Flux
Telephone underground: Bell Atlantic announced recently that it has installed a new service in the Washington, DC, subway that will allow "Washingtonians and tourists alike" to use their cellular phones while commuting. No big deal, you say? Sure, but where else would such news be greeted with a heady proclamation from Federico Pena, the US Secretary of Transportation? "This project represents the logical marriage of the two fields that will determine our nation's future," he gushes in a press realease, "transportation and telecommunications." Gee, with this kind of vision in high places, the infobahn must be just around the corner.
Privacy Gets Another Friend: Just in time for the Clipper debate, Marc Rotenberg, best known as the director of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, has joined forces with several other privacy-minded organizations and individuals to creat EPIC – the Electronic Privacy Information Center. EPIC will initially focus on the Clipper debate (it has already delivered a petition opposing the scheme, electronically signed by more than 47,000 net denizens) and will become a clearinghouse of information and debate on issues of consumer data, medical record privacy, and digital telephony. E-mail epic@cpsr.org for more info, or call +1 (202) 544 9240. But Who Reads Them?: According to US News & World Report, there are more than 2,700 newspapers now experimenting with one or another kind of electronic venture. In 1989 there were just 42.
Paper? Sure. Binary? No Way: Last March Phil Karn (a San Deigo, California-based electrical/computer engineer who specializes in computer networking) filed a request with the State Department to export a floppy disk containing the exact same cryptographic source code as appears in Bruce Schneier's book "Applied Cryptography". No dice, said the feds: "The Department of State has determined that the subject source code disk is subject to the licensing jurisdiction of the Department of State in accordance with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (22 CFR 120 through 130).... Each source code listing has been partitioned into its own file and has the capability of being easily compiled into an executable subroutine." Heaven forbid. Here's Phil's take on the ruling: "There are some clear constitutional issues here regarding the applicability of the First Amendment to electronic media like floppy disks, BBSes, and the Internet, not to mention the question of whether their entire prior licensing scheme for publicly available information is constitutional in the first place. If the First Amendment is held to apply only to traditional print media, then we are all in deep trouble." Indeed. Stay tuned for future bulletins. (Earlier information on this case is available by anonymous ftp.
Who Gets 666?: If you have US$25,000 to toss around and you live in Southern Bell country (that's south of the Mason Dixon line and east of the Mississippi), you can have your very own three-digit phone number, just like the folks at information (411) or emergency services (911). Due to "high demand," Southern Bell will also be offering four-digit numbers to its consumers.
Digital McLuhan: The Thought Co. has published an electronic book entitled "Who Was Marshall McLuhan?" which features essays on the Mediated One by such luminaries as Peter Drucker, David Olgivie, and Eric McLuhan. For more info, call the Thought Co. in Toronto, +1 (416) 964-8770, or e-mail blair@cs.toronto.edu.
The Meeks Fund: Wired writer and Net-maven cum electronic-journalist extraordinaire Brock N. Meeks is in for the fight of his career. In his Net-based CyberWire Dispatch, Brock exposed the Electronic Postal Service (see this space, May issue) as a potentially fraudulent scam. Now the folks behind the EPS are suing him for libel in a landmark case that could determine crucial issues of free speech on the Net. So who you rooting for? Show how you feel: For tax deductible donations, make checks out to Point Foundation and clearly note on the check: For Legal Defense Fund. Send the checks to: Meeks Defense Fund, c/o Point Foundation, 27 Gate Five Road, Sausalito, CA 94965. For more info: e-mail fund@idi.net.
Still Got a Long Way to Go: A recent Harris poll found that 66 percent of the public has never heard of the information superhighway, proving there is still time to rename it, should anyone care to find a better metaphor.
Speaking of Which: There's a land rush going on for Net domain names, watch these pages for the shocking-but-true stories of lumbering giants and the nimble mammals who have stolen thier identities. The first shot in the war: Adam Curry, ex-MTV jock, sued in May by his former employer for maintaining a site called mtv.com. The best is yet to come.
Virtual Geraldo: "Virtual life on AOL gets curiouser and curiouser," writes Wired contributor Betsy Brazy. "The Geraldo Show has a presence on AOL, and invites members to spend their pennies commenting. Last week, a special notice on the Welcome screen informed users that the 4/22 Geraldo show would be devoted to cyberromance. I checked the forum and like many others was miffed to find out that it was a show on cybersex – and not one of the panelists had anything to do with cyberspace. My little rant (OK, I did refer to his book as My Life in a Petri Dish', and tossed in a little cap about his being caught in the lowest chakra) and those of several others were censored from the board. When people objected to the censorship of opinion, Geraldo (or rather, his electronic staff) explained that there was limited room, and non-'constructive' messages were taking up valuable space."
Data Safe: You can safely walk through an airport metal detector with floppy disks in your pocket, according to a new study by the Mayo Clinic. The study also indicates that you could safely entrust your laptop to the x-ray machine for carry-on baggage, although you may suffer pangs of anxiety leaving it on the conveyer belt. The detectors would have to be 300 times stronger to do your floppies any damage.
