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\section{Are all sysops criminals?}

\dropcap{T}he U.S. Declaration of Independence\margintext{Oops --
the original article named the Constitution; what's being
referred to is the ``inalienable rights'' passage. Oh well, it
gets the point across anyways.} does not grant us rights. ``Our''
government does not grant us rights. They have nothing to give
us, other than ostensibly services which it provides from our
taxes. (I'll leave that one alone here.)

The Constitution simply admits that, as humans, we have certain
rights, and that the government recognizes this, and promises not 
to take them away. THAT was the revolutionary idea behind this
government.

This is an incredibly important difference, and one which our
government does not like to emphasize. They want it to
appear\plainmargintext{By the way, another article that
originally appeared in FidoNews.} that they are the defenders of
all that is good, when in reality they are one of the worst
offenders. 

\interrupt

Tim Pozar \& I just got back from the Hackers Conference 6.0.
(The Hackers' Conferences are an invite-only social event for the
creative weirdos who make up at least part of the forces behind
the (mostly) software frontier. When they were started in '84,
the micro software industry was still somewhat laughable in
large-industry terms (though given a lot of credibility (sic) by
the IBM PC a few years before), and ``hacker'' usually meant more
or less what ``ham'' did in amateur radio.

I've been to four of them so far, 1, 2, 4 and 6. The first two
were great, the 4th not so, in my peculiar opinion. It was too
\dots isolated. The whole trickle-down thing revisited. Like this
-- ``We're making the tools that will benefit the world'' and all
that rot, and if it only cost \$500, everyone could buy one.
(Forgetting that they themselves are 1\% of 1\% and \$500 is an
unthinkable figure for {\it most} US citizens -- and growing.)

But this year was different. 

\interrupt

The unix-based uucp\margintext{Oops again. The original article
said ``usenet'' here, which is like saying echomail instead of
FidoNet. (Isn't that helpful?)} network has many corporations
that pay for telecomm costs, unlike us bums who pay for FidoNet
ourselves, or on the sly where possible. Until a year or so ago,
FidoNet was not considered a ``real'' network, whatever that is.
Part of it was simple snootiness, but a big part was simply that
we sprung up from a place no one was expecting, and even when the
wilder of the ``traditional network'' bunch looked in the right
direction, they weren't sure of exactly what it was they were
seeing\dots you have to admit we are a curious bunch.

People don't just ``build'' networks. They are expensive, take
all that expensive minicomputer hardware, and who takes care of
all those user accounts? What user accounts?! Where's your VAX?
Hey wait a minute\dots 

\interrupt

Some INTERNET nodes specialize in FTP'able (filereqestable)
files; utilities, documents, that sort of thing, just like
FidoNet nodes do. One specialized in~.GIF picture files,
including some of variously erotic content. The (government)
sponsors of the net (in keeping with the current censorious
trend) ordered the stuff ``off''. The Finnish offered to take the
files, where they quickly became 70\% of the traffic\dots and
indication of their U.S. popularity.

Then the feds (I forget the branch) told the Fins: if you
continue to provide those files to the U.S., we will cut all of
your network connections. The Fins had no choice; survival comes
first.

\interrupt

The Hackers Conference was in a ski-lodge in Tahoe City, starting
Friday afternoon, ending Sunday afternoon. Sleep optional. Dinner
served at midnight. (Us vegetarian types had to sludge through
greasy sauce-laden meat and such. Where ``mint tea'' is some grim
lipton-clone where I swear they simply held a mint-leaf over the
mixing vat\dots)\plainmargintext{I seem to be insulting our hosts
here, which was not the intent. These things are more like
organically chaotic than rigidly organized. Oh well.}

After the usual preliminaries (beer, M\&M's, 10,000 ``hello''s,
finding rooms, etc) the fun begins -- a 48 hr long bullshit
session, interrupted with food, sleep and occasional 
not-well-organized\margintext{} ``sessions''.

In one of the bigger sessions, someone asked ``how many people
had been interviewed recently by the FBI?'' Fully 1/4th raised
their hands.

\interrupt

The FidoNet is nothing if not contradictions -- independent,
unpredictable, paranoid, decentralist, self\dash sufficient,
flexible, reactionary, technically so\-phis\-ti\-cated\dots Some
wonder how we get anything done. I wonder how anyone ELSE gets
things done!

What appears to be a liability to the ``rest of the world'', our
``lack of organization'', lack of resources (90's code word for
money) may be our long-term survival and later cause for
rejoicing.

Corporate ``resources'' don't come without strings, as the
usenet\margintext{Aargh. uucp I mean.} may be about to find out.
This past weekend, that bastion of liberalism (well, liberal
capitalism; well, capitalism) Apple Computer just pulled the plug
on the alt.sex.* newsgroups. (Their equiv.~of echo conferences;
``.*'' means just what you DOS users might guess; it's a lot of
conferences!) (Apple was a very big ``backbone'' distribution
node.) Why? ``Too controversial'' or some such. I'm sure it's a
``good reason''. And of course they can do it, just like that. It
is not unthinkable it will start a ``run'' on plug-pulling. 

Before we get too snooty ourselves, we have to keep in mind that
we are just as vulnerable, maybe more so -- we don't have the
resources to defend ourselves, nor the connections (yet) to the
network community (though thanks to Tim Pozar we have ufgate
(usenet\margintext{\dots}/fidonet gateway) and INTERNET status).
WE NEED THOSE TO SURVIVE. And we can do it while maintaining our
utter and complete independence. And, the INTERNET will learn
from us.

\interrupt

To a few people, the high number of (ahem) interviewees was not a
surprise. Mitch Kapor and John Barlow both had funny (if it was
fiction) and foreboding (because of the feds power and ignorance)
``interviews''. The story is quite interesting, and was available
on The Well and in print. To make a long story short, they have
formed the EFF -- Electronic Frontier Foundation -- to defend
First, (protected speech) and Fourth, (unreasonable
search/seizure) Constitutional Amendments, as well to monitor
ECPA (Electronic Communications Privacy Act) and other
violations, and to work with legislators to work out fair laws.

What was most heartening to me, was the approach -- instead of
defending only the ``nice, upstanding'', positive-image type
cases, they went for the real issues -- the kids and families
getting busted at gun point by the feds, where literally every
piece of electronics removed from the house, no recourse, no
reason, no charges filed. The Niedorff case, where the claimed
\$70K ``stolen file'' is found to be a brochure available to
anyone for under \$14. (And the press still calls it ``stolen 911
software''.) Steve Jackson Games; computers seized because an
employee allegedly had on his home BBS a copy of the E911 doc
(they were confused as to the location of the BBS; they later
claimed that S.J.'s cyberpunk games (role playing like Dungeons
\& Dragons) were actually instructions on how to break into 
real-life computers!)

In another case, the FBI thought that (1) John Draper (aka Cap'n
Crunch) was CEO of AutoDesk and (2) AutoDesk was involved in Star
Wars research, because they worked with something called
``hyperspace''. Yup -- it's hilarious, only they have guns,
secrecy, bureaucracy and the power to evade legal process and
accountability. And, you get hung in the press because their
version of ``reality'' is so\dots heavy.

It is so rare to find someone who acts ``from the heart'' in
their life, politics and actions, willing to put reputations at
stake and correctly defend the ``undefendable'' first, not last.
I have nothing but good things to say about EFF and it's
supporters.

\interrupt

This years FidoCon should be the best one yet. I'm actually
looking forward to going, a rare event. (I'll drive out in my
propane-powered '63 Rambler.) John Barlow, now of EFF fame, will
be speaking. And you ought to listen -- not only is he an
interesting speaker (and lyricist for the Grateful Dead!), the
subject is Your Personal Future -- our governments actions
against all too ordinary citizens, and what the EFF is doing, and
what you can do as well.

We all went through some internal hell these last few years, of
which the growth and death of IFNA was merely a symptom. Look --
the FidoNet doubled in size every few months for years, and is
still growing at a rate that is completely, bar-none,
unprecedented. How many of you have broad-based communications
skills or experience? How many of you had telecomm.~and/or
conferencing experience before FidoNet? Simple experiences of
speaking in a large group of diverse people? And I mean as in
communications with humans, not hacking. Very few of us, I'm
afraid, and while it's been a serious problem, it (1) affords us
a fresh perspective and (2) simply something we have to deal
with. The fun is in the learning.

I think we are heading for the fourth phase of FidoNet growth
(innocent start, echomail, paranoid self-consciousness, \dots).
The timing is good -- we have some real work cut out for us.

\interrupt

So this year's Hackers Conference was different. How? Finally
they reached my level of paranoia. There was an edge of stark
reality in the air. A bit more tied to the planet.

Personally, it completed a circle. Now, every single thing I'm
involved in is officially disliked and under investigation and
infiltration by police of one sort or another. I think those that
though ``well, you must have somehow brought it on yourself'' are
starting to see, it's not like that at all\dots

\interrupt

By the way -- you might have heard about the nonsense at Prodigy
-- the idiotic administrators using broad scale censorship
(correct word) to squash dissent. What you probably don't know --
because the reports themselves were self-censored -- was that the
original discussion, purged by Prodigy, was over gay rights and
anything to do with gay people. This is what Prodigy claimed was
``offensive material''.

Shame, shame, on the so-called liberal types who in their turn
did not report that. It was not simply not including the gay
angle; it was intentionally removed, a very different thing.
Everyone suffers from that removal.

\interrupt

(1) The usenet\margintext{\dots} is our ally. We need as many
interconnections with it, and other networks, as is reasonably
possible. We are all under attack. Besides, it's technically
interesting.

(2) Don't fall for what Pastor Martin Niemoller did; (``In
Germany they first came for the Communists and I didn't speak
because I wasn't a Communist\dots'') We're all ``commies'' in
that sense -- the [attacks upon] brat hackers are simply the thin
edge of the wedge. Criminals are criminals -- which is decided in
a court of law, not with a sealed search warrant and
intimidation.

(3) Watch for EFF stuff in the net, or contact them directly. EFF
Inc, 112 Second St, Cambridge MA 02142. voice (617)\dash 864\dash
0665, or usenet eff@well.sf.ca.us Bug 'em for an echo
conference\margintext{Which is now available from my node.}. Tell
'em you are from the FidoNet. 

(4) The First Conference on Computers, Freedom \& Privacy will be
held 25 - 28 March 91 at the SFO Marriott. The goal is to open
channels of communication between network and telecomm experts,
info/datacomm providers, law enforcement, prosecutors,
constitutional exports, computer users and civil libertarians.
Attendance will be limited to 600 people. The event is sponsored
by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, and chaired
by Jim Warren (of West Coast Computer Faire [fame], amongst other
notorieties). CFPconf, 345 Swett Rd, Woodside CA 94062, FAX
(415)\dash 851\dash 2814, or usenet jwarren@well.sf.ca.us

\interrupt

{\narrower
It is of more importance to the community that innocence should
be protected than it is that guilt should be punished, for guilt
and crimes are so frequent in the world that all of them cannot
be punished, and many times they happen in such a manner that it
is not of much consequence to the public whether they are
punished or not. But when innocence itself is brought to the bar
and condemned, especially to die, the subject will exclaim, ``It
is immaterial to me whether I behave well or ill, for virtue is
no security''. And if such sentiment as this should take place in
the mind of the subject there would be an end to all security
whatsoever.\par

\hbox to\bigcol{\hfil\it -- John Adams}

}
