Re: NYT on Internet Flaws

[Jeff Weinstein <jsw@netscape.com>]

Douglas Barnes wrote:
> It is profoundly irritating to find this splashed on the
> front page of the NYT, contributing to the FUD that
> largely benefits luddites like First Virtual and
> those, like MS$, pushing for a return to proprietary networks.
> (One quote from FV marketing director Pierre Wolfe at the ML
> conference I recently attended, "The Internet may end up
> as a ghetto, where people are afraid to engage in commercial
> activity.")

  It is a fact of life now that there are many journalists
lurking on cypherpunks, and other places on the net.  I have
been directly contacted by three reporters just in the past
week.  Our PR department tells me that cypherpunks, and my
name, are routinely mentioned by reporters these days.  I've
seen my postings to this list quoted without my prior knowlege
in at least one news article.

  I wish that folks sending to this list would realize this
new world exists, as much as it sucks, and spend a bit more time
double checking before posting anything alarmist.  In particular,
there have been several recent false alarms regarding netscape
security sent to this list and others.  While I don't want to sweep
real security holes under the rug, I think it hurts both cypherpunk
and netscape interests for false claims to be coming out of this
list.  

  Just to make things clear, I'm not an official spokesperson
for Netscape and anything sent to this list is my personal opinion.

	--Jeff

-- 
Jeff Weinstein - Electronic Munitions Specialist
Netscape Communication Corporation
jsw@netscape.com - http://home.netscape.com/people/jsw
Any opinions expressed above are mine.