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F I D O N E W S -- Vol.12 No.33 (14-Aug-1995) +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | A newsletter of the | ISSN 1198-4589 Published by: | | FidoNet BBS community | "FidoNews" BBS | | _ | +1-519-570-4176 | | / \ | | | /|oo \ | | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | | | | | \ \\ | Editors: | | | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 | | |__U__| / \// | Sylvia MAXWEL 1:221/194 | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: editors 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | MORE addresses: | | | | submissions=> editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Don -- don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Sylvia max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | For information, copyrights, article submissions, | | obtaining copies of fidonews or the internet gateway faq | | please refer to the end of this file. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ======================================================================== Table of Contents ======================================================================== 1. Editorial..................................................... 1 2. Articles...................................................... 2 Toys, Tools, and King Ludd.................................. 2 Making Cyberspace Safe...................................... 5 good news and funny for you, too............................ 6 HexOnExon................................................... 6 Proposal: Change FidoNet to Enternet....................... 8 3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 9 ======================================================================== Editorial ======================================================================== FidoNews 12-33 Page: 2 14 Aug 1995 Freedom of Perception = Freedom of Expression? While waiting in line to spend the contents of my wallet on some cat litter and a soda pop, my eyes strayed to the magazine shelf near the check-out counter, and my feet followed them, slightly. The day's heat caused escalation of impatience and inclination towards distractions. A small, blonde boy on roller blades sucking a pink slush stick who was clearly not distracted form his personal goals darted in front of me to the cash register. He smugly but not condescendingly explained that "SHE stepped out of line". I spent a considered expanse of time thereafter worrying, that i had not stepped to the very back of the line in applause for this boy's brazen self assertion, and wondering if i was becoming some kind of wierdo for thinking so much about children, before deciding that what I had not done hadn't mattered, anyway, The moral of this story is that if you step out of line, angels will put you in your place, if you let them. ---ooo e y e W a n t c A K e ooo--- ======================================================================== Articles ======================================================================== Toys, Tools, and King Ludd. By Langton Goldfinch, SysOp of 1:396/17, Psychotherapist in New Orleans, La. lgoldfinch@nopc.org Article is an analytic review of "The Net", a movie. No, I'm not proposing another Mardi Gras parade. King Ludd was the mythical "leader" of a movement in England during the early 1800's. Workers put out of work by the early mechanical looms took vengeance on the machinery. They believed in destroying the tools but not people. Successful, and popular, the government finally crushed them with tools of their own. "Luddite" now means those opposed to modern inventions often destroying them in the name of humanity. Now my thoughts about the Luddites got stimulated by the movie "The Net." To save some of you some dollars better spent on shareware registration, let me ruin the movie for you rather than have it done by the film itself. Unless you salivate (as do I) at Sandra Bullock, of course. In the plot Sandra (whose movie name got erased from my memory) is a computer whiz. Gee, talk about type casting. Her work is done at home, filled with more computers than the local CompUSA. Even her fireplace is a monitor running a burning log program (no sound of crackling, maybe v1.2?). She has no actual life, even order's take out Pizza with her modem. Her own mother has FidoNews 12-33 Page: 3 14 Aug 1995 developed Alzheimer's to avoid identifying her. The only other human in the "real" world who knows her is her ex-shrink. This guy, played by the oh so Analytic Dennis Miller, has of course had an affair with her. Gee, 20 years of practice, and no Sandras ever on my couch! An aside, but my mentor once told me it was O.K. to have sex with my patients, provided I had sex with all of them. Talk about prevention! Anyway Sandra gets her identity wiped out and replaced by the evil Luddites. (Thought I wasn't going to tie this together, eh?). Not that this seems a total tragedy mind you. Of course she somehow, with no identity, credit cards, or proof of who she is, manages to get the fanciest laptop and stay at decent hotels. Movies, gee! The bad guys find it easy to kill all their other problem folks. With Sandra they go about using computers and the wonders of mega databases and the InterNet to make her over into another person. They kill the shrink with computers managing to change prescriptions at Walgreen's and the local Hospital. Gee, these evil new machines. That the shrink should die as a derivation of having violated his professional code seems fair. Now of course the bad guys in the movie aren't really Luddites. The bad guys are the same old bad guys in every Western I ever saw, or Eastern, for that matter: Big business tycoons taking over the world with a few psychopaths on their payroll to do the dirty work. The deaths are clever. One guy commits suicide upon discovering he has AIDS (phoney medical database). Only later does the script let us know the plan depended on his being homophobic. Maybe this is a sure cure for homophobia? Copying the movie "Watermelon Man" where a racist wakes up black? Anyhow, the bad guys are smarter than governments, other businesses, and have ways of doing things near now miraculous. They can track your terminal through several International Web sites and can spread viruses into every major computer network in the world. Why? Well who really understands hackers. For though rich and powerful, the main enemies are computers and those who play with them. It is the producers of this movie who are the modern day Luddites, warning us about the sneaky incursions and evil pervasiveness of the machines of Armageddon. And our savior? This is the final faith to save you. The good guy is our gal, Sandra. She manifests innocence while not quite a virgin. She is non-social rather than inept. Yet not only a whiz with computers, but in a pinch can drive a bus over 50 miles per hour down the freeway (no that was her other movie). She manages if not to save the world, at least her own persona. How? A heroic tap on the "Esc" key saves the day! That's right, for those who love old Greek "deus ex machina" solutions to impossible plot tangles, we now have the "key." At least they could have used "Ctrl Break"! Now to continue in analytical mode. Two kinds of people in the world, someone said: "Those who FidoNews 12-33 Page: 4 14 Aug 1995 believe there are two kinds of people in the world and Those who don't." Then those of us who believe there are more than two kinds fall into which kind? Well never mind. Start with two kinds you know about already: C+ computer people and -C non-computer people, The above two are usually married to one another. Of course with this movie the audience is limited. Bullock lovers' and C people. Now I think that there is a genetic basis, a C+dna say, determining whether one turns out to be a C+ or a -C type. This gene is probably linked to the Y chromosome in some way, since by far more men seem to have it than women. Take a look at the average audience in the club, or in any penny arcade, for that matter. But appearances are a wee bit deceptive, for as we all know more women actually use computers than do men. Oh, you didn't know that? Well, walk into any office, are the desks with computers run by men or women? If men are at the computer they are playing some game. This is because of a simple classification error on my part. You see, we must distinguish the C type people into genuine C types, those to whom the computer is a toy; and crypto C types, for whom it is a tool. This distinction is very easy to make. If a person uses the computer because it is part of their job, or uses and knows one program, say WP6.0, and has no interest or idea in how to set anything up, or why it works even, then these are Crypto C types, or toolers. To this person the computer is a fancy typewriter, or a good sewing machine, or a fast copier, an object that gets some task accomplished, in short a "tool". Don't scoff, humans, and others chimpanzees, are superior because they use tools. Superior to what, well, we drew the chart, so of course we are at the top. Now of course the default position you know. Pure C types know that a computer is a toy. A toy can be mastered like a slinky, or a Rubik cube, or dallied with late into the night as were ham radios, tinkered with like cars, or marbles, or whatever. Now of course some pure C types use computers in their work, or even work on computers in their use. But every new gizmo, channel, track, bit or byte, peaks their interest. The Crypto C type cringes with an upgrade, many I know still using WordPerfect v 2.3 (oh?). Certainly DOS 3.1 and quite happy on their familiar turf even if an 8088. There is one further distinction, I call these Pseudo Pure C types. Not quite Crypto, these are the Window's users. Of course to the pure C type Windows can be a toy, and Win95 a supertoy I guess. But Windows are to purists what new Cadillacs are to car buffs. Fancy, nice to ride in (when they work), but who wants to tinker with a new Cadillac? FidoNews 12-33 Page: 5 14 Aug 1995 Now the refined among you will differentiate Deutero, Ortho, and Meta C types, and who knows what other Greek peculiarities can be found. I suspect a relationship to all this with psychological types, you know, Introverts, Extroverts, Schizoids, and Bananas. Let me end with one therapeutic (ie you can ignore this as well) observation. Opposites do attract and marry each other. The trick is not to convert the other (why bother to marry) but to learn to live complimentary roles, and see if you can come to enjoy some movie about covered bridges more than she did this one. We finish with a quiz. Which member of the following "pairs" are the C+ type? 1. Lone Ranger and Tonto 2. Abbott and Costello 3. Eleanor ad Franklin 4. Perry and Paul 5. Edith and Archie 6. Cain and Abel 7. Don Quixote and Sancho 8. Kirk and Spock 9. Thelma and Louise 10. Tarzan and Jane Give yurself one point for each correct answer. My choices are such that the C+ is the left name of odd numbers. Since this is my quiz I must be right. Happy modeming. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dennis W. Webb Making Cyberspace Safe ----------------------- ANGELS TO PATROL THE NET The red-bereted Guardian Angels, a volunteer group formed in 1979 to patrol the streets and subways of the Bronx, have created CyberAngels, because "there is such a similar need on the Internet as there was in New York when we started. There is a similar void where the police are unwilling or unable to make it safe." CyberAngels will form organized patrols to look around cyberspace for "suspicious activity" that might indicate crimes against children or acts of fraud, hate and pornography. (Atlanta Journal-Consititution 8/6/95 H7) FidoNews 12-33 Page: 6 14 Aug 1995 From: Blaine Garst <Blaine_Garst> good news and funny for you, too. JUDGE RULES ON E-MAIL PRIVACY CASE TULSA, OKLA -- The Oklahoma Supreme Court has ruled on a case that many legal experts believe clearly delineates the e-mail privacy rights of computer users in the workplace. Judge Stan Musing declared that employees have a right to expect that their employers will refrain from monitoring e-mail messages transmitted on company systems. The case went to court after programmer Augustus Lindsey's supervisor monitored his e-mail and intercepted a message from Lindsey to a colleague. The message read: "That little sex kitten has been driving me wild. She's moaning and begging for it every minute. Last night I was afraid someone would hear, and we'd be thrown out of the building. But don't worry -- all is arranged. Wednesday she gets the knife". Lindsey's supervisor alerted authorities, suspecting that a crime was in the making. Lindsey was arrested on the spot and spent an uncomfortable night discussing the situation with the police. However, he was released in the morning, just in time to get his female cat to the vet for spaying. Lindsey sued his boss for invasion of privacy and sought punitive damages as well. - Origin: Net 109 Fidonet<->Internet gateway (1:109/41.0) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- HexOnExon SOME RESPONSES TO THE RECENTLY PURPORTED SCABBAGE: [ This compilation is EDITED! It is NOT IN IT's ENTIREITY! Please direct all nasty and bad but interesting reactions to Madam Emilia (Sylvia Maxwell) at 1:221/194] - - - o o o 000 o o o - - - This is from Carol at CFlake@aol.com. Please respond to that address and not this message source. My congratulations to the ILF for the hilarious revision of the MGM movie Hackers home page. Is this the first known instance of electronic graffiti on the Web, by any chance? Also--just curious, why is the movie The Net superior to Hackers? (I haven't seen Hackers yet--and maybe I shouldn't, given the dissing on the home page.) Carol - - - o o o 000 o o o - - - Hey, I just got some mail letting me know that the hackers home page got worked over by the ILF. It's at www.digiplanet.com/hackers/index.html and I have yet to check it out.. doesn't work well on my 386 sx laptop. - - - o o o 000 o o o - - - FidoNews 12-33 Page: 7 14 Aug 1995 Jack Devlin wrote... > Hah. You fools installed Gatekeeper, thinking it would protect you from the more evil denizens of cyberspace. But no. We, The Praetorians, have been forced to prove our worth to the lesser mortals at MGM/UA. [...] > > http://www.digiplanet.com/hackers/index.html - - - o o o 000 o o o - - - REAL HACKERS VANDALIZE WEB SITE By Yardena Arar Daily News Staff Writer [Photo of altered WWW picture with caption: "A World Wide Web site for the movie 'Hackers' was not viewed kindly by some real-life hackers who defaced the promotion."] ....[repeat stuff and glorification of those with bucks invested generally deleted for brevity according to intense editorial biases -mdm em] UA parent Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer learned of the cyberspace vandalism when a reporter called to inquire about some strange graphics and startling text on the month-old page teasing the film, due for release Sept. 15. A picture of the film's co-stars had been defaced with computer crayon scribbles. Much of the copy had been changed. For example, the line "This is going to be an entertaining, fun promotional site for a movie" was replaced by "This is going to be a lame, cheesy promotional site for a movie." "Click here for a video preview of 'Hackers'" had been replaced by "Click here for a Big Waste of Bandwidth." And next to the credit "Created by Digital Planet," was the claim "Hacked by ILF" -- followed by "Go see 'The Net' instead of this dog." Also included were links to web sites for Defcon, the recently concluded hacker convention in Las Vegas, and other hacker hangouts... The "Hackers" page is located at http://www.digiplanet.com/hackers/index.html - - - o o o 000 o o o - - - Hah. You fools installed Gatekeeper, thinking it would protect you from the more evil denizens of cyberspace. But no. We, The Praetorians, have been forced to prove our worth to the lesser mortals at MGM/UA. FidoNews 12-33 Page: 8 14 Aug 1995 They ignored our screenplay for the movie 'Praetorians', choosing instead to call it 'Hackers' and base it upon some adolescent compulsive masturbators who hold not one-tenth of our supreme skills in their puny hands. Regrettably I was forced to fake my death at the hands of Sandra Bullock, but now I have wreaked revenge upon those who doubted my technique (which, incidentally, is very good) as an independant contractor for the Internet Liberation Front (ILF). While they offer no medical or dental insurance schemes, they supply me with the neccessary ub3rt00lz to bust root on your puny boxes. GreatCircle, I urinate upon your firewall. Sidewinder, I defecate in your general direction. Oh, to the point. To prove to the movie-going chimps that my technique is supremely advanced, I have taken cybercontrol of MGM/UA's so called 'home-page' for the 'movie' (and I use the term loosely) HACKERS, a cinematic abortion riding the wave of cyberriffic techno-thriller uber-gen-x flicks. http://www.digiplanet.com/hackers/index.html Point your puny webtools in this direction for confirmation of my k-rad ubertechnique(tm). Beware, this is only the beginning... Jack Devlin, ex-Praetorian, current ILF contractor. ---End of transmission--- Hex on Exon Free Mitnick. Fashion Rules Nature Rules Fahsion ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Ed Ridgley (1:3613/14) Proposal: Change FidoNet to Enternet Hello Editor! This is just a thought since I get strange looks and smurking chuckles from the word FidoNet. I propose to change the word FidoNet to Enternet (since the Enter key is used so much on the computer). This would make sense because of the diversity of BBSs in the world, i.e., Christianity, Programming, Disabilities, etc. At the very least, it would give BBSs the prestige they deserve without sounding like a dog. Please, no flames on this. It's just a proposal, not a mandate. Don't get me wrong, I love FidoNet and all it has to offer and I don't intend to quit FidoNet if this change is not made or even FidoNews 12-33 Page: 9 14 Aug 1995 considered. Ed Ridgley Sysop, THE disABILITY NETWORK BBS (1:3613/14) ======================================================================== Fidonews Information ======================================================================== ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ---------------- Editors: Donald Tees, Sylvia Maxwell Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tim Pozar Tom Jennings "FidoNews" BBS FidoNet 1:1/23 BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14400/V.32bis/HST(DS) more addresses: Don -- 1:221/192, don@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Sylvia- 1:221/194, max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca (Postal Service mailing address) FidoNews 128 Church St. Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2H 2S4 voice: (519) 570-3137 sylvia: (519) 579-8029 Fidonews is published weekly by and for the members of the FIDONET INTERNATIONAL AMATEUR ELECTRONIC MAIL system. It is a compilation of individual articles contributed by their authors or their authorized agents. The contribution of articles to this compilation does not diminish the rights of the authors. Opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of FidoNews. Authors retain copyright on individual works; otherwise FidoNews is Copyright 1995 Donald Tees. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or the eds. OBTAINING COPIES: The most recent issue of FidoNews in electronic form may be obtained from the FidoNews BBS via manual download or Wazoo FileRequest, or from various sites in the FidoNet and Internet. PRINTED COPIES may be obtained by sending SASE to the above paper-mail address. INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.fidonet.org, FidoNews 12-33 Page: 10 14 Aug 1995 in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews. Anyone interested in getting a copy of the INTERNET GATEWAY FAQ may freq GISFAQ.ZIP from 1:133/411.0, or send an internet message to fidofaq@gisatl.fidonet.org. No message or text or subject is necessary. The address is a keyword that will trigger the automated response. People wishing to send inquiries directly to David Deitch should now mail to fidonet@gisatl.fidonet.org rather than the previously listed address. SUBMISSIONS: You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission requirements are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from the FidoNews BBS, or Wazoo filerequestable from 1:1/23 as file "ARTSPEC.DOC". Please read it. "Fido", "FidoNet" and the dog-with-diskette are U.S. registered trademarks of Tom Jennings, and are used with permission. ' ' disgreement is actually necessary, or we'd all have to get in fights or semethin to amuse ourselves,, and create the requisite chaos." -Tom Jennings -- END ---------------------------------ooh----------------------------------