The Cyber Lexicon of 2030 AD

[Mike Godwin <mnemonic@eff.org>]

eff.546: Cylex: The New Cyber-Lexicon

eff.546.0: Mike Godwin (mnemonic)  Thu 23 Dec 93 10:28

 Antoinette LaFarge, a student in my class this fall at the School of
 Visual Arts, developed as her term paper this lexicon from the year
 2030.
 
 Comments and additions solicited.

eff.546.2: Mike Godwin (mnemonic)  Thu 23 Dec 93 10:31

 
 DDB2030.12.17.20:20:21GMT
 Homebase:  ~U.S. Government Publishing Office.
 Download to:  Mike Godwin, Electronic Frontier Foundation.
 Status:  digsig not verified�no-interrupt.
 Checklist:  autolott yes�update yes�images no�dtp format 
 no�search yes (art, pub, law)�update editor: Antoinette 
 LaFarge.
 Filename:  *Cylex*
 File begin:
 
 Note on usage: *boldface* type indicates word being defined; 
 _italic_ type indicates word defined elsewhere in Cylex or used 
 as an example.
 
 *Antilex*:  (n)  a variant on _Cylex_� published by a shifting 
 coalition of _e-pubs_� who feel that Cylex is often both 
 inaccurate (because slanted toward the government viewpoint) 
 and out of date.
 
 *autolott*:  (n)  short for *auto*mated *lott*ery, this is the 
 standard form of lottery now run by most major companies, the 
 federal government, and all state governments except Utah.  
 Most digital transfers now automatically cause the 
 destination/recipient to be encoded and dropped into a lottery 
 pool, from which prize drawings are then made.  This form of 
 lottery, in which one does not have to actively play to win, is an 
 outgrowth of the credit-card pools of the 1990s. Autolotts were 
 devised in part as a corporate marketing method to get around 
 the highly successful _doorman_ programs. 
   
 *black bank*:  (n) an underground institution for generating and 
 distributing digital signatures outside the government-approved 
 three-bank scheme.  Black banks tend to be small and to go in 
 and out of business quickly as they are usually unable to sustain 
 the integrity of their security schemes and thus can lose all their 
 business literally overnight.  Although not technically illegal, 
 they cater to an amorphous and shifting population of criminals 
 and _clans_ who for one reason or another don't trust the 
 integrity of the national digital-signature scheme.  The Russian, 
 South African, Korean, and Caribbean mafias are all known to 
 run their own black banks.
 
 *bureaucrat*:  (n) obsolete; see _hulk_.
 
 *bodyguard*:  (n) general term covering localized software that 
 searches out and destroys viruses, worms, trojan horses, 
 scavengers, and other net wildlife. The U.S. government has 
 imposed severe restrictions on bodyguards to ensure that they 
 don't run loose in the net. (See also: _cannibal, hulk._)
 
 *borden*:  (n) any nondigital object that figures as evidence in 
 a legal proceeding, especially under criminal law.  Since most 
 legal proceedings are now carried out entirely in cyberspace, 
 lawyers have largely lost the ability to sway juries by showing 
 them physical evidence of crimes. In cases where such evidence 
 is important, prosecutors (rarely defense lawyers) often pursue 
 strategies to get the case transferred from cyberspace to real-
 space courtrooms.  Hence (v) _to borden_ means to obtain or 
 try to obtain such a change of venue.  The word derives 
 indirectly from the bloodstained ax that played such a 
 prominent role in the conviction of Lizzie Borden for the 
 murder of her parents.  See also the phrase: _borden of proof_.
 
 *cannibal*:  (n) a special form of _bodyguard_ that will wipe 
 out everything on its home computer net, including itself, once 
 activated.  Popular among criminals for destroying digital 
 evidence beyond the possibility of recovery, they can be set to 
 react to time delays, improper logons, remotes, and other 
 tripwires.  There are a number of different types of cannibal, 
 only a few of which are dangerous to humans. Those 
 incorporating explosives are known as _challengers_ (in 
 reference to an early space shuttle that blew up, taking out 
 seven astronauts in the process), while those causing 
 electrocution of the person trying to access the data are known 
 as _headhunters_. 
 
 *cat-tag*:  (n)  a digital signature for corporations and other 
 businesses; legally required for all business e-mail and data 
 transfers over the net.  The word is a short form of "catalog tag" 
 and also probably a back-formation from _dogtag._ Cat-tags 
 came into use after the first flood of digital junk mail; the 
 ensuing consumer protests brought about the adoption of cat-
 tags that could be screened by _doorman_ programs. The 
 government used the controversy to institute compulsory 
 registration of digital signatures in so-called _name banks_. 
 Cat-tags are handled by one of the three major signature banks, 
 the First National Name Bank (a subsidiary of Citicorp).  
 
 *clan*:  (n) a type of on-line voluntary organization formed 
 among private individuals to exchange information and pursue 
 group activities in a limited forum.  The word is an acronym 
 whose expansion is disputed; according to most authorities it 
 stands for *c*ompound *l*ocal *a*rea *n*etwork, but popular 
 etymology usually gives it as short for *c*ol*la*borative *n*et. 
 Clans sprang up in the wake of the Clinton administration's 
 disastrous health care reform and the information deluge 
 released in cyberspace by the gradual dismantling of the 
 copyright laws.  In order to reassert control over the quality of 
 information, advice, and services given and received, people 
 spontaneously started forming small, tightly knit groups on the 
 net, usually in the form of _lockout_ forums.  Typically, a clan 
 is started by a few close friends, and over time they gradually 
 lock in new members of complementary professions.  For 
 example, a group that had no doctor member would recruit 
 someone compatible from the on-line and/or off-line 
 community.  However, there are also highly specialized clans, 
 such as the craft clans and the _Tertians_.  Some clans have 
 membership fees, but most work primarily on a barter system, 
 such that members work a certain numbers of hours a year for 
 each other. It is considered a mark of status to be recruited by a 
 prestigious clan.
 
 *Cylex*:  (n) the on-line lexicon of slang continuously 
 published and updated by the U.S. government in accordance 
 with a 2003 mandate of Congress.  In a series of landmark 
 discrimination cases, it was argued that since slang is such a 
 vital aspect of cyberspace life, anyone who couldn't master it is 
 effectively excluded from large parts of the net.  Moreover, the 
 speed with which net slang evolves serves to bar anyone who 
 isn't a net regular.  Hence, Cylex was set up as a _tilde_ 
 resource to equalize access to the net.  It can be downloaded by 
 anyone, at any time.  In theory, it is kept up to date; however, 
 the true lag time is considered to be between six and eight 
 weeks.  In addition, there are always pockets of long-term ex-
 Cylex slang on the net; these tend to be formed by people who 
 intentionally use slang (rather than encryption) as an 
 exclusionary method and actively resist having their terms 
 become transparent to Cylex.  Since Cylex depends greatly on 
 volunteers (its paid staff is small and the project is permanently 
 underfunded), it is not difficult for determined groups to keep 
 personal slang Cylex-opaque for relatively long periods.
 
 *DD*:  (n, a) acronym for *d*ownload *d*ate, usually given in 
 numerals in the form 
 DDyear.month.day.hour:minute:secondGMT.  The standard 
 international dating procedure on the net, it is sometimes 
 extended to include fractions of a second.  DDs are normally 
 the first term in any downloaded data and may be further 
 subdivided into _DDB_ (*d*ownload *d*ate *b_egin, at the 
 start of transmission) and _DDE_ (*download *d*ate *e*nd, at 
 the end of transmission).  "Created on" dates are still sometimes 
 seen, especially attached to certain fixed forms of artwork, but 
 are considered obsolete because unverifiable.  (See also: 
 _genealogy, sourcing_).
 
 *digsig*:  (n) semi-official slang for *dig*ital *sig*nature; the 
 U.S. government in particular avoids the use of the otherwise 
 universal _dogtag_.
 
 *diy forgery*:  (n)   1. a plan, diagram, or other type of 
 instruction for making and/or performing artworks issued by 
 artists themselves, usually through the _Municipal Dump_.   2. 
 an object or process created using such instructions.
 Most artists do not actually make objects anymore but simply 
 register the plans and/or instructions with the MD, which holds 
 them in a database and distributes them at a nominal charge. 
 One popular activity is to combine several different sets of diy 
 forgery, either simultaneously or sequentially. (See also:  
 _kunstmorph_.)  Diy forgeries (short for *d*o-*i*t-*y*ourself 
 *forgeries*) are sometimes referred to as authorized forgeries. 
 
 *dogtag*:  (n) slang for digital signature generally, derived 
 from the military slang for tags recording one's identification 
 number.  Usually used to refer to digital signatures of 
 individuals, while _cat-tag is reserved for business-related 
 digital signatures.  Dogtags are handled by two of the three 
 major signature banks, the _Federal Name Repository_ (under 
 the Federal Reserve Bank) and 21st Century Names (a 
 subsidiary of Time Warner).
 
 *doorman*:  (n) a computer program used to screen incoming 
 data, especially e-mail and junk mail, for unwanted items.  
 Doormen became popular after the federal government began to 
 deliver subpoenas electronically and disputes arose over the 
 point at which an e-subpoena could be said to have been 
 accepted.  Any item that passes a doorman is now considered to 
 have been received by the gateway computer and hence also by 
 its registered owner.  Most doormen also incorporate 
 _bodyguards_.
 
 *doormat*:  (n) an ineffective _doorman_.
 
 *download from/to*:  (v)  _download from_ means to copy data 
 off a data source such as a net; _download to_ means to copy 
 data to such a data source.  Download to has completely 
 replaced the now-obsolete _upload to_, which fell out of use as 
 the hierarchical (and psychological) distinctions between large 
 (central, multiuser) and small (personal) computers vanished in 
 the late 1990s.
 
 *dwarfing*:  (n)  a common method for including _source_ 
 information in digital files by reducing the information packet 
 greatly in size and embedding it in some other part of the data. 
 As dwarfing often involves actual data compression as well, it 
 is one of the more difficult forms of hidden sourcing to recover.
 
 *e-* : prefix for electronic; used generally as a synonym for on-
 line and specifically to differentiate something from its off-line 
 counterpart; e.g., an _e-zine_ would normally refer to a zine 
 that has no real-world counterpart.
 
 *e-cash*:  (n) digital money. Coins and bills are ordinarily used 
 only for very small purchases and also on the black market.
 
 *e-pub_: (n) an electronic publisher, as distinct from a _p&t 
 publisher_.
 
 *Federal Name Repository*:  (n) federal name bank for 
 generating and storing the digital signatures (encryption keys) 
 that replaced social security numbers as of 2009.  The 
 government now generates a pair of keys for every child as 
 soon as its birth is registered; the public key serves the same 
 functions as the old social-security number and in addition is 
 used to encode certain data throughout an individual's life that 
 will be accessible to that person only.  The child's private key is 
 kept under wraps at the FNR until his or her 18th birthday, at 
 which point it is turned over to that individual alone. 
 
 *fortune hunt*:  (n, v)  a search for hidden information in data 
 files (such as e-catalogs, e-zines, and e-books) that entitles the 
 finder to a prize.  These are in vogue among puzzle enthusiasts 
 generally but nowhere near as popular or lucrative as the 
 _autolotts_.
 
 *genealogy*:  (n)  a new specialty within the field of art history 
 and criticism, genealogy consists of interpreting artistic trends 
 and developments by tracing the ramifications of _source_ lists 
 through different generations of image transfer, duplication, 
 alteration, etc.  Genealogists tend to be looked down on by 
 traditional art historians because most of their data are 
 inherently unreliable.
 
 *Generics*:  (n)  an e-zine published by the _Municipal Dump_ 
 and featuring the theory and practice of generic art.  In the 
 1990s, the activities of the Museum of Forgery and others 
 brought about a shift in focus from brand-name art (e.g., 
 Leonardo's Mona Lisa) to generic categories of art (e.g., "mona-
 lisas"; that is, works related to the Mona Lisa).  Each issue of 
 _Generics_ normally has a person, style, period, or individual 
 work as its theme, and generic works created by artists on that 
 theme are published. Making appropriate attributions (rather 
 than listing works under the names of their actual creators) is a 
 central activity of _Generics_.  As a rule, issues are updated 
 annually; the two most popular issues, on baldessaris and 
 posthumous duchamps, run over 1000 pages of hardcopy 
 apiece.
 
 *hibachi*:  (n)  a photograph known or presumed to have been 
 altered; much in use by the legal profession.  The term came 
 into use in the late 1990s, often sarcastically, when a series of 
 court cases hinging on disputed photographic evidence led to 
 severe restrictions on the use of photographs (and later videos) 
 as evidence.  The phrase traces back to a remark by a Vietnam 
 War general, William Westmoreland, who dismissed a famous 
 photograph of napalmed Vietnamese children running down a 
 road as a "hibachi accident." 
 
 *homebase*:  (n)  the original source of data or other 
 information, usually presumed to be a guarantee that it is 
 unaltered and/or of high quality.  Early concerns about the need 
 to protect against data piracy through more stringent copyright 
 laws vanished when it became clear that people were willing to 
 pay for homebase material in order to protect themselves 
 against corrupt or infected files.  (It was actually possible to 
 market homebase material for some time before the advent of 
 _dogtags_ and _e-cash_ made it really practical to do so.)
 
 *hulk*:  (n) also: Hulk.  An ineffective _bodyguard_.  The term 
 comes from the name of Hulk Hogan, a one-time professional 
 wrestler; the implication is that a hulk looks like it's doing its 
 job but does not do any real damage to its opponent.  Hulk 
 replaces the formerly popular _bureaucrat.
 
 *hypgnostic*:  (n) variant spelling of _hypnostic_.
 
 *hypnostic*:  (n) a computer program that can induce varying 
 levels of hypnosis or trance states in the user under controlled 
 conditions.  Usually in the form of rapidly metamorphosing, 
 often geometric images combined with a sound track, 
 hypnostics are an outgrowth of research into the long-term 
 neurological effects of screen-saver programs.  Although they 
 have become popular adjuncts to meditation, therapy, and 
 recreational drug use, there is continuing controversy over 
 parallel military research that has led to the development of 
 programs that can induced severe disorientation, hallucination, 
 phobia, catatonia, schizophrenia, and other forms of mental 
 breakdown.  Hypnostics are also implicated in the premature 
 development of cataracts, and most regular hypnostics users 
 suffer from semi-permanent facial tics in the region of the eyes.
 
 *interrupt*:  (n, a)  used to signal that a data transmission will 
 not go through as requested or will be terminated before 
 completion; normally followed by reason for the interrupt.
 
 *kunstmorph*:  (n, v) an activity in which one chooses two 
 artworks and creates a metamorphic sequence between them.  
 Most popular as a digital process, it is also a common off-line 
 activity among the craft _clans._
 
 *lockin*:  (n, a)  a part of cyberspace to which one has a 
 password.  Similarly, to _lock in_ (v) means to give someone a 
 cyberpass.
 
 *lockout*:  (n) any part of cyberspace to which one does not 
 have the password.  Similarly, to _lock out_ (v).
 
 *MD Pound*:  (n) a recycling center run by the _Municipal 
 Dump_ in most major cities to which anyone can bring 
 artworks for destruction, exchange, or recycling.  MD Pounds 
 work on an exchange principle; for every pound of materials 
 one donates, one is entitled to take away an equivalent 
 poundage.  They grew out of the environmental aesthetic, which 
 recognized that artists who created much more than they 
 destroyed were guilty of a form of littering.  The MD Pound 
 logo features the mustaches of Salvador Dali, a notably prolific 
 20th century surrealist.
 
 *Municipal Dump*:  (n)  an institution formed by the 
 Macarthur Foundation in 2117 to act as a clearinghouse for 
 nonobject artists.  The name comes from the common slang 
 used to denote museums generally and New York's 
 Metropolitan Museum in particular ("municipal dump" replaced 
 the formerly popular "mausoleum").  The MD's main functions 
 include maintaining a digital database of artworks, publishing 
 _Generics_, and distributing _diy forgeries_.  The MD also 
 maintains MD Pounds_ in major cities.  The MD logo features 
 the mustache-and-goatee from Marcel Duchamp's famous 
 _L.H.O.O.Q. _ One occasionally sees MD referred to as 
 M2_D2_ because of a prevailing belief that the institution's 
 "secret" name is Marcel Duchamp's Municipal Dump.
 
 *name bank*:  (n) 1.  a repository for generating, distributing, 
 and storing public and private keys for data encryption 2. a 
 registry for digital signatures.  As money became fully 
 electronic at the turn of the century, banks took over the 
 business of security for their customers' digital signatures.  
 Eventually, due in part to the proliferation of competing public-
 key encryption schemes, Congress moved to restrict name 
 banks to three:  one for government transactions, one for 
 business transactions, and one for personal transactions.  Most 
 people have keys in at least two of the three banks. (See also:  
 _Federal Name Repository._)
 
 *no-interrupt*:  (n, a)  used to signal that a data transmission 
 will go through as requested; compare _interrupt_.
 
 *picon*:  (n)  short for *p*ersonal *icon*, a picon is a graphical 
 or other data-generated stand-in for an individual, much used in 
 place of names, signatures, and/or photos on vidphones, nets, 
 and elsewhere.  Picons can be protected under trademark law 
 only if they are registered in the National Picon Database, in 
 order to avoid multiple instances of the same picon.  However, 
 they are not accepted by the government or for legal purposes in 
 lieu of dogtags. (The corporate equivalent of a picon is a logo.)
 
 *p&t*:  (a)  also:  pnt.  short for *p*oint *&_ *t*ouch, p&t 
 refers to things that are tangible or real-world as opposed to 
 intangible (hyperspatial, cyberspatial, mental).  Generally used 
 as a shorthand for object-oriented; e.g., a _p&t publisher_ as 
 opposed to an _e-pub_.  Often used to imply that something is 
 old-fashioned, as in _his artwork is real p&t stuff_.
 
 *source*:  (v)  to source means to give credit to one's sources of 
 materials, especially those being substantially altered.  Sourcing 
 became a widespread norm even before the death of copyright 
 meant that one could source one's materials without fear of 
 being sued for copyright infringement.  Some people advocate 
 making sourcing a legal requirement, but because that would 
 obviously be unenforceable and because source data are often 
 unverifiable, this movement has never really gotten off the 
 ground.  Accurate sourcing is a point of pride for most artists, 
 and since source lists (or genealogies) can become quite long 
 and complex, a number of ingenious ways of either hiding them 
 or displaying them have been developed. (See: genealogy, 
 transparency._)
 
 *source hunt*:  (n, v) an attempt to recover hidden source 
 information in a data file.  Source hunting became popular 
 among puzzle enthusiasts and was a precursor of the now more 
 generally popular _fortune hunt._  Many filemakers, especially 
 artists, offer prizes to source hunters to spur general interest in 
 their work. 
 
 *Tertian*:  (n, a)  originally:  Orbis Tertian.  Tertians are 
 members of Orbis Tertius, an unusual _clan_ linked by the 
 common project of realizing a special edition of the 
 _Encyclopedia Britannica_ mentioned in Jorge Luis Borges's 
 short story "Tl�n, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius." In Borges's story, a 
 certain edition of the Britannica contains extra entries that refer 
 to another world, intriguing details of which are given in the 
 story.  Orbis Tertius was founded by a group of writers 
 specifically to alter the _Britannica_ in conformity with 
 Borges's story, and the Tertians subsequently continued to 
 extend the fiction at great length.  It was a court case arising out 
 of the activities of the Tertians that led to the final extinction of 
 copyright law when the _Britannica's_ publishers lost their 
 attempt to bar the Tertians from altering the encyclopedia 
 without permission.  _Homebase_ editions of the Tertian 
 Encyclopedia are consistent bestsellers (subscribers are entitled 
 to get it updated on request). 
 
 *tilde* (*~*):  printer's mark, adopted for use to signify that 
 material is free of all restrictions on alteration, copying, 
 publication, etc., including the normal convention of _sourcing.
 
 *transparency*:  (n) a common form for source information to 
 be included in digital files, especially object-oriented image 
 files.  Transparencies are a layer of information included in a 
 file and assigned an object color of transparent (or background, 
 paper, etc.).  To recover them, one must know how to search for 
 invisible objects in such files, a procedure that varies from 
 application to application. (See also:  _dwarfing_, _source 
 hunt._)
 
 *wormfare*:  (n)  electronically based warfare, especially 
 attacks directed at the computer command and control 
 structures of other nations, as by net wildlife.
 
 *wormfood*:  (n)  any computer software or hardware that is 
 poorly protected against intrusion from worms, viruses, and 
 other net wildlife. 
 
 :File end
 DDE2030.12.17.20:21:53GMT
 

eff.546.4: Bruce Sterling (bruces)  Thu 23 Dec 93 14:32

   Gosh, how very Stanislaw Lem of her.
 

eff.546.5: Trying to get in touch with my inner grownup... (sforslev)  Thu 23 Dec 93 18:50

 *Cybercrap*: (n)  Term common at Evanston High School in the early
 1990's.
 
 It refers to technical jargon that is like the love of God -
 It passeth all understanding.

eff.546.6: Mike Godwin (mnemonic)  Thu 23 Dec 93 22:48

 I actually rather like her name--Antoinette LaFarge--which I assume is
 either a fake or an adopted name.
 
 She told me she took my class because she's interested in issues relating
 to forgeries.
 
 I like "dogtags" and "cattags" myself.
 
 Also, "wormfood."

eff.546.7: Information Superhighwayman (gjk)  Fri 24 Dec 93 06:02

 Her name and interests suggest she has a very dark side.  Introduce us?

eff.546.8: Mike Godwin (mnemonic)  Fri 24 Dec 93 07:57

 I'm not sure you're up to meeting her, Jack.