strani.sistemi.104dejanr,
-> #102, m.hristodulo>> Evo spiska BBSova iz Slovenije, Hrvatske i Srbije. Preuzeto sa ABM BBSa.
Hvala. Ja sam na osnovu tog spiska (ili nekog njegovog izdanja?) pre
desetak dana napravio novu verziju EXYUBBS.TXT, ali sam malo oklevao da
stavim u direktorijum NOVOSTI jer sam hteo da proverim postoje li još
neki BBS-ovi u Hrvatskoj za koje mi neki rekoše da ne rade. Bilo kako bilo,
eno ga EXYUBBS.TXT na mestu, pa ako ima primedbi, kažite!
strani.sistemi.105zonjic,
-> #97, balsa> *> tel. 99-386-61-154-156 (valjda 12 linija, ali nisam bas siguran
> za broj)
>
> Zvao sam ovaj broj večeras, ali izgleda da je promenjen....javlja se
> automat.
Hristodulo je ispravio ovaj broj, naime ja sam zaboravio na
promenu koja se desila u PTTLJ a koja vazi od 01.10.93. (dodavanje
dvojke!) i o kojoj se mnogo pisalo (citaj pljuvalo) na slvenackom
konferencijskom sistemu na DECnetu.
Rade
strani.sistemi.106zonjic,
-> #98, ppekovic> Kada sam se ja učlanjivao tamo, pisalo je da je za korisnike iz
> Srbije učlanjivanje besplatno i da ne moraš čak ni razglednicu da
> šalješ.
e, sad ne znam, ovo sto sam ja rekao tvrdi Boris Horvat, cosysop
strani.sistemi.107zonjic,
-> #101, m.hristodulo> >> tel. 99-386-61-154-156
>
> Novi broj ABM BBSa je 1254-156.
Pa ga sada lepo rehashujemo pa dobijemo civilizovanu (amersku) verziju
three by four: 125-4156
;)
strani.sistemi.108zonjic,
-> #102, m.hristodulo> ║Srbija║
> ╠══════╩═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
> ║Dinasys 2:382/100 (011) 615-153 ZyX ║
> ║Fenix 2:382/104 (011) 414-312 9600 ║
> ║Velcom 2:382/103 (011) 344-263 14400 ║
jes' da ih nema mnogo, al odabrase bar ono sto vredi ;)
DejRane, posalji kolezi spisak BBS-ova sa Sezama. (EIGER::HORVAT)
strani.sistemi.109pedjak,
-> #102, m.hristodulo> ║Dinasys 2:382/100 (011) 615-153 ZyX ║
> ║Fenix 2:382/104 (011) 414-312 9600 ║
> ║Velcom 2:382/103 (011) 344-263 14400 ║
Jel' oni stvarno nemaju pojma da ovde postoji još neki bbs ?
strani.sistemi.110magician,
-> #108, zonjic=> DejRane, posalji kolezi spisak BBS-ova sa Sezama. (EIGER::HORVAT)
Koliko sam ja ukapirao, na listi su samo BBS-ovi u FidoNet-u...
Zato ih je samo tri!
strani.sistemi.111dejanr,
-> #108, zonjic>> DejRane, posalji kolezi spisak BBS-ova sa Sezama. (EIGER::HORVAT)
Poslao sam mu pre nekog vremena. Izgleda da su na spisak stavili samo one koji
su na FIDONET-u.
strani.sistemi.112m.hristodulo,
-> #106, zonjic>>> Kada sam se ja uclanjivao tamo, pisalo je da je
>>> za korisnike iz Srbije uclanjivanje besplatno i
>>> da ne moras cak ni razglednicu da saljes.
>>
>> e, sad ne znam, ovo sto sam ja rekao tvrdi Boris
>> Horvat, cosysop
Upravo idem da posaljem razglednicu.
Negde u procesu registracije (popunjavanja
raznih upitnika), je pisalo da korisnici iz Srbije,
umesto pretplate, treba da posalju razglednicu i
dobice godinu dana full acces. Cak sam dobio i
poruku od Borisa u kojoj me on poziva da to ucinim.
To je stil, nema sta, :)
strani.sistemi.113m.hristodulo,
-> #107, zonjic>> three by four: 125-4156
1254-156 stavih da bi se uocila ta dvojka.
;)
strani.sistemi.114astral,
-> #109, pedjakHAJ, NEHAJ !!
şşş > ║Dinasys 2:382/100 (011) 615-153
şşş > ║Fenix 2:382/104 (011) 414-312
şşş > ║Velcom 2:382/103 (011) 344-263
şşş
şşş Jel' oni stvarno nemaju pojma da ovde postoji jos neki bbs ?
Ah, pa naravno da imaju pojma, zato i objavljuju ovakve gluposti !!
Zamisli sta bi se samo desilo da neko tamo cuje za Sezam koji ima
15 linija, a moze da radi i na slovenackom !!?? Pa niko vise ne bi
zvao slovenacke BBS-ove !! A i ovako oni misle da su genijalci, pa
ih lakse za*ebavamo !! :))))
Srbija -- 381, Slovenija -- 8088.... CENZURISANI.
strani.sistemi.115snemcev,
Jel ima neko informaciju o g-dinu Milanu čivkoviću iz Instituta za
ekonomske nauke, koji je svojevremeno bio glavni čovek po pitanju
pristupa bazama podataka Evropske zajednice?
strani.sistemi.116spantic,
-> #109, pedjak>> ║Dinasys 2:382/100 (011) 615-153 ZyX ║
>> ║Fenix 2:382/104 (011) 414-312 9600 ║
>> ║Velcom 2:382/103 (011) 344-263 14400 ║
>
> Jel' oni stvarno nemaju pojma da ovde postoji još neki bbs ?
Ne, to je samo spisak BBSova sa adresama na FIDOnetu.
strani.sistemi.117deki.dj,
-> #115, snemcev-=> Jel ima neko informaciju o g-dinu Milanu čivkoviću iz Instituta
za
-=> ekonomske nauke, koji je svojevremeno bio glavni čovek po pitanju
-=> pristupa bazama podataka Evropske zajednice?
Gospodin Milan čivković je tamo gde je i bio. U institutu.
Ako je nekome potreban njegov broj telefona neka se javi u MAIL.
strani.sistemi.118dejanr,
Ko može da koristi Internet... u USA. Pročitajte :)
==========
internet/management #12, from nbirkett, 900 chars, Tue Nov 9 21:47:47 1993
Comment(s).
----------
TITLE: Who can use Internet
I'm not sure where this should go, so let's try here.
Our unniversity has an Internet connection via O-Net. We have some PC's with
Ethernet connections using the 'ftp' company tcp/ip software. With
this software, you can 'telnet' directly from the PC to remote machines.
Now, these PCs are set-up in a public use computer lab. Since they run
MS-DOS, there is no log-on/password required for use. Thus, any of
our students can use any machine and access the Internet.
Here's where the confusion comes in. I have been told that no-one can
legally use the Internet unless they pass through some sort of log-in
process so that messages (?packets) have an identifying label. Our
machines all have Internet addresses and names within a registered
domain. I would have thought that this would be enough ID but I'm
told not. Anyone care to comment?
Thanks, NIck Birkett.
==========
internet/management #13, from thefuzz, 904 chars, Tue Nov 9 22:40:16 1993
Comment to 12. Comment(s). More refs to 12.
----------
You have been told incorrectly. The IP address and domain are all that the
protocols need and all that the protocols really support. There is
no mysterious login sequence into the Internet. The only
logins will be on remote hosts similer to regular user logins.
It is true that various portions of the Internet are restricted from
commercial use. These are mostly the FSF net which is becomming an
ever smaller fraction of the net every day.
Commercial networks (like UUNET & PSInet which are members of CIX)
ensure that their routers do not pass packets from subscribers who
have not been qualified for accessing the NSF net. In most cases
there are sufficient paths available to reach the destination.
Unfortunately, mail routing agents often fail to deliver messages
when the route would pass through the NSF net since the domain
system has no method to describe a "commercial" route.
thefuzz
==========
internet/management #14, from eks, 1558 chars, Wed Nov 10 02:19:40 1993
Comment to 13.
----------
You may not have been told incorrectly. Technically thefuzz is right:
the protocols don't have a login mechanism. Politically, however,
there are definite concerns.
Besides NSFnet, ONet also has non-commercial usage restrictions
(ONet is the way universities and research organizations in
Ontario have traditionally connected to the Internet; I believe
it's basically a consortium run by said outfits.) If I recall
correctly, ONet's rules say that:
- a site may not send commerical traffic over the ONet.
- a site's security must be such that if any of its users generate
forbidden traffic, that user can be identified.
- a site must put (and be technically able to enforce) the above
restrictions on any other site with which it communicates (eg.
systems to which it provides UUCP-only news and mail feeds).
If I'm correct, the second of those points prohibits the situation
described (DOS machines with Internet access, and without physical-
access restrictions).
The third point is, of course, quite unenforceable; I suppose
this could be considered a weakness of the TCP/IP protocol suite.
A year or two ago, ONet decided to start actually enforcing those
rules. This was in large part responsible for the creation of
UUNET Canada.
I don't know a lot about this; I just remember listening to many
months worth of discussions about it at meetings of a local
UNIX users' group here in Toronto. Try posting your question
to can.usrgroup, which is read by some of the people who
actually contributed to the discussions I only listened to :-)
==========
internet/management #15, from hbj, 343 chars, Wed Nov 10 11:56:22 1993
Comment to 12. Comment(s).
----------
Having read the comments here, thus far, here's another cat amongst
the pigeons. What about the number of "anon" servers that are
cropping up here and there.
As far as I can tell, a user can use these things to send at least,
mail, and who knows what else without identifying him/herself.
Are these, then in breach of internet whatever?
Henry
==========
internet/management #16, from thefuzz, 448 chars, Wed Nov 10 19:41:39 1993
Comment to 15. Comment(s).
----------
Apparently this is an ONet restriction. It would appear that
you couldn't put a public access site on ONet without some
form of positive user authentication which could be pretty difficult
to accomplish.
It is obvious (to me) that if a public access site is not on
ONet but users there access a site which IS on ONet, then the
public access site and its users have done nothing wrong
since they have not signed any agreement with ONet.
thefuzz
==========
internet/management #17, from eks, 2894 chars, Thu Nov 11 20:06:45 1993
Comment to 16.
----------
It may be obvious; unfortunately it's not the case :-( Though the
public-access site has made no agreement with ONet, it *has* made
an agreement with its upstream feed, which has made an agreement
with ONet...
The "lengthy discussions" to which I referred in my previous post
concerned precisely how to maintain UUCP<->Internet connectivity
in the face of ONet's decision to start enforcing its rules. This
was major cause for concern because, at the time, ONet was the only
source of Internet connectivity in Ontario. As I mentioned, UUNET
Canada was started more or less as a result of the ONet clampdown,
strani.sistemi.119snemcev,
-> #112, m.hristodulo>> Cak sam dobio i poruku od Borisa u kojoj me on poziva da to ucinim.
To sistem sam generiše. ;)
Btw, jel neko istom pristupio preko Jupak-a? Ne mogu da uradim download
ni jedne datoteke, non-stop CRC error. Jel 4800 bps prebrzo?
strani.sistemi.120domana,
-> #108, zonjic~~~> ║Dinasys 2:382/100 (011) 615-153 ZyX ║
Nikad cuo. Da li ovaj postoji u srbbs.txt?
Pyc
strani.sistemi.121m.hristodulo,
-> #114, astral>> Zamisli sta bi se samo desilo da neko tamo cuje
>> za Sezam koji ima 15 linija, a moze da radi i na
>> slovenackom !!??
Na ABM BBSu postoji cak i konferencija koja
se zove SEZAM. Boris je bio clan Sezama. Cak je
valjda nudio i saradnju? ABM BBS ima 12 linija, a do
nove godine imace i 20. Povezan je sa svim vaznim
mrezama (DECNet, InterNet, ima svoj NUA). Jedina
slaba tacka mu je sto radi na PCBoardu.
Sve to si mogao da cujes u Borisovom prilogu
u emisiji Bajt92.
strani.sistemi.122skrajnalic,
-> #121, m.hristodulo&> mrezama (DECNet, InterNet, ima svoj NUA). Jedina
Jel? Koji je NUA?
Pozdrav.....
skr
strani.sistemi.123a.kircanski,
-> #121, m.hristodulo_-=> slaba tacka mu je sto radi na PCBoardu.
Kako bre na PCBoard-u? Ja znam kad sam zvao sa Interneta,
ima neki svoj softver, (jest da je ružan al šta ćeš) i nije PCBoard!
Možda su ga promenili.. A inače kad se zove sa Internet-a, užžžžaasssnooo
je sporo :(
pozdrav
strani.sistemi.124m.hristodulo,
E, ovo je jako zanimljivo, :)
Cela datoteka je prikacena uz poruku.
Other BBSes of Interest
-----------------------
AT&T Support 201-769-6397
Panasonic Communica'n Sys. 201-863-7845
USNO Time of Day 202-653-0351
Ashton-Tate 213-324-2188
Quarterdeck Office Syst. 213-396-3904
ProComm Support 314-474-8477
AMI (Bios) 404-246-5825
Crosstalk Communications 404-641-1803
Hayes Public BBS 404-446-6336
IBM PC Users Group 404-835-6600
Core International 407-241-2929
DPT (Dist Process Tech) 407-831-6432
APCUG (Association of 408-439-9367
Adaptec 408-945-7727
Award (Bios) 408-370-3139
Borland 408-439-9096
Brown Bag Software 408-371-7654
Cornerstone Technology 408-435-8943
Data Technology Corp 408-942-4197
Fujitsu America, Inc. 408-944-9899
Genoa 408-943-1231
Kodiak Technology 408-452-0677
McAffee Assoc 408-988-4004
National Semiconductor 408-245-0671
Norton/Symantec 408-973-9598
Plus Development 408-434-1664
Samsung Info. Syst. 408-434-5684
Seagate Technology 408-438-8771
Wyse Technology 408-922-4400
PKWare (PKZip) 414-354-8670
Everex Systems 415-438-4650
Headland Technology 415-656-0503
Hercules Computer Tech. 415-540-0621
LAN (magazine) 415-267-7640
Logitech 415-795-0408
Mouse Systems 415-683-0617
Orchid Technology 415-683-0327
Silicon Valley Computers 415-967-8081
TOPS Support 415-769-8874
Trantor Systems 415-656-5159
Trident 415-691-1016
ATI Technologies 416-756-4591
Telix Support 416-439-9399
Central Point Software 503-690-6650
Intel Support 503-645-6275
Fifth Generation Systems 504-295-3344
Hayes Microcomputer Products 510-795-0408
Perstore 602-894-4605
Live Wire BBS, The 609-235-5297
Digiboard Inc. 612-922-5604
Ontrack Computer Systems 612-937-0860
Byte (magazine) 617-861-9764
U.S.Robotics 708-982-5092
AST Research 714-852-1872
Gibson Research 714-830-3300
Mace, Paul Software 714-240-7459
Toshiba America 714-837-4408
Western Digital 714-753-1234
Hayes Microcomputer Products 800-874-2937
Zenith Data Systems 800-888-3058
Zenith Data Systems 800-888-3058
WordPerfect Corp. 801-225-4414
Computer Peripherals Inc 805-499-9646
Tech Data 813-538-7090
Always Technology 818-597-0275
DTK Computer 818-333-6548
Micropolis Corp. 818-709-3310
denver.zipstrani.sistemi.125m.hristodulo,
-> #123, a.kircanski>> Kako bre na PCBoard-u? Ja znam kad sam zvao sa
ABM BBS u Ljubljani radi na PCBoardu 15.0.
Onaj u Zagrebu ne znam na cemu radi.
Preko X.25 mozete stici do ABM BBSa u
Ljubljani, ako pozovete NUA 62931611003025, i
prijavite se kao ABMBBS.
strani.sistemi.126zonjic,
-> #104, dejanr> neki BBS-ovi u Hrvatskoj za koje mi neki rekoše da ne rade. Bilo
> kako bilo, eno ga EXYUBBS.TXT na mestu, pa ako ima primedbi, kažite!
Eh, da zivimo u CRO prozvali bi te jugonostalgicarem ;))
strani.sistemi.127spantic,
-> #119, snemcev> Btw, jel neko istom pristupio preko Jupak-a? Ne mogu da uradim download
> ni jedne datoteke, non-stop CRC error. Jel 4800 bps prebrzo?
Ja sam pristupio, isti problem.
strani.sistemi.128spantic,
-> #120, domana> ~~~> ║Dinasys 2:382/100 (011) 615-153 ZyX ║
>
> Nikad cuo. Da li ovaj postoji u srbbs.txt?
To je specijalizovani BBS. Novinski servis.
strani.sistemi.129dejanr,
-> #120, domana>> > Dinasys 2:382/100 (011) 615-153 ZyX
>>
>> Nikad cuo. Da li ovaj postoji u srbbs.txt?
Ne postoji. Ako sam dobro razumeo, to je BBS zatvorenog tipa preko koga
bi trebalo da ide veza BBS-ova iz YU sa FIDOnet-om. Ne znam da li ta
veza uopšte funkcioniše i kako.
strani.sistemi.130dejanr,
-> #122, skrajnalic>> > mrezama (DECNet, InterNet, ima svoj NUA). Jedina
>>
>> Jel? Koji je NUA?
ABM BBS nema baš svoj NUA, ali možeš da pozoveš EIGER (NUA 62931611003025)
i tamo, na prompt Username:, otkucaš ABMBBS. Onda EIGER modemom pozove
ABM i pojavi se njegov prompt. Dakle, nešto kao outdial.
strani.sistemi.131niklaus,
-> #119, snemcev(:> Btw, jel neko istom pristupio preko Jupak-a? Ne mogu da uradim
(:> download ni jedne datoteke, non-stop CRC error. Jel 4800 bps
(:> prebrzo?
Ja fino "cepam" na 1200, a CPS "leti" oko 108... (;
(:niklaus:)
strani.sistemi.132niklaus,
-> #121, m.hristodulo(:> se zove SEZAM. Boris je bio clan Sezama. Cak je
Username=borish! Više ne zove. Šta ćete - njima je skupo... (: ):
(:niklaus:)
strani.sistemi.133snemcev,
-> #131, niklaus>> Ja fino "cepam" na 1200, a CPS "leti" oko 108... (;
Pa šta da radim, da se vratim sa 4800 na 1200? Neka hvala, redovan modem
mi je na toj brzini.
PS NHF!
strani.sistemi.134snemcev,
-> #130, dejanr>> ...na prompt Username:, otkucaš ABMBBS. Onda EIGER modemom pozove ABM
>> i pojavi se njegov prompt. Dakle, nešto kao outdial.
Jesi siguran da ovako radi? Neki put mi se odziv pojavi u roku od 0.1
sec, a neki pute se načekam, pa nikad da se javi...
strani.sistemi.135snemcev,
-> #125, m.hristodulo>> Preko X.25 mozete stici do ABM BBSa u
>> Ljubljani, ako pozovete NUA 62931611003025, i
>> prijavite se kao ABMBBS.
Jedina mana je što ništa nećete moći da skinete, već samo da čitate
on-line.
strani.sistemi.136dcolak,
-> #121, m.hristodulo│ mrezama (DECNet, InterNet, ima svoj NUA). Jedina
│ slaba tacka mu je sto radi na PCBoardu.
Ne slažem se sa tobom da mu je to slaba tačka. Šta više to je
odlična stvar, jer se mogu koristiti OLR-ovi na koje su svi
"obični" korisnici navikli! Da ne pominjem vrlo lako povezivanje
sa ovim našim SetNET-om i sličnim NET-ovima...
To je stvar ukusa...
Sledge DAMMIR!
strani.sistemi.137.bata.,
-> #136, dcolakŔŔŔ odlicna stvar, jer se mogu koristiti OLR-ovi na koje su svi
ŔŔŔ "obicni" korisnici navikli!
Nije to sasvim tacno ! Npr. i na domacem software-u postoje konvertori koji
prebacuju u QWK format. Npr. skinete poruke sa pingvin bbs-a i startujete svoj
omiljeni QWK off-line reader odgovorite ne interesantne poruke i posaljete .rep
Sta se na BBS-u desava kod koverzije za vas je potpuno transparentno.
bata
strani.sistemi.138astral,
-> #121, m.hristoduloHAJ, NEHAJ !!
│ŢQUOTEŮ│ Sve to si mogao da cujes u Borisovom prilogu
│ŢQUOTEŮ│ u emisiji Bajt92.
Mog'o sam, al' nisam :)).... CANE.
strani.sistemi.139dejanr,
-> #134, snemcev>> > ...na prompt Username:, otkucaš ABMBBS. Onda EIGER modemom pozove ABM
>> > i pojavi se njegov prompt. Dakle, nešto kao outdial.
>>
>> Jesi siguran da ovako radi?
Prilično siguran... tako mi reče Darko Bulat koji je vlasnik EIGER-a.
Primetićeš da ako je neko već na vezi na ABMBBS-u, drugi ne može da ga
dobije ovim putem (tj. to bi primetio ako bi imao username na EIGER-u
pa rekao SHOW USERS, video ABMBBS i onda i ti probao da se prijaviš na
njega odatle.
strani.sistemi.140spantic,
-> #130, dejanr> i tamo, na prompt Username:, otkucaš ABMBBS. Onda EIGER modemom pozove
> ABM i pojavi se njegov prompt. Dakle, nešto kao outdial.
Zar nisu i Eiger i ABM locirani kod Darka Bulata?
strani.sistemi.141dcolak,
-> #137, .bata.│ Nije to sasvim tacno ! Npr. i na domacem software-u postoje konvertori koji
│ prebacuju u QWK format. Npr. skinete poruke sa pingvin bbs-a i startujete
│ svoj omiljeni QWK off-line reader odgovorite ne interesantne poruke i
│ posaljete .rep Sta se na BBS-u desava kod koverzije za vas je potpuno
Pa dobro zašto to ranije niste rekli? :)
Kakva je sintaxa, tj. kojom komandom se kidaju poruke a kojom šalju
.REP paketi na Pingvin BBS?
Sledge DAMMIR!
strani.sistemi.142snemcev,
-> #139, dejanr>> Primetićeš da ako je neko već na vezi na ABMBBS-u, drugi ne može da
>> ga dobije ovim putem (tj. to bi primetio ako bi imao username na
>> EIGER-u pa rekao SHOW USERS, video ABMBBS i onda i ti probao da se
>> prijaviš na njega odatle.
A otud čekanje... treba se samo setiti! :)
strani.sistemi.143fancy,
-> #141, dcolakŮŢ> Kakva je sintaxa, tj. kojom komandom se kidaju poruke
break message
split message
kidaj miško! %s
desintegrate message
rip message
tear message
.F nO morE.
strani.sistemi.144.bata.,
-> #141, dcolakŔŔŔ Kakva je sintaxa, tj. kojom komandom se kidaju poruke a kojom
ŔŔŔ salju .REP paketi na Pingvin BBS?
Jos ne moze zato sto je u fazi alfa testiranja :(( al' mislim
da na Sezamu postoji neki QWK konvertor (dejane ispravi me ako gresim :) )
bata
strani.sistemi.145dejanr,
-> #140, spantic>> Zar nisu i Eiger i ABM locirani kod Darka Bulata?
Eiger jeste, ABM, koliko znam, nije.
strani.sistemi.146.bale.,
Leaders of Community Networking
_________________________________________________________________
People Who Create Online Communities
On rare occasions a progressive local government sets up a community
network, like PEN in Santa Monica, California. But usually, networks
are created by groups of ordinary citizens -- or not so ordinary ones,
as we shall see -- in the face of incredible technical, financial, and
political barriers.
This article describes the work of seven people who have played
important roles in community networking, and offers a brief statement
about government policy from each one. Some of the leaders discuss
what community networks need from the government in order to prosper,
while others suggest what the networks can do to change how government
runs.
Although their projects span a broad array of topics and locales,
these people share a sense of vision, a commitment to hard work, and
the achievement of impressive results. Often they have not been paid
for their networking activities, but manage to squeeze the work into
other jobs or do it on the side.
The article begins with two political activists, Evelyn Pine and
Richard Civille, whose experiences span a wide range of networking
activities. Pine and Civille have drawn some deep conclusions about
the value of telecomputing in public life.
The article continues with Anne Fallis, Frank Odasz, and Dave Hughes.
Each has become famous in the telecomputing world by building strong
communities through the very simple, low-tech means of electronic
bulletin boards. All of them are now engaged in broader initiatives:
state-wide, nationally, and even internationally.
Next comes Tom Grundner, leader of the Free-Net movement, the single
largest collection of community networks today. [GET] another article
that describes what Free-Nets offer.
Last is an international perspective from Dutch system administrator
Felipe Rodriquez.
While community networking places a high value on access to
information, it doesn't stop with facts. At the heart of any such
project is the desire to build a feeling of community. Often the
project seeks to improve the opportunities for its members to talk
together, share resources in new ways, or find work. And perhaps most
of all, community networking seeks to get citizens more involved in
governing themselves.
What the leaders in this article tell us is that community networking
is powerful--but fragile. Its spread requires supportive government
policies, an educated public, and a feeling of commitment by people to
their communities. In the United States, the decisions made for the
National Information Infrastructure over the next few years may
determine whether community networks remain scattered experiments or
succeed in reaching millions.
EVELYN PINE: ELECTRONIC DEMOCRACY MUST COME FROM US
RICHARD CIVILLE: THE CIVIC PROMISE OF THE NAT'L INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
ANNE FALLIS: PEOPLE USING NETWORKS CAN HAVE AN IMPACT ON GOVERNMENT
FRANK ODASZ: COMMUNITY NETWORKS BENEFIT FEDERAL GOALS
DAVE HUGHES: THE ELECTRONIC PUBLIC INTEREST VERSUS THE PRIVATE GOOD
TOM GRUNDNER: A NREN THAT INCLUDES EVERYONE
FELIPE RODRIQUEZ: THE WORLDWIDE IMPACT OF NETWORK ACCESS
For further information:
* [GO] to the server alfred.carleton.ca for historical and policy
papers related to Free-Nets and other community networking.
* [GO] to a University of Saskatchewan server for background
* [GO] for articles on community networking maintained by the
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility.
* [GO] for statements from the Center for Civic Networking.
[GO] for information maintained by the WELL on a number of community
networks.
_(Go to first community leader...)_
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
strani.sistemi.147.bale.,
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
Online Activism in California
_________________________________________________________________
By the People and For the People
Bill AB1624, drafted by Rep. Debra Bowen, is on the verge of passage
into law with Governor Wilson's signature. Its success was largely due
to the online coordination efforts of Jim Warren. A columnist for
_MicroTimes, Government Technology_, and _BoardWatch_, Warren
organized and chaired the first Conference on Computers, Freedom and
Privacy. Warren relied on the Internet as a crucial tool in
communicating with supporters and opponents of the bill. The bill's
orchestration might be viewed as one of the first "virtual" grassroots
lobbying efforts.
The bill will make available over the Internet: legislative findings
and declarations, meeting notices and agendas, information concerning
bills (history, status, analysis, voting), proceedings of the houses
and committees of the Legislature, and statutory enactments
Eventually, as part of the bill's mandate, the complete California
Constitution will go online. The bill is one of the first of its kind
to make previously obscure government data freely available online.
AB1624 addresses the remarkable fact that the California government
actually ends up paying for its own data in many cases. Here's how it
works: commercial databases sign contracts to maintain and format
large amounts of governmental data. Then, local governments and state
agencies subscribe to the commercial services and pay sizable fees to
search and retrieve their own data. According to Warren,
* Legislative Counsel collected $295,000 in 1992 from Legi-Tech and
State Net
* California Department of General Services paid Legi-Tech and State
Net $285,000 in 1992
* California cities paid about $300,000 in 1992 to State Net for
legislative information
* California counties paid another $300,000 during the same time for
the same information
This rather embarrassing and costly situation is expected to be
remedied by the passage of AB1624.
Members and employees of the online-rights organizations EFF
(Electronic Frontier Foundation) and CPSR (Computer Professionals for
Social Responsibility) tracked Bill AB1624 with great interest. CPSR
representative Al Whaley provided an Internet mailing list
distribution and file archive site.
The mailing list contained dozens of people interested in tracking the
progress of the bill through the legislature. Members of the mailing
list targeted numerous bottlenecks with well-placed letters, faxes,
and phone calls. For most mailing list members, the mailing list
provided the sole means of communication between Warren and them.
Extraordinary Orchestration
Warren describes himself as "just a citizen-volunteer-advocate of
AB1624" with "no business interest therein." Nevertheless, his
electronic-populist lobbying efforts and techniques are impressive.
His work with the small mailing list group over the Internet was as
powerful an agent of change as that of much larger, highly funded
lobbying organizations.
Warren sees the passage of the bill as only the first step in
developing what might be termed a new interface to government. He is
working with teams of volunteer programmers to develop sophisticated
software that will present government data to the public in
convenient, easy-to-use formats. (The data is in a complex format that
requires sophisticated typesetting capabilities to print; the
programmers are working on automating the process and integrating it
with popular Internet software packages.)
Once the data is available in on-line format, it could achieve wider
dissemination to a variety of commercial and private electronic
services, including CompuServe, GEnie, Delphi, and many bulletin board
systems. Warren believes that if this data were easily available
on-line, popular interest and involvement in government would
increase. In addition, existing distribution mechanisms would be
streamlined (for example, some of this data currently is "rekeyed" at
significant economic expense).
Passionate Belief and Focused Lobbying
In his frequent updates to the mailing list, Warren provided detailed
information about the bill's current status, immediate legislative and
committee hurdles, and the names, addresses, phone and fax numbers of
critical representatives. Warren once wrote that "our timely faxes,
letters, and phone calls are all that's kept <the bill> alive."
Warren excelled at "shadow writing" letters. Here is a part of an
email from Warren to the mailing list, suggesting points to cover in
letters to representatives:
* Timely access to information is a prerequisite to responsible
citizenship.
* Legislative info sent by paper mail often arrives too late.
* Enhancing the public's opportunity to offer input may create good
legislation.
* The California government should join the U.S. Supreme Court, the
White House, the Library of Congress, etc., in providing
information on-line.
* Access to governance should not be limited to well-funded special
interests.
* Legislators not part of the design of a bill can offer their
position statements.
* Cooperation and free sharing is common and typical across the nets.
Warren described the following points as "especially important" and
"the unelected bureaucrats' focal point":
* Do not charge for access, use, reuse, republication, etc. -- no
royalties.
* Allow value-added services to charge for added value without fees
to state.
Warren also recommended the exact format and medium of the
communications. For example, he ranked letters and faxes over
postcards and phone calls in influential effect. He describes the
fine-tuned approach with the passion of an artist teaching technique
to a student:
* If possible, use business stationery, or at least indicate
affiliation.
* Include your work title (if needed, say "for identification only").
* Letters from companies, institutions and organizations count the
most.
* Letters and faxes count the most (as opposed to phone calls or
cards).
* One personalized page is plenty; more than one page is a waste.
* Postcards count very little (they are tallied and forgotten).
* Phone calls to _your_ representatives help; calls to other
representatives are otherwise just counted.
* When calling, don't expect the legislator; just state your
position.
When targeting his opposition, Warren expressed his wrath freely. For
example, he wrote that "some of the most powerful unelected
bureaucrats in the Legislature appear to be doing everything they can
to kill AB1624..." He cited the names of people who "authored
blatantly misleading and/or flat-out false information about AB1624
and its proposed implementation and 'dangers'." He wrote of
behind-the-scenes machinations and meetings by prominent legislators
and the two major data-redistribution companies, explaining, "Profits
from peddling electronic copies of _our_ public legislative data are
paid to his office as off-budget loot. Blatant conflict-of-interest.
Infuriating arrogance against the public interest. <SNARL!>"
Nevertheless, Warren conscientiously forwarded statements by the
bill's apparent opponents, as a forum for rebuttal for "anything I
have published or circulated in these updates." Indeed, he later
forwarded a press release by the Legi-Tech company, "California's
premier online legislative information service," announcing a new bill
tracking service for public libraries.
Mailing List Members Speak
The AB1624 mailing list attracted a wide range of interest, not just
from Californians. Coordinator Al Whaley requested letters from list
members describing their personal interest in the matter. Subscriber
Bob Smith wrote: Why participate? I am a retired University Professor
now involved in building a commercial expert system for a firm doing
hazardous materials response training for fireman and others. This is
an area where lots of ignorance exists, is very legalistic, and
political. Advance notice and an opportunity to bring facts to the
discussion could avoid lots of dumb laws being passed. Simply by
providing some forum for debate could save thousands of person years a
month.
One software engineer replied: I joined the CPSR electronic mailing
list for the development of computer interfaces to legislative
databases recently, but have been following the area with keen
interest. From the very first moment that I heard people were
interested in freeing up this data, and that there were some very
frustrating and artificial obstacles toward actually accessing it, I
realized that a long but momentous battle is under way. I think future
historians will look back on this period to see the first fledgling
roots of a new type of government called "Electronic Democracy" with
online databases a crucial aspect of the entire new system.
As I see it, Electronic Democracy will be far more "populist" and
"grass-roots" oriented than any government our planet has ever seen.
The potential for increasing citizen interest from a proportional
increase in public _influence_ over the process will be liberating for
virtually everyone, except some people who have twisted the current
system for personal benefit to the point that it has reached an utter
crisis in gridlock and pinnacle of citizen disenfranchisement and
alienation.
Subscriber Steve Peterson responded: I'm involved because I think it's
important for the "average person" to have inexpensive access to
legislative data. The fact that people have been willing to pay a lot
of money for access to this data testifies to its importance and
usefulness. Requiring people to continue to pay for access will, in
the long run, make it more difficult for the average person to
participate in the political process.
The AB1624 mailing list evolved into a kind of hotline or bulletin
board. Warren frequently received hundreds of messages over a few
days.
The list fed a sort of electronic network food chain. Interesting
bulletins posted by Warren reverberated through closed organization
mailing lists, such as those of EFF and CPSR, on to Internet
newsgroups, and then to bulletin boards and electronic digests such as
The Current Underground Digest. These rapid communications stand in
stark contrast to newspapers and postal mail, the classic tools of
democratic access. These appear feeble and archaic in comparison to
the timely access provided by the Internet and electronic mail.
Economics of Access
Warren portrays the overall issue of on-line access in an economic and
ethical light. He believes that government records, such as
legislative session transcripts, are fundamentally public property,
and that the government has an obligation to provide it free or as a
minimal service from levied taxes. In California, virtually all the
data affected by AB1624 is already available to the public in printed
form for no charge. To Warren, the electronic version is a natural
next step.
Early in the bill's history, it went through modifications that might
have required fees in certain cases. At one point, Rep. Bowen believed
the bill would not pass without rules that required resellers of the
data to compensate the state. However, Warren championed the right to
free distribution, arguing that the alternatives were too complex and
burdensome to implement.
Warren's idealism has encountered serious opposition from a variety of
powerful interests. Some private companies objected to the bill --
companies with lucrative redistribution arrangements with the
legislature involving payment to the treasury for access rights. Since
the bill could drive them out of business, their opposition was not
surprising. In addition, some legislators objected to the possibility
of private companies possibly profiting from sales of the free data
without recompensation to the state.
The two largest companies that resell state data, Legi-Tech and State
Net, had ambivalent reactions to the bill. There is speculation that
early on they hired a lobbyist to oppose the effort.
Later, however, the Sacramento Bee newspaper, the "flagship" of the
McClatchy organization, the parent company of Legi-Tech, ran an
editorial strongly supportive of AB1624. Warren characterized the
statement as "a laudable, principled action...in the face of a
difficult trade-off between the public's interests versus their
business interests." Warren later reported that Legi-Tech did not seem
to be directly opposing the bill. He apologized for his earlier
impressions, saying that "political cynicism and distrust may be amply
justified, rampant, and in vogue, but they can muddy accurate
information and harm good judgement." Some of Legi-Tech's press
releases appear to closely echo the populist goals expounded on the
mailing list:
"Legi-Tech supports public access to legislative data, and California
public libraries are the logical choice for such access," says Sheryl
Bell, General Manager of Legi-Tech. "We are excited at this unique
opportunity to provide public libraries free access to our online
service. There has always been a need for access to public
information. This project fulfills that need through the latest
computer technology." Legi-Tech has taken several other steps to make
the Legislature more accessible for the average citizen.
However, the effect of free online legislative information on data
resellers such as Legi-Tech is uncertain. Warren suggests that these
companies can find their largest share of business in "value added
services" to the data, a distinct market that wouldn't be threatened
by direct public availability of the data.
The Final Hurdle
Warren's last update to the mailing list on the passage of the bill
was sent August 19, 1993. It described in detail the flow of a "public
hearing" on AB1624 by the five-member Senate Rules Committee chaired
by David Roberti. The committee began by removing the mandate that the
data include appropriate formatting and typesetting information. The
vote was directed with no rebuttal, even by the bill's author, Rep.
Debra Bowen. Next, the "fee issue" was addressed, again with no public
input. In Warren's words:
Next, Roberti permitted Bowen to make her opening statement -- and he
asked data-peddler Chief Legislative Counsel Bion Gregory to also come
forward. There were three seats available, so Gregory had one of his
staff come with him and the two of them sandwiched Bowen between them.
This neatly blocked any supporter or technically competent person from
moving to a position where they could assist Bowen in countering some
of the rambling, error-filled, fact-starved discussion -- during which
Gregory smoothly muddled many of the issues.
Next, Legi-Tech and State Net representatives were invited by Roberti
to "plead their case." They requested statutory assurance that the
state would continue to offer them the same access they currently
have. Robert and Bowen opposed the private-party contract encoded in
state law, but agreed to add language that would not preclude what
Warren describes as "peddling the data in other forms." Finally,
public comment was permitted:
After all significant discussion was concluded and all decisions were
made that were going to be made, a dozen or so people were permitted
to say whatever they wanted to say -- in no more than two or three
minutes, each. Some drove half a day to participate in the process.
How nice.
All strongly supported the bill -- including AARP, Common Cause, UC
Students, Al Whaley (who runs cpsr.org), etc.
Of course, none of the Senators asked any questions nor pursued any
discussion with any of the technically-competent speakers, nor with
the several who sought to refute the Gregory Disinformation Campaign.
After a unanimous vote in favor by the committee, Chair Roberti
concluded the session. Warren rejoiced in the victory, but had mixed
feelings about the process:
Sorry folks, but -- if it's not obvious -- I'm fried. Hope you will
forgive the length and tone of this, as reward for pursuing this
project.
I should be happy -- because we [mostly] "won." But I gotta tell ya,
this and the Assembly Rules Committee meetings have been the most
offensive processes -- the most abusive of the principles of citizen
participation in their own governance -- that I have ever witnessed
(and I've seen some really abusive ones at the old San Mateo County
Board of Supervisors, before the last elections cleaned it out).
When powerful [unelected] bureaucrats want to benefit their fiefdoms
at the expense of the public, they are much too cozy with _our_
too-senior representatives for the public's well-being.
If AB1624 weren't so important, I most certainly would chuck the whole
thing. But then the b------- who want to control and parsimoniously
choke and charge us for _our_ timely access to _our_ government and
_our_ public records for _their_ benefit would win, and THAT would be
even more obscene!
Unanimous Support
On September 8, 1993, the AB1624 Bill passed the California Assembly
unanimously, 78-0. Unless vetoed by Govenor Pete Wilson, the bill
becomes law on January 1, 1994. On September 17, Warren sent out
another mini-newsletter, reaffirming the importance of the online
efforts:
Mary Winkley, the [underpaid!] workaholic aide to AB1624-author Debra
Bowen, has reiterated that our online-organized efforts and saturation
actions just before crucial votes were what kept the bill alive and
pushed it through the legislature. NEAT!
Warren indicated that many Perot supporters also coordinated a support
campaign for the bill, apparently alerted by his online telegrams.
Future Directions
The AB1624 effort may serve as a basic model for larger efforts
currently under way at the national level. Groups such as EFF and TAP
(Taxpayers Assets Project, founded by Jamie Love and Ralph Nader) are
involved in projects that focus on public access for government
databases.
Clearly, the obstacles are daunting. But on the other hand, as the
above account implies, email and the Internet can have a transforming
effect on government gridlock. In the months and years ahead, many
Internet participants will experience first-hand the consequences of
their irresistible force meeting immovable objects.
[GO] for a list of organizations officially supporting the AB1624 bill
(filed with the Bowen office).
[GO] for suggested format for letter to Governor Wilson.
_(Go to next article...)_
strani.sistemi.148.bale.,
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home] [O'Reilly & Assoc.]
MITCH KAPOR, DATA HIGHWAY GURU
_________________________________________________________________
Twin Titans: Kapor and Gates
During the mid-1980s, when Mitch Kapor and Bill Gates were America's
twin software titans, telling them apart wasn't hard. Before striking
it rich, Kapor had spent time as a disc jockey, a stand-up comic, a
transcendental meditation instructor and a counselor at a mental
hospital (where, he liked to tell journalists, he had performed "the
psychic equivalent of emptying bedpans"). Gates had gone straight from
college into business, showing the single-minded drive for which he
remains famous. Kapor had called his software company "Lotus"--simple,
elegant, quietly reflective of his spiritual leanings. Gates, in
something shy of a vast creative leap, had named his microcomputer
software company "Microsoft." Gates's main product, the operating
system DOS, was, like the company's name, serviceable but clunky.
Kapor's smash hit, the spreadsheet Lotus 1-2-3, was stylish and
user-friendly.
mitch.zipstrani.sistemi.149.bale.,
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home] [Delphi]
THE WHOLE WORLD IS TALKING
_________________________________________________________________
Croatian Diary in Cyberspace
This article appeared in the _Nation_, July 12, 1993.
Halfway around the world, Wam Kat files daily reports on life in
Zagreb, Croatia. "I just stood about half an hour in the supermarket
downstairs watching a firmly built man.... He was shouting at
everybody in the shop," he wrote on May 24. "From what I could
understand, he said that when Croatia was under the Serbs (in former
Yugoslavia), the price of bread was at least half of what it is now.
Just a few days ago I heard somebody say that under the communists we
had our problems, but now under the capitalists we have our problems
too. What is the difference if you work for the communist or
capitalist elite?"
Kat's bulletins, which he calls "Zagreb Diary" don't appear in
Yugoslav papers or on television. They exist in cyberspace. Kat types
them on his own computer in Zagreb and sends them by modem to an
electronic bulletin board in Germany. From there, his stories are
relayed to computers around the world via the global mega-information
stream called the Internet.
"Electronic mail is the only link between me and the outside world,"
says Kat, writing by e-mail. The Croatian government owns all the
major media in the country and is prosecuting a group of journalists
for treason. Kat is only one of the millions of people participating
in this community without walls. During other recent cataclysms, the
Internet provided an instant, unfiltered link to the world.
"In Russia, during the coup attempt, people were providing live
reports on Russian Internet about what was really going on. They were
widely circulated on the Net," says Mitchell Kapor, founder of Lotus
Development Corporation and now chairman of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, a group advocating "electronic civil liberties," primarily
freedom of speech and privacy. "During Tiananmen Square, students were
getting the news out and were fundraising through Internet," adds Tom
Mandel, a futurist with SRI International, a Silicon Valley-based
consulting firm. "There were a bunch of us hungrily reading
newsgroups, stuff we weren't getting from reporters." (Newsgroups are
open discussion groups where people can post their views.) But the Net
is changing more than just the flow of information; it's changing the
way we relate to one another. The advent of global networking is
fragmenting and re-sorting society into what one author calls "virtual
communities." Instead of being bound by location, groups of people can
now meet in cyberspace, the noncorporeal world existing between two
linked computers. There they can look for colleagues, friends,
romance, or sex. John Hoag, communications coordinator for BARRNet,
the Bay Area Regional Research Network, who began computer networking
in 1986, says, "I met more people on-line inside a month than I met in
the past ten years."
Have Modem, Will Travel
The Internet is the most powerful computer network on the planet
simply because it's the biggest. It encompasses 1.3 million computers
with Internet addresses that are used by up to 30 million people in
more than forty countries. The number of computers linked to the
Internet has doubled every year between 1988 and 1992; this year the
rate of increase slowed slightly to 80 percent. To reach it, one needs
only a computer, modem and password. Dan Van Belleghem, who helps
connect organizations to the Internet for the National Science
Foundation, says, "Nobody has ever dropped off the network. Once they
get on they get hooked. It's like selling drugs." While Internet
experts deride the term "information superhighway" as an empty
soundbite, the concept works as an analogy to understand how the
Internet functions. Think of it as a massive road system, complete
with freeways, feeders and local routes. At every intersection sits a
computer, which has to be passed through to get to the next computer
until you've reached your destination. Any computer on the Internet
system can connect with any other computer through the road system.
And if the route to your destination is closed, you will automatically
take a detour to get there.
The difference between the Internet and the Interstate is that you can
go to Finland as quickly as you can go down the block. Once there, you
can remotely manipulate the computer to do anything your own can do.
You can retrieve a file from it in the blink of an eye.
Today, users can talk to one another, send e-mail back and forth, join
arcane discussion groups, tap into libraries in universities from
Berkeley to Bern and exchange almost any sort of data, including
pictures, sound and text. Recently, a cult movie called _Wax_ was
broadcast to Internet sites all around the country. While it was black
and white and only two frames per second, it was an important first
step toward the computer equivalent of cable broadcasting. Also, a
radio program is already broadcast weekly on the Net, complete with
technology news and a "Geek of the Week" segment.
You Have to Be a Computer Weenie
But it's not all smooth sailing on the sea of information. On most
computers, the Internet is hard to use. The arcane commands that run
it make little sense to many average users, who can find themselves
lost in cyberspace without a map. "The Internet today is still for
computer weenies," says Kapor. "But the problem will take care of
itself," he adds, "because easier to use software tools will appear as
the Net grows."
To make matters more confusing, because the Internet is a network of
networks, no one group or person is in charge. Kapor describes it as
"anarchy." Mandel says, "It's all very ad hoc." And R.U. Sirius,
editor-in-chief of the cyberpunk magazine Mondo 2000, says, "It's
definitely out of control."
Ironically, the anarchy began in the bowels of the Defense Department.
Back in 1969, the Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency created
ARPANET, a computer networking project, to transmit packets of
military data securely and efficiently around the world. In 1984, the
National Science Foundation began building five supercomputers around
the country for conducting scientific research. When Defense
Department researchers wanted access to the supercomputers as well,
the N.S.F. linked them up with ARPANET. The popularity of computer
access, especially to collaborate on-line, has steadily expanded ever
since.
"It was just a bunch of computer scientists talking to one another,"
says Van Belleghem. "Then educators and people involved in research or
administration all wanted to talk to one another, get files, get to
libraries on the network. It's been opening up and getting more open
every year."
Staggering Amount of Information
Over the past decade, tens of thousands of nonmilitary networks have
been connected to the Internet's electronic web, including the Library
of Congress, most U.S. universities and libraries, and private
companies from General Electric to the Bank of Bermuda.
Of course, not all the sites are publicly accessible. Most private
sites require special passwords for entry, which only registered users
and an occasional hacker can get. However, the amount of information
available to the on-line public is staggering. "Getting information
off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant," says
Kapor.
Everything from the complete works of Shakespeare to the number of
sodas in a Coke machine at Carnegie-Mellon University is accessible.
The primary use of the Net is for communication, however. "Half the
traffic on the Internet is e-mail at this point," says Mandel. The
number of topics on the newsgroups can be daunting.
There are more than 2,500 different subjects, ranging from one for
fans of The Simpsons, to classified and personal ads, to Bay Area
politics. There are also, naturally, many groups dedicated to
different computer systems and languages, as computer scientists and
hackers are still the main users of the Internet. One researcher at
Cornell who studied the way scientists use the newsgroups discovered
that real research isn't furthered much by reading them. Bruce
Lewenstein, assistant professor of communication and science and
technology studies, found that during the cold fusion controversy,
newsgroups did little to aid scientists assessing the phenomenon. In
fact, most of the newsgroup postings constituted what he calls
"irrelevant chatter." Indeed, in a two-week period in April, the two
most active posters were sending erotic images. The White House came
in third, with transcripts of press briefings, speeches and press
releases. _The direct access to information the Internet provides is
"inherently politically subversive." These Internet activists want to
make sure that this power stays with individuals. Right now a debate
is raging in Washington on how to transform the Internet [...]_
Our Chance to Be Heard
But some people are using newsgroups to disseminate information from a
different perspective. Harel Barzilai, a Cornell graduate student in
math, has created a group for progressive activists, and he claims
that 23,000 people read his postings regularly. His group
("misc.activism.progressive" in Internetspeak) posts articles from
leftist magazines and alternative campus publications, as well as
action bulletins on issues of concern. "You're not going to find
anything to the left of the Democratic Party on TV or in newspapers,"
he says. "And for those of us who have access to the Internet, it's
free to use it and post information. This is our chance to be heard."
Like many Netheads, Barzilai thinks of the Internet as a new
communication model, allowing for unfiltered, many-to-many publishing,
rather than the traditional hierarchical one-to-many approach. "This
is a situation where money, or capital, does not have a monopoly on
access," he says.
R.U. Sirius agrees. "The role of capital as an editor is being
removed," he says. Sirius, like many, feels a sense of liberation on
the Net. "The metaphor of the highway fits," he says. "Like Jack
Kerouac's _On the Road_, from a tight little community out onto the
wide open road. Everybody's out there; it's not a small elite system."
Howard Rheingold, whose book The Virtual Community is being published
in October by Addison-Wesley, says, "If you have a computer, you have
the power to broadcast. It gives the power to individuals that used to
be only that of the privileged few." And, he adds, the direct access
to information the Internet provides is "inherently politically
subversive." These Internet activists want to make sure that this
power stays with individuals. Right now a debate is raging in
Washington on how to transform the Internet into a faster, bigger
network, called NREN, the National Research and Education Network.
Funding for NREN began with then-Senator Al Gore in 1991. This year,
Congressman Rick Boucher is sponsoring legislation to add on to Gore's
brainchild, providing $1.5 billion in funding to hook libraries,
schools and medical facilities to new high- speed computers.
Telecommunications and computer companies, including NYNEX and Cray
Research, have lined up in favor and a Clinton Administration
spokesperson has said that the President is prepared to sign the
legislation, which is expected to pass through both houses of Congress
this summer.
Will the Gov't Ruin the Internet?
But one of the main aims of Boucher's bill has alarmed many longtime
Net users. It also encourages the NREN computers to use private
networks, instead of publicly subsidized ones. Boucher, chairman of
the House Science Subcommittee, has suggested that the government
should turn over all areas of the Internet to private corporations
whenever possible.
He says, "The Internet has grown without a clear plan or organization.
There's no government for the Internet. One of the great challenges is
to establish some means of providing order and giving markers along
the way."
By itself, the first move toward privatization means little. Another
Boucher-sponsored bill would grant antitrust exemptions for telephone
companies, allowing a single company to own both phone and cable
lines. Boucher thinks this will provide the financial incentive for
the private sector to upgrade the communications links between the
Internet and private homes. But critics fear that the end result could
be the expansion of local cable and telephone monopolies into
monopolies controlling all electronic access into the home.
By giving the private sector unregulated and monopolistic control over
the Net's electronic connections, the government would in effect allow
megacorporations like AT&T and Time Warner, who own the cable lines
and manage what flows through them, to call the shots in the future.
They could determine how much anyone, from a single individual to a
university, will have to pay for access. Some phone companies, for
example, are already discussing charging users either by the amount of
time they log on to the Internet or by the amount of data they send
over it--despite the fact that their network operating costs are fixed
no matter how many people use it or how much data flows through it.
Changing the funding structure means the eventual extinction of the
small, mom-and-pop computer networks, which could find themselves
victims of predictable market forces. And that means that isolated
users and cash-strapped colleges could be cut off from their virtual
communities.
Netheads Resist Control
Not everyone predicts such a scenario, however. John Hoag from BARRNet
thinks virtual communities will survive even if commercial interests
dominate the data superhighway. "The Internet culture has its roots so
deep, I don't think it's going to disappear," he says. Even if a local
monopoly restricts access to the Net, "the culture will exist around
it." And users have reacted fiercely to Boucher's proposals, with
e-mail flying from Berkeley to Bangladesh. The specter of censorship,
as on commercial systems like Prodigy, where system administrators
routinely delete "objectionable" messages, looms. "Communities,
whether virtual or physical, should be self-determining, rather than
determined by megacorporations," adds the Electronic Frontier
Foundation's Kapor. "The users of the Net should determine its uses
and content." In a worst-case scenario, Rheingold says, corporations
would not only monitor what's on the Internet, they would monitor you.
If, as some predict, the information superhighway becomes primarily a
conduit for watching movies, banking at home and shopping, the same
computers that we use to lessen the burden of our daily errands could
also be used by the corporations that provide those services to
destroy our personal privacy. The Net could be used by marketing
wizards--the same ones who flood us with annoying junk mail--to keep
tabs on us all in Orwellian fashion, automatically recording our
interests and habits.
Hackers have already developed a few defenses, which could be the
seeds for preserving the right to free communication. Free software to
encode all electronic transmissions is now widely available, with
codes that even the fastest supercomputers would have a tough time
cracking. This means that nobody but the person you send something
to--whether an e-mail note or a piece of software--can read it.
And anonymity is also possible--networks have been set up in such
disparate places as Helsinki and San Diego to enable completely
anonymous speech. The Finnish operator declared that he will never
allow anyone to find out the true names of his users without a court
order.
Clinton's Encoding Scheme
Internet activists are also not happy with the Clinton
Administration's effort to impose a standard encoding scheme for data,
whether e-mail or a movie, that only the government can break. "The
machinery of oppression has weak spots," Rheingold says, noting the
spread of encryption techniques that even the National Security Agency
may not be able to crack. "But the powers that be in the N.S.A. have
convinced Clinton that they have to close the doors before all the
cows get out." Whether it's the government or private corporations,
what everyone wants is control of a new form of communication, one
that currently cannot be controlled. Given the stakes and the power of
the interests now seeking to shape and profit from this new
technology, the end result may not be a happy one for the average
citizen-user. "The key questions of access, pricing, censorship and
redress of grievances will be answered in practice, in law, in
executive order or legislative action, over the next five years,"
Rheingold writes, "and will thus determine the political and economic
structure of the Net for decades to come."
But for the time being, the activities of people like Wam Kat seem to
prove an old hacker adage: "All information wants to be free."
_ (Go to next article...)_
_________________________________________________________________
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home] [Delphi]
strani.sistemi.150skerl,
-> #124, m.hristodulo
│ Other BBSes of Interest
└────
Imas u KOMUNIKACIJE.4:email uz poruku broj 9.234 fajl
EMAILADR.ZIP (nesto preko 21k zipovano) sa preko 600 telefonskih
brojeva bbs-ova firmi koje se bave konjupterima. Drugim recima:
PC Industry Support BBS Listing
Pozdrav,
Skerl.
strani.sistemi.151dcolak,
-> #144, .bata.│ Jos ne moze zato sto je u fazi alfa testiranja :(( al' mislim
│ da na Sezamu postoji neki QWK konvertor (dejane ispravi me ako gresim :) )
Ne postoji.. Postoji samo QWK -> TXT a to nije to...
Meni treba program koji će CEO QWK prebaciti u REP. Tako bi mogle
da se prebacuju poruke između različitih BBS software-a...
So, ko ima taj program?
Sledge DAMMIR!
strani.sistemi.152m.hristodulo,
-> #135, snemcev
U vezi sa ABM BBSom i neuspesnim ZModemom sa
njim: Da nije u pitanju sedmobitna veza? Poznato je
da ZModem radi samo sa cistom osmobitnom vezom. Da
li ste postavili N81 u svom comm. programu? Jupak
PAD zahteva E71, pa ako rucno ne postavite N81
kasnije, nema nista od downloada.
strani.sistemi.153m.hristodulo,
-> #136, dcolak>> Ne slazem se sa tobom da mu je to slaba tacka.
Ja nekako ne podnosim PCBoard, mada dosta
znam da ga koristim. Valjda sam se razocarao u
njega, kad nisam uspeo da podesim korisnicka imena
od jedne reci, kada sam hteo da pravim svoj BBS.
Verzija je bila 14.5/d, a cuo sam da nova
verzija (15.0) moze svasta, ali ja je ne posedujem.
Moracu da im saljem lovu za upgrade...
strani.sistemi.154zdule,
Gateway EIGER with service(s):
ABMBBS (BBS with FIDOnet, Adrianet, Doors, programs, conferences & more)
Username: ABMBBS
%REM-I-TOQUIT, connection established
Press Ctrl/Đ to quit, Ctrl/č for command mode
DTEPAD>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Šta sada da radim?
ZDule...
strani.sistemi.155m.hristodulo,
-> #149, .bale.>> Kat's bulletins, which he calls "Zagreb Diary"
>> don't appear in Yugoslav papers or on television.
Katovi bilteni se ne pojavljuju u nasim
novinama ni na nasoj televiziji, ali se zato
pojavljuju na ZaMir BBS-u.
Okrenite (011)632566 i proverite. Njegovi
izvestaji su *jako* zanimljivi
strani.sistemi.156dcolak,
-> #152, m.hristodulo│ li ste postavili N81 u svom comm. programu? Jupak
│ PAD zahteva E71, pa ako rucno ne postavite N81
│ kasnije, nema nista od downloada.
Nema veze sa tim.. Probao moj ortak...
Sledge DAMMIR!
strani.sistemi.157dejanr,
-> #152, m.hristodulo>> U vezi sa ABM BBSom i neuspesnim ZModemom sa
>> njim: Da nije u pitanju sedmobitna veza?
Ne bih regao. Kada se logujem na EIGER (kao dejanr) sasvim normalno
radim download sa njega (VAX-a) ZModem-om. žak se dobija sasvim lep
cps - tako skidam većinu ovih vesti koje idu u NOVOSTI/microb. Međutim,
sa ABM-a koji ide preko EIGER-a ne ide dobro download. No to me ne čudi
previše, jer kad god se negde koristi outdial ove ili one vrste, download
slabo funkcioniše. Eventualno bi vredelo probati Kermit protokolom, on je
dobar u uslovima raznih kašnjenja na mrežama.
strani.sistemi.158dejanr,
-> #154, zdule>> Šta sada da radim?
Ne bi trebalo to da se desi, obično sledi uspostavljanje veze bez
ikakve tvoje intervencije. Probaj ponovo da pozoveš.
strani.sistemi.159skerl,
"The Beginner's Guide to the Internet" is a full-color, computer-based
tutorial about the Internet. It is complete, covering email, ftp, telnet,
gopher, Archie, Veronica, WAIS, WWW, USENET newsgroups, BITNET listservs,
IRC and more. It is the only computer-based tutorial that gives you
step-by-step instructions on how to do almost anything on the Internet.
Perfect for Internet novices!
Pozdrav,
Skerl.
p.s. Ovo bi moglo u neki dir da se strpa (ima header)
bgi12.zipstrani.sistemi.160mnikolic,
-> #159, skerl> "The Beginner's Guide to the Internet" is a full-color, computer-based
Jel' radi i na Herkulesu?
m.
strani.sistemi.161.bata.,
-> #151, dcolakŔŔŔ │ da na Sezamu postoji neki QWK konvertor (dejane ispravi me
ŔŔŔ ako gresim :) )
ŔŔŔ
ŔŔŔ Ne postoji.. Postoji samo QWK -> TXT a to nije to...
Ne, nisam mislio:'na Sezamu' misleci u fajlovima, nego sam cuo da postoji
nacin da skidas poruke u QWK...
bata
strani.sistemi.162.bata.,
-> #154, zduleŔŔŔ Press Ctrl/D to quit, Ctrl/Z for command mode
ŔŔŔ
ŔŔŔ
ŔŔŔ DTEPAD>
Da to se i meni par puta desilo :( jednom sam uspeo da se povezem,
ali vise puta sam imao slican problem...
bata
strani.sistemi.163skrajnalic,
-> #152, m.hristodulo&> li ste postavili N81 u svom comm. programu? Jupak
&> PAD zahteva E71, pa ako rucno ne postavite N81
&> kasnije, nema nista od downloada.
Nije baš da zahteva E71, samo ako se ne postavi biće malo čudan
prompt...inače, radi isto i sa E81 i E71.....
Pozdrav.....
skr
strani.sistemi.164snemcev,
-> #152, m.hristodulo>> U vezi sa ABM BBSom i neuspesnim ZModemom sa
>> njim: Da nije u pitanju sedmobitna veza?
Nije, ABM te ni ne pušta da radiš sa parametrima 7e1.
>> Da nije u pitanju sedmobitna veza? Poznato je
>> da ZModem radi samo sa cistom osmobitnom vezom.
Nije tačno. Skinuo sam megabajte Zmodemom sa parametrima 7e1.
strani.sistemi.165m.hristodulo,
-> #154, zdule>> DTEPAD>
Verovatno si pritisnuo ctrl/@, ili je bilo
djubre na vezi. Probaj da otkucas exit na dtepad
prompt. To je nesto kao resume.
strani.sistemi.166zonjic,
-> #157, dejanr> Ne bih regao. Kada se logujem na EIGER (kao dejanr) sasvim normalno
> radim download sa njega (VAX-a) ZModem-om. žak se dobija sasvim lep
> cps - tako skidam većinu ovih vesti koje idu u NOVOSTI/microb.
> Međutim,
Ja danas bio na UBBG preko Jupaka, i kad sam otkucao $ sz fajl.ext
momentalno mi se u Telemateu promenio status line - parametri su
presli u 8N1 ! Po okoncanom transferu stanje je bilo opet 7E1!!!
Que paso, hombre?
strani.sistemi.167niklaus,
-> #152, m.hristodulo(:> U vezi sa ABM BBSom i neuspesnim ZModemom sa
(:> njim: Da nije u pitanju sedmobitna veza? Poznato je
Kad smo već kod toga (ABMa i hronično loše veze), mogu vam reći da
je kom. prog. DEPUTY (ima ga u R:ĐCOM direktorijumu) pravo otkriće. Radi
transfer u pozadini (a vi vršljate po promptu) i opšte uzev je ukenj-frendli.
Pogotovu ako vam treba MNPx emulacija... (: <- zadovoljstvo
(:niklaus:)
strani.sistemi.168skerl,
-> #160, mnikolic
│> "The Beginner's Guide to the Internet" is a full-color,
│ computer-based
│
│ Jel' radi i na Herkulesu?
└────
Nisam probao, ali s obzirom da sve vreme radi u text modu,
morao bi da radi i na Hercules-u.
Pozdrav,
Skerl.
strani.sistemi.169.obj,
Uvreženo je mišljenje da je psovanje, vređanje, klevetanje, pljuvanje
etc na kompjuterskim sistemima i BBS-ovima zastupljeno samo na
balkanskim prostorima. ;) E pa i nije baš tako. ;) Uz ovu datoteku je
okačen mali ZIP sa izvodom iz grupe alt.fan.bill-gates sa (pikantnim)
delom jedne ... diskusije.
Kratki izvodi: ;)
Sir, I have known puds. I have quite a few friends
who are puds. You, Mr Solomon, are a pud.
===========================================
You pathetic lower than a freenet internet trash. Take your
stupid idiotic moronic meandering comments back to your
stupid little home, delphi. Oh and by the way: ...
===========================================
Are you for real?? Jesus christ, can someone please install a mental
aptitude test for compuserve, prodigy, and delphi users??
===========================================
bwa-hahahahahahahahahah!
===========================================
I still can't decide whether this guy is either the stupidest person I've
heard of recently, or has baited the best hook I've seen.
===========================================
Shut up you damn ignorant delphi trash...
===========================================
itd.
altfbg.zipstrani.sistemi.170enterprise,
Hi! :)
Ima li neko ovde koji bi mogao da mi pomogne ? :)
Tj. da li se neko "redovno" loguje na ABM BBS ? Imam neki fajl koji bi tamo
teo da skinem, zove se CDIARY12.EXE :). Inače, radi se o dnevniku. :)
P.S. ne pišem ja dnevnik ... :)
strani.sistemi.171niklaus,
-> #159, skerl(:> "The Beginner's Guide to the Internet" is a full-color,
(:> computer-based
Odlično štivo. Za čitanje "na iskap". Toplo preporučujem.
(:> p.s. Ovo bi moglo u neki dir da se strpa (ima header)
Podržano! (:
(:niklaus:)
strani.sistemi.172snemcev,
-> #167, niklaus>> Kad smo već kod toga (ABMa i hronično loše veze), mogu vam reći da
>> je kom. prog. DEPUTY (ima ga u R:ĐCOM direktorijumu) pravo otkriće.
Jesi li pokušao da preneseš fajl na 4800 bps?
strani.sistemi.173.bale.,
Evo nastavka onog teksta "Leaders of... (šta ti ja znam)".
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
Anne Fallis, Founder of TREC (Technology for Rural Enhancement and Communities)
In the Black Hills of South Dakota, a bulletin board system (BBS) has
become a tool for delivering social programs. Anne Fallis uses her BBS
daily to help set up programs in distance learning, job training, and
prevention of drug and alcohol abuse. [SHOW] a photograph of Anne
Fallis.
Fallis has raised 4.5 million dollars for her programs with an
expenditure of only $20,000 -- an incredibly low expense rate of under
one-half of one percent. She credits her economizing to the use of the
BBS. Fallis does research through a Listserv maintained by EDUCOM,
uses e-mail to communicate among constituents, and advertises her
programs to the outside world by connecting to other BBS's. (You can
phone into her BBS at 605-394-0468.)
Programs can also use the BBS to deliver services. For instance, with
the help of the BBS, collaborative writing projects are flourishing on
several Indian reservations, and a professor at M.I.T. has offered
long-distance courses to students in those places.
Fallis's way of working is to start programs of value to rural
communities and American Indians, then turn the programs over to the
community to administer. Part of the task of getting community members
involved is to get them onto the BBS. Because computers are quite
common in the schools on Indian reservations, Fallis uses the schools
as a networking resource. She drives out to many communities to hook
up modems and train staff (something that the commercial network
providers generally won't do).
Getting an Internet connection in South Dakota is very hard unless
you're a university faculty member. One of Fallis's current projects
is linking a large number of state residents to the Internet. She uses
a combination of SLIP connections and her BBS system for this project.
She is also looking into packet radio as a possible medium.
In the big picture, Fallis's goal is access for everyone to the
outside world via computer networks. To promote this goal nationally,
she has founded a non-profit organization, Technology for Rural
Enhancement and Communities (TREC).
E-mail:
afallis@silver.sdsmt.edu
Following is Anne Fallis's statement about government policy and
community networks.
People Using Networks Can Have an Impact on Government _by Anne Fallis_
Computer networks are starting to make a difference. But providing
access to parties with money and technical ability, without paying
attention to the rest of the population, will widen the gap between
socio-economic classes rather than improving governance.
To reverse this trend, _everyone_ must have easy-interface, cheap
access to world-wide information highways. Public schools, libraries,
and government systems can be the foundation for this access by
reallocating resources. National and local governments can perform
many of their functions electronically, and save enough in time and
travel to pay for electronic infrastructure.
Here are some instances of local networks at work:
* Cynthia Denton's Russell Country BBS brings information about
federal government actions in agriculture to Hobson, Montana, a
rural town of 100 people.
* Congressmen Conrad Burns utilizes Big Sky Telegraph, Montana to get
timely input from his constituents.
* Dakota BBS, South Dakota, provides input to state legislators and
Tribal Councilmen on a nearby isolated Indian Reservation.
* NativeNet solicits support throughout Canada for American Indian
causes.
* A Colorado Springs City Councilman credits Dave Hughes with getting
him elected through on-line campaigning.
* Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide has provided e-mail research
support to help win a number of court victories.
* Cruzio, a Santa Cruz network, is lining up congressional candidates
for an online forum.
Although these examples are exciting, current facilities are not
enough. Access for _many_ can be accomplished now if public policy
makers quit waiting for high-end technology or Federal solutions. One
rural state reports expenditures of $1.5 million for Internet services
available _only_ to 990 faculty members. In contrast, North Dakota and
Montana operate distributive systems for their entire
elementary-secondary school structure for about $200,000 per year.
Finally, economically-deprived people have little energy to
participate in governance. The same telecommunications infrastructure
that supports government improvement can support "tecnomics" --
economic activity through high technology. On-line facilitation of
equal economic opportunities for all will result in a true change in
governance.
_(Go to next community leader...)_
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
strani.sistemi.174.bale.,
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
Dave Hughes, Founder of Old Colorado City Communications
Dave Hughes is probably the premier technical and policy facilitator
in grass-roots community networking. In 1981, he started what may be
the first bulletin board system (BBS) whose goal was to empower the
local public politically. Since then, Hughes has traveled around the
world in an effort to bring some of the most disenfranchised and
isolated communities into the electronic age.
In Hughes's home town, Colorado Springs, Colorado, all residents can
get online, including truck drivers logging in from Rogers Bar. On
more than one occasion, Colorado Springs citizens organized by Hughes
online won a changes in the procurement policy by local government.
His local private bulletin board has evolved into a city-run "City
Link" on which the city council communicates openly with the entire
community online. Hughes is targeting the state legislature next.
Hughes's work in other communities ranges from Hawaii to Russia. He
designed the decentralized Big Sky Telegraph educational network in
Montana. He employs Russian engineers, linked by modem, to do
technical work. To support languages that don't use ASCII characters,
he uses NAPLPS (North American Presentation Level Protocol Syntax).
For a project in San Luis valley -- a poor, rural, Hispanic area of
Colorado and New Mexico -- Hughes even plans to bring support for
sound and music.
In December 1992, Hughes was asked by the transition team of
President-elect Clinton to submit a low-cost plan for bringing
computer networks into all public schools. His suggestion was by far
the cheapest, because he recommended transferring data through brief
phone calls, using simple store-and-forward technologies such as UUCP,
Fidonet, and FrEdMail. A large part of his suggested budget would go
to training. The White House ultimately sent to Congress a request
that was close to the dollar amount that Hughes projected, billions
less that other projections.
E-mail:
dave@oldcolo.com
Following is Dave Hughes' statement about government policy and
community networks.
The Electronic Public Interest Versus the Private Good _by Dave Hughes_
The US Government stands at a major crossroads in its role in building
the National Information Highways. There are three paths open to it.
One option is to build, with tax funds, the major networks of the
National Information Infrastructure. The government and other analysts
argue we can't afford that.
A second choice is to remove all obstacles to the giant
communications, telephone, cable, computer, and entertainment sectors.
Allow them to build the network and offer it as a mass consumer
service.
A third option is to unleash and support the private sector to build
the infrastructure, but to use laws and regulation to ensure that
every American has free or highly price-regulated access.
I am afraid this Administration already has taken the second path,
abandoning the 1934 Telecom Act's principle of universal access for
voice phone service. This decision has broad implications for future
interactive telecommunications services.
Unfortunately, the Administration is applying the principle if you can
afford it, you can have it. This will affect historically "public"
information services like K-12 education and public libraries, where
the skills of the future have traditionally been passed on to the
public, at the public's expense. By letting the "marketplace" decide
the degree of access, we let commercial vendors of telecom go only
where they see a profitable "market"; not where there is a need. This
contrasts strongly with the policy of regulated phone service to rural
areas, which was also the basis for business rates subsidizing
residental voice phone rates.
If the Administration continues with this trend, we will equate the
private interest of a some citizens and groups -- either wealthy, or
inside favorable markets -- with the public interest, which should
recognize no such distinctions. And that guarantees an Information
Rich/Information Poor society resembling Europe before the Industrial
Age.
_(Go to next community leader...)_
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
strani.sistemi.175.bale.,
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
Evelyn Pine, Former Director of Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility
From 1989 to 1992, Evelyn Pine managed the renowned project, Berkeley
Community Memory. Its goal was to make telecomputing a routine event
for the inhabitants of Berkeley, California.
A 10-terminal public-access network, Community Memory started in the
1970's and became famous for getting unusual combinations of people
talking to each other. Pine joined them when they were broadening
their user base to include more low-income families, senior citizens,
and other disadvantaged people. She saw and fostered interactions
across race and class that would never have occurred in a face-to-face
setting.
Pine was also deputy director for the non-profit Foundation for
Community Service Cable Television in the state of California. This
organization encouraged schools, community groups, and government
agencies to use cable TV channels to get information out to the
public.
From 1992 to 1993, Pine was managing director of Computer
Professionals for Social Responsibility, a well-known public interest
group that influences government policy in many areas of information
technology, including military uses, privacy rights, and equal access
for all citizens. By virtue of its concern for social impacts of
computing, CPSR members have been involved in many community
networking attempts. Evelyn Pine is now an organizational consultant,
offering eleven years experience working with individuals and groups
to make meaningful use of emerging technologies.
E-mail:
evy@well.sf.ca.us
Following is Evelyn Pine's statement about government policy and
community networks.
Electronic Democracy Must Come From Us _by Evelyn Pine_
When that self-proclaimed champion of "electronic democracy," Ross
Perot, invited Americans to say whether he should return to the 1992
presidential race, his consultants designed his 800-number phone
system so everybody could vote -- but the only vote you could cast was
"yes."
This shouldn't surprise us. The clamor for new technology to increase
citizen participation is not going to change politicians' desire to
build consensus around the powerful interests they serve.
Advocates are quick to point to electronic voting, access to elaborate
government databases, and email to public officials at every level of
government as ways that "the people" will be able to influence the
actions of their leaders. The reality, however, is not so simple. The
real value of electronic networking to democracy is not its power to
reach public officials, but its power for us to meet each other in
new, intimate, and yet public ways.
Television educates us that our experience is secondary -- to the
news, to the opinion of pundits, to the lives of celebrities. Computer
networking can allow us to reaffirm the experience and expertise of
those in our communities.
In many ongoing electronic communities, the status of opinion-makers
shifts. Rather than a crystalized hierarchy of leaders, different
people emerge as knowledgeable and worthy of respect around different
issues. One person, for instance, may have long experience with local
politics, while another is known to keep current with ecological
issues. Electronic networking may be nurtured to yield an anarchistic,
intimate culture where the status of opinion-maker changes over many
situations.
However, the current members of online communities tend to be white,
male, well off, and "knowledge workers." For electronic democracy to
have any meaning, we need to offer broader access to the necessary
tools -- literacy, technology, training, time to experiment, and an
online culture that is welcoming and inclusive. Groups that already
champion networking among diverse constituencies -- like American
Indian Telecommunications, New York City's Playing to Win, and
HandsNet -- can be leaders in the development of electronic democracy.
We also need participatory design, where those who will use the system
play a substantive role in the creation of the system.
_(Go to next community leader...)_
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
strani.sistemi.176.bale.,
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
Felipe Rodriquez, Sys Admin in the Hacktic Foundation
In Holland -- a country of 14 million -- one organization offers
low-cost Internet access to all. For about Dfl. 130 ($65 U.S.) a year
and the cost of local phone calls, anyone can get a mailbox from the
Hacktic Network Foundation and use its services to exchange files and
mail. The estimated number of users, both direct and through linked-up
bulletin board systems (BBS's), is between 1000 and 1500.
The Hacktic Network Foundation is a non-profit, all-volunteer group of
system administrators. They work together without choosing fixed
roles, and describe themselves rather flamboyantly as techno-rebels.
The foundation is committed to extending network use to low-income
people, political activists, and ethnic minorities.
Among the organizations brought online by the Hacktic Foundation are
APS (Activist Press Service), WISE, Newsdesk (a politically oriented
radio station), Ultimatum (a South American oriented political group),
and Janssen & Janssen (an organization that monitors government
agencies). The foundation provides free access to financially strapped
organizations, and technical support to politically important
projects.
The foundation tries to publicize the Internet widely. Its network is
used by journalists from the NRC-Handelsblad and the Volkskrant, two
major Dutch newspapers. The foundation also hopes to inspire
organizations to provide Internet access to underdeveloped countries.
Currently it is helping another group bring the Internet to the
occupied Israeli territories.
Internally, the network is a hierarchically-organized system with over
100 nodes and 8 dial-in lines to the central system. It uses special
packet-switching protocols over UUCP to provide several Internet
services locally, such as telnet and ftp. A gopher interface makes
access as simple as possible to services besides mail and news. Using
a dial-up connection to a system maintained by Nlnet, Hacktic
exchanges files with the rest of the world.
E-mail:
felipe@hacktic.nl
Following is Felipe Rodriquez' statement about government policy and
community networks.
The Worldwide Impact of Network Access _by Felipe Rodriquez_
Community networking can change how governments operate because the
people will have access to all kinds of information. With local
networks and communities communicating with each other, governments
will find it increasingly difficult to have a monopoly on information.
International communication has at last become cheap and reliable. All
of us will benefit if access to the net is open to everyone. It is
especially important for political minorities to organize and grow by
means of electronic communication.
Already, alternate groups (political, environmental, and so forth) are
greatly increasing their use of the Internet, and resources for them
are also increasing at a rapid rate. For environmental groups the
Internet has proven to be an excellent pool of resources. Ecological
data is being made accessible through databases and mailing-lists,
some wonderful examples being envirogopher and the United Nations
gopher.
Governments must increase their involvement on an international scale
in developing the Internet. This means investments in the networking
infrastructure (which are happening in the U.S. and in Europe), as
well as policies to ensure public access. Here are some of the most
pressing issues.
* The networked world must subsidize developing countries to make use
of network technology. Communication is a powerful tool to improve
development and the exchange of technology.
* Education is vital. Let children communicate internationally by
means of school projects, private E-mail and multi-user
international games.
* Governments should never censor the Internet for political reasons.
Only in cases of discrimination in race, color, culture, or social
status should controls be applied.
* Encryption technology should be freely available, such as PGP
(Pretty Good Privacy), IDEA ciphering, and DES. International law
regarding networks and privacy runs short in many ways. Programmers
are being prosecuted because the programs they offered to the
community should not have been "exported." At the moment this is
happening to the author of PGP (Phil Zimmermann), who is being
investigated by US customs because his program is used by people
around the world. His case will be an important precedent.
_(Go to next article...)_
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
strani.sistemi.177.bale.,
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
Frank Odasz, Director of Big Sky Telegraph
When people want an example of how successful community networking can
be, they talk about Big Sky Telegraph. Frank Odasz, an educator at
Western Montana College of the University of Montana, set up Big Sky
to provide educational services throughout the state. [SHOW] a
photograph of Frank Odasz.
Using small grants and the technical help of Dave Hughes, the network
started operation on January 1, 1988. Now over 1000 people across
Montana use its educational facilities and e-mail service. Basic
service is free, with Internet e-mail costing only $50 a year.
Big Sky offers affordable access in a rural setting because the
technical base is cheap and simple. Local communities provide a small
computer where people can dial in at any time. The small systems
exchange files once a day with the central system at Western Montana
College. The central system, in turn, performs file transfers with the
rest of the world every night.
In this bulletin-board-like setup, delivery can be achieved within 24
hours without the need for expensive Internet connections (although
the central system is on the Internet).
Montanans use Big Sky in many ways, including distance education
(taking a course with a professor located far away), collaborative
school projects, and electronic newsletters. Odasz hopes to embed the
network deeply enough in public life that some people can earn their
living over it.
Odasz is also on the board of the Consortium for School Networking, a
grass-roots organization that helps teachers nationwide exchange
curricula and other useful information.
E-mail:
franko@bigsky.dillon.mt.us
Following is Frank Odasz' statement about government policy and
community networks.
Community Networks Benefit Federal Goals _by Frank Odasz_
Community networks can benefit the government by providing the
training necessary for citizens to access government information
electronically. Local experts can assist the general public in access
to information and services through the convenience of email. Those
government services most important for a given community can be
tailored through customized online menus for enhanced ease of access
by the public. A community network can potentially provide a single
point of access for local, state and national government services,
accessible with the help of friendly local online public servants.
Government CDROM databases can be economically mass-produced and made
locally accessible on multiple community networks. Regularly available
for updating, these databases could be tailored to the needs of
specific communities, and could provide literally gigabits of
government information at very low costs.
Community networks, even those based on simple BBS software, can
potentially offer citizens individual Internet ID's. Internet access
across communities can provide global citizenship and entrepreneurial
opportunities to local citizens via self-teaching online classes and
email access.
The government's biggest benefit from community networks will be the
national tap on local innovations. But widespread grassroots
innovations will be necessary for the potential of electronic delivery
of government services to become reality, and for our nation to be an
economic leader in the information age.
_(Go to next community leader...)_
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
strani.sistemi.178.bale.,
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
Richard Civille, Director of the Center for Civic Networking
Richard Civille entered community networking in a unique but highly
characteristic way. In 1982, as part of an experiment at the
University of California at Santa Cruz, he helped establish electronic
mail links with remote Pacific island communities over an old weather
satellite. The goal was to help underdeveloped island communities hook
up with sources of information and funding in other parts of the
world. Through many diverse projects since then, Civille has
maintained his concern for helping underdeveloped areas and providing
equal access to information for everyone.
Civille later started a distance learning project that was
revolutionary at the time: using telecommunications to link school
children around the world to do joint work on an ecological issue. The
subject matter was water quality. Cohesion among the students was
built by using audio teleconferencing as well as e-mail. One exchange
took place a day after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Civille
listened to the tearful exchanges of students from Canada, Germany,
and Scotland concerned with wind directions and whether food was safe
to eat.
While working with projects in underdeveloped communities and in
distance learning, Civille often encountered bureaucratic constraints
and problems with public policy. He has become a leader at bringing
together people from different grassroots telecommunications
initiatives to learn from each other and organize politically. Civille
consistently stresses the importance of access for everyone,
especially disenfranchised and low-income groups.
Civille also co-founded Econet and worked with its eventual sponsor,
the Institute for Global Communications. He is the Washington director
for the Center for Civic Networking, which promotes the public
interest in communication policies and creates community networks. He
is a board member of CapAccess, the community networking organization
in Washington, D.C. and also serves as the Director of Information
Services at the Center for Budget Policy Priorities.
E-mail:
rciville@civicnet.org
Following is Richard Civille's statement about government policy and
community networks.
The Civic Promise of the National Information Infrastructure _by Richard
Civille_
In Oregon, the county of Lane is struggling towards a sustainable
economy as their logging industry declines. Several dozen citizens --
loggers, educators, environmentalists, business entrepreneurs -- are
creating a county-wide public access network called Lane-Online. This
service will connect schools to the Internet and global resources
through community libraries, provide job listings and training
opportunities, and promote community development.
In Washington, DC, the National Capital Area Public Access Network
(CapAccess) is forging new ties among volunteer social service
agencies, local public radio, cable and television programmers, and
regional libraries to combine separate services into new forms of
public media.
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Sustainable Development Information
Network (SDIN) is developing library access to vast geographic and
statistical databases in order to assist community groups to plan for
the future.
In Blacksburg, VA, a local university, the city council, community
groups and the telephone company are preparing residential
connectivity to the Internet for a town of 35,000.
Civic networks are spreading across the country like wildfire. Such
grassroots initiatives are creating new models for communication
policy, and intensifying other initiatives that use older media and
face-to-face encounters.
A new model for community involvement is taking place in Vermont,
where over twenty bills concerning telecommunications and public
access were introduced after citizen groups and the legislature held
hearings for a year around the state. Public access cable stations, a
state-wide bulletin board service (BBS), and local BBS's all got
involved in broadcasting and archiving the hearings.
Efforts like Vermont's will influence the federal government as
communication policy is shaped for the 21st Century. Now that Congress
is grappling with the true meaning of the National Information
Infrastructure, they can learn from the best of the local and
state-wide actions and apply these new models nationwide.
_(Go to next community leader...)_
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
strani.sistemi.179.bale.,
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
Tom Grundner, Director of the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN)
Free-Nets represent the most widespread model for connecting the
public via computer networks. At the center of this model is Dr. Tom
Grundner, who started the Free-Net concept with a medical project in
1984. Grundner remains at the head of the national organization that
guides the creation of new Free-Nets.
Grundner's first network project was a system that handled medical
questions from the public and got responses from doctors within 24
hours. He established the project in Cleveland, Ohio at the Department
of Family Medicine, Case Western Reserve University. When this project
became popular and widely admired, he started a general-purpose public
network. The Cleveland Free-Net currently averages over 10,000 logins
a day from users eager to access its publicly available information,
e-mail, and newsgroups.
Grundner started the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN) to
actively help organizations develop Free-Nets in other cities. By the
autumn of 1993 there will be some 20 Free-Nets in operation, and
another 45 committees to organize new ones. Three Free-Nets are in
foreign countries. While the Free-Net concept appears most frequently
in cities, it has recently begun an outreach program for rural areas.
[GO] to the server _nptn.org_ for information on NPTN.
One of the central goals of NPTN is to see how this medium can be used
to bring people closer to the democratic process. Users can read
documents from American political history, selected congressional
bills, and Supreme Court decisions. In 1990, Free-Nets in Ohio posted
biographical information and position papers for numerous candidates.
Similar services were provided nationwide for the 1992 Presidential
campaigns. In the future, NPTN hopes to get the elected officials and
candidates to talk to the public online, directly.
E-mail:
tmg@nptn.org
Following is Tom Grundner's statement about government policy and
community networks.
An NREN That Includes Everyone _by Tom Grundner_
James Madison perhaps said it best when he wrote: A popular government
without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a
prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will
forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own
governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.
While Madison was a master of the print medium, he could not have
envisioned the development of computerized information and
communications systems. Instead it is left to each succeeding
generation to examine the current technologies of their day and to use
them in spreading knowledge.
At the moment, for example, we are considering the development of an
NREN--a National Research and Education Network. Yet, to me, the NREN
makes no sense in the absence of the parallel development of free,
public access, community computer systems-- systems which would be to
computerized information as the free public library was to the printed
word. Indeed, perhaps it is time for us to re-think Madison's words.
Perhaps what is needed is not an NREN, but an NCON--a National
COmmunity Network. This network would need enough conceptual bandwidth
to include the university researchers, but also recognize that a
parent seeking information on the latest flu bug is a researcher too.
An NCON would think in terms of K-100, not just K-12 or K-16.
Whether we are going to enter the Information Age is no longer at
issue -- we are. The only question that remains is whether we are
going to harness this technology to provide ...the power which
knowledge gives and to provide it with equity.
_(Go to next community leader...)_
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
strani.sistemi.180.bale.,
E, evo sada malo što je trebalo na početku :)
[Go Find Out] [GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
FREE-NETS AND COMMUNITIES
_by Linda Mui_
_________________________________________________________________
The Free-Net Movement
Most people agree that the Internet is a wonderful resource. But a
resource for whom?
Technology is great for those of us who can readily take advantage of
it. But what does the Internet mean to people who don't work in the
computer industry? Computer professionals are really impressed by
networking and all its possibilities, but why should anyone else be?
Well, one answer is in the Free-Net movement that's emerged over the
past few years. The Free-Net is based on the idea of offering a
publicly-accessible computer system that provides e-mail access,
information about government and community services, newspaper feeds,
library catalog access, bulletin boards, public documents, and
whatever else the community finds important (and which someone
volunteers to put in place). As the name says, it's all free.
Some of the information is kept on local disk, but the true model of
the Free-Net is to provide links to other sites--for example, if you
ask for the latest weather information, the Free-Net connects you to
the weather server at the University of Michigan.
The first Free-Net was developed at Case Western Reserve University in
Cleveland by Dr. Tom Grundner. Since then, several more Free-Nets have
popped up, primarily in the United States. Free-Nets are also starting
to take hold in Canada, New Zealand, and Finland.
The National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN) is a non-profit
central organization that helps Free-Nets get started. Based on the
model of PBS or NPR, the NPTN maintains a collection of resources and
tools that all Free-Nets can use. See the article entitled "Leaders of
Community Networking" in this issue of _GNN Magazine_ to learn more
about Dr. Grundner and the NPTN.
Free-Nets are fully funded both by local communities and private
sponsors. This means that none of the cost of connecting is passed on
to the user: all you need to use a Free-Net is a way to access it. You
can connect to Free-Nets via _telnet_, by dialing in via modem, or by
using public-access terminals located at universities or libraries.
You are usually restricted to 60 minutes per login.
(Access may be free, but it's not always easy. The dial-up lines for
the more popular Free-Nets are constantly tied up. Even if you use
_telnet_, the Cleveland machine is frequently busy, often asking you
to "Please try again later.")
Structure of Free-Nets
Most Free-Nets provide a "guest" account for new or occasional users
(like me). If you have Internet access, just _telnet_ to a Free-Net
site and you should see instructions telling you which login name a
guest should use. (Be warned that at this writing, some Free-Nets
don't provide guest access.)
Free-Nets are menu-driven systems. The main menu includes several
categories, such as administration, e-mail, government, schools,
library, news, etc. No two Free-Nets have exactly the same menu
structure.
To simulate the organization of a community, menu categories are often
given names of buildings you might find in a small town -- the
Administration Building, the Post Office, the Government Center, the
Schoolhouse, etc. You might go to the Courthouse for legal advice, or
to the Hospital to get the latest medical information. For example,
this is the main menu of the pioneer Cleveland Free-Net:
>>
1 The Administration Building
2 The Post Office
3 Public Square
4 The Courthouse & Government Center
5 The Arts Building
6 Science and Technology Center
7 The Medical Arts Building
8 The Schoolhouse (Academy One)
9 The Community Center & Recreation Area
10 The Business and Industrial Park
11 The Library
12 University Circle
13 The Teleport
14 The Communications Center
15 NPTN/USA TODAY HEADLINE NEWS
------------------------------------------------
h=Help, x=Exit Free-Net, "go help"=extended help
Your Choice ==>
To move to a particular "area" of the town, you can browse through the
menus by typing its number at the arrow prompt (==>), followed by
RETURN or ENTER. You can backtrack to the previous menu using "p" at
the arrow prompt. As shortcuts, Free-Nets provide special keywords
that allow you to jump to an area without having to wade through the
menus -- for example, typing "go admin" might bring you to the
administration building.
The Administration Building or Headquarters is where you can learn
more about the Free-Net itself and how to register for it. You need to
register for the Free-Net if you want to send or receive e-mail. In
addition, some Free-Nets prevent unregistered users from posting to
bulletin boards or from connecting to other sites via gopher. The
Cleveland Free-Net requires you to be 21 or older to access some
services, meaning you must be registered before you can use them.
If the Free-Net provides guest access, then you don't have to register
just to browse through the Free-Net and see what it has to offer.
Free-Net Services
So what does a Free-Net have to offer? Let's go through a few of the
services.
* E-mail access. At the "Post Office" or "Communications Center," you
can send and receive mail messages from anyone on the Internet. All
Free-Nets provide e-mail for their registered users.
* On-line library catalogs. From a Free-Net, you can connect to the
catalogs of local libraries and find out which library carries a
particular book you're looking for. (You can even find out if it's
currently on loan.) Some Free-Nets also provide a gopher link to
the Library of Congress. See the article in this issue entitled
"Dear Mr. President" for more information on connecting to the
Library of Congress.
* Historical documents. The U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of
Independence are available on-line from many Free-Nets. This comes
in handy during those lunchtime arguments over the wording of the
19th Amendment.
* Other important documents. Texts of recent Supreme Court opinions
are often on-line within an hour of their release, via Project
Hermes.
* Statistics and more statistics. The Buffalo Free-Net has the
Consumer Price Index and New York State census information. The
National Capital Free-Net in Ottawa provides recently-published
statistics on Canadian employment and earnings, as well as
statistics of less universal interest, such as "Stocks of Frozen
Meat Products," and "Process Cheese and Instant Skim Milk Powder,
June 1993."
* Public documents, such as the Federal Budget. You can try printing
out a copy at home if you're a dedicated tree-hater.
* Usenet news. Many Free-Nets have at least a partial Usenet feed.
* Real news. The Cleveland Free-Net has a feed from USA Today. The
Ottawa Free-Net has feeds from Radio Free Europe, China News
Digest, and Croatia News. Local papers sometimes list community
cultural and sports events, or put their letters to the editor on a
bulletin board.
* Science and medical news. The Victoria Free-Net lets you connect to
news from NASA. Almost all Free-Nets are swimming in medical
information; for example, on the Victoria Free-Net there's lots you
can learn about living with diabetes. The Denver Free-Net has
information for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease sufferers, and
the American Red Cross keeps readers of the Heartland Free-Net well
informed.
* Access for students. "Academy One" is a program that enables K-12
schools to connect to the Free-Net and participate in
telecomputing.
* Professional advice. Some Free-Nets provide bulletin boards for
posting questions for doctors or lawyers. Cleveland has
"ask-a-doctor" and "ask-a-lawyer" bulletin boards. The Heartland
Free-Net in Peoria offers "Ask Mr. Science" and also an "ask-a-vet"
bulletin board.
* Other advice. Free-Nets often provide a more general discussion
area, giving users the opportunity to spout off about whatever they
want. The most elaborate of these is the Public Square on the
Cleveland Free-Net. The Public Square in Cleveland also includes
"polling places," in which users can submit issues and then vote on
them.
* Government contacts and information. This is one of the most
ambitious goals of the Free-Net movement: to have direct access to
the local, state, and federal governments. (The Ottawa Free-Net
takes this one step further -- they have an area for use by foreign
embassies. So far, France is the only participant.)
Thus far, federal involvement is pretty minimal for both American
and Canadian sites, limited to listings of addresses and phone
numbers for senators and representatives. But most Free-Nets have
been very successful in getting local governments involved. Almost
all Free-Nets have listings of office phone numbers for local
officials in surrounding towns. In addition, town council meeting
minutes are put on line, as well as announcements of future
agendas.
The Canadian Free-Nets are more ambitious: the Victoria Free-Net
draws information from many ministries in British Columbia (often
through gopher links) to get road reports, statistics, tourist
information, and environmental information. The Ottawa Police take
part in the Ottawa Free-Net, monitoring a question-and-answer
bulletin board and providing statistics about local crime.
* Social services. To me, this is the most valuable resource of a
Free-Net: to provide a medium in which local social service
organizations or community action groups can distribute information
consistently and cheaply. Many Free-Nets (notably, Buffalo) have
extensive lists of services for senior citizens. The Denver
Free-Net includes information from the Colorado Literacy Hotline,
tips from the Metropolitan Denver Better Business Bureau, and
notices from the Denver Dumb Friends League, a service for pet
owners. The Heartland Free-Net in Peoria has information on Boy
Scout programs, and the Victoria Free-Net has listings of adult
education classes.
This is where the community spirit of Free-Nets comes to life. The
big gap the Free-Nets fill is that they give you a direct way to
find out what resources your town has for your particular issues.
This might range from needing to know where you can get free tax
advice, to just finding out if there are any local Star Trek fan
clubs nearby.
The best testament I can give to the Free-Net movement is that after
browsing through Free-Nets in far-away towns, I've started to wonder
when one will be started in my own area. The Free-Nets that are out
there are still pretty scrawny; large areas turn out to be "under
development," and you have to wonder how often the information is
updated. But they're clearly a great resource for getting community
information dispersed. I now know more about community services in
Denver now than I do about Cambridge, where I live. Through a WAIS
database of clubs and societies in Victoria, I've learned about 6
different bridge clubs in Victoria, Canada, which is 6 more than I
know about here in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Don't fret, though. A Free-Net for your area may be in development as
we speak. The NPTN gives licenses and support to groups who want to
start Free-Nets in particular areas. Even though there may not be a
Free-Net in your area, you can contact the NPTN to find out if one is
starting, and if so, who to contact if you want to help. [GO] to the
server _nptn.org_ for information on NPTN. If no Free-Nets have been
started in your area and you have the time, resources, and interest,
the NPTN will help you start an organizing committee and provide you
with software and know-how.
I've read many articles on the data superhighway and have heard claims
about how useful all this networking will someday be in our everyday
lives. The Free-Net is the first concrete example I've seen of how we
might reap some of those promised benefits today.
For further information:
* [GET] an article on Tom Grundner, the leader of the Free-Net
movement.
* [GO] to the server alfred.carleton.ca for historical and policy
papers related to Free-Nets and other community networking.
* [GO] for background on Free-Nets and papers from a conference on
Free-Nets.
_(Go to next article...)_
_________________________________________________________________
[Go Find Out] [GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
strani.sistemi.181.bale.,
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
Leaders of Community Networking
_________________________________________________________________
People Who Create Online Communities
On rare occasions a progressive local government sets up a community
network, like PEN in Santa Monica, California. But usually, networks
are created by groups of ordinary citizens -- or not so ordinary ones,
as we shall see -- in the face of incredible technical, financial, and
political barriers.
This article describes the work of seven people who have played
important roles in community networking, and offers a brief statement
about government policy from each one. Some of the leaders discuss
what community networks need from the government in order to prosper,
while others suggest what the networks can do to change how government
runs.
Although their projects span a broad array of topics and locales,
these people share a sense of vision, a commitment to hard work, and
the achievement of impressive results. Often they have not been paid
for their networking activities, but manage to squeeze the work into
other jobs or do it on the side.
The article begins with two political activists, Evelyn Pine and
Richard Civille, whose experiences span a wide range of networking
activities. Pine and Civille have drawn some deep conclusions about
the value of telecomputing in public life.
The article continues with Anne Fallis, Frank Odasz, and Dave Hughes.
Each has become famous in the telecomputing world by building strong
communities through the very simple, low-tech means of electronic
bulletin boards. All of them are now engaged in broader initiatives:
state-wide, nationally, and even internationally.
Next comes Tom Grundner, leader of the Free-Net movement, the single
largest collection of community networks today. [GET] another article
that describes what Free-Nets offer.
Last is an international perspective from Dutch system administrator
Felipe Rodriquez.
While community networking places a high value on access to
information, it doesn't stop with facts. At the heart of any such
project is the desire to build a feeling of community. Often the
project seeks to improve the opportunities for its members to talk
together, share resources in new ways, or find work. And perhaps most
of all, community networking seeks to get citizens more involved in
governing themselves.
What the leaders in this article tell us is that community networking
is powerful--but fragile. Its spread requires supportive government
policies, an educated public, and a feeling of commitment by people to
their communities. In the United States, the decisions made for the
National Information Infrastructure over the next few years may
determine whether community networks remain scattered experiments or
succeed in reaching millions.
EVELYN PINE: ELECTRONIC DEMOCRACY MUST COME FROM US
RICHARD CIVILLE: THE CIVIC PROMISE OF THE NAT'L INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
ANNE FALLIS: PEOPLE USING NETWORKS CAN HAVE AN IMPACT ON GOVERNMENT
FRANK ODASZ: COMMUNITY NETWORKS BENEFIT FEDERAL GOALS
DAVE HUGHES: THE ELECTRONIC PUBLIC INTEREST VERSUS THE PRIVATE GOOD
TOM GRUNDNER: A NREN THAT INCLUDES EVERYONE
FELIPE RODRIQUEZ: THE WORLDWIDE IMPACT OF NETWORK ACCESS
For further information:
* [GO] to the server alfred.carleton.ca for historical and policy
papers related to Free-Nets and other community networking.
* [GO] to a University of Saskatchewan server for background
* [GO] for articles on community networking maintained by the
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility.
* [GO] for statements from the Center for Civic Networking.
[GO] for information maintained by the WELL on a number of community
networks.
_(Go to first community leader...)_
[GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
strani.sistemi.182peca.st,
-> #180, .bale.!-> E, evo sada malo što je trebalo na početku :)
Jao bre, zašto ovo sve nije išlo kao fajl, prepuni mi pad... :(((
Peđa.
strani.sistemi.183vstan,
-> #173, .bale.>Evo nastavka onog teksta "Leaders of... (sta ti ja znam)".
>
> [GNN Magazine] [GNN Home]
Ako imas milosti kaci to u fajl !
strani.sistemi.184niklaus,
-> #172, snemcev(:> Jesi li pokušao da preneseš fajl na 4800 bps?
CONNECT 1200/REL
CONNECT 1200 / 11-18-93 (02:40:16)
(Error Correcting Modem Detected)
Ć ABM BBS ■ Ljubljana ■ Slovenija ž
PCBoard (R) v15.0/100 - Node 3 - PFE11A8D28FAA
4800? Daleko bilo... (: ):
(:niklaus:)
strani.sistemi.185.bale.,
OK, imacu milosti sledeci put :)
strani.sistemi.186dejanr,
Ne kaže džabe u Jevanđelju "Ne sudite prenagljeno". Mi ovde optužismo i
osudismo SysOp-a QSD-a da nas je iz političkih razloga odsekao, kad ono...
izgleda da čovek nije ništa kriv i da je zasluga za ono 'access barred'
na sasvim drugoj strani. Pazite ovo, sa jednog piratskog BBS-a:
From: Bayern.Power%bbs@sectec.greenie.muc.de (Bayern Power)
It's not the fault of the sysop of QSD. It's the network managers in ex-YU
who were tired of all the fraudulent calls to QSD, so they disabled access
to all NUAs starting with 02080570 (not only QSD!). Croatia was the first,
then Serbia & Slovenia made the same move; finally, Macedonia blacklisted
QSD, too. YU is not the only country to take these steps, though; QSD has
been unreachable from Turkey since a *long* time (I hacked a couple of
systems there), and just two weeks before YU, Australia (both AustPac and
OTC Data Access) barred QSD. Oh well...
strani.sistemi.187zonjic,
-> #173, .bale.Bale, a sto ga ne attachova? (mada ja sa teskom mukom koristim attach ;)
Inace, mislim da se zaboravio onu poruku o Radivoju Zonjicu
:-))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
toliko o skromnosti,
Rade
strani.sistemi.188astral,
HAJ, NEHAJ !!
Bale, ako imas i malo milosti, ATTACH !!
Plaese, please, please, please.... CENZURISANI.
strani.sistemi.189spantic,
-> #186, dejanr> It's not the fault of the sysop of QSD. It's the network managers in ex-YU
> who were tired of all the fraudulent calls to QSD, so they disabled access
> to all NUAs starting with 02080570 (not only QSD!). Croatia was the first,
> then Serbia & Slovenia made the same move; finally, Macedonia blacklisted
Uh, pa ko da besplatno daju korišćenje JUPAK-a.
strani.sistemi.190dr.grba,
bale, lepi tekstovi, možda ih čak i pročitam, ali brate, imaš opciju za
ATTACH file uz poruku, probaj kako radi, leba ti... ):
strani.sistemi.191domana,
-> #182, peca.st~~~ Jao bre, zasto ovo sve nije islo kao fajl, prepuni mi pad... :(((
A ja se bas pitam zasto mi je pad 40 kb :)
Pyc
strani.sistemi.192draganm,
-> #186, dejanr*> From: Bayern.Power%bbs@sectec.greenie.muc.de (Bayern Power)
Otkud sysadm jednog legalnog bbs-a na Secret Tectonics-u ?
:))))))
-=> Phantom Lord <=-/.CoRRoSioN.
strani.sistemi.194dejanr,
-> #189, spantic>> > It's not the fault of the sysop of QSD. It's the network managers
>> > in ex-YU who were tired of all the fraudulent calls to QSD, so they
>> > disabled access to all NUAs starting with 02080570...
>>
>> Uh, pa ko da besplatno daju korišćenje JUPAK-a.
Pa, ne daju besplatno, ali ako ćemo da budemo iskreni ;) dosta ljudi ovako
ili onako koristi JUPAK a ne plaća ga iz svog džepa :) Verovatno najveći
broj "sedača" na QSD-u spada u tu grupu. I što je najčudnije nije to samo
kod nas - i po svetu, koliko sam video, hakeri retko plaćaju komunikacione
troškove. Provaljuju lozinke, blue-box-uju, nalaze brojeve tuđih kreditnih
kartica, šta ga znam šta sve rade, ali ruku u svoj džep retko zavlače.
Dok ih jednom ne ukebaju, naravno.
strani.sistemi.195v.nesic,
-> #188, astral> Bale, ako imas i malo milosti, ATTACH !!
Look who's talking :>>>>>
U pad, u pad, u pad ... SADISTA
strani.sistemi.196dr.grba,
-> #194, dejanr>> troškove. Provaljuju lozinke, blue-box-uju, nalaze brojeve tuđih
Šta je blue-box?
strani.sistemi.197dejanr,
-> #196, dr.grba>> Šta je blue-box?
Zvanje telefonom bez plaćanja računa. Tj. slanje nekog zvučnog signala koji
"zbuni" poštu da misli da je veza prekinuta pa ne otkucava impulse, a veza
i dalje traje...
Onemogućeno je u mnogim državama širom sveta.
strani.sistemi.198.bata.,
-> #197, dejanrŔŔŔ Onemoguceno je u mnogim drzavama sirom sveta.
samo da kazem: ;>>>>>>>
-=> BaTa <=-./CoRRoSioN.
strani.sistemi.199magician,
-> #197, dejanr=> Onemogućeno je u mnogim državama širom sveta.
Mi i nemamo državu, so?
Magician.
strani.sistemi.200slom,
Evo nekih zanimljivih usluga koje pruza Compuserve:
Udjete u mail podsistem otkucate poruku i na pitanje
"To whom?" odgovorite sa:
>FAX:38111123456 <- slanje faksa na broj +381 11 123-456
>TLX:123456789 ABCD YU <- slanje teleksa
>POSTAL <- pita vas dalje za adresu na koju ce da
posalje pismo odstampano na laserskom
stampacu.
SEZAME sta cekas ? :)
sm
strani.sistemi.201m.hristodulo,
-> #194, dejanr>> Pa, ne daju besplatno, ali ako cemo da budemo
>> iskreni ;) dosta ljudi ovako ili onako koristi
>> JUPAK a ne placa ga iz svog dzepa :) Verovatno
>> najveci broj "sedaca" na QSD-u spada u tu grupu.
To sigurno nije razlog da celu jednu seriju
brojeva maltene ukinu za zvanje. Kao sto rekoh, to
bi bilo isto kao kad bi PTT zabranila da se zove
broj 648422 jer su 12 linija na njemu non-stop
zauzete.
Jedino olaksanje je sto su se pre nase, toga
setile i neke poste po drugim zemljama.
strani.sistemi.203snemcev,
-> #196, dr.grba>> Šta je blue-box?
Grbo?!? Zar i ti sine Brute? ;))
PS Blue box je mala spravica koja "ubedi" računar u pošti da ti ne
registruje impulse za vezu koja je u toku.
strani.sistemi.204eotek,
-> #200, slom> >FAX:38111123456 <- slanje faksa na broj +381 11 123-456
> >TLX:123456789 ABCD YU <- slanje teleksa
> >POSTAL <- pita vas dalje za adresu na koju ce
da
> posalje pismo odstampano na
laserskom
DA,
to je ono pravo.
ove usluge se pominju se na bitnetu (".. u razvoju su .."),
posta razmislja na tu temu ...
trebalo bi uraditi u skladu sa X.400/500, dodati i telegram,
pa je onda sve tu.
za potpun uspeh trebalo bi da se obezbedi i prijem (sa
tlx,fax...)
u mail-box, uz opcioni automatski retransfer (na dial-in,tlx,fax...).
sve to jos da ide (medjumesno i medjunarodno) brzim vezama,
da ne bude vezano samo na jednom mestu (BG) vec i napr. NS, NI,PG - i
to bi bilo to.
kleine perica's dreams || first (winner takes all) ?
etsc
strani.sistemi.205dsoskic,
-> #188, astral> Bale, ako imas i malo milosti, ATTACH !!
Niko te ne tera da čitaš njegove poruke.... ;)) :)) ;)) :))