Re: Draft of editorial to SF Chronicle

["Ian Farquhar" <ianf@sydney.sgi.com>]

On Jan 13, 10:23pm, Raph Levien wrote:
> Negative response was immediate. The perpetrators were asked to stop,
> but they refused to. One Norwegian hacker took it upon himself to
> track down and "cancel" the offending messages. Most people on the Net
> considered this to be entirely appropriate.

It would probably be more accurate to say that there was little condemnation
of this action, and quite a groundswell of support for the move.

> A number of other self-promoting hucksters have sensed an opportunity,
> and have performed similar spams. In response, the Net evolved a
> defense mechanism to counter these spams and minimize the damage. The
> person currently serving this role is known by the pseudonym
> "CancelMoose." Almost everyone on the Net supports this effort, and
> agrees that it improves the overall value of Usenet.

Ditto.

> In many countries (and even China is on the Net these days), writings
> critical of the government, such as exposure of human rights abuses,
> are illegal. The authors face imprisonment, torture and death. By
> posting anonymously to the Net, the information can be brought safely
> to the attention of the world.

Perhaps mention the Russian coup, where the net became a conduite for
information leaving Moscow.  I remember a colleague of mine announcing
incidents which had occured within Moscow hours before the news services
broadcast them, simply by getting emails from a colleague nearby,

						Ian.