the inevitable swing toward Internet commercialization. The widely reported turf war rages onbetween academic factions that controlled Internet before it went public and business newcomers who now want to access its huge audience. Electronic attacks on business people by means ranging from computer insults, called flames, to assorted forms of electronic vandalism, persist uncontrolled. Worst of all are the "canceller robots," computer programs meant to erase the communications of anyone the hackers who usually launch them want to silence. These self-styled vigilantes routinely challenge free speech in Cyberspace unabated. Internet access providers, companies that connect people to the Internet for a profit, likewise assume the role of censors, arbitrarily closing accounts of those whom they disapprove. Given its international nature, one obvious way to bring much needed order to the Internet is through diplomacy. The United States should lead in this. A good beginning might be to urge the Finnish government to deactivate the Anonymous Server. Diplomacy could also help to establish an international standard of recognizing laws existing at the point of origin as controlling the message sender. When conflicts arise, governmental diplomacy should again be the answer, just as it is with other trade and communications issues. Next, laws already regulating behavior in the real world should be applied to Cyberspace. This is already taking place on a case-by-case basi, but the process is too slow. The Supreme Court should act to create a precedent stating that crime is crime, even when the criminal instrument is a computer keyboard. In the United States, legislation should be passed making Internet providers common carriers. This will get them out of the business of censorship and under the guiding hand of the Federal Communications Commission. People need safety and order in Cyberspace just as they do in their homes and on the streets. The current state of the Internet makes it clear that anarchy isn't working. If recognized governments don't find a way to bring order to the growing and changing Internet, chaos may soon dictate that the party is over. ** Martha S. Siegel is the author of "How to Make a Fortune on the Information Superhighway" and CEO of Cybersell in Scottsdale, Arizona In any case, the San Fransisco Chronicle may be reached at: Letters to the Editor, San Fransisco Chronicle 901 Mission Street San Fransisco, Ca 94103 or you can fax a letter at (415) 512-8196 - -- ============================================================================== skaplin@skypoint.com | Finger skaplin@infinity.c2.org for | a listing of crypto related files PGP encrypted mail is accepted and | available on my auto-responder. preferred. | (Yes...the faqs are there!) | E-mail key@four11.com for PGP Key or | "...vidi vici veni" - Overheard Finger skaplin@mirage.skypoint.com | outside a Roman brothel. ============================================================================== Anyone who hates Dogs and Kids Can't be All Bad. -- W. C. 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