Computer underground Digest Sun Jan 15, 1995 Volume 7 : Issue 03

Computer underground Digest Sun Jan 15, 1995 Volume 7 : Issue 03
ISSN 1004-042X

Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer ([email protected])
Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
Retiring Shadow Archivist: Stanton McCandlish
Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
Ian Dickinson
Copy Reader: Laslo Toth

CONTENTS, #7.03 (Sun, Jan 15, 1995)

File 1--Open Letter to Wired Magazine (fwd)
File 2--More Legal Analysis of Steve Jackson Games (Legal Bytes)
File 3--The Stupid Net.Coverage News Awards -- 1994 and 1995
File 4--Alliance for Community Media -- Call for Workshops
File 5--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 25 Nov 1994)

CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN
THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 14 Jan 1995 20:08:38 -0600 (CST)
From: David Smith <[email protected]>
Subject: File 1--Open Letter to Wired Magazine (fwd)

---------- Forwarded message ----------

>[email protected] (Chris Goggans)
>Subject--Open Letter to Wired Magazine
>Date--13 Jan 1995 00:51:09 GMT

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this under the assumption that the editorial staff at
Wired will "forget" to print it in the upcoming issue, so I am also
posting it on every relevant newsgroup and online discussion forum
that I can think of.

When I first read your piece "Gang War In Cyberspace" I nearly choked
on my own stomach bile. The whole tone of this piece was so far
removed from reality that I found myself questioning what color the
sky must be in Wired's universe. Not that I've come to expect any
better from Wired. Your magazine, which could have had the potential
to actually do something, has become a parody...a politically correct
art-school project that consistently falls short of telling the whole
story or making a solid point. (Just another example of Kapor-Kash
that ends up letting everyone down.)

I did however expect more from Josh Quittner.

I find it interesting that so much emphasis can be placed on an issue
of supposed racial slurs as the focus of an imaginary "gang war,"
especially so many years after the fact.

It's also interesting to me that people keep overlooking the fact that
one of the first few members of our own little Legion of Doom was
black (Paul Muad'dib.) Maybe if he had not died a few years back that
wouldn't be so quickly forgotten. (Not that it makes a BIT of
difference what color a hacker is as long as he or she has a brain and
a modem, or these days at least a modem.)

I also find it interesting that a magazine can so easily implicate
someone as the originator of the so-called "fighting words" that
allegedly sparked this online-battle, without even giving a second
thought as to the damage that this may do to the person so named. One
would think that a magazine would have more journalistic integrity
than that (but then again, this IS Wired, and political correctness
sells magazines and satisfies advertisers.) Thankfully, I'll only have
to endure one moth of the "Gee Chris, did you know you were a racist
redneck?" phone calls.

It's further odd that someone characterized as so sensitive to insults
allegedly uttered on a party-line could have kept the company he did.
Strangely enough, Quittner left out all mention of the MOD member who
called himself "SuperNigger." Surely, John Lee must have taken
umbrage to an upper-middle class man of Hebrew descent so shamefully
mocking him and his entire race, wouldn't he? Certainly he wouldn't
associate in any way with someone like that...especially be in the
same group with, hang out with, and work on hacking projects with,
would he?

Please, of course he would, and he did. (And perhaps he still
does...)

The whole "racial issue" was a NON-ISSUE. However, such things make
exciting copy and garner many column inches so keep being rehashed.
In fact, several years back when the issue first came up, the
statement was cited as being either "Hang up, you nigger," or "Hey,
SuperNigger," but no one was sure which was actually said. Funny how
the wording changes to fit the slant of the "journalist" over time,
isn't it?

I wish I could say for certain which was actually spoken, but alas, I
was not privy to such things. Despite the hobby I supposedly so
enjoyed according to Quittner, "doing conference bridges," I abhorred
the things. We used to refer to them as "Multi-Loser Youps"
(multi-user loops) and called their denizens "Bridge Bunnies." The
bridge referred to in the story was popularzed by the callers of the
5A BBS in Houston, Texas. (A bulletin board, that I never even got
the chance to call, as I had recently been raided by the Secret
Service and had no computer.) Many people from Texas did call the
BBS, however, and subsequently used the bridge, but so did people from
Florida, Arizona, Michigan, New York and Louisiana. And as numbers do
in the underground, word of a new place to hang out caused it to
propagate rapidly.

To make any implications that such things were strictly a New York
versus Texas issue is ludicrous, and again simply goes to show that a
"journalist" was looking for more points to add to his (or her)
particular angle.

This is not to say that I did not have problems with any of the people
who were in MOD. At the time I still harbored strong feelings towards
Phiber Optik for the NYNEX-Infopath swindle, but that was about it.
And that was YEARS ago. (Even I don't harbor a grudge that long.)
Even the dozen or so annoying phone calls I receied in late 1990 and
early 1991 did little to evoke "a declaration of war." Like many
people, I know how to forward my calls, or unplug the phone. Amazing
how technology works, isn't it?

Those prank calls also had about as much to do with the formation of
Comsec as bubble-gum had to do with the discovery of nuclear fission.
(I'm sure if you really put some brain power to it, and consulted
Robert Anton Wilson, you could find some relationships.) At the risk
of sounding glib, we could have cared less about hackers at Comsec.
If there were no hackers, or computer criminals, there would be no
need for computer security consultants. Besides, hackers account for
so little in the real picture of computer crime, that their existence
is more annoyance than something to actually fear.

However, when those same hackers crossed the line and began tapping
our phone lines, we were more than glad to go after them. This is one
of my only rules of action: do whatever you want to anyone else, but
mess with me and my livelihood and I will devote every ounce of my
being to paying you back. That is exactly what we did.

This is not to say that we were the only people from the computer
underground who went to various law enforcement agencies with
information about MOD and their antics. In fact, the number of
hackers who did was staggering, especially when you consider the usual
anarchy of the underground. None of these other people ever get
mentioned and those of us at Comsec always take the lead role as the
"narks," but we were far from alone. MOD managed to alienate the vast
majority of the computer underground, and people reacted.

All in all, both in this piece, and in the book itself, "MOD, The Gang
That Ruled Cyberspace," Quittner has managed to paint a far too
apologetic piece about a group of people who cared so very little
about the networks they played in and the people who live there. In
the last 15 years that I've been skulking around online, people in the
community have always tended to treat each other and the computers
systems they voyeured with a great deal of care and respect. MOD was
one of the first true examples of a groupthink exercise in hacker
sociopathy. Selling long distance codes, selling credit card numbers,
destroying systems and harassing innocent people is not acceptable
behavior among ANY group, even the computer underground.

There have always been ego flares and group rivalries in the
underground, and there always will be. The Legion of Doom itself was
FOUNDED because of a spat between its founder (Lex Luthor) and members
of a group called The Knights of Shadow. These rivalries keep things
interesting, and keep the community moving forward, always seeking the
newest bit of information in a series of healthy one-upsmanship. MOD
was different. They took things too far against everyone, not just
against two people in Texas.

I certainly don't condemn everyone in the group. I don't even know a
number of them (electronically or otherwise.) I honestly believe that
Mark Abene (Phiber) and Paul Stira (Scorpion) got royally screwed
while the group's two biggest criminals, Julio Fernandez (Outlaw) and
Allen Wilson (Wing), rolled over on everyone else and walked away free
and clear. This is repulsive when you find out that Win in particular
has gone on to be implicated in more damage to the Internet (as Posse
and ILF) than anyone in the history of the computing. This I find
truly disgusting, and hope that the Secret Service are proud of
themselves.

Imagine if I wrote a piece about the terrible treatment of a poor
prisoner in Wisconsin who was bludgeoned to death by other inmates
while guards looked away. Imagine if I tried to explain the fact that
poor Jeff Dahmer was provoked to murder and cannibalism by the mocking
of adolescent boys who teased and called him a faggot. How would you
feel if I tried to convince you that we should look upon him with pity
and think of him as a misunderstood political prisoner? You would
probably feel about how I do about Quittner's story.

'Hacker' can just as easily be applied to "journalists" too, and with
this piece Quittner has joined the Hack Journalist Hall of Fame,
taking his place right next to Richard Sandza.

Quittner did get a few things right. I do have a big cat named Spud,
I do work at a computer company and I do sell fantastic t-shirts. Buy
some.

With Love,

Chris Goggans
aka Erik Bloodaxe

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

http://fringeware.com/staff/jonl

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 20 Dec 1994 14:04:56 -0600 (CST)
From: pkennedy <[email protected]>
Subject: File 2--More Legal Analysis of Steve Jackson Games (Legal Bytes)

((MODERATORS' COMMENT: The follow is reproduced from Legal Bytes,
Vol 2, Number 2(Fall-Winter), 1994. Legal Bytes info:

David H. Donaldson, Jr., Editor-in-Chief <[email protected]>
Peter D. Kennedy, Senior Editor <[email protected]>
Laura Prather, Contributing Editor <LSTAPLE+GDF%[email protected]>

Readers with an interest in law and cyberspace should subscribe
directly, because Legal Bytes is currently the best single on-line
source for these issues)).

================================

1. FIFTH CIRCUIT TACKLES E-MAIL INTERCEPTION ISSUE
IN STEVE JACKSON GAMES v. U.S. SECRET SERVICE

Legal Bytes has followed this ground-breaking lawsuit brought
by a small Austin, Texas game publishing company and others against
the U.S. Secret Service for an illegal raid and seizure of the
company's electronic bulletin board system called "Illuminati."
Steve Jackson Games won over $50,000 in damages from the Secret
Service because of its illegal raid, and the individuals each won
$1,000 awards because the Secret Service illegally seized their
electronic mail.

The Secret Service paid the judgments and did not appeal.
Steve Jackson Games and the others pressed forward with an appeal,
on the one issue they lost -- their argument that the Secret
Service, when it seized the bulletin board system not only
illegally seized their mail, it also illegally intercepted some of
those messages.

From the users' point of view, the Secret Service raid did two
things. First, the Secret Service walked off with all the mail in
their mailboxes, and violated the Access to Stored Communication
provision of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. 18 U.S.C.
s 2701, et seq. Some of those messages had been written,
addressed, and sent, but not yet delivered to their addressee.
They were temporarily resident on the Illuminati BBS's hard drive
when the Secret Service seized the Illuminati computer.

The users argued that the seizure of this in-transit mail was
a second, separate violation of law -- an illegal interception of
their mail prohibited by the Wiretap Act. 18 U.S.C. s 2510, et
seq. They argued that in-transit mail was different and important.
These messages were especially sensitive and vulnerable: the
senders had lost control over their messages, but the addressees
had not yet received them. Neither party to the messages could
choose to keep or throw away the message, and thereby could not be
said to have purposely risked unintentional disclosure of their
messages by choosing to store them. Further, the BBS model of
"store and forward" of messages is replicated in all significant
computer communications. Unlike the traditional model of a
telephone conversation, which takes place effectively
instantaneously, computer communications often reside some
determinable period of time in temporary storage on their way to
their final destination. The level of legal protection afforded
BBS in-transit e-mail potentially affects most computer
communications.

The Illuminati BBS's users argument was simple -- the Wiretap
Act (as amended by the ECPA in 1986) defines "interception" as "the
aural or other acquisition of the contents of any wire, electronic,
or oral communication through the use of any electronic,
mechanical, or other device." The users argued that the Secret
Service did, in fact, acquire the contents of the e-mail when it
walked off with the machine, and that the Wiretap Act does not
require that e-mail be in the process of transmission when it is
acquired, only that it is somewhere between its origin and
destination. If the users were right, the government would need a
court wiretap order before seizing in-transit electronic
communications, an even higher standard than that needed to gain
access to stored electronic communications.

The Secret Service took the position that the Wiretap Act and
the Stored Communications provision were separate, non-overlapping
laws -- and that the Wiretap Act's prohibition of "interception"
only applied to acts that tap into a data stream and capture the
communication as it moves through a wire or cable. The Stored
Communications provision, the Secret Service argued, applies to all
stored communications, including those in temporary storage
incident to transmission. Whether e-mail has been accessed by its
recipient is irrelevant; what matters is whether the message is
sitting still, or moving through wires when it is caught by the
government.

The Fifth Circuit sided with the Secret Service. See 36 F.3d
457 (1994). It noted that the Wiretap Act defines "wire
communications" as "aural transfers," and includes within the
definition of "wire communications" those communications in
electronic storage. In contrast, when the Act defines "electronic
communications" as "any transfer" of data other than a wire
communication, it does not include electronic storage of such
communications. Further, the Act does define "stored
communications" to include electronic communications in "temporary,
intermediate storage ... incidental to the electronic transmission
thereof." Reading these provisions, the Court concluded that
Congress must have meant to exclude the seizure of in-transit
e-mail from the coverage of the Wiretap Act, and to leave it
controlled by the Stored Communications provision only.[fn2]

[fn2: This raises an interesting question: what about the seizure
of voice mail or answering machine recordings? These appear to be
clearly "wire communications," not "electronic communications,"
because they record "aural transfers." If so, seizure of these
recordings without a court order, at least before they are received
by the intended recipient, would violate the Wiretap Act.]

It is important to note that the Fifth Circuit's decision does
not leave e-mail without protection. The Fifth Circuit noted
clearly that the Secret Service, by seizing, reading and deleting
the Illuminati BBS e-mail without authorization, had violated 18
U.S.C. s 2701. Although law enforcement need not (within the Fifth
Circuit, at least) get a court wiretap order to seize in-transit e-
mail, any government access to e-mail must still meet the
requirements of the Stored Communications provision of the ECPA
(and the Fourth Amendment), which is no easy task.

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 8 Jan 1995 12:58:52 -0500 (EST)
From: eye WEEKLY <[email protected]>
Subject: File 3--The Stupid Net.Coverage News Awards -- 1994 and 1995

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MEDIA MORON OF THE YEAR/MONTH CONTEST
The stupid net.coverage media awards

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

<turning around in swivel chair to face your monitor; reassuring
smile> Oh! Hello, there...

<standing and putting hand confidently in pocket of white lab coat> We
at eye.NET NEWSMEDIA LABS are working hard at charting the exciting and
historical merger of establishment newsmedia with the Internet. If you
hush a moment, and listen very very carefully... you can hear a
newsroom editor somewhere whimpering right now as s/he faces yet
another net story. And, as is said, every time a newseditor suffers, an
angel gets its wings.

<Walking over to terminal and resting reassuring hand upon it> We've
read NetNews for years. Like you, we have countless delightful reading
memories. But none have brought us so much cheer as when netters from
around Our Beautiful Blue Planet upload ascii copies of moronic media
stories to newsgroups and mailing lists.

<taking off glasses and sitting on edge of desk, one eyebrow raised in
Ward Cleaver firm-but-lovingness> It's time to formally recognize this
great media contribution to our simultaneous anxiety and mirth. We
officially announced the Stupid Net.Coverage Awards back in November
1994. We are asking for your help in formalizing this into the MEDIA
MORON OF THE MONTH/YEAR contest -- rather like alt.usenet.kooks' "Kook
of the Month" award, open for voting from the net.community itself.

When you see media coverage of the net that is painfully dumb, don't
just fume or laugh derisively. Forward a copy to [email protected] and
post it to alt.internet.media-coverage .

All submissions will be permanently archived in a Stupid Net.Coverage
Media Awards page at our web site (http://www.interlog.com/eye). And,
most exciting of all, the winner will be contacted directly by phone
and asked for comment. These reactions will also be stored. Winners
will be announced in hardcopy as well.

<standing, voice rising to meet the future> By building these archives, it
is a better world we also build. To provide us and our net.descendants
with a view of how ill-informed many reporters really are on this subject
-- after all, how else could Martha Siegel and Michael Wolff _convince_
media drones that ads are canceled for breaking some "Holy Than Thou
Anti-Ad Commandment" rather than for being spams? Things other than ads
have been Cancelmoosed(TM). And, with this handy resource, journalism
school students will never have had it so easy, perhaps launching a new
breed of net.literate reporters...

<indicating calendar with a pointer> And 1995 promises to be even
wilder than 1994, what with the Righteous Minions of Small Business
clamoring aboard and trying to paint the net.community as "unfair" and
"terrorists" -- or even, as Canter & Siegel have already tried to
claim in their book, that there simply _is_ no net.community. It's an old
trick of conquest: once a community is marginalized into insignificance,
it's easier to eradicate it.

Battle-lines are being drawn in the media itself. We at eye.NET hope
the MEDIA MORON OF THE MONTH/Stupid Net.Coverage Media Awards will draw
those lines more starkly, forcing reporters to wake up.

<pause -- looking imploringly into camera, big eyes> Please help us
spread joy and happiness to the millions who suffer under the weight of
braindead media coverage of net issues. Share the wealth. Contribute
now. And contribute often.

Thank you.

Malaclypse the Foetus
eye.NET NEWSMEDIA LABS
http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Eyenet/EyeNet.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MEDIA MORON OF THE MONTH FAQ
The Stupid Net.Coverage News Awards

"The fact that your voice is amplified to the degree where
it reaches from one end of the country to the other does not
confer upon you greater wisdom or understanding than you
possessed when your voice reached only from one end of the
bar to the other."

-- Edward R Murrow
CBS reporter, 1965

Try as one might, one human alone cannot collect all the Stupid Net
Stories pouring out from the Fourth Estate -- so plentiful and weedlike
they are, no one can never catch all. So let's us, the net.community, pool
our resources with a general and ongoing call for submissions. (You can
certainly submit eye.NET stories if you like ;-)

TWO CONTESTS

1994: MEDIA MORON OF THE YEAR. The year is over and we would like to
invite people to submit their own choices for what was the stupidest
piece of net reporting they encountered. We had our own list, and
were prepared to deliberate upon it, but then realized we were
undoubtedly missing important Stupid Net.Coverage for the above stated
reasons -- there's too much of it.

So dig through your archives and hard drives. Send a paragraph about why
you think it is A MILESTONE IN STUPIDITY, along with the actual
copy/transcript if possible. We will compile these and make them available
for voting on Web and in alt.internet.media-coverage . Voting details will
be determined. Accepted nominations will be stored in our Web site and
made available as an FAQ called, perhaps, Net.Legends.Newsmedia-1994.

1995: MEDIA MORON OF THE MONTH. We know these things start slow, but
they eventually reach "critical mass" and take on a momentum of their
own -- much as our friend Craig Dickson has accomplished with his
Kook Of The Month award. We seek to take a page from Craig's grassroots
movement apply the same tactics to newsmedia -- after all, newsmedia
and kooks are uncomfortably synonymous when the net is involved.

Post your submission in alt.internet.media-coverage with the word
NOMINATION in the subject line. It would also be helpful if you would
email a copy to [email protected] . We will then archive it in our web
site. Nominations will be closed a week after the month ends and people
can vote.

PRIZE

Winning reporters/news organizations will be directly contacted by eye
by phone and asked for comment. We will arrange for the story and a
picture of the reporter (if available) to be immortalized _in hardcopy_,
as well as in web pages. (eye has a circulation of over 100k in Toronto.)

When 1995 ends, the 12 monthly MORON winners will be presented for a
general vote on which reigns supreme and deserves the prestigious Usenet
MEDIA MORON OF THE YEAR award. The winner will, again, be contacted
directly for comment and sent a Stylish Certificate suitable for framing
at home or office.

TYPICAL STUPID STORIES

There are all sorts of stupid media stories about the net -- and they
are _not_ the private domain of "trashy tabloids." In fact, most come
>from organization which consider themselves serious news outlets.

There seem five basic types:

1. SEX! HOMOSEXUAL RECRUITMENT! SNUFF FILMS! FEMALE DEGRADATION!
PAEDOPHILES! -- By far the most common. To get really heated, reporters
fall back on paedophiles -- Save The Children! Chicago Tribune columnist
James Coates wrote a piece last summer about "Vito," an undoubtedly
made-up paedophile who cruises IRC hoping to have sex with kids in
wheelchairs. I understand Coates' pain: I cannot spend 10 minutes in IRC
before someone asks if I'm a child in a wheelchair looking for a sex
partner. (eye.NET -- 08.04.94)

But it ain't just the mainstream media, so-called alternative media are
often as terminally dense (pun intended). British Columbia's Adbusters
magazine normally specializes in subversive anti-ad guerrilla warfare
("subvertising"). It's spoof ads are often nasty and terrific. But in the
Winter 1995 issue, it decided to tackle the net. It presented the "Top Ten
Internet Newsgroups" in order of Mbyte volume. They are:

alt.binaries.pictures.erotica
alt.binaries.pictures.misc,
alt.binaries.sounds.misc
alt.binaries.pictures.supermodels,
alt.binaries.sounds.tv
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.oreientals,
alt.binaries.multimedia
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.males
alt.binaries.pictures
alt.binaries.sounds.mods

Erotica! TV! Supermodels! Oh no! Adbusters sees this as proof netters
remain dupes of crass consumer culture:

"While the Internet is often heralded as an intellectual Mecca,
the bulk of Internet traffic measured in Mbytes, is no more
intellectual than the reading material found on the top shelf of
your corner store's magazine rack...."

Had their reporter examined the list more closely, he might have
noticed every one is an alt.binaries.* newsgroup. Binaries. Images,
sounds, etc. A single picture can take 300k. One well-written,
high-signal text post can take 10k. A PICTURE AIN'T WORTH A THOUSAND
WORDS IN THIS MEDIUM, ADBUSTERS. All their story proves is that
binaries take up more Mbytes than text posts. What a newsflash. Of
course, their rush to support their own editorial slant does help
perpetuate the myth among control freaks and conservatives that the net
is really just the Marina-Sirtis-Topless-GIF highway. (eye.NET --
01.12.94)

2. ANARCHY! DEATH! THE FALL OF ROME! -- Save the children! October 8
1994 issue of The Scotsman (Scotland's national newspaper) proves bad
net.reporting is international. The paper reported on a mother's
anguished warning that a disk her son owned that held a copy of _The
Anarchist's Cookbook_ "looked just like all the other disks in the
box." Mom seeks to warn mothers everywhere about the evil Cookbook and
the way you can get it on the net. (You can buy the Anarchist's
Cookbook at larger bookstore -- Barricade Books, New Jersey, available
here in Toronto for $34.75 Canadian.) (eye.NET -- 11.22.94)

3. DRUGS! DEATH! THE FALL OF ROME! -- Save The Children! Ban alt.drugs!
Canadian network CTV's ran a fullpage ad for something called _William
Shatner's TEKWAR_ -- "In 2044, Drugs Aren't Sold On The Street. They're
Sold On The Internet." The ad shows some white-bread-male-model pointing a
plastic space-gun (it's 2044 after all) at some
not-white-bread-male-model -- clearly right in the middle of an
exciting drug bust on the infobahn. (eye.NET -- 11.22.94)

4. SPAM-LIBERATIONISTS -- There seems some genetic defect in reporters
that does not permit them to understand that the net.community backlash
against C&S and Michael Wolff is not about "ads" but about spamming.
Since Wolff -- the so-called net.guru who has published three books
about cyberspace -- can't even figure out how to crosspost, it
shouldn't be surprising he doesn't understand why he was
Cancelmoosed(TM). Reporters simply believe his uninformed view of
reality. (eye.NET -- several references; see
http://www.interlog.com/eye/News/Eyenet/CS2.html for an Interview with
Martha Siegel -- "A Net.Conspiracy So Immense...")

5. WHAT'S THIS BUTTON DO?! -- Watching copy editors struggle with basic
terms is endlessly humorous. How many inaccurate names have they for
"newsgroups," for instance? My favorite remains "computer billboards."
(eye.NET -- 05.24.94) To be fair, missing obscure jargonese is more than
forgivable. But the _depth_ of ignorance is often staggering. A recent
Risks Digest contained an extreme example:

From--Paul Fuqua <[email protected]>
Subject--Pentium + Spell-Checkers

On December 5, the _Dallas Morning News_, not the most
technically-aware newspaper in the world, ran an article from the
_San Jose Mercury News_ about the recent Pentium FDIV situation.
Unfortunately, they ran it through a spell-checker first.
The company names "Intel" and "Megatest" became "Until" and
"Megadeath," which actually puts an interesting slant on the
story.
I've only ever seen one writer's byline on computer-related
articles in the DMN, so the root problem may be that no one else
at the paper knows enough to catch this obvious (to us) error.

NET.JOURNALISM 101

We net.citizens are really altruists at heart, full of care and
compassion for our fellow human beings. How many of us have not stayed
up into the wee hours helping yet another AOL-er struggle through that
painful process of learning to decode topless Marina Sirtis GIFs?

And we also hope to help the educationally-challenged members of in the
Old Guard media! The MEDIA MORON OF THE MONTH contest is not done out
of HATE but out of LOVE! We encourage our reporter cousins to get a
net.education. After all, despite the futurist hype one oft hears,
journalists will _not_ become redundant in an "info-age." Hard
journalism skills will command greater value than ever as people,
confronted by the info onslaught, scramble for ways to condense
material into a consumable yet meaningful packages. Anyone can set up a
newsprogram to collect 475 megs of news about specific subjects, but it
still takes a human to synthesis this collection into a
smaller-yet-greater whole.

Reporters and editors might like to check out a couple of these
resources...

NEWSGROUPS: The main one is alt.journalism -- discussions of the craft
itself. Please note: there is always some yahoo somewhere crossposting
their latest flame wars here, sure that "IF ONLY THE PRESS KNEW, _THEY_
WOULD SMITE OUR ENEMIES." There are other subgroups:
alt.journalism.criticism, alt.journalism.students,
alt.journalism.newspapers, alt.journalism.gay-press, etc. To chronicle the
misadventures of the Fourth Estate in cyberspace, read
alt.internet.media-coverage -- which never seems to run out of flames
about Time, Newsweek or the NY Times reportage.

MAILING LISTS: CANCAR-L ([email protected]), or CANadian
Computer Assisted Reporting. Owned by Ryerson faculty net.pioneer Dean
Tudor ([email protected]). CANCAR-L invites members of the news
media (and others) to discuss computer-assisted reporting (like the
net) in Canada. CARR-L ([email protected]) is an
international version. GUILDNET-L ([email protected]). Owned by
Colin Perkel ([email protected]). Strictly for members of newsmedia.
Discusses _working conditions_ -- unionism, labor/management,
health/safety, pay and equity, etc.

MEDIA-NET: There's also Media-Net, a "Computer-Assisted Reporting
Tool." It's a journalist-owned-and-operated service that helps
journalists locate "experts," find case studies, ferret out photos,
etc. "Just send in your name, your news organization, what you're
working on, what your request is, your deadline and how to contact
you." For info: contact Amy Plummer at MediaNet
([email protected]) in Pennsylvania. 717-243-4285.

*

"When you run a picture of a nice clean-cut all-American
girl like this, get her tits above the fold."

-- Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today,
at a page-one meeting

*

"Have you discovered the limitless range of computer porn?
Have you discovered your kid/student discovering the same?
I am a CBC TV journalist preparing a report on computer
pornography and I am looking for people who are prepared
to talk about their own experiences.

"I'd like to meet some teenage kids who can navigate
through the world of computer porn and who can show me
what they've found. I'd also like to meet parents and
teachers who have come across their kids/students
exploring this world."

-- CBC TV reporter Jeffrey Kofman
Oct 10, to newsgroup ont.general

*

"I am a yellow journalist preparing a sensationalistic story
on the information superhighway, and I am looking for people
prepared to provide me with shocking and unrepresentative
anecdotes from their own experiences."

-- Justin Wells
([email protected])
replies to Kofman in ont.general

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 12 Dec 1994 13:32:52 -0800
From: email list server <[email protected]>
Subject: File 4--Alliance for Community Media -- Call for Workshops

The DIAC conference this spring featured broad participation by
representatives from the public access cable television community.
Now the Internet community has the opportunity to reciprocate by
participating in the annual conference of the Alliance for Community
Media, the national association of public access stations. The
Alliance's call for workshop proposals is attached below.

On behalf of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
(CPSR) and the Telecommunications Policy Roundtable of the
Northeast (TPR-NE), I urge everyone to take advantage of this
opportunity to promote the convergence of public interest digital
and video media. This conference could be THE historical event
that builds the bridges between groups in computers and
television. Don't miss it -- submit a workshop proposal today!

=======================================
Alliance for Community Media
International Conference and Trade Show
========================================
July 5 - 8, 1995
Boston, Massachusetts

INVITATION TO SUBMIT PROPOSALS FOR WORKSHOPS

The Alliance for Community Media invites you to submit proposals for
workshops for next year's annual international conference. Proposals
may be for panel or roundtable discussions, debates, discussion
papers, performances, participatory exercises, or other presentations
in appropriate formats.

As computer, telephone and television technologies converge, cable
access offers models for democratic participation. Now is the time to
help shape the new communications context, to ensure community input,
media literacy, and attention to public needs. Now is the time to
increase dialogue, visibility and participation in the crafting of
future telecommunications policy.

The four-day annual conference brings together people from across the
US and the world who work to ensure community access to
telecommunications, including staff of cable access, media arts, and
community computing centers; public officials responsible for
telecommunications policy and regulation; communications lawyers;
video producers and exhibitors, activists, educators, and students.
The Alliance actively builds coalitions with organizations that share
a mission to open and preserve free access to telecommunications and
media for the diverse voices that contribute to a creative society and
a healthy democracy.

Please submit workshop proposals in the following areas, or suggest
additional topics.

COMMUNICATIONS DEMOCRACY

Framing Public Policy
Other Countries, Other Models
Community Development through Communications
Meeting Diverse Needs:
Economics, Culture, Language, Gender, Age, Ability
What's Interactive?
Freedom of Expression and Controversy

ACCESS CENTERS OF THE FUTURE: COMMUNITY COMMUNICATIONS

Funding and Resources:
Collaborating with Arts and Community Agencies
Traditional and Virtual Communities
License Renewal
Long-term Strategic Planning
New (and not so new) Technologies:
Computers, the Internet, Digital and Non-Linear Video,
Networks, Non-Tech and Low-Tech Communications
Creativity and Innovation: Independent Artists and Communities

EDUCATION

Media Literacy: Educating the Public
Distance Learning
Youth Talk to Youth: Showcase and Lab
Youth Empowerment and Inspiration: Making an Impact

REGULATORY ISSUES & STRATEGIES

INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS

Crossing Borders/Keeping Cultural Integrity
Framing Communication as a Human Right
Working On and Off Cable:
Using Public Spaces, Satellites, Cyberspace
Planning the 1996 Video Olympiade

ACCESS CENTER MANAGEMENT, A to Z

Board Development
Rules, Procedures and Policies
Financial Planning
Accounting, Insurance, Required
Filings and Other Nuts and Bolts
Equipment Management
Training Philosophies and Curricula
Becoming Indispensible in Your Community

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

Each session will be an hour and a half in length. A pre-
conference session may last a half or full day. All sessions
should substantially involve the audience.

All proposals should include:

1. a session title

2. the format of the session, including audience participation

3. a substantial statement describing the proposed topic, its
importance, and the desired purpose of the session

4. a list of proposed participants, including the chair, with
brief biographical data

5. a resource list for further reference

6. your own name and phone number so we can contact you
for further information

We hope to publish the proposals, discussion papers and
keynotes in a conference syllabus, so proposals must be well
fleshed out, clear and informative to people who may not
participate.

We will also accept general ideas and suggestions for areas
to be addressed and people to be included, even if you do
not have a fully developed workshop plan.

Electronic submissions are encouraged to: [email protected]
Mail hard copy or discs on Microsoft Word (Mac or PC) to:
Alliance c/o MATV, 145 Pleasant St., Malden, MA 02148
Fax: (617) 321-7121
Phone inquiries to explore possibilities:
Rika Welsh (617) 321-6400

FIRM DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS IS JANUARY 31, 1995.
A Programming Committee will review proposals and
confirm decisions by early March.

------------------------------

Date: Thu, 23 Oct 1994 22:51:01 CDT
From: CuD Moderators <[email protected]>
Subject: File 5--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 25 Nov 1994)

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End of Computer Underground Digest #7.03
************************************