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Text File | 1993-06-03 | 20KB | 349 lines

───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── NukeNet WWIVLink @14063 The White House - 410-760-0712 Handles, No, No ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── OgdenNet [General] (6) (3-2-93) WWIVNet @8135, IceNET @8135 ? - 801-774-5574 Handles, No, No Local chit-chat, DHS (local computer group). ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SnotLink [Specific] (8) (4-4-93) WWIVLink @18262 Insomnia - 812-466-4222 Handles, No, Yes For Terre Haute region BBS' ONLY. A true local network with a slant towards the silly! ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SOLARnet WWIVNet @3484, IceNET @3454, WWIVLink @13495 Rap City [GSA] - 314-963-7960 Handles, Yes, Yes ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── StarNet [Specific] (5) (4-1-93) WWIVNet @3956, IceNET @3956 Diamond's BBS - 319-277-0166 Handles, No, No Local network of teenage boards to facilitate the transfer of files and e-mail, to take the load off of the local WWIVNet/IceNET server. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SuperNET IceNET @3402 The Empire - 304-465-5223 Handles, No, No ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── TeenNet [General] (21) (4-5-93) WWIVNet @4075, IceNET @4053, WWIVLink @14064 Central Station - 410-315-9854 Handles, No, No TeenNet is made so that all younger sysops in the world can get a chance at networking. The network is open to all people. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── TerraNET WWIVNet @8861, IceNET @8857 Blue Thunder - 818-848-4101 Handles, Yes, Yes ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── TestNet WWIVNet @19960, IceNET @9994 Test Site BBS - 919-760-4811 Handles, No, Yes ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── TLCnet [] () (1-28-93) WWIVNet @8306 Pocket Universe - 803-552-8654 Handles, No, Yes ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── WEB [General] (10) (2-13-93) IceNET @5802, WWIVNet @5813 Sanctuary - 508-892-8529 Handles, Yes, Yes ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── WWIVNet [General] (1400) (1-24-93) WWIVNet @1 Amber - 310-798-9993 Handles, Yes, Yes ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ZNET [General] (20) (4-1-93) No other connections. The Ethereal Plane - 609-435-5991 Handles, No, No ZNET was designed in 1990 as an alternative for WWIVNet. We are looking for BBSes in other area codes for area coordinator positions. ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── *.Net IceNET @2459, WWIVLink @16976 Reynard's Keep - 214-406-1264 Handles, No, No ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Send application to Red Dwarf: 1@6264 WWIVNet 1@6256 IceNET ICENET 1 AT 6256 @16259 (WWIVLink address coming soon) The File Pile BBS [ASV]: (612) 351-0144 300/1200/2400 Baud Auto-Sysop Validation, Netlist Account To use netlist account: Download the NETWORKS.LST and net applications file with the "NETLIST" account. Password is "NETLIST" and last four digits are "0000" Sorry, but uploads and updates from this account cannot be accepted. If you wish to make an account on the File Pile, you can use the ASV. ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Unless I get a flood of new corrections or new entries, the next release of the list will be on: May 8, 1993 Network coordinators are responsible for checking their network's information and reporting any errors or incomplete entries to me. If you do not see this after your network: [gen/spec] (nodes) (date) (with information in all of them), please send an application so you can have the new information in it. Please indicate that this is an update after the network's name. Thank you. When submitting your networks application, please use the form below. ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ NETWORKS.LST ║ ║ ║ ║ The following information is compiled as a service to BBS operators ║ ║ and has not been verified for accuracy. Attempts are made to keep ║ ║ the material current and usable. If you are aware of changes that ║ ║ should be made, additions, or deletions, please send them to me ║ ║ Information for this listing should only be submitted by the contact ║ ║ person for each network. ║ ║ ║ ║ Information should appear in the following format for inclusion ║ ║ in the listing. You should also inform me of any changes to be ║ ║ made. ║ ║ ║ ║ Network Name : ║ ║ Contact Person Information : ║ ║ a) BBS Data Phone Number : ║ ║ b) Primary contact point: WWIVNet, WWIVlink, IceNET: _________ ║ ║ Select ONLY ONE above as primary contact point. ║ ║ ║ ║ Answer all that apply: ║ ║ WWIVNet Node :_____________________ ║ ║ WWIVlink Node :_____________________ ║ ║ IceNET Node :_____________________ ║ ║ c) Do you allow handles in the network: ║ ║ Net Type (General or Specific, chose one): ║ ║ If specific, identify topic specialty (two lines maximum) ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ If general, give a brief network description (two lines maximum) ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ Do you have automatic update software? ║ ║ If you wish, you also may send me an application for the master file.║ ║ ║ ║ Date and Number of Nodes : ║ ╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝ ───────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────── │ Dateline: @#$*()#! │ │ Editorial Commentary by Omega Man (1@5282) │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘ As most of us are aware of by now, Steve Jackson won his suit against the United States Secret Service over the March 1990 raid on Jackson's business. While the impact upon the BBS world hasn't been quite as dramatically positive as we would have like to have seen, as detailed in this issue's article by Polekat on the trial and its outcome, the fact that there is a precedent in a court of law in favor of the BBS operator and his/her/its users in the event of questionable tactics by law enforcement officials. While this does little to grant a "get out of jail free" card to those using BBS' for illegal purposes, it does give those of us running legitimate systems a bit of relief from any fears that our systems will be shut down merely on the whim of some Luddite behind an overpriced desk in Washington D.C. However, as with any other struggle over rights and privledges, unless one is willing to use and protect these freedoms odds are fairly good that someone will eventually take them away just to spite you. Government agencies don't like to be shown up by those they're appointed to oversee, and especially don't like it when it happens in front of the press. The BATF found out the latter part of this at Mount Carmel a month ago, and the USSS both parts a month prior to that. While the highly-visible BATF will have quite a task ahead of them trying to live down their negative exposure, the somewhat- camouflaged USSS can simply shrug it off and lie low as is the nature of their organization. Once the furor has died down, they can simply return to "business as usual". But the Secret Service isn't the only government threat BBS operators and users have to face. Other agencies, such as the FBI and the FCC, as well as the local Public Utility Commissions, pose similar threats to those posed by the USSS. The FBI was involved in the recent - and well-publicized - anti-piracy raid on Rusty & Edie's BBS in April of this year, while the FCC has, from time to time, entertained the notion of slapping modem users with a license requirement or sysops with a mandatory surcharge to their monthly phone rates. The PUC's, of course, regulate utility rates, and have on occasion attempted to increase phone line rates for BBS lines in certain areas "to offset the costs to the regional phone system caused by increased line usage." These threats, in reality, have their roots in the private sector, where certain elements of the software and telecommunications contingents see independent BBS operators a threat to their potential profits, regardless of how big or how small a BBS is. The software industry, for the most part, has shown that it sees unregulated BBS' as a major threat to their profits. This has been best demonstrated in the aforementioned case of the FBI raid on Rusty & Edie's BBS. While it was simply an easy bust of a major multi-node BBS that wasn't being run as tightly a ship as possible with regards to user uploads, the Software Publisher's Association took the matter and blew it far out of proportion to further their cause. The SPA has also reportedly gone on record as saying "this sort of piracy is only the tip of the iceberg!", and some off-the-record comments to reporters have promised future busts. The R&E bust demonstrates just how jumpy the SPA and the FBI have become over the merest hint of an illegal BBS. Someone uploaded copyrighted - read: pirated - software to R&E's, saw that neither their account nor the software had been immediately deleted by the sysops, and then called the Software Publishers Association's anti-piracy hotline and blew the whistle. The SPA called the FBI, and the rest was history. Of course, the fact that R&E had made quite a few enemies in the .GIF world by editing the BBS advertisements off of .GIFs from other image processing BBS' and replaced them with their own ads didn't help matters one iota. It's speculated that this may have led to what was obviously a "sting" operation, albeit one not staged by a legal or professional organization. A similar bust was recently carried out by the SPA and Nintendo after a similar "hot tip" was received, although in this case the BBS in question was reportedly considered by BBSers in the region to be "the biggest pirate board in this state!" The bad part about busts of this nature is that regardless of whether the board(s) in question were guilty or not, it helps out another private sector threat to BBS's: the phone company. Ever since the breakup of the Bell system, the "Baby Bells" have been trying to come up with ways to break into the information service market. While one would naturally expect commercial information services such as Compu$erve, Genie, BIX, and America Online to be the primary targets of any sort of competitive heavy-handedness, the actions against BBS operators in Texas, Florida and Oklahoma, as well as other states, only shows that the perceived threat is the small independent BBS operator and not the big commercial systems. The fact that Southwestern Bell attempted to shut down the majority of BBS' in Texas through higher rates just prior to starting their own text information service - which bombed within 90 days, by the way - is perhaps the best example of this sort of monopolistic tactic. Where direct pressure on the sysops hasn't worked, indirect pressure has been applied on the Federal Communications Commission through lobbying. The desired result is to use the FCC's authority over the use of phone lines to help inhibit the expansion of the independent BBS operator population, and to eventually reduce that population through taxation and regulation. Once the competition is eliminated through inability to conform to law, the Bell Systems will then push for control of information services on the grounds that they a) can conform to regulation, and b) are already set up for it within specifications. However, Uncle Charlie still recalls the days of CB Radio, and how difficult it was to police 20,000,000 mostly-mobile jaw-jockeys on a budget that had been neutered so badly by the Ford and Carter administrations that the 11-Meter band was effectively deregulated to reduce the need for constant policing. As a result, the FCC is very reluctant to jump in and start to regulate at least twice as many people even though the majority of modem users aren't mobile. This reluctance was further compounded by the negative response to that one serious proposal, which most of us have seen reposted on the networked subs at least once every six months. The resulting outcries from the BBS populace upon sight of this document usually reach a zealous pitch, and the original date of the document - 1986 - is ignored. In most cases, letters are actually sent to the FCC denouncing the bill, the bill's authors, and their entire family trees, and similar letters are sent to congressmen and senators in hopes of stopping this already-dead proposal. This continues until either one of the sub hosts explains the truth about the document, or someone gets one of the FCC's specially prepared form letters telling them the proposal was circular filed in 1988, and the FCC has no plans to resurrect it or any other modem control plan anytime in the foreseeable future. While modem surcharges have been circumvented - if not made politically suicidal to implement - the side effect of all this is the FCC's reluctance to give valued Common Carrier status to Computer Bulletin Boards. Pressure from both the private sector and other government agencies have helped to convince those involved in the FCC's decision-making process that while regulating modems would not be financially or politically feasible, CC status would grant systems dealing with matters and material deemed illegal rights and protections from improper search and seizure that they don't currently benefit from. After looking at all the evidence, one thing becomes rather clear: the primary tactic used by all parties involved in the effort to eradicate BBS' now appears to be "if the government can't tax them out of existence, the private sector can at least scare them away as best as possible with higher phone rates and sting operations". The dangerous thing is, unless we keep an eye on things, this tactic just might succeed. At the end of Polekat's article, the addresses of the Electronic Frontier Foundation can be found. Take note of these addresses, and even if you're not the activist type, take a moment to look into the EFF and its activities. Better still, become a member! As demonstrated in the Steve Jackson trial, the EFF has proven that it can be an effective representational force for computer telecommunication users everywhere. The NRA for example, has for decades been an effective lobbying force in favor of their own special interests. When one asks for a primary example of just how influential lobby groups can be if properly administrated, the NRA is usually the first one mentioned. The EFF has demonstrated it can be as effective as the NRA, even with its smaller membership. If such progress can be made with limited resources, imagine what could happen if membership was equal to that of the NRA? (Then again, imagine where their membership would be if the basic membership package also included an true, actually autographed group shot of the Grateful Dead! If the NRA can send stickers and samples of WD-40, who says that John Perry Barlowe can't twist Bob & Jerry's arms a bit for a good cause? :-)) Again, if you're truly concerned about your rights as a modem user, regardless of which side of the wire you're plugged in, inquire and join. Vigilance is necessary where our rights are concerned, and if we're not willing to defend them then we shouldn't complain when they're taken away. "You'll take away my computer and my modem when you pry my smoking keyboard away from my cold, dead hands!" See you in a few weeks, eh? ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Next Month in WWIVNews: The debate over UUEncoded file transmissions over the nets has been raging for several months now, with flames and logics being volleyed across both sides of the dividing line. WWIVNews takes a look at the issues with editorials from both sides, and looks at what might be the possible solution to the matter. Coming soon in WWIVNews: MS-DOS 6.0 is upon us at last. However, unlike MS-DOS 5.0, the Gates Boys' latest upgrade to the industry standard for PC operating systems is reportedly not as stable as its predecessor. WWIVNews takes a look at the pros and cons of DOS 6.0, and takes a look into alternatives to MS-DOS as well. WWIV under Windows 3.1, OS/2 2.xx, and DesqView will be explored as well. ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Closing Credits │ ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ WWIVnews is an independent newsletter NORMALLY published monthly as a │ │ service to the WWIV community of sysops and users. The opinions & reviews │ │ expressed herein are the expressed views of the respective writers, & do │ │ not necessarily reflect those of the WWIVnews staff. Reproduction in whole│ │ or in part is allowed provided credits are given. All rights reserved by │ │ WWIVNews, and all articles are copyright of their respective authors. │ ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ The source site for WWIVnews is the Klingon Empire BBS (512-459-1088), │ │ WWIVNet node @5282. Requests for information regarding articles and other │ │ editorial submissions, as well as back issue requests and the WWIVnews │ │ Writer's Guide, can be sent in e-mail to the WWIVnews editor, c/o 1@5282. │ ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ WWIV and WWIVNet, copyright 1986,1990 by Wayne Bell │ │ Any product or company mentioned or reviewed herein are copyrighted of │ │ their respective owners, creators, and other corporate pseudoentities. │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘