Flux
Interstate Transit: Thinking of perusing the seamier side of the Net and perhaps downloading some of your very own images to your very own computer? Your choices have been recently limited by an Oklahoma court. In what seems to be a trend (justified by much hand wringing over how this filth might get into the hands of children), the court slapped Oklahoma Information Exchange sysop Tony Davis with 10 years in the pen and a US$10,000 fine for "trafficking in obscene images." This follows on the heels of the arrest in July of a California couple, based on a warrant in Tennessee. Ain't it grand when the State starts defining obscenity? When will it learn that legislating morality online is as pointless as it is off?
Maybe Never: Do you smell a trend? Al Gore recently had this to say when asked if he would regulate the Net: "I do not rule out minimalist measures to assist parents in satisfying the legitimate concerns that they have." Watch out, folks, here it comes.
Ziff Tiff: So IDG's Infoworld has pulled out of its agreement to work with Ziff Davis's Interchange online service, ostensibly because negotiations were taking too long. We could of course speculate about the real reasons ... like, for instance, that IDG's not even sure the service will launch at all, what with Ziff being auctioned and new projects (which could include the ineptly named Computer Life) being cut to conserve cashflow and service the debt.... Or, say, feeling snubbed, excluded from the bidding by the Ziff brothers, IDG wants to cast doubts on Ziff's valuation. Whispers this side of Microsoft hint that the software giant would like y nothing more than to buy, then junk, Interchange, thereby leaving Apple's eWorld as the sole competition to Microsoft's forthcoming online service, Marvel. And we all know what happened the last time Microsoft went up against Apple in an emerging market.
Hurry Up, Myst II: A Dataquest survey found that 40 percent of folks with PC CD-ROMs never use their drives, and 54 percent have no plans to buy new software. Ouch.
Net Facts: The latest survey of Internet-connected machines shows staggering 81-percent growth over one year ago: as of July 1994, there were 3.2 million machines directly connected to the Net. This figure doesn't reflect machines connected to those machines, of course (at WIRED, for instance, we have 60 or so computers running off our one Net node). More than 1 million new hosts were added during the first six months of 1994 alone. For more detailed Net data see the zone directory on ftp.nw.com, or the Net Wizards World Wide Web home page at http://www.nw.com.
Other Cool Net Facts: We culled these from Win Treese's second Internet Index: Percentage of registered commercial domains with addresses in California: 27. First public library to offer free access to the Internet: Seattle Public Library. Number of copies of Mosaic downloaded from NCSA per day as of August: 1,600 (for more on Mosaic, see page 116). Want more? Go to http://www.openmarket.com/info/internet-index/current.html.
More Government Fun: That nutty Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights, part of the Clinton administration's Information Infrastructure Task Force, has come up with some interesting recommendations while puzzling over the issue of "copyright protection." To protect said rights in the digital age, the committee recommends prohibition of, and we quote, "importation, manufacture, and distribution of devices, or the offering or performance of services, if the primary purpose or effect is to circumvent technological protection of exclusive rights." In another age, such language would have excluded printing presses, copy machines, and BBS software. Tread lightly, you crazy bureaucrats. Get your own copy of the Task Force's "Intelletual Property and the National Information Infrastructure" report by calling +1 (703) 305 9300 or writing the US Patent and Trademark Office, Box 4, Washington, DC 20231-0001.
IBM Has a Bridge to Sell You: From its latest venture, it seems Big Blue has a lot of spare Big Iron laying about unused. As the mainframe biz declines, IBM's development geniuses are casting about for a market with few competitors and a lust for new, computer-intensive services. And the winner is - the Internet! Earlier this summer IBM introduced the IBM Global Network, an attempt to create an Internet-like network for corporations and business customers. Hmmm. Isn't there already one of those?
Twinkie Defense Revisited: Did you hear about the kid who got off on charges of attempted murder by claiming he was driven insane by playing too much Mortal Kombat? We are not making this up. Paul Van Schaik, 16, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, stabbed a classmate 17 times with steak knives (both hands!) in a demented quest to attain the next level in the gory videogame. Ruled legally insane and sent to a state institution, Van Schaik has provided a rallying cry for the anti-violence lobby. Come on. Nutcakes are nutcakes. If it's not Mortal Kombat, then it's Mondays. It ain't the medium, it's the world. Get over it, or ban the seven-day calendar.
Speaking of Which: Acclaim, creator of Mortal Kombat, wins the Really Stupid Marketing Award for the month. With a theme of "Paint the Town Red," Acclaim's new Maximum Carnage starts where Mortal Kombat left off. That's "red" as in blood, of course, but those wacky marketing types at Acclaim smelled a dumb double entendre (or easy PR pitch) and formulated a whole campaign to "encourage reading" among thumb-candy driven tykes. What are they calling it? "Paint the Town Read." Puuuuuuuuhleeeze. To participate, kids read four books and send an entry form to Acclaim. As with the public school system, no verification is necessary! The entry form is packed inside the Maximum Carnage game box, of course. Once Acclaim receives said entry form, it forwards "a certificate" to the kid's teacher. Sharpen those reading skills, kids.
