Anarchy, Chaos on the Internet Must End!!!


Wed, 04 Jan 95 06:35:01 GMT

Given the high coefficient of spam of late, I thought r.a.i-f readers
might enjoy this. There was an op-ed piece in the San Francisco Chronicle
a couple of days ago (2 Jan 95) entitled "Anarchy, Chaos on the Internet
Must End." It started with the usual diatribe about how usenet is subject
to all kinds of abuses like "broadcasting of sexually explicit material that
is readily available to children" and "on-line sexual harassment, profanity,
defamation, forgery, and fraud," and even a novel diatribe about the
horrors of the Anonymous Server.

Then we come to the real meat of the article, the thing about which the
author has the bee in her bonnett: "Nowhere are Cyberspace difficulties
more evident than in the inevitable swing toward Internet commercialization.
The widely reported turf war rages on between academic factions that
controlled the Internet before it went public and business newcomers
who now want access to its huge audience."

So far, just some standard whining about increasing commercial traffic.
But that's not her point at all: "Electronic attacks on business people
by means ranging from computer insults, called flames, to assorted forms
of electronic vandalism, persist uncontrolled. Worst of all are the
'cancellation robots,' computer programs meant to erase the communications
of anyone the hackers who usually launch them wish to silence.

"These self-styled vigilantes routinely challenge free speech in
Cyberspace unabated. Internet access providers, companies that connect
people to the Internet for a profit, likewise assume the role of censors,
arbitrarily closing accounts of those whom they disapprove [sic]."

About the author: "Martha S. Siegel is the author of 'How to Make a
Fortune on the Information Superhighway' and CEO of Cybersell in
Scottsdale, Ariz." I couldn't stop laughing...

--
Mike Roberts                               mroberts@hinrg.starconn.com
High Energy Software                       415 493 2430 (Voice)
PO Box 50422, Palo Alto, CA 94303          415 493 2420 (BBS)