F I D O N E W S -- Vol.10 No.24 (14-Jun-1993) +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | A newsletter of the | | | FidoNet BBS community | Published by: | | _ | | | / \ | "FidoNews" BBS | | /|oo \ | +1-519-570-4176 1:1/23 | | (_| /_) | | | _`@/_ \ _ | Editors: | | | | \ \\ | Sylvia Maxwell 1:221/194 | | | (*) | \ )) | Donald Tees 1:221/192 | | |__U__| / \// | Tim Pozar 1:125/555 | | _//|| _\ / | | | (_/(_|(____/ | | | (jm) | Newspapers should have no friends. | | | -- JOSEPH PULITZER | +----------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ | Submission address: editors 1:1/23 | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Internet addresses: | | | | Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Donald -- donald@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | | Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com | | Both Don & Sylvia (submission address) | | editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | For information, copyrights, article submissions, | | obtaining copies and other boring but important details, | | please refer to the end of this file. | +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ ======================================================================== Table of Contents ======================================================================== 1. Editorial..................................................... 1 2. Articles...................................................... 2 The Cynic's Sandbox, v2.777................................. 2 WAY TO GO, JOAO !!!......................................... 3 No Privacy Or Safety For Sysops............................. 4 Start Writing!.............................................. 7 Announcing yet two more echos............................... 8 Dear Editors,............................................... 9 3. Fidonews Information.......................................... 9 ======================================================================== Editorial ======================================================================== FidoNews 10-24 Page: 2 14 Jun 1993 We're running a bit late today, having just visited my grandmother who is in hospital until her leg heals. She's 88, sharp as a tack, and in love with living. But the confinement and sameness of institutional propriety are getting her down. Tomorrow we will escape with her in a wheelchair, for a while. Maybe we could get her a modem, so she would not be so limited by her body. It seems like FidoNet could be very useful for "shut-ins". We received a letter suggesting that some people might like to submit articles by net mail, rather than directly calling. Actually, we have already received submissions through net mail, and have published them. We do not mind getting net mail submissions, but it would be helpful if writers would include ----cut---- lines atop articles, to clarify exactly which part of their messages' body is intended for publication. Perhaps we will get more articles from very-long-distance nodes this way ? If Emma had a BBS and lived to be eighty-eight ... ======================================================================== Articles ======================================================================== The Cynic's Sandbox, v2.777 R. Cynic Dark Glasses, Dumb Ideas: The "cyberpunk" movement. Ahh, that blissful moment when a subculture becomes a media darling. That moment when, amazingly, people you never even knew liked computers decide that they're cyberpunks. Billy Idol, for example. Last I heard, he was wailing about white weddings. Now, he's releasing an album to celebrate his cyberpunkishness. Due the middle of June. Comes with a floppy disk. Should be on K-mart's top ten music list for a few weeks at 14 bucks. Then, there's the Legion Of Doom. No, not the old hacker group that disbanded around the time of Operation Sundevil. The new group of wanna-bes that has decided to carry on under that, ah, proud name. They're cyberpunks, too. At least THEY say so. Time Magazine is making a few extra bucks off the cyberpunk "movement", too. Computer covers and fancy new-age stuff all over da place. What's dis gotta do with Fight-O-Net? Simple! Da "cyberpunk movement" is obviously the latest way to make moola, and Fight-O-Netters ALWAYS need more dough. Just think about it... Cyberpunk T-shirts, cyberpunk "True- Crime" books, cyberpunk baseball caps and beer mugs, cyberpunk underwear, "I crashed a small tax-accouting firm's database, and FidoNews 10-24 Page: 3 14 Jun 1993 all I got was this lousy T-shirt" novelty items... The list goes on and on. If you play this right, you might even manage cyberpunk ACTION FIGURES (inaction figures?) to go onto the racks right next to the new Jurassic Park toys. Speaking of Jurassic Park, I'd almost say that the little girl is a cyberpunk in training. Almost - she's a bit more mature than most, unfortunately. Ahh, the sounds of thousands of 14-year old 'cyberpunks' screaming at me. Gotta love it. Next week: "Why Zone One sucks - Letters from Europe" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- by Dieter Visser 2:512/54.9 WAY TO GO, JOAO !!! For some time now I have been trying to explain to some American friends what I think is going on in former Jugoslavia. Reading the article by Joao Ledo in Fidonews # 10 I think I got it: Portugal is interesting, not all of Portugal of course, just the bit around Joao. The rest of the world is pretty boring, to put it mildly, especially ...... (fill in your favourite). I think Joao lives in a pretty far off corner of his little country. Otherwise he could have noticed that most parts of Portugal are quite modern and the people there live in almost the same universe as the rest of what we call western civilisation. I think it is a frightening thing you can see anywhere. Here in Holland, which is about the same size as Portugal, we have about a zillion different net-works. Every crackpot who doesn't like the shoes of his NC starts his own net. There is a constant quarrel about sharing cost of E-mail, about exchanging areas, about anything you can imagine. And the worst thing: it is not an exclusive European problem. We have a world-wide thing here. All these policy-proposals with a million new rules just make the big movement that FIDO is, fall apart. The only rules we really need are rules about the technical whats-ye-call-its of E-mail, anything else is extremely annoying behaviour in my opinion. I agree with Joao that I would like to read some more European stories in what is also "our" snooze. Which of course is not the editors' problem but ours. We Europeans should do something about it. Joao somehow started something, this is my answer, who's FidoNews 10-24 Page: 4 14 Jun 1993 next? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- No Privacy Or Safety For Sysops Joe Sysop @ 1:something/something I received the call at my second job..."This is Detective X of the Sheriff's Office...we need you to come home. We're serving you with a search warrant." I had been arrested several days earlier, as a piece of computer equipment that I had thought salvage was found to be stolen. With the property now retrieved, I thought that was the end of it, I would go to court, and once I told my side of it, it would all be over. Not so...despite the thoughts of how easy it would be, I soon found out some harsh details, and in writing this, warn you, sysops and users alike, that more may happen than you think. The criminal element of this matter is not the important part; it is what has happened after that which is of concern to all. I came home to discover several police vehicles, marked and unmarked, in front of my home, and every piece of electronic equipment I had, computer and not, strewn across the house. I was taken into my own room to identify my own computer, and found a police officer, not a sheriff, downloading my hard drive into a Bernoulli box. I was interrogated more about the initial arrest, and responded...but then, the questions took another turn. "Who is your overseas connection?" "Who is it in Washington State that is your contact?" "We found a 'hacking' program on your hard drive...want to tell us about it?" "What do you charge people to use your system?" "What kind of pornography do you have for download? "Do you make it available for children?" "Do you have any porno of kids?" I've run a BBS for two years, and other than the typical shareware violation which comes about from not having the money immediately, there was nothing illegal being run on my system. If anything questionable was done, it was on one of the two other non-BBS systems...but illegal activity on-line is not something I engage in. While I was being questioned, I saw all my computer systems being carried out the door, including the BBS. I was now under investigation, I was told, but no one would tell me what my BBS had to do with that investigation. Later, a friend called to let me know that his phone records had been pulled up for the last six months...he had been notified by a law enforcement source of someone investigating him. The connection between us was that of a daily poll to his BBS...and, having once worked extensively with phone systems, I notice some tell-tale noises on my voice-line. FidoNews 10-24 Page: 5 14 Jun 1993 To date, I am only charged with the initial crime...nothing has come out of the confiscation of my BBS, or the software on board. Yet still, my BBS is in police custody, for a matter being investigated by the Sheriff's Office. Unlike some places, the Police and Sheriff's here are not a joint police force...so what crime is the Police investigating me for? In the court records, where the investigation report is in public view, no mention is made of the police officer assisting the Sheriff. Am I a victim of Operation Sundevil? Is it an overactive and overly zealous local cop, thinking he can make it big by 'breaking' this bizarre 'international modem conspiracy' that's been concocted? And now...? The search warrant itself is interesting; fourteen specific items are being sought, none of which were located at home or in storage---yet there are eight 'general' listings which served to give enough latitude for everything else. "Any and all telephones with memory devices or speed dialers..." "Computers, CPUs, etc, together with peripheral equipment, such as keyboards..." "Any and all computer or data processing software..." "Records or documents in any format relating to theft of telephone or communications services, or unauthorized access to computer, electronic or voice mail systems..." "Any computer or data processing literature..." "Proof of occupancy..." "Any confirmation or purchase order numbers reflecting use of credit cards or credit services..." "Neutralize and seize any degaussing equipment..." Suffice to say, this is a massive fishing expedition. There has been some bad blood between the particular police officer and myself; indeed, most of the network locally, when he refused to investigate a hacker locally, and said that our evidence was insufficient...even after he had spoken to the hacker and was _told_ an admission of guilt by the person! The word is out locally, however, it needs to go out everywhere... Judges and magistrates who issue search warrants are gullible for the type of technobabble that anyone can spring on them. Warrants are issued because the judges do not know any better, and because the officer can buffalo the judge into including things not even marginally related. The entirety and enormity of the Steve Jackson Games raid hit home to me... NO ONE IS SAFE. Even if you are completely and totally innocent, even if you have never even had so much as a parking ticket, your entire computer system can be confiscated as 'evidence' SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU HAVE ONE. FidoNews 10-24 Page: 6 14 Jun 1993 On the side, I've begun investigating...interestingly, when a computer has been located at the site of an arrest, the local authorities seem to confiscate them as evidence. It is of no concern that the crime is outstanding traffic tickets or Murder One...the fact that a suspect has a computer gives the police the opportunity to search it for 'evidence' of more crimes. If you have a computer, the assumption is that it is used for some form of criminal activity. That's it...that's the story. Your system will be downloaded and searched by the police. Your private mail will be read; your programs will be searched; any writing you do will be held against you. In my own case, my brother sent me the formula for black powder (gunpowder) through the Internet several years ago, and it sits in archived old mail on my drive...I'm waiting to see what I get charged with now... What can be done? I'm posting this to the community at large...first to see that everyone protects themselves; second to see if anyone can assist. I have been in contact with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and my criminal attorney is to be in touch with them. No, by assistance, I mean to ask for advice to others as well...to protect the privacy of electronic mail, to frustrate attempts to breach that privacy, and get rid of the secret-police tactics of the 'fishing expedition' method of police investigations. The future is now, people...even the innocent are no longer safe from the police. The next step is to assume that if a modem tone is heard on the phone that is an indication of illegal activity...and into your home they will go. In the meantime, I sit at home, waiting under house arrest...no one calls because the phone is tapped, and messages go out from this cobbled-together backup computer only in compressed bundles to frustrate them even more. The case drags on through the courts, and as much as a year will go by before I can get my computer systems back from the 'evidence' locker...'evidence' which has _nothing_ to do with the actual charges against me. And, at anytime, I could be you. Think about it. FidoNews 10-24 Page: 7 14 Jun 1993 Start Writing! A Rebuttal to Joao Ledo by Richard Bash - Combat Arms BBS SysOp (1:105/68) Regarding the article (FidoNews? What's it?) in the 31 May 1993 issue of FidoNews, Joao Ledo (2:361/10) wrote complaining about the dearth of articles from nodes outside the United States: JL> We have our own problems, not yours. Why are we forced to JL> read all this junk? I will never read it again! At least JL> untill you publish articles on Fidonet, not on America. JL> Please put this into your heads: Fidonet is all around the JL> world, not only in America. I think Mr. Ledo is completely overlooking something here. His article w=a=s published. Why are other articles from outside the United States not published? Because people do n=o=t write them. Consequently, there is no discrimination against non-United States nodes submitting articles. The answer, instead of berating the United States, seems to lie in one of two choices: 1. Start a non-United States version of FidoNews. Personally I think this is the best solution and rather long overdue. Then people who are frustrated, such as Mr. Ledo, will not have to read articles relating to the United States 2. Get Mr. Ledo's non-United States colleagues who are Fido nodes to start writing and submitting articles. This is a non-problem, in my view. There are few non-United States articles published simply because there are few non-United States nodes writing articles. The attack on the United States is (a) tiresome and (b) totally incorrect. The editor of FidoNews (which Mr. Ledo should know if he has been reading as much as he claimed) is no longer a United States node but Canadian! If there is a problem, then it is that the international language of FidoNet is English. There must be some semblance of standards and during this period of history, English is t=h=e standard in FidoNet, international aviation communications, most scientific publications, etc. It is merely a way to communicate with the largest possible audience. Any node recognizes that the United States is not the entirety of FidoNet. According to NODELIST.155, the following is true (provided by NLSTAT.EXE): Statistics for: NODELIST.155 Sun Jun 06 09:23:23 1993 Total nodes listed: 24677 Total size in bytes: 2019570 FidoNews 10-24 Page: 8 14 Jun 1993 - Zone Node Usage Summary - 1: 14333 (58.08 %) 2: 7674 (31.10 %) 3: 1067 ( 4.32 %) 4: 394 ( 1.60 %) 5: 127 ( 0.51 %) 6: 1082 ( 4.38 %) Thus there are 10,344 nodes (7674+1067+394+127+1082=10344) outside Zone 1 (and remember that Zone 1 includes Canada). The solution is, accordingly, to get these 10,3344 nodes to submit articles. Such articles are ideally technical in nature. I submit that people (being "people") are simply lazy. They do not submit articles. There are few of the 14,333 Zone 1 nodes who submit articles. When was the last time you e=v=e=r saw an article from an Austrian node (Zone 2)? From a node in Singapore (Zone 6), From a node in Zambia (Zone 5)? From a node in Panama (Zone 4)? From a node in New Zealand (Zone 3)? Never (or definitely not in recent memory)! So, Mr. Ledo is incorrect in his complaint. There is no known effort to restrict the publication of articles from such nodes. They simply do not submit articles for publication! I have long thought that the interests of those outside the United States would be best served if they would band together and issue their own FidoNews for their particular Zone. That would enable, for example, European nodes to discuss problems of common interest to them. No, Mr. Ledo, the problem here is not the United States. The problem is simply p=e=o=p=l=e and getting "people" (in the United States and elsewhere) to submit articles. I would recommend that Mr. Ledo and others who share his feeling change things. Let them start sending notices to the NC's of Zone 2 (and other zones) and tell them to get people to start submitting technical articles of interest to a=l=l FidoNet members. Consider starting a Zone 2, Zone 3, or Zone "x" FidoNews. Otherwise, Mr. Ledo's complaints have no merit, are provincial and serve no practical purpose. Mr. Ledo has my sympathy but that is all. The United States is not the problem here. The problem is getting nodes from other zones to start writing. For that, the United States cannot and should not be the solution. The solution is up to Mr. Ledo and his non-United States colleagues. They should not complain. Instead, they would be well advised to start writing articles and submit them. Their articles w=i=l=l be published. Sincerely yours, Richard Bash, BS, MPA SysOp - Combat Arms BBS Portland, Oregon [USA] 1:105/68 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Announcing yet two more echos FidoNews 10-24 Page: 9 14 Jun 1993 By: Coridon Henshaw of 1:250/820 I am pleased to announce the existance of yet two more echos, GRAPHICS_PROG and SOUNDCARD_PROG. These echos are for decimenating information on programming two of the least understood types of devices that quite a few people have attached to their PCs, graphics cards and soundcards. I decided to attempt to create these echos for two reasons: 1: Programming information for these devices doesn't get around that well.... 2: What information that DOES get around stays inside language-specific programming echos. Both of these echos are for concepts and examples only, in any programming language. I may ask people to use some kind of esudeo-code at some point for ease of understanding, but right now, that is not requried. Companion FILE ECHOs are avalible for the transmition of large amounts of source code. Anyone interested in linking into this conference should contact me via routed or direct (DURING Z1MH) netmail. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Area Netmail, Msg#58, Jun-02-93 17:17:36 From: Juan Farre (2:343/105.29) To: Donald Tees (1:221/192) Subject: LETTER TO THE EDITORS Dear Editors, I've been reading the last issue of *FidoNews* and my surprise is that you are demanding articles from the members of *FidoNet*: points, nodes, etc. and, at the same time, you make your comments on what the people of *FidoNet* say. I think that a section in FidoNews devoted to *Letters to the Editors* should be the natural way to publish all those ideas, comments and flashes about any question referred to the Net, its members, or to *FidoNews*, that are not suitable for an article. This could be the first letter to be published, if you agree. Regards! Juan Farre ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ======================================================================== Fidonews Information ======================================================================== FidoNews 10-24 Page: 10 14 Jun 1993 ------- FIDONEWS MASTHEAD AND CONTACT INFORMATION ---------------- Editors: Sylvia Maxwell, Donald Tees, Tim Pozar Editors Emeritii: Thom Henderson, Dale Lovell, Vince Perriello, Tom Jennings IMPORTANT NOTE: The FidoNet address of the FidoNews BBS has been changed!!! Please make a note of this. "FidoNews" BBS FidoNet 1:1/23 BBS +1-519-570-4176, 300/1200/2400/14200/V.32bis/HST(DS) Internet addresses: Don & Sylvia (submission address) editor@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Sylvia -- max@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Donald -- donald@exlibris.tdkcs.waterloo.on.ca Tim -- pozar@kumr.lns.com (Postal Service mailing address) (have extreme patience) FidoNews 172 Duke St. E. Kitchener, Ontario Canada N2H 1A7 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 1993 Sylvia Maxwell. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact the original authors, or FidoNews (we're easy). OBTAINING COPIES: The-most-recent-issue-ONLY 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 from Fido Software for $10.00US each PostPaid First Class within North America, or $13.00US elsewhere, mailed Air Mail. (US funds drawn upon a US bank only.) BACK ISSUES: Available from FidoNet nodes 1:102/138, 1:216/21, 1:125/1212, (and probably others), via filerequest or download (consult a recent nodelist for phone numbers). A very nice index to the Tables of Contents to all FidoNews volumes can be filerequested from 1:396/1 or 1:216/21. The name(s) to request FidoNews 10-24 Page: 11 14 Jun 1993 are FNEWSxTC.ZIP, where 'x' is the volume number; 1=1984, 2=1985... through 8=1991. INTERNET USERS: FidoNews is available via FTP from ftp.ieee.org, in directory ~ftp/pub/fidonet/fidonews. If you have questions regarding FidoNet, please direct them to deitch@gisatl.fidonet.org, not the FidoNews BBS. (Be kind and patient; David Deitch is generously volunteering to handle FidoNet/Internet questions.) 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. Asked what he thought of Western civilization, M.K. Gandhi said, "I think it would be an excellent idea". -- END ----------------------------------------------------------------------