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-
- Computer underground Digest Thu May 19, 1994 Volume 6 : Issue 43
- ISSN 1004-042X
-
- Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET)
- Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
- Retiring Shadow Archivist: Stanton McCandlish
- Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
- Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
- Ian Dickinson
- Covey Editors: D. Bannaducci & S. Jones
-
- CONTENTS, #6.43 (May 19, 1994)
-
- File 1--Details on Brock Meeks Case (fwd)
- File 2--Re: CuD 6.42 (Response to Review of Anti-Virus Book)
- File 3--CPSR Response to FCC CNID (fwd)
- File 4--PGP 2.6 Arriving Soon
- File 5--Mitch Kapor's TV Show (fwd from Mitch Kapor)
- File 6--Possible "Court Fraud" twist in Amateur Action BBS Case?
- File 7--DIAC Video Available
-
- Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are
- available at no cost electronically.
-
- CuD is available as a Usenet newsgroup: comp.society.cu-digest
-
- Or, to subscribe, send a one-line message: SUB CUDIGEST your name
- Send it to LISTSERV@UIUCVMD.BITNET or LISTSERV@VMD.CSO.UIUC.EDU
- The editors may be contacted by voice (815-753-0303), fax (815-753-6302)
- or U.S. mail at: Jim Thomas, Department of Sociology, NIU, DeKalb, IL
- 60115, USA.
-
- Issues of CuD can also be found in the Usenet comp.society.cu-digest
- news group; on CompuServe in DL0 and DL4 of the IBMBBS SIG, DL1 of
- LAWSIG, and DL1 of TELECOM; on GEnie in the PF*NPC RT
- libraries and in the VIRUS/SECURITY library; from America Online in
- the PC Telecom forum under "computing newsletters;"
- On Delphi in the General Discussion database of the Internet SIG;
- on RIPCO BBS (312) 528-5020 (and via Ripco on internet);
- and on Rune Stone BBS (IIRGWHQ) (203) 832-8441.
- CuD is also available via Fidonet File Request from
- 1:11/70; unlisted nodes and points welcome.
-
- UNITED STATES: etext.archive.umich.edu (141.211.164.18) in /pub/CuD/
- ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4) in /pub/Publications/CuD
- aql.gatech.edu (128.61.10.53) in /pub/eff/cud/
- world.std.com in /src/wuarchive/doc/EFF/Publications/CuD/
- uceng.uc.edu in /pub/wuarchive/doc/EFF/Publications/CuD/
- wuarchive.wustl.edu in /doc/EFF/Publications/CuD/
- EUROPE: nic.funet.fi in pub/doc/cud/ (Finland)
- ftp.warwick.ac.uk in pub/cud/ (United Kingdom)
-
- JAPAN: ftp.glocom.ac.jp /mirror/ftp.eff.org/
-
- COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST is an open forum dedicated to sharing
- information among computerists and to the presentation and debate of
- diverse views. CuD material may be reprinted for non-profit as long
- as the source is cited. Authors hold a presumptive copyright, and
- they should be contacted for reprint permission. It is assumed that
- non-personal mail to the moderators may be reprinted unless otherwise
- specified. Readers are encouraged to submit reasoned articles
- relating to computer culture and communication. Articles are
- preferred to short responses. Please avoid quoting previous posts
- unless absolutely necessary.
-
- DISCLAIMER: The views represented herein do not necessarily represent
- the views of the moderators. Digest contributors assume all
- responsibility for ensuring that articles submitted do not
- violate copyright protections.
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Tue, 17 May 1994 09:37:38 -0400 (EDT)
- From: Meeks Defense Fund <fund@idi.net>
- Subject: File 1--Details on Brock Meeks Case (fwd)
-
- ((MODERATORS' NOTE: Brock Meeks is a respected journalist specializing
- in cyber-issues. He was the first to break the story of law
- enforcement spying on a 2600 meeting in Washington, D.C. in '92, and
- he has been an invaluable source of information and commentary. Those
- who know him or have read his material respect his integrity and
- competence. It was with shock that we read about the defamation suit
- against him by Suarez. We have read the article that Benjamin Suarez
- finds objectionable, and Brock's facts would appear to be a matter of
- public record.
-
- The following summary explains the case and the issues. We urge
- readers to contribute just a dollar or two each to Brock's defense
- fund)).
-
- Dear Net Citizen:
-
- The recent Internet posting launching a fund raising drive in
- order to help Brock Meeks defray the legal expenses of a lawsuit
- brought against his news wire, CyberWire Dispatch, has drawn
- several inquiries for a summary of the issues involved in this
- case. In response, we have put together the following summary.
- (Please note, too, that the case was featured in the April 22
- (Fri.) issue of the Wall St. Journal (page B1))
-
- Sometime during February of this year, an electronic solicitation
- began appearing on the Internet from a company identified only as
- the "Electronic Postal Service" (EPS).
-
- The solicitation from EPS said the service, "will pay you money
- to receive commercial e-mail. EPS estimates you will be paid an
- average of 6.5 cents per commercial e-mail message. It is
- estimated that the average commercial e-mail receiver can make
- $200.00 to $500.00 a year and likely more. There is absolutely
- no charge, periodic charge, hourly charge or phone charge to
- receive or review EPS commercial e-mail. The sender bears all of
- the cost.
-
- You are provided with a free EPS mailbox and you may access this
- EPS mailbox through a toll free phone number so there are no
- phone line charges... In addition... EPS offers you... full
- Internet access including network Internet e-mail remote log-in,
- file transfer capability and much more."
-
- To sign up you were required to call an 800 number or send for
- information to the EPS Internet account (eps@world.std.com). You
- had to include your name and address.
-
- Brock called and asked for the EPS information. It never came.
- Instead, he received an unwanted and unsolicited direct mailing
- from a company called Suarez Corporation Industries (SCI). The
- mailing came in the form of a 6 page letter signed by Benjamin
- Suarez. That mailing claimed that for a price of $159, Suarez
- would send you a book and software that could help you create a
- "net profit generation system" capable of earning anywhere from
- $30,000 to $1 million per year.
-
- Brock began investigating why he received the SCI mailing and
- soon found out that Suarez had obtained his name from the request
- for EPS information. More investigation found that the EPS
- account was registered to Suarez Corporation Industries. Brock
- then looked into the background of this company.
-
- During his investigation into SCI, Brock discovered that state
- and federal enforcement agencies had brought actions against SCI
- result of their direct mailing practices.
-
- In his article, Brock expressed his personal disapproval of the
- SCI business activities. SCI objected to the article and has
- filed a defamation lawsuit claiming Brock made defamatory remarks
- and sought to disparage his products "and otherwise tortiously
- (sic) interfere with the plaintiff's ability to develop" EPS.
- Suarez claims the Dispatch article lost him business and he is
- seeking compensatory and punitive damages and demanding an
- injunction to block Brock from writing further about SCI or its
- founder, Benjamin Suarez.
-
- The April 22 (page B1) issue of the Wall St. Journal says lawsuit
- "is one of the first U.S. libel cases to arise out of the
- free-for-all on the Internet... If it succeeds, some legal
- experts say it could spawn other complaints."
-
- For those who don't know Brock, he has a long history as a
- journalist writing in the on-line field, having written for Byte,
- Wired and other journals over the years. He lives and works
- today in the Washington, D.C. area writing during the day for a
- communications trade journal. Cyberwire Dispatch is his own
- creation. The suit against him was filed in Ohio. Without
- the generous offer of legal support from his current lawyers, who
- have offices in Ohio, Brock's situation would be even more dire.
-
- The Meeks case raises legal issues that may have far-reaching
- implications for freedom of speech and free expression on the
- internet. If journalists are unable to pursue important
- investigative issues without fear of reprisal, then
- all of us will suffer. This is exactly the type of chilling
- effect hat the First Amendment was intended to avoid and the
- reason we need your support.
-
- Of course defamation laws are to be applied to the Net, but how
- they are applied -- and this case will be an important first step
- in that process -- could determine just how open and free people
- will feel to speak their minds.
-
- This is NOT a case in which a writer on the Internet has, in
- fact, libeled someone else. Brock absolutely denies the charges
- against him. And every lawyer that Brock has consulted and
- looked at the text Brock wrote, and the charges against him,
- believe that he ha not written anything that can fairly be
- characterized as libelous.
-
- The Legal Defense Fund is formed to assure that Brock is well
- defended.
-
- As a reminder, contributions can be made in two ways, either
- tax-deductible or non-deductible.
-
- A special thanks goes to the Point Foundation for agreeing early
- on in the process to assist in organizing and serving as a
- collection agent for the Fund.
-
-
- If you have any questions, you can contact the Fund at
- Fund@idi.net.
-
-
- For tax-deductible contributions send those checks to:
-
- Meeks Defense Fund
- c/o Point Foundation
- 27 Gate Five Road
- Sausalito, CA 94965
-
- For those who don't care about the tax deductible status, send
- contributions to:
-
-
- Meeks Defense Fund
- c/o IDI
- 901 15th St. NW
- Suite 230
- Washington, DC 20005
-
- THE BROCK MEEKS DEFENSE FUND COMMITTEE
-
-
- Samuel A. Simon
- President, Issue Dynamics, Inc.*
- ssimon@idi.net
-
- John Sumser
- Editor/Executive Director
- Whole Earth Review/ Point Foundation
- jrsumser@well.sf.ca.us
-
- Mitch Kapor
- Chair, Electronic Frontier Foundation*
- mkapor@eff.org
-
- David Farber
- The Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunications Systems
- University of Pennsylvania*
- farber@central.cis.upenn.edu
-
-
- Philip Elmer-DeWitt
- Senior Writer
- TIME Magazine*
- ped@panix.com
-
- Marc Rotenberg
- Electronic Privacy Information Center*
- Rotenberg@epic.org
-
- Nicholas Johnson
- Former FCC Commissioner*
- 1035393@mcimail.com
-
- Jerry Berman
- Electronic Frontier Foundation*
- jberman@eff.org
-
- Mike Godwin
- Electronic Frontier Foundation*
-
-
-
-
-
- ####################################################################
- # Meeks Defense Fund | Internet: fund@idi.net #
- # ---------------------------------------------------------------- #
- # c/o IDI c/o Point Foundation #
- # 901 15th St. NW 27 Gate Five Road #
- # Suite 230 Sausalito, CA 9465 #
- # Washington, DC 20005 #
- ####################################################################
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 19 May 94 10:03:20 GMT
- From: frisk@COMPLEX.IS(Fridrik Skulason)
- Subject: File 2--Re: CuD 6.42 (Response to Review of Anti-Virus Book)
-
- In CuD 6.42, Urnst Couch writes:
-
- >International, Solomon interviewing himself and bursts of writing
- >which make absolutely zero sense.
- >For example:
- >"It would be difficult to create more [virus] experts, because the
- >learning curve is very shallow. The first time you disassemble
- >something like Jerusalem virus, it takes a week. After you've done a
- >few hundred viruses, you could whip through something as simple as
- >Jerusalem in 15 minutes."
-
- Well, this may not make sense to you, but nevertheless it is pretty
- accurate. The first virus I analysed (which, by the way was a Cascade
- variant) did take me a week or so....today I can easily go through
- dozens of viruses of similar complexity in a single day. The problem
- is that becoming a virus "expert" five years ago was much, much,
- easier than becoming one today...simply because the number of viruses
- is so much greater, and because of the "advances" in virus development
- during the past few years.
-
- >S&S International and was nominated for membership in the
- >pan-professional Computer Anti-Virus Research Organization by Solomon,
- >one of its charter members.
-
- This is an outright lie. John Buchanan has never (and would never
- have been) considered for CARO membership. There are several people
- that have been proposed, voted on and failed the vote....he is not one
- of them. I know, I am one of the founding members of CARO too.
-
- >What a lot of people don't know is that other public systems have been
- >a target of the same people.
-
- And what is wrong with that ? Public systems that distribute viruses
- any way or other are IMHO a part of the virus problem....they are not
- serving any useful purpose, and I will not oppose any attempts by
- anyone to shut them down. (I will not actively attempt to shut them
- down myself, though...I have more important things to do).
-
- >"The anti-virus software industry is going through a shake-out; not
- >everyone is successful anymore," said Braun.
-
- This is true. Just look at all the anti-virus products that have been
- withdrawn from the market, discontinued or just falled hopelessly far
- behind. On the other hand, there is not a single good new anti-virus
- product (written from scratch, that is) that I am aware of, which has
- appeared in the last two years.
-
- >"It's my opinion, most
- >of these kinds of things are really attempts to keep access to
- >information from competitors."
-
- Simple nonsense. In fact, there is a high degree of co-operation among
- most of the companies in the anti-virus industry. One of the main
- functions of CARO is to share information - in particular virus
- samples, but also useful technical information. For example, earlier
- this month there was considerable discussion on the detection of the
- two SMEG viruses that have just been reported in the UK.
-
- -frisk
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 19 May 1994 14:22:35 -0400 (EDT)
- From: Stanton McCandlish <mech@EFF.ORG>
- Subject: File 3--CPSR Response to FCC CNID (fwd)
-
- From--jjohnson@FirstPerson.COM (Jeff Johnson)
- Date--18 May 1994 17:28:55 GMT
-
- CPSR has responded to the FCC's recent ruling on Calling Number
- Identification (CNID). Our response took two forms:
-
- 1. Carl Page of CPSR/Oregon, who was (with Erik Nilsson) an active
- participant in the Oregon state hearings two years ago that led to
- an Oregon decision that followed many of CPSR's recommendations,
- wrote a "Petition for Reconsideration" of the FCC's ruling, and is
- submitting it today to the FCC. I provided advice and editorial
- feedback on the petition. The main points of CPSR's petition are:
- 1) Phone companies argue that line blocking undermines the value of
- CNID, but in fact the evidence suggests that this is false, 2) CNID
- with no line-blocking undermines the value of the "unlisted number"
- service, which has a higher market penetration rate than is projected
- for CNID, 3) per-call blocking is unreliable as a way to preserve
- privacy, especially in the age of direct marketing, "data harvesters,"
- and the information superhighway, 4) Call Trace could be more useful
- to residential phone customers than CNID if it were inexpensive and
- universally available, yet the FCC's ruling ignores it entirely, and
- 5) the distinction between CNID, which can be blocked, and Automatic
- Number Generation (ANI), which provides calling numbers to 800 and
- 900-service providers and which cannot be blocked, should eventually
- be eliminated, such that blocking is available for all calls.
-
- 2. I provided advice to the National Association of State Consumer
- Advocates (NASUCA), which is submitting its own "Petition for
- Reconsideration" with the FCC. NASUCA consists of the majority of
- state Consumer Advocates, who work for their respective state Public
- Utilities Commissions. NASUCA's main arguments are: 1) the ~40 states
- that have considered CNID did so in a very open and democratic manner
- (e.g., held public participation hearings and evidentiary hearings,
- solicited and received numerous letters and written arguments, etc.),
- and most (36) of those states have decided that per-line blocking is
- necessary to provide a fair balance between the privacy of callers
- and callees, 2) the FCC's ruling, which was not based on such a
- democratic process, may well pre-empt those of the states, so the FCC
- should reconsider its ruling and allow CNID blocking, however generated
- (i.e., per-line or per-call), to work for interstate calls. In other
- words, calls for which the caller has blocked number disclosure should
- simply be marked as blocked, regardless of whether the blocking was
- initiated on a per-call or per-line basis. This would actually be
- simpler than requiring callers (and the network) to treat interstate
- calls differently from local calls.
-
-
- Hopefully, the FCC will reconsider.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Wed, 18 May 1994 11:58:50 -0700
- From: Tommy the Tourist <nobody@SODA.BERKELEY.EDU>
- Subject: File 4--PGP 2.6 Arriving Soon
-
- Date--Mon, 16 May 94 11:38:50 PDT
- From--Michael Ghens <mghens@rain.org>
-
-
- _MIT PGP Release_
-
- PGP 2.5 BETA RELEASE OVER, PGP 2.6 TO BE RELEASE NEXT WEEK
-
-
- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
-
- The beta version of PGP 2.5 is now being removed from MIT file
- servers.
-
- In about a week, MIT will begin distribution of a new release
- numbered PGP 2.6. PGP 2.6 will incorporate a new version of RSAREF,
- scheduled for release by RSA Data Security next week, and will also
- correct bugs that were reported in PGP 2.5.
-
- In order to fully protect RSADSI's intellectual property rights
- in public-key technology, PGP 2.6 will be designed so that the
- messages it creates after September 1, 1994 will be unreadable by
- earlier versions of PGP that infringe patents licensed exclusively to
- Public Key Partners by MIT and Stanford University. PGP 2.6 will
- continue to be able to read messages generated by those earlier
- versions.
-
- MIT's intent is to discourage continued use of the earlier
- infringing software, and to give people adequate time to upgrade.
- As part of the release process, MIT has commissioned an independent
- legal review of the intellectual property issues surrounding earlier
- releases of PGP and PGP keyservers. This review determined that PGP
- 2.3 infringes a patent licensed by MIT to RSADSI, and that
- keyservers that primarily accept 2.3 keys are mostly likely
- contributing to this infringement. For that reason, MIT encourages
- all non-commercial users in the U.S. to upgrade to PGP 2.6, and all
- keyserver operators to no longer accept keys that are identified as
- being produced by PGP 2.3.
-
- -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
- <deleted by eds for parsimony>
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Tue, 17 May 94 19:19 CDT
- From: P30TMR1@NIU.BITNET
- Subject: File 5--Mitch Kapor's TV Show (fwd from Mitch Kapor)
-
- Date--Tue, 10 May 1994 09:13:23 -0400
- From--mkapor@kei.com (Mitchell Kapor)
-
- New Cyberspace TV Program
-
- I am developing a new program on cyberspace in conjunction with
- WGBH-TV, PBS' Boston affiliate. The show is intended to be a window
- onto the world of computer networks for the television viewer, whose
- point of view is that the world of on-line communications is
- interesting because of what people do there, not because of the
- digital plumbing which enables it. We will be focusing on the human
- aspects of networking and the individual and social aspects of being
- on-line. Cyberspace will be portrayed as a not-so-really strange
- territory after all, where all of us will increasingly come to live
- and work. My role is to guide people through this new territory,
- introducing the audience to its native culture, its scenic
- attraction, and its sights and sounds.
-
- We assume our audience is motivated by curiosity to learn more about
- what goes on in cyberspace, but we do not assume they are
- knowledgeable or, in general experienced with it. On the other hand,
- we will not trivialize the subject matter by reducing it to a least
- common denominator.
-
- We will give the show a look and feel which is approachable and
- down-to-earth. Interview guests and roundtable participants will be
- drawn from the net community itself. There will be plenty of demos
- of cool net stuff from Mosaic, CU See Me, and other cutting-edge
- applications and services.
-
- We are taping two test shows in mid-June which will be shown in
- Boston and other cities and hope to have some sort of national
- distribution (to be determined) in the fall for a regularly scheduled
- program. We are also going to create a WWW server for the show, the
- segments of which will be downloadable. The server will be have on
- it additional material which won't fit into the show format.
-
-
- An Invitation:
-
- We would like to include some video clips of net citizens expressing
- their greatest hope and worst fear about the future of the net which
- we will edit into an on-air piece for our regular feedback session.
-
- It's important to me to have the voices heard (and faces seen) of
- people already on the net. This is an opportunity for those of us
- who enjoy appreciate the decentralized and democratic character to
- express that sentiment to a mass audience. I hope you'll take
- advantage of the opportunity.
-
-
- Guidelines:
-
- Since an individual on-air clip will run at most 20-30 seconds,
- please keep your statement succinct.
-
- In shooting the clip, please feel free to pick a location which says
- something about yourself, whether it's your computer, your pet, or
- the great outdoors.
-
- We can accept Quicktime movies, VHS cassettes, or 8mm tapes. If you
- enclose a mailer, we will return your tape. We can also pick up
- digital submissions from any FTP site, etc.
-
-
- Contact Information:
-
- email: cybertv@kei.com
-
- Postal:
-
- Cybertv
- c/o Kapor Enterprises, Inc.
- 238 Main St., Suite 400
- Cambridge MA 02142
-
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 15 May 94 12:52:35 PDT
- From: hkhenson@CUP.PORTAL.COM
- Subject: File 6--Possible "Court Fraud" twist in Amateur Action BBS Case?
-
- Wrote this a few weeks ago. Got so busy I never posted it. Keith
- -----
- Monday I had an interesting conversation with an FBI agent. (Who will
- remain nameless here, since I may want to be able to talk to him
- again.)
-
- To bring you up to date, I uncovered evidence of outright fraud on the
- court system, and brought it to the attention of the FBI two weeks
- ago. It involved the San Francisco US Attorney who unilatterally took
- a motion off a judge's calendar after it had been placed there by a
- court clerk.
-
- (For those of you who do not understand how serious this is, imagine
- yourself showing up at a suit you had filed and discovering the
- oposing side had it removed from the calendar of the court and you had
- no way to get a hearing before a judge.)
-
- I presented court records to the FBI agent which clearly showed the
- problem. The agent claimed to be absolutely baffled. He admitted
- that I had shown clear evidence of serious problems which he said he
- had discussed over the last two weeks with his superiours. He
- admitted that I had every right to be concerned, but was certain that the
- FBI would be unable to do anything at all --since they had to ask the
- very person responsible for the fraud for permission to investigate!
-
- Neither he nor his bosses were so naive as to believe this request
- would be permitted. Please note: there are agents of the government
- who can committ serious crimes--in this case sedition, i.e.,
- undermining the constitutional provisions for separation of
- powers--and get clean away with it.
-
- We concluded the conversation on the note of understanding how the FBI
- agents must have felt during the Hoover years when Hoover kept them from
- going after the Mafia. For those not up on the history involved, the
- Mafia had photographic evidence that Hoover was gay (at a time when
- being gay would get you kicked out of any government position) and
- deeply into gambling. They used this evidence to blackmail Hoover for
- decades--much as Hoover compiled lists of sins and blackmailed every
- politician of the times.
-
- And these people want us to *trust* them?
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Tue, 10 May 1994 11:56:44 -0700
- From: email list server <listserv@SNYSIDE.SUNNYSIDE.COM>
- Subject: File 7--DIAC Video Available
-
- CONFERENCE VIDEOS AVAILABLE
- ============================
-
- DEVELOPING AN EQUITABLE AND OPEN INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
- (DIAC-94)
-
- Sponsored by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
- April 23 - 24, 1994
-
-
- CPSR's Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing biannual
- conferences (DIAC) are explorations of the promises and threats
- stemming from computer technology. DIAC-94 was a two-day
- symposium dedicated to public interest issues related to the
- National Information Infrastructure (NII), the proposed
- next-generation "Information Superhighway." Academia, libraries,
- government agencies, media, and telecommunications companies, as
- well as public interest groups and the general public, all have a
- stake in the current development. Videotapes of this conference
- are now available.
-
- Videos are available for $20 per tape ordered (the cost of
- reproduction and distribution). All tapes are on standard home
- VHS format. To order, send a check made out to "CPSR/Boston" and
- the names of the videos you want to:
- CPSR/Boston
- PO Box 962
- Cambridge, MA 02142-0008
-
-
-
-
- Videos:
-
-
- A0: "WHO WILL BE HEARD? ACESS TO THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY"
- Patrice McDermott, OMB Watch
- Herbert Schiller, University of California at San Diego
- Benjamin Barber, Rutgers University
- Jeffrey Chester, Center for Media Education
- Lauren-Glenn Davitian, Alliance for Community Media
- Tom Grundner, National Public Telecomputing Network
- This video is a 2-hour edited summary of the invited speakers
- from the first day of the conference. For viewers interested in
- an overview of the conference, this tape is recommended.
-
-
- A1: CONSTITUENCY PLENARY
- Bill Johnson, Massachusetts Corporation for Educational
- Telecommunications (MCET)
- Elaine Bernard, Harvard Trade Union Program
- Earl Hancock, MassCUE
- Joseph Lazzaro, Massachusetts Commission for the Blind
- Michael Roberts, Freedom House
- A cross-section of successes and disappointments experienced by
- K-12 educators, labor, disabled, and community organizations.
-
-
- A2: PUBLIC ACCESS TELEVISION / MEDIA ARTS CENTERS: MODELS
- FOR COMMUNITY ACCESS TO THE INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
- - Rika Welsh, Susie Walsh, Abigail Norman,
- Susan Fleischmann, Cambridge Community Television
- Public access television began 20 years ago, the result of hard
- work of activists concerned with some of the same issues being
- addressed at this conference: With the advent of emerging
- technologies, how do we ensure that those who do not have access
- to traditional, mainstream media and technologies are provided a
- forum to express themselves, their cultures, political and social
- beliefs, and to communicate and interact with others? We will
- seek to learn from participants how access television might work
- with computer professionals to ensure that the communities that
- we now serve will have comparable access to the emerging
- communications technologies.
-
-
- H2. PC's EMPOWER INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES
- - Joseph J. Lazzaro, Massachusetts Commission For The Blind
- For persons with disabilities, the online community represents an
- electronic bill of rights and a new found freedom. The workshop
- will focus on how to adapt personal computers for individuals
- with vision, hearing, and motor disabilities. Basic concepts of
- computer modifications that are common across hardware platforms
- will be highlighted.
-
-
- B3: INFORMED PARTICIPATION AND THE NATIONAL INFORMATION
- INFRASTRUCTURE
- - Thomas A. Kalil, The White House, John Mallery, Joshua
- Cohen, MIT
- How can digital computer networks could be used to improve the
- policy-making process in government? Thomas Kalil will review
- opportunities for public input into decisional processes. Then,
- John Mallery will discuss several technologies that might be
- applied to public access. Finally, Joshua Cohen will comment and
- guide the discussion, focusing on the need to ensure fair access
- to public discussion and to avoid the imposition of new barriers
- to entry.
-
-
- B4. PLAYING TO WIN AND THE COMMUNITY COMPUTING CENTER
- MOVEMENT
- - Antonia Stone and Peter Miller
- The growth of the community computing center movement--low-income
- neighborhood centers which provide computer training, access and
- integration into community programs--is one response to the
- presuppositions of taking a democratic NII seriously.
-
-
- B5. THE GREATER BOSTON COMMUNITY-WIDE EDUCATION AND
- INFORMATION SERVICES ORGANIZING PROJECT (CWEIS)
- - Marlene Archer, The Boston Computer Society
- This workshop is an excellent opportunity for the CWEIS
- Organizing Committee to help define the Boston community on-line
- service, gain suggestive feedback and insights, and make useful
- in-person contacts and connections.
-
-
- C2. MEASURING THE NII
- - Richard Civille, Ann Bishop
- This workshop will introduce participants to issues and
- techniques related to collecting data on NII use and impacts.
- Participants will also contribute to the development of
- appropriate measures and methods for assessing the effectiveness
- and equitability of NII implementation and outcomes.
-
-
- C3. POLICY FOR THE GLOBAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE (I)
- - William Drake with Herbert Schiller, UCSD
- The first workshop session will analyze global and national
- policy challenges to equitable information infrastructure
- development. The role of international institutions;
- intellectual property in a globally networked environment; the
- role of community networks, and National Information
- Infrastructure (NII) technology policies will be emphasized.
-
-
- C4. PUBLIC SERVICES FOR THE GLOBAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
- (II)
- - Lee McKnight, MIT
- The second workshop session will present concrete examples of
- prototypical NII services along with future application areas.
- Through dialog and interaction with workshop participants, it is
- hoped that critical variables for NII public policies can be
- identified in their global context.
-
-
- C5: NII: PUBLIC OR PRIVATE? DEFINING RESEARCH PARAMETERS
- Sherwood A. Dowling
- The immediate purpose of the workshop is to introduce
- participants to the economic concepts of public goods,
- privatization and externalities in the context of government
- information. The ultimate purpose of the workshop will be the
- definition of one or more testable hypothesis, recognition of
- policy option points, determination of potential policy impacts,
- identification of prospective survey participants or other data
- sources, and enumeration of possible evaluation criteria.
-
-
- D4. DEMOCRACY IN CYBERSPACE
- - Amy Bruckman, MIT Media Lab
- How is cyberspace to be governed? Commercial service providers
- require new members to agree to a set of "terms of service" which
- establishes standards for appropriate conduct. More democratic
- methods of governance are possible.
-
-
- E1: A POSTMODERN VIEW OF NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
- - Dr. Bob Barbour, The University of Waikato, New Zealand
- The purpose of the workshop will be to identify the possible
- future consequences of applying a postmodernist view to
- Information Technology practice as it relates to NII. The central
- focus of the workshop will be to consider how NII can contribute
- to or inhibit discourse.
-
-
- E4. THE POLITICAL RHETORIC OF NII
- - Steve Fuller, University of Pittsburgh
- We will consider the rhetoric used to knit together various
- constituencies that are needed to get behind the development of
- NII -- and then examine the extent to which these constituencies
- (which include the President, Congress, the military, big
- business, universities, and "ordinary folks") are likely to
- benefit from it.
-
-
- G1: INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM: PARKS, STREETS, SIDEWALKS AND
- ...CYBERSPACE? FREE SPEECH IN THE NEW PUBLIC SQUARE
- - Anne Levinson Penway, ALA, Paul Vermouth, MIT
- Librarians have long supported the principles of intellectual
- freedom in defending library users' rights to have access to
- ideas and information from all points of view without
- restriction, including restrictions based upon the age of the
- library user. How should these principles guide the development
- of the national information infrastructure?
-
-
- G3: SECURING THE INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE: NEW CRIMES,
- CRIMINALS, LOSSES, AND LIABILITIES IN THE POST-HACKER ERA
- - Sanford Sherizen, Data Security Systems, Inc.
- Less attention seems to have been raised about how to protect
- information from a growing populations of "new" computer
- criminals. In the Post-Hacker Era, they include competitors,
- inside traders, governments, journalists, and "crackers." While
- the Clipper controversy continues, this is only one of a number
- of information security policy issues that will arise and need
- informed resolution.
-
-
- H5. ETHICS, EDUCATION AND ENTERTAINMENT ON THE NII:
- WHAT SHOULD RESEARCH PRIORITIES BE?
- - Rachelle D. Hollander, National Science Foundation
- The focus of this workshop is on developing research proposals to
- the Ethics and Values Studies Program, National Science
- Foundation. EVS is interested in supporting research on ethical
- and value issues associated with high performance computing and
- the national information infrastructure. But what topics should
- have priority? And how should the research be done?
-
-
- The Proceedings book from DIAC-94 can be ordered from CPSR's
- national headquarters: CPSR, PO Box 171, Palo Alto, CA 94301.
- For more info, contact: CPSR at (415) 322-3778 or cpsr@cpsr.org
-
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- End of Computer Underground Digest #6.43
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