8bitfiles.net/archives/archives.tar/archives/genie-commodore-file-library/Information/NETGUIDE8.SFX/netguide08

Text File | 1994-05-06 | 60.7 KB | 1,289 lines

K12Net          Begun on the Fidonet hobbyist network, K12Net is now also
                carried on many Usenet systems and provides a host of
                interesting and valuable services.  These include
                international chat for students, foreign-language
                discussions (for example, there are French and German-
                only conference where American students can practice
                those languages with students from Quebec and German).
                There are also conferences aimed at teachers of specific
                subjects, from physical education to physics. The K12
                network still has limited distribution, so ask your
                system administrator if your system carries it.

Kidsphere       Kidsphere is a mailing list for elementary and secondary
                teachers, who use it to arrange joint projects and
                discuss educational telecommunications.  You will find
                news of new software, lists of sites from which you can
                get computer-graphics pictures from various NASA
                satellites and probes and other news of interest to
                modem-using teachers.
                     To subscribe, send a request by e-mail to kidsphere-
                [e-mail] or [e-mail] and
                you will start receiving messages within a couple of
                days.
                     To contribute to the discussion, send messages to
                [e-mail].
                     KIDS is a spin-off of KIDSPHERE just for students
                who want to contact students.  To subscribe, send a
                request to [e-mail], as above.  To
                contribute, send messages to [e-mail].

MicroMUSE       This is an online, futuristic city, built entirely by
                participants (see chapter 12 for information on MUSEs
                and MUDs in general).  Hundreds of students from all
                over have participated in this educational exercise,
                coordinated by MIT. Telnet to michael.ai.mit.edu.
                Log on as guest and then follow the prompts for more
                information.

NASA Spacelink  This system, run by NASA in Huntsville, Ala.,
                provides all sorts of reports and data about NASA, its
                history and its various missions, past and present.
                Telnet spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov or 128.158.13.250.
                     When you connect, you'll be given an overview of the
                system and asked to register. The system maintains a
                large file library of GIF-format space graphics, but note
                that you can't download these through telnet. If you want
                to, you have to dial the system directly, at (205) 895-
                0028.  Many can be obtained through ftp from
                ames.arc.nasa.gov, however.

Newton          Run by the Argonne National Laboratory, it offers
                conferences for teachers and students, including one
                called "Ask a Scientist."

                     Telnet: newton.dep.anl.gov.
                     Log in as: cocotext

                You'll be asked to provide your name and address.  When
                you get the main menu, hit 4 for the various conferences.
                The "Ask a Scientist" category lets you ask questions of
                scientists in fields from biology to earth science.
                Other categories let you discuss teaching, sports and
                computer networks.

OERI            The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational
                Resources and Improvement runs a gopher system that
                provides numerous educational resources, information and
                statistics for teachers.  Use gopher to connect to

                     gopher.ed.gov.

Spacemet Forum  If your system doesn't carry the K12 conferences, but
                does provide you with telnet, you can reach the
                conferences through SpaceMet Forum, a bulletin-board
                system aimed at teachers and students that is run by the
                physics and astronomy department at the University of
                Massachusetts at Amherst.

                     Telnet: spacemet.phast.umass.edu.

                When you connect, hit escape once, after which you'll be
                asked to log on. Like K12Net, SpaceMet Forum began as a
                Fidonet system, but has since grown much larger.  Mort
                and Helen Sternheim, professors at the university,
                started SpaceMet as a one-line bulletin-board system
                several years ago to help bolster middle-school science
                education in nearby towns.
                     In addition to the K12 conferences, SpaceMet carries
                numerous educationally oriented conferences.  It also has
                a large file library of interest to educators and
                students, but be aware that getting files to your site
                could be difficult and maybe even impossible.  Unlike
                most other Internet sites, Spacemet does not use an ftp
                interface. The Sternheims say ZMODEM sometimes works over
                the network, but don't count on it.

Yahoo           This Stanford University web service provides an archive of
                links to other educational resources on the net at
                http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo/Education/


13.3  USENET AND BITNET IN THE CLASSROOM


There are numerous Usenet newsgroups of potential interest to
teachers and students.

As you might expect, many are of a scientific bent. You can find these by
typing l sci. in rn or using nngrep sci. for nn. There are now close to
40, with subjects ranging from archaeology to economics (the "dismal
science," remember?) to astronomy to nanotechnology (the construction of
microscopically small machines).

One thing students will quickly learn from many of these groups: science
is not just dull, boring facts.  Science is argument and standing your
ground and making your case.  The Usenet sci. groups encourage critical
thinking.

Beyond science, social-studies and history classes can keep busy learning
about other countries, through the soc.culture newsgroups.

Most of these newsgroups originated as ways for expatriates of a given
country to keep in touch with their homeland and its culture.  In times
of crisis, however, these groups often become places to disseminate
information from or into the country and to discuss what is happening.
From Afghanistan to Yugoslavia, close to 50 countries are now represented
on Usenet.  To see which groups are available, use l soc.culture. in rn
or nngrep soc.culture. for nn.

Several "talk" newsgroups provide additional topical discussions, but
teachers should screen them first before recommending them to students.
They range from talk.abortion and talk.politics.guns to
talk.politics.space and talk.environment.

One caveat:  Teachers might want to peruse particular newsgroups before
setting their students loose in them.  Some have higher levels of flaming
and blather than others, not to mention content that some might not
consider appropriate in a school setting.  Some schools have developed
"contracts" that students are required to sign that set out acceptable
Net behavior.

There are also a number of Bitnet discussion groups of potential interest
to students and teachers.  See Chapter 5 for information on finding and
subscribing to Bitnet discussion groups.  Some with an educational
orientation include:

biopi-l     ksuvm.bitnet        Secondary biology education
chemed-l    uwf.bitnet          Chemistry education
dts-l       iubvm.bitnet        The Dead Teacher's Society list
phys-l      uwf.bitnet          Discussions for physics teachers
physhare    psuvm.bitnet        Where physics teachers share resources
scimath-l   psuvm.bitnet        Science and math education

To get a list of ftp sites that carry astronomical images in the GIF
graphics format, use ftp to connect to nic.funet.fi. Switch to the
/pub/astro/general directory and get the file astroftp.txt.  Among the
sites listed is ames.arc.nasa.gov, which carries images taken by the
Voyager and Galileo probes, among other pictures.





CHAPTER 14: BUSINESS ON THE NET



14.1  SETTING UP SHOP

Back in olden days, oh, before 1990 or so, there were no markets in the
virtual community -- if you wanted to buy a book, you still had to jump
in your car and drive to the nearest bookstore.

This was because back then, the Net consisted mainly of a series of
government-funded networks on which explicit commercial activity was
forbidden.  Today, much of the Net is run by private companies, which
generally have no such restrictions, and businesses are falling over
themselves to get online -- from giant companies like AT&T to small
flower shops. In 1994, Home Shopping Network, better known for selling
cubic zirconia on cable TV, bought the Internet Shopping Network, an
online computer store.  Its rival, QVC, also has plans for an Internet
service.

So with an Internet account today, you can buy everything from computers
to condoms. Much of this is being driven by the World-Wide Web, which
makes possible such things as online catalogs and order forms.  To be
sure, there were online stores before the Web took off, but the Web lets
a company show off its wares, and logo, in an easy-on-the-eyes (and easy-
to-use) format.  And pre-Web efforts concentrated more on giving you
limited access to an online catalog -- you still had to call a phone
number somewhere to actually place an order.


14.2  ONLINE STOREFRONTS


Some companies, particularly large computer companies such as Digital
Equipment Corp. and Sun Microsystems, Inc., have set up their own online
storefronts.  Smaller companies, though, are increasingly setting up shop
in online "malls."  The idea behind these malls is similar to that of
real ones -- you go to the mall for one particular item, and then browse
around seeing what else there is (for stores, the advantages are also
similar -- the mall owner is responsible for advertising, promises a
certain amount of "foot traffic" and does all the maintenance).

One of the earliest malls, in fact, one based on gopher, is run by Msen,
a public-access Internet provider in Ann Arbor, Mich.  Its Msen
Marketplace offers a travel agency, "Internet Business Pages" listing
companies with services available on the Internet, and an "Online Career
Center, offering help-wanted ads from across the U.S.  You can reach Msen
through gopher at

     gopher.msen.com

At the main menu, select "Msen Marketplace."

As of this writing (November, 1994), CommerceNet remains more a concept
than an actual online mall.  But if you want to take a peek through a
knothole at the construction, point your Web browser at

     http://www.commerce.net

HotWired and the Global Network Navigator represent two other ways to do
business on the Internet.  Both are online magazines on the Web,
featuring not only links to other services, but original writing, as well
(HotWired, started by Wired magazine, even lets readers participate in
public forums on the articles).  Both carry advertising in the form of
icons.  Click on the icons (or in the case of Lynx, move your cursor to
the advertiser's name and hit enter) and you'll be connected to
advertising material related to whatever the company in question is
trying to sell.  You can try HotWired at

     http://www.hotwired.com

and Global Network Navigator at

     http://gnn.com

For the former, you'll have to register first (unusual for a Web
resource); for the latter, you'll have to chose a local GNN server first.


14.3  THE CHECK IS IN THE (E)-MAIL


But are *you* going to buy something over the Internet?  For all the hype
over small florists getting international orders over the Internet, one
has to wonder whether these storefronts will ultimately prove more
successful than the ones that have long been present on commercial
networks such as CompuServe and Prodigy. Are you going to entrust your
credit-card number to the Internet, a network on which security concerns
have made front-page news more than once?

Some electronic merchants say that sending your credit-card number over
the Internet is really no more risky than handing it over to a clerk in a
department store. Their argument is base on security through obscurity --
there are so many e-mail messages pouring through the Internet each day
that it would be virtually impossible for a hacker to find the ones
containing credit-card information.

Others, however, are more wary -- as are their potential customers.
Merchants also want some assurances that the person making an order
really is who she says she is.  Internet e-mail is simply ASCII text, and
while the sheer volume of it these days would make it difficult to find
specific messages, one should never underestimate the ability of a
harcker with a computer to find a needle in a haystack (i.e., one credit
card number out of thousands of messages).

As you might expect, a number of companies are working on making the
Internet safe for business. CommerceNet, a joint venture between the U.S.
government and companies in California's Silicon Valley, has developed a
system based on encryption.  When you fill out an online order form, it
is encoded in such a way that only the merchant you're sending it to can
de-code it -- and inside will be your unique "digital signature," proving
you are, in fact, you.

But this approach relies on you having a special piece of software on
your computer to encrypt the order form.  Netscape's World-Wide Web
browser is the first to incorporate this software (that's what the little
broken key in the lower left hand corner is for), but other companies
that sell Web browsers will be adding it over the next few months.

The basic way it works relies on a technique known as public-key
encryption.  In this system, the merchant has a public key, or
mathematical formula, that can be used to encrypt messages meant for him.
Anybody can use this key, but only the merchant has the private key that
can open up the message.  Now you can fill out an online order form and
include your credit-card number -- and be assured that nobody can

But some argue this sort of technique would impede impulse purchase
(surely a right enshrined in the U.S.
Constitution), because you need the right software to handle the
encryption on your computer.

So other companies are working on the online equivalent of credit cards
good at participating merchants.  First, you apply for an account with
one of these companies the old-fashioned way -- by telephone or postal
mail.

Then, when you connect to a participating merchant and submit an order,
the merchant's computer sends a message to the "credit card" computer.
That computer then sends a message to you, asking you to confirm the
order.  One company's computer will even ask you to answer a question
only you could answer (such as your mother's maiden name or your dog's
name). Assuming you answer affirmatively, the transaction is then
completed.

A third approach involves an attempt to create an electronic equivalent
of cold, hard cash.  Proponents say one of the problems with the first
two approaches is that somebody, somewhere, is keeping track of who you
are and what you buy. Instead, in an approach developed by a Dutch
company called DigiCash, your bank essentially lets you withdraw funds
into a digital account that sits on your personal computer.  Then when
you enter an online store that accepts this digital money, you can pay
them with these funds.

This approach, like the cryptography one, requires special software
(which creates your "digital signature"), as well as an account with a
participating bank.

Now proponents of the last two methods argue that, ultimately, the bulk
of Internet business will center not on big-ticket items such as
computers or cars, but on information.  Right now, information for sale
tends to be very expensive and sold on the basis of high hourly rates.
With the potential mass market represented by the Internet, though,
people with information to sell might find it more lucrative to lower
their rates and go for volume.  With an all electronic system, it might
become possible, say, to sell information for a small per-article or per-
search charge.

Over the next year or so, you'll see all three types of systems become
more common in online stores. Expect some confusion as merchants and
users try to figure out which system to use.


14.4  THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY


1994 represented something of a watershed for the Internet -- it was the
year the people who normally advertise in the back of the National
Inquirer and Cosmopolitan discovered the Net.

Usenet participants found their favorite conferences filled with ads for
everything from thigh-reducing cream to pornography.  Canter and Siegel,
a pair of lawyers in Phoenix, Ariz., gained national media attention when
they flooded some 6,000 separate Usenet newsgroups with ads for a $99
immigration service.

The reason they gained such notice was not because they had done
something unique (in January, 1994, a system administrator at a small
college in Pennsylvania did much the same thing with postings about how
the Los Angeles earthquake proved the Second Coming was imminent), but
because of the reaction of Internet users.  Simply, they were outraged
that no matter what newsgroup they went into, whether it was to discuss
Unix programming or planning a wedding, they found the same darn ad, over
and over and over.  Some responded by posting messages on how to get the
same services offered by the lawyers for free.  More deluged the lawyers
-- and the administrators at the system they used -- with protest
messages, some 200 megabytes worth in just two days.  Suddenly, the once
obscure Usenet phrase "to spam" (from the Monty Python skit about the
restaurant that only serves the stuff) was making the pages of the New
York Times.

But what the lawyers pulled may be the last time anybody gets away with
something like that.  Today, numerous Usenet users stay on the alert for
spamming.  Using a technique known as "cancelling," they are able to wipe
out such messages almost as soon as they pop up.

The moral of the story is that Internet users do not object to
advertising in general, but that many feel it has a proper place -- in
online catalogs that users have to make a point of going to, not shoved
down people's throats in discussion areas.


14.4  FYI

You can read about Digicash's e-cash proposal at its Web site:
http://www.digicash.com.

Open Marketplace, Inc., is developing a credit-card type of approach
to commerce.  You can get a look on the Web at
http://www.openmarket.com/omp.html.

Dave Taylor's "Internet Shopping Mall" is a comprehensive listing of
online stores.  You can get it via anonymous FTP at ftp.netcom.com.
Look in the /pub/Gu/Guides directory.  It's also available via Gopher
at peg.cwis.uci.edu.  From the main menu, select Accessing the
Internet, PEG, Internet Assistance and then Internet Shopping Mall
(you may have to go down a couple of pages to get there).

If you want to discuss the online shopping experience, the imall-chat
mailing list is for you.  To subscribe, write to [e-mail].
Leave your subject line blank, and as your message, write: subscribe
imall-chat.

Bob O'Keefe at Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute maintains an extensive
listing of businesses on the Net.  It's available via the Web at
http://www.rpi.edu/okeefe/businss.html.

You'll find another extensive listing at Stanford University's Yahoo
site on the Web: http://akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo/Business/Corporations

Kent State University in Ohio maintains a repository of "Business Sources
on the Net."  Use gopher to connect to refmac.kent.edu.

Two books to take a look at are Jill Ellsworth's "The Internet
Business Book" (John Wiley and Sons) and Mary Cronin's "Doing Business
on the Internet" (1994, Van Nostrand Reinhold).

The alt.current-events.net-abuse Usenet newsgroup is the place to discuss
spamming and other obnoxious advertising.





Chapter 14: CONCLUSION -- THE END?



The revolution is just beginning.  New communications systems and digital
technologies have already meant dramatic changes in the way we live.
Think of what is already routine that would have been considered
impossible just ten years ago.  You can browse through the holdings of
your local library -- or of libraries halfway around the world -- do your
banking and see if your neighbor has gone bankrupt, all through a
computer and modem.

Imploding costs coupled with exploding power are bringing ever more
powerful computer and digital systems to ever growing numbers of people.
The Net, with its rapidly expanding collection of databases and other
information sources, is no longer limited to the industrialized nations
of the West; today it extends from Siberia to Zimbabwe.  The cost
of computers and modems used to plug into the Net, meanwhile, continue
to plummet, making them ever more affordable, even as the Internet
becomes easier to use.

Cyberspace has become a vital part of millions of people's daily
lives. People form relationships online, they fall in love, they get
married, all because of initial contacts in cyberspace, that ephemeral
``place'' that transcends national and state boundaries. Business
deals are transacted entirely in ASCII.  Political and social
movements begin online, coordinated by people who could be thousands
of miles apart.

Yet this is only the beginning.

We live in an age of communication, yet the various media we use to talk
to one another remain largely separate systems. One day, however, your
telephone, TV, fax machine and personal computer will be replaced by a
single ``information processor'' linked to the worldwide Net by strands
of optical fiber.

Beyond databases and file libraries, power will be at your fingertips.
Linked to thousands, even millions of like-minded people, you'll be able
to participate in social and political movements across the country and
around the world.

How does this happen? In part, it will come about through new
technologies. High-definition television will require the development of
inexpensive computers that can process as much information as today's
workstations.  Telephone and cable companies will cooperate, or in some
cases compete, to bring those fiber-optic cables into your home.

The Clinton administration, arguably the first led by people who know how
to use not only computer networks but computers, is pushing for creation
of a series of "information superhighways" comparable in scope to the
Interstate highway system of the 1950s (one of whose champions in the
Senate has a son elected vice president in 1992).

Right now, we are in the network equivalent of the early 1950s, just
before the creation of that massive highway network. Sure, there are
plenty of interesting things out there, but you have to meander along
two-lane roads, and have a good map, to get to them.

Creation of this new Net will require more than just high-speed channels
and routing equipment; it will require a new communications paradigm: the
Net as information utility.  The Net remains a somewhat complicated and
mysterious place.  To get something out of the Net today, you have to
spend a fair amount of time with a Net veteran or a manual like this.
You have to learn such arcana as the vagaries of the Unix cd command.

Contrast this with the telephone, which now also provides access to large
amounts of information through push buttons, or a computer network such
as Prodigy, which one navigates through simple commands and mouse clicks.

Internet system administrators have begun to realize that not all people
want to learn the intricacies of Unix, and that that fact does not make
them bad people.  We are already seeing the development of simple
interfaces that will put the Net's power to use by millions of people.
You can already see their influence in the menus of gophers and the
World-Wide Web, which require no complex computing skills but which open
the gates to thousands of information resources.  Mail programs and text
editors such as pico and pine promise much of the power of older programs
such as emacs at a fraction of the complexity.

Some software engineers are taking this even further, by creating
graphical interfaces that will let somebody navigate the Internet just by
clicking on the screen with a mouse or by calling up an easy text editor,
sort of the way one can now navigate a Macintosh computer -- or a
commercial online service such as Prodigy.

Then there are the Internet services themselves.

For every database now available through the Internet, there are probably
three or four that are not.  Government agencies are only now beginning
to connect their storehouses of information to the Net. Several
commercial vendors, from database services to booksellers, have made
their services available through the Net.

Few people now use one of the Net's more interesting applications.  A
standard known as MIME lets one send audio and graphics files along with
an E-mail message. Imagine opening your e-mail one day to hear your
granddaughter's first words, or a "photo" of your friend's new house.
Eventually, this standard could allow for distribution of even small
video displays over the Net.

All of this will require vast new amounts of Net power, to handle both
the millions of new people who will jump onto the Net and the new
applications they want.  Replicating a moving image on a computer screen
alone takes a phenomenal amount of computer bits, and computing power to
arrange them.

All of this combines into a National Information Infrastructure able to
move billions of bits of information in one second -- the kind of power
needed to hook information "hoses" into every business and house.

As these "superhighways" grow, so will the "on ramps," for a high-speed
road does you little good if you can't get to it.   The costs of modems
seem to fall as fast as those of computers.  High-speed modems (9600 baud
and up) are becoming increasingly affordable.  At 9600 baud, you can
download a satellite weather image of North America in less than two
minutes, a file that, with a slower modem could take up to 20 minutes to
download.  Eventually, homes could be connected directly to a national
digital network.  Most long-distance phone traffic is already carried in
digital form, through high-volume optical fibers.  Phone companies are
ever so slowly working to extend these fibers the "final mile" to the
home.  The Electronic Frontier Foundation is working to ensure these
links are affordable.

Beyond the technical questions are increasingly thorny social, political
and economic issues. Who is to have access to these services, and at what
cost?  If we live in an information age, are we laying the seeds for a
new information under class, unable to compete with those fortunate
enough to have the money and skills needed to manipulate new
communications channels? Who, in fact, decides who has access to what?
As more companies realize the potential profits to be made in the new
information infrastructure, what happens to such systems as Usenet,
possibly the world's first successful anarchistic system, where everybody
can say whatever they want?

What are the laws of the electronic frontier?  When national and state
boundaries lose their meaning in cyberspace,  the question might even be:
WHO is the law?  What if a practice that is legal in one country is
"committed" in another country where it is illegal, over a computer
network that crosses through a third country? Who goes after computer
crackers?

What role will you play in the revolution?





Appendix A: THE LINGO



     Like any community, the Net has developed its own language.
What follows is a glossary of some of the more common phrases you'll
likely run into.  But it's only a small subset of net.speak.  You an find
a more complete listing in "The New Hacker's Dictionary," compiled by
Eric Raymond (MIT Press).  Raymond's work is based on an online reference
known as "The Jargon File," which you can get through anonymous ftp from
ftp.gnu.mit.ai.mit as jarg300.txt.gz in the pub/gnu directory (see
chapter 7 for information on how to un-compress a .gz file).

AFAIK           As Far As I Know.

ASCII           Has two meanings.  ASCII is a universal computer code
                for English letters and characters.  Computers store
                all information as binary numbers. In ASCII, the
                letter "A" is stored as 01000001, whether the computer
                is made by IBM, Apple or Commodore.  ASCII also refers
                to a method, or protocol, for copying files from one
                computer to another over a network, in which neither
                computer checks for any errors that might have been
                caused by static or other problems.

ANSI            Computers use several different methods for deciding
                how to put information on your screen and how your
                keyboard interacts with the screen.  ANSI is one of
                these "terminal emulation" methods.  Although most
                popular on PC-based bulletin-board systems, it can also
                be found on some Net sites.  To use it properly, you
                will first have to turn it on, or enable it, in your
                communications software.

ARPANet         A predecessor of the Internet.  Started in 1969 with
                funds from the Defense Department's Advanced Projects
                Research Agency.

backbone        A high-speed network that connects several powerful
                computers.  In the U.S., the backbone of the Internet is
                often considered the NSFNet, a government funded link
                between a handful of supercomputer sites across the
                country.

Baud            The speed at which modems transfer data.  One baud is
                roughly equal to one bit per second.  It takes eight
                bits to make up one letter or character.  Modems rarely
                transfer data at exactly the same speed as their listed
                baud rate because of static or computer problems. More
                expensive modems use systems, such as Microcom Network
                Protocol (MNP), which can correct for these errors or
                which "compress" data to speed up transmission.

BITNet          Another, academically oriented, international computer
                network, which uses a different set of computer
                instructions to move data.  It is easily accessible to
                Internet users through e-mail, and provides a large
                number of conferences and databases.  Its name comes from
                "Because It's Time."

Bookmark        A gopher or Web file that lets you quickly connect to
page            listed sites.

Bounce          What your e-mail does when it cannot get to its
                recipient -- it bounces back to you -- unless it goes
                off into the ether, never to be found again.

Command line    On Unix host systems, this is where you tell the
                machine what you want it to do, by entering commands.

Communications  A program that tells a modem how to work.
software

Daemon          An otherwise harmless Unix program that normally works
                out of sight of the user. On the Internet, you'll most
                likely encounter it only when your e-mail is not
                delivered to your recipient -- you'll get back your
                original message plus an ugly message from a "mailer
                daemon.

Distribution    A way to limit where your Usenet postings go.  Handy for
                such things as "for sale" messages or discussions of
                regional politics.

Domain          The last part of an Internet address, such as "news.com."

Dot             When you want to impress the net veterans you meet at
                parties, say "dot" instead of "period," for example: "My
                address is john at site dot domain dot com."

Dot file        A file on a Unix public-access system
                that alters the way you or your messages interact with
                that system.  For example, your .login file contains
                various parameters for such things as the text editor you
                get when you send a message.   When you do an ls command,
                these files do not appear in the directory listing; do ls
                -a to list them.

Down            When a public-access site runs into technical trouble,
                and you can no longer gain access to it, it's down.

Download        Copy a file from a host system to your computer.  There
                are several different methods, or protocols, for
                downloading files, most of which periodically check the
                file as it is being copied to ensure no information is
                inadvertently destroyed or damaged during the process.
                Some, such as XMODEM, only let you download one file at
                a time.  Others, such as batch-YMODEM and ZMODEM, let
                you type in the names of several files at once, which
                are then automatically downloaded.

EMACS           A standard Unix text editor preferred by Unix types
                that beginners tend to hate.

E-mail          Electronic mail -- a way to send a private message to
                somebody else on the Net. Used as both noun and verb.

Emoticon        See smiley.

F2F             Face to Face.  When you actually meet those people you
                been corresponding with/flaming.

FAQ             Frequently Asked Questions.  A compilation of answers to
                these.  Many Usenet newsgroups have these files, which
                are posted once a month or so for beginners.

Film at 11      One reaction to an overwrought argument: "Imminent death
                of the Net predicted. Film at 11."

Finger          An Internet program that lets you get some bit of
                information about another user, provided they have first
                created a .plan file.

Flame           Online yelling and/or ranting directed at somebody else.
                Often results in flame wars, which occasionally turn into
                holy wars (see).

Followup        A Usenet posting that is a response to an earlier
                message.

Foo/foobar      A sort of online algebraic place holder, for example: "If
                you want to know when another site is run by a for-
                profit company, look for an address in the form of
                [e-mail]."

Fortune cookie  An inane/witty/profund comment that can be found around
                the net.

Freeware        Software that doesn't cost anything.

FTP             File-transfer Protocol.  A system for transferring files
                across the Net.

Get a life      What to say to somebody who has, perhaps, been spending a
                wee bit too much time in front of a computer.

GIF             Graphic Interchange Format.  A format developed in the
                mid-1980s by CompuServe for use in photo-quality graphics
                images.  Now commonly used everywhere online.

GNU             Gnu's Not Unix.  A project of the Free Software
                Foundation to write a free version of the Unix operating
                system.

Hacker          On the Net, unlike among the general public, this is not
                a bad person; it is simply somebody who enjoys stretching
                hardware and software to their limits, seeing just what
                they can get their computers to do.  What many people
                call hackers, net.denizens refer to as crackers.

Handshake       Two modems trying to connect first do this to agree on
                how to transfer data.

Hang            When a modem fails to hang up.

Hotlist         Same as a to bookmark page (see).

Holy war        Arguments that involve certain basic tenets of faith,
                about which one cannot disagree without setting one of
                these off.  For example: IBM PCs are inherently superior to
                Macintoshes.

Host system     A public-access site; provides Net access to people
                outside the research and government community.

HTML            Hypertext Markup Language. The coding used on Web
                pages to define hyperlinks (see), graphics and the like.

HTTP            Hypertext Transport Protocol.  The system used to
                connect World-Wide Web resources to each other and to
                users.

Hyperlink       A way to connect two Internet resources via a simple
                word or phrase on which a user can click to start the
                connection.


IMHO            In My Humble Opinion.

Internet        A worldwide system for linking smaller computer
                networks together.  Networks connected through the
                Internet use a particular set of communications
                standards to communicate, known as TCP/IP.

Killfile        A file that lets you filter Usenet postings to some
                extent, by excluding messages on certain topics or from
                certain people.

Log on/log in   Connect to a host system or public-access site.

Log off         Disconnect from a host system.

Lurk            Read messages in a Usenet newsgroup without ever saying
                anything.

Mailing list    Essentially a conference in which messages are delivered
                right to your mailbox, instead of to a Usenet newsgroup.
                You get on these by sending a message to a specific e-
                mail address, which is often that of a computer that
                automates the process.

MOTSS           Members of the Same Sex.  Gays and Lesbians online.
                Originally an acronym used in the 1980 federal census.

Net.god         One who has been online since the beginning, who knows
                all and who has done it all.

Net.personality Somebody sufficiently opinionated/flaky/with plenty of
                time on his hands to regularly post in dozens of
                different Usenet newsgroups, whose presence is known to
                thousands of people.

Net.police      Derogatory term for those who would impose their
                standards on other users of the Net.  Often used in
                vigorous flame wars (in which it occasionally mutates to
                net.nazis).

Netiquette      A set of common-sense guidelines for not annoying others.

Network         A communications system that links two or more
                computers. It can be as simple as a cable strung
                between two computers a few feet apart or as complex
                as hundreds of thousands of computers around the world
                linked through fiber optic cables, phone lines and
                satellites.

Newbie          Somebody new to the Net.  Sometimes used derogatorily by
                net.veterans who have forgotten that, they, too, were
                once newbies who did not innately know the answer to
                everything. "Clueless newbie" is always derogatory.

Newsgroup       A Usenet conference.

NIC             Network Information Center.  As close as an Internet-
                style network gets to a hub; it's usually where you'll
                find information about that particular network.

NSA line eater  The more aware/paranoid Net users believe that the
                National Security Agency has a super-powerful computer
                assigned to reading everything posted on the Net.   They
                will jokingly (?) refer to this line eater in their
                postings. Goes back to the early days of the Net when
                the bottom lines of messages would sometimes disappear
                for no apparent reason.

NSF             National Science Foundation.  Funds the NSFNet, a
                high-speed network that once formed the backbone of the
                Internet in the U.S.

Offline         When your computer is not connected to a host system
                or the Net, you are offline.

Online          When your computer is connected to an online service,
                bulletin-board system or public-access site.

Ping            A program that can trace the route a message takes from
                your site to another site.

.plan file      A file that lists anything you want others on the Net to
                know about you.  You place it in your home directory on
                your public-access site.  Then, anybody who fingers (see)
                you, will get to see this file.

Post            To compose a message for a Usenet newsgroup and then send
                it out for others to see.

Postmaster      The person to contact at a particular site to ask for
                information about the site or complain about one of
                his/her user's behavior.

Protocol        The method used to transfer a file between a host
                system and your computer. There are several types,
                such as Kermit,  YMODEM and ZMODEM.


Prompt          When the host system asks you to do something and
                waits for you to respond.  For example, if you see
                "login:" it means type your user name.

README files    Files found on FTP sites that explain what is in a given
                FTP directory or which provide other useful information
                (such as how to use FTP).

Real Soon Now   A vague term used to describe when something will
                actually happen.

RFC             Request for Comments.  A series of documents that
                describe various technical aspects of the Internet.

ROTFL           Rolling on the Floor Laughing.  How to respond to a
                particularly funny comment.

ROT13           A simple way to encode bad jokes, movie reviews that give
                away the ending, pornography, etc.  Essentially, each
                letter in a message is replace by the letter 13 spaces
                away from it in the alphabet.  There are online decoders
                to read these; nn and rn have them built in.

RTFM            Read the, uh, you know, Manual.  Often used in flames
                against people who ask computer-related questions that
                could be easily answered with a few minutes with a
                manual. More politely: RTM.

Screen capture  A part of your communications software that
                opens a file on your computer and saves to it whatever
                scrolls past on the screen while connected to a host
                system.

Server          A computer that can distribute information or files
                automatically in response to specifically worded e-mail
                requests.

Shareware       Software that is freely available on the Net.  If you
                like and use the software, you should send in the fee
                requested by the author, whose name and address will be
                found in a file distributed with the software.

.sig file       Sometimes, .signature file.  A file that, when placed in
                your home directory on your public-access site, will
                automatically be appended to every Usenet posting you
                write.

.sig quote      A profound/witty/quizzical/whatever quote that you
                include in your .sig file.

Signal-to-noise The amount of useful information to be found in a given
ratio           Usenet newsgroup.  Often used derogatorily, for example:
                "the signal-to-noise ratio in this newsgroup is pretty low."

SIMTEL20        The White Sands Missile Range used to maintain a giant
                collection of free and low-cost software of all kinds,
                which was "mirrored" to numerous other ftp sites on the
                Net.  In the fall of 1993, the Air Force decided it had
                better things to do than maintain a free software library
                and shut it down.  But the collection lives on, now
                maintained by a Michigan company.

SLIP            Serial Line Internet Protocol.  Used to turn home
                computers into Internet sites over a phone line.

Smiley          A way to describe emotion online.  Look at this with
                your head tilted to the left :-).  There are scores
                of these smileys, from grumpy to quizzical.

Snail mail      Mail that comes through a slot in your front door or a
                box mounted outside your house.

Spam            Message posted to numerous Usenet newsgroups to which
                it has absolutely no relevance (also a verb).

Sysadmin        The system administrator; the person who runs a host
                system or public-access site.

Sysop           A system operator.  Somebody who runs a bulletin-board
                system.

TANSTAAFL       There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch.

TCP/IP          Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. The
                particular system for transferring information over a
                computer network that is at the heart of the Internet.

Telnet          A program that lets you connect to other computers on
                the Internet.

Terminal        There are several methods for determining how your
emulation       keystrokes and screen interact with a public-access
                site's operating system.  Most communications programs
                offer a  choice of "emulations" that let you mimic the
                keyboard that would normally be attached directly to
                the host-system computer.

UUCP            Unix-to-Unix CoPy.  A method for transferring Usenet
                postings and e-mail that requires far fewer net resources
                than TCP/IP, but which can result in considerably slower
                transfer times.

Upload          Copy a file from your computer to a host system.

URL             Uniform Resource Locator.  An address on the World-Wide
                Web.

User name       On most host systems, the first time you connect you
                are asked to supply a one-word user name.  This can be
                any combination of letters and numbers.

VT100           Another terminal-emulation system.  Supported by many
                communications program, it is the most common one in
                use on the Net.  VT102 is a newer version.

WWW             World-Wide Web or the Web.




Appendix B: General Information About the Electronic Frontier Foundation


Why You Should Join the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Every day decisions are being made that will affect your life online.
Decisions about what sorts of technology you can use to protect the
privacy of your communications.  Decisions about what services you will
be able to get over the emerging national information infrastructure.
Decisions that are made before you even know that there are choices.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been working since July 1990 to
ensure that the civil liberties guaranteed in the Constitution and the
Bill of Rights are applied to new communications technologies.  Our
members join EFF to make sure that they are informed about the issues
and debates that will shape the future of electronic communications.
EFF members enjoy the following benefits:

*  subscription to our quarterly hard copy newsletter,
   _Networks_&_Policy_;

*  subscription to our biweekly electronic newsletter,
   _EFFector_Online_;

*  online bulletins that will keep you informed about the key legal,
   legislative and policy developments affecting your online
   communications;

*  an online response mechanism to make themselves heard on key issues.

EFF is a respected voice for the rights of users of online
technologies. We feel that the best way to protect your online rights
is to be fully informed and to make your opinions heard.  EFF members
are informed, and are making a difference.  Join EFF today!


--------------- cut here ---------------


MEMBERSHIP IN THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION

Print out in monospaced (non-proportional) font and mail or fax to:

  Membership Coordinator - [e-mail]
  Electronic Frontier Foundation
  1667 K St. NW, Suite 801, Washington DC 20006-1605 USA
  [phone] (voice), [phone] (fax)
  [phone] (BBS - 16.8k ZyXEL)
  [phone] (BBS - 14.4k V.32bis)
  Internet fax gate: remote-printer.EFF@8.5.2.1.1.6.8.2.0.2.1.tpc.int


SIGN ME UP!

I wish to become a member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I
enclose:

  ___ Fellow membership.......$500
  ___ Benefactor membership...$250
  ___ Pioneer membership......$100
  ___ Advocate membership.....$65
  ___ Regular membership......$40
  ___ Student membership......$20
  ___ SysOp membership........$10*

for my one-year membership.

  * SysOp members are required to bring in 10 new members to renew
    at the SysOp membership rate (otherwise Advocate rates apply).
    Send queries to [e-mail] for more info.  NOTE: CIS,
    AOL, etc. forum sysops and co-sysops ARE eligible for SysOp
    membership.


Special Contribution

  I wish to make an additional tax-deductible donation in the
  amount of $__________ to further support the activities of EFF
  and to broaden participation in the organization.


EFF T-shirt

  The classic EFF shirt, printed front (EFF logo) and back
  (large artwork) in two colors on white cotton shirts.
  Available for $10 to new and non-members; members who renew
  at a higher rate (e.g. upgrade from regular to Advocate
  membership) receive a free shirt!

  I would like ___ shirts at $10 each.

  ___ I'm renewing at a higher rate and would like a free
      shirt.  My membership number is ___________________


PAYMENT METHOD:

  ___ Enclosed is a check or money order payable to
    the Electronic Frontier Foundation.  US funds only please.

  ___ Please charge my:

     ___ MasterCard        ___ Visa        ___ American Express

     Card Number: _____________________________________________

     Expiration Date: _________________________________________

     Signature: _______________________________________________

     NOTE:  We do not recommend sending credit card information
     via Internet email, unless it is encrypted!  See end for
     EFF's PGP encryption public key.


YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION:

Name: __________________________________________________________

Organization: __________________________________________________

Address: _______________________________________________________

         _______________________________________________________

         _______________________________________________________

E-mail addresses: ______________________________________________

                  ______________________________________________

Phone: _____________________    FAX: ___________________________


**** SYSOP MEMBERSHIP SECTION ***********************************
*                                                               *
* Ph.:  ____________________    Modem Type: ___________________ *
*                                                               *
*       ____________________    _______________________________ *
*                                                               *
*       ____________________    _______________________________ *
*                                                               *
* Other access means: _________________________________________ *
* (e.g. for Internet                                            *
* service, AOL/CIS    _________________________________________ *
* forum, etc.)                                                  *
*                                                               *
* BBS Info:  BBS/Service/Forum Name: __________________________ *
*                                                               *
*            SysOps:___________________________________________ *
*                                                               *
*            Voice/Support Phone: _____________________________ *
*                                                               *
*            Network Addresses: _______________________________ *
*                                                               *
*                               _______________________________ *
*                                                               *
* BBS Notes: (OS, modem types/speeds, Internet connectivity,    *
*            access requirements, hours, fees, software, focus  *
*            or special interests, unique features, etc.)       *
*                                                               *
*           ___________________________________________________ *
*                                                               *
*           ___________________________________________________ *
*                                                               *
*           ___________________________________________________ *
*                                                               *
* EFF will maintain a publicly available list of BBSs and       *
* similar services that support the efforts of the Electronic   *
* Frontier Foundation.  Members with BBSs who support EFF at    *
* the Regular or Student or other rates can be listed as well.  *
*                                                               *
* Include my BBS in the EFF Member BBS Directory _______        *
*                                                               *
*****************************************************************


PUBLICATIONS & SERVICES


    ___ EFFector Online - EFF's biweekly electronic newsletter
                          (back issues available from ftp.eff.org,
                          /pub/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector).

    ___ Online Bulletins - bulletins on key developments
                           affecting online communications.

        NOTE:  You may prefer to browse these resources in the
               Usenet (NetNews) newsgroup comp.org.eff.news
               Send a message body of "longindex" (without
               "quotes") to [e-mail] for info on our
               other internet forums.  Send a message body of
               "help" to [e-mail] for instructions on
               subscribing to these other resources.

        NOTE:  Paper documents available upon request.
               _Networks_&_Policy_  hardcopy EFF newsletter
               (quarterly) automatically sent via postal mail.


PRIVACY POLICY

EFF occasionally shares our mailing list with other
organizations promoting similar goals. However, we respect
an individual's right to privacy and will not distribute your
name without explicit permission.

  ___  I grant permission for EFF to distribute my name and
       contact information to organizations sharing similar goals.

[This form came from *.eff.org  - please leave this line on the form!
If you found it elsewhere, please tell us where so we see how far
it goes. Sysop members should place their BBS name here instead
when posting this form to their systems.]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is a U.S. nonprofit, 501(c)(3)
organization supported by contributions from individual members,
corporations and private foundations. Donations are tax-deductible.
Merchandise orders are not tax-deductible. EFF's tax exemption
number is 04-3091431.


--------------- cut here ---------------


INTERNET CONTACT ADDRESSES

Membership & donations: [e-mail]
Legal services: [e-mail]
Hardcopy publications: [e-mail]
Technical questions/problems, access to mailing lists: [e-mail]
General EFF, legal, policy or online resources queries: [e-mail]
Latest issue of EFFector (EFF newsletter): [e-mail]


EFF PGP PUBLIC KEY FOR ENCRYPTION

This is the ASCII-armored PGP 2.6us public key for the Electronic
Frontier Foundation (EFF).  It is compatible with PGP vers. 2.2 - 2.7.
PGP is an ecryption (data security encoding) program, available for
DOS, OS/2, Unix, Macintosh and several other platforms. PGP is the
de facto Internet standard for encryption, and is available from many
BBSs, FTP sites, and other online services.  (If you have trouble
locating PGP, see ftp.eff.org, /pub/Net_info/Tools/Crypto/README.Dist).

Note that mail sent with this key will be considered addressed to
EFF in general, not to a specific person, unless otherwise noted in
plaintext. To send encrypted personal mail to someone at EFF, for
whatever reason, please use that person's own key, or arrange some
other method of communication.

This key is provided principally for the sending of sensitive legal
information, and the transmission of credit card numbers over the
net securely when becoming a member of EFF.  It takes us time and
effort to decrypt, so please don't use this key trivially.
Thank you. Please expect a delay, as the message will have to be
transferred to another system for decryption (we do not keep PGP
or our secret keys on our Internet systems for security reasons.)


To add this key to your public key ring, save the key as a file
called pgpkey.eff, then use the following DOS  commandline,
in your PGP directory:

pgp -ka pgpkey.eff pubring.pgp

If your public key ring has another name, use that instead of
"pubring.pgp".

For MacPGP, click on Key | Add Key, select pgpkey.eff as
the file to get key from, and pubring.pgp (or whatever your
pubring is) for file to add key to.

To encrypt a message, please see the PGP documentation, and
remember that you will almost certainly need to generate the
result as an ASCII-armored file, so you can email it
(non-ASCII-armored PGP ciphertexts are binary, and will get
mangled if you try to email them.)

*** NOTE!  PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS *INSIDE* THE
    ENCRYPTED MESSAGE any time you send us crypto-mail, else
    we may not be able to reply, if the original email headers
    are lost.

The key itself:

-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
Version: 2.6
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=2A8+
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

[Final note: Beware line wrapping - key will not work if mangled!]
Updated: Feb. 16, 1995