[541] in libertarians
You will die reading this
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Vernon Imrich)
Wed Jan 4 01:38:13 1995
To: libertarians@MIT.EDU
Date: Wed, 04 Jan 1995 01:35:57 EST
From: Vernon Imrich <vimrich@MIT.EDU>
Got this from usenet. Still have not recovered. I can't
decide if it's more naieve or sinister. It is quite a read.
--FWD---
Well, well, well. Wouldn't you just know that the little scum
sucking sleeze ball advertising geeks would try something like
this! The following article was in Monday's SF Chronicle:
*Anarchy, Chaos on the Internet Must End* Martha S. Siegel
Elections are over, and, for better or worse, recognized
leadership is installed and working in most places. Yet, in
Cyberspace, the electronic world dominated by the much vaunted
Internet, there is not much order. This huge international
computer web tying together about 30 million people is governed
by no one.
What an amazing state of affairs. The most powerful commu-
nication medium ever invented is being left to the equivalent of
mob rule. Last year was the year of the Internet in the media.
Clearly it is now in the mainstream. Nonetheless, judging by
what you read or hear, the key question of who runs it is not
even an issue. It is more fun, after all, to contemplate
shopping in an electronic mall or how to order a pizza through a
modem.
No matter, if you scratch the surface of this big, happy
party, the need for firm direction is all too obvious. Also
reported in the press is an expanding array of Internet
problems. Unregulated broadcasting of sexually explicit
material that is readily available to children usually heads the
list, but on-line sexual harassment, profanity, defamation,
forgery and fraud run close seconds.
The secretiveness that computer communications allows is a
special reason why abuse is easy. National and personal
security are serious considerations when anyone can, with
complete anonymity, send encrypted information worldwide via the
Internet. Such problems are further exacerbated by a computer
in Finland called the Anonymous Server, which exists for the
sole purpose of laundering computer messages, much like dirty
money is laundered through small island nations. Consequently,
if you want to, say, threaten someone with death, your risk of
retribution is small, courtesy of the Anonymous Server.
Nowhere are Cyberspace difficulties more evident than in the
inevitable swing toward Internet commercialization. The widely
reported turf war rages onbetween academic factions that
controlled Internet before it went public and business newcomers
who now want to access its huge audience. 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 "canceller robots," computer
programs meant to erase the communications of anyone the hackers
who usually launch them want 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.
Given its international nature, one obvious way to bring much
needed order to the Internet is through diplomacy. The United
States should lead in this. A good beginning might be to urge
the Finnish government to deactivate the Anonymous Server.
Diplomacy could also help to establish an international standard
of recognizing laws existing at the point of origin as
controlling the message sender.
When conflicts arise, governmental diplomacy should again be
the answer, just as it is with other trade and communications
issues. Next, laws already regulating behavior in the real
world should be applied to Cyberspace. This is already taking
place on a case-by-case basi, but the process is too slow. The
Supreme Court should act to create a precedent stating that
crime is crime, even when the criminal instrument is a computer
keyboard.
In the United States, legislation should be passed making
Internet providers common carriers. This will get them out of
the business of censorship and under the guiding hand of the
Federal Communications Commission.
People need safety and order in Cyberspace just as they do in
their homes and on the streets. The current state of the
Internet makes it clear that anarchy isn't working. If
recognized governments don't find a way to bring order to the
growing and changing Internet, chaos may soon dictate that the
party is over.
** Martha S. Siegel is the author of "How to Make a Fortune
on the Information Superhighway" and CEO of Cybersell in
Scottsdale, Arizona
Well, I actually managed to get through that w/o *screaming*
and now the comment in the front of my brain is an echo of old
SNL: "Martha, you ignorant slut!"...
In any case, the San Fransisco Chronicle may be reached at:
Letters to the Editor,
San Fransisco Chronicle
901 Mission Street
San Fransisco, Ca 94103
or you can fax a letter at (415) 512-8196
I would appreciate any information on how to reach Martha
Siegel or Cybersell.
Regards,
Leroy Bracken
-- END FWD --
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| Vernon Imrich | market failure, n. The inabilty of the |
| MIT OE, Rm 5-329b | market to recover from a blow by |
| Cambridge, MA 02139 | intervention. (The Exchange) |
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