ANOTHER ARTICLE BY JOE ABERNATHY OF THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE DEALING WITH
THE 'SUN DEVIL' FEDERAL INVESTIGATION DURING THE SPRING AND SUMMER OF
1990 IS LOCATED IN THE SUB-DIRECTORY 'TELECOM.SECURITY.ISSUES' WITHIN
THE TELECOM-ARCHIVES. LOOK FOR 'WAR.ON.COMPUTER.CRIME'
Date: Mon, 10 Sep 90 11:58:07 CDT
From: "J. Eric Townsend" <jet@karazm.math.uh.edu>
Subject: Tailgunner Joe's first article
Hey... With all this talk of Tailgunner Joe, I thought you might
like to see a copy of his first big article. It's kind of long,
and I'm not sure if you'll want to put it in the archives or not.
Abernathy is a science writer for the chronicle who also has a regular
column in an 8-bit Atari magazine...
-- cut here and at the bottom --
// [This article typed by Bitslicer. Spelling errors are hirs.]
>From Houston Chronicle, Sunday, June 10, 1990
Head>
Computer porno:
a keystroke away
Sub>
Tax-funded research link also home to the sexually explicit
By JOE ABERNATHY
(C) 1990 Houston Chronicle
Westbury High School student Jeff Noxon's homework was rudely
interrupted recently when he stumbled across the world's most
sophisticated pornography ring.
After musing at the novelty of seeing sexually explicit material,
he went on to other studies.
Noxon glimpsed only part of an electronic catalog of erotic art
and literature that grows daily, offering titles such as Cindy's
Torment and The Education of Rachel.
It's supported by taxes and brought into town by the brightest
lights of higher education.
The purveyor of Jeff's surprise and Cindy's slavery is a grand
undertaking called the Internet. It is the world's most capable
research tool, but it is an equally efficient conduit for
pornography and a tempting target for computer hackers.
The Chronicle monitored Internet for four months through various
access points. Material found on the network during that period
included hundreds of sexually explicit stories and pictures,
heated discussions about freedom of expression, and details of
underground political strategy -- in addition to the scientific
exchange that is Internet's stated purpose.
The material is accessible to any reasonably experienced computer
user with equipment common to most personal computers. Common
informational prefixes such as "alt.sex" make it easy to find.
"When the entire country learns about alt.sex.bestiality, people
are going to make known their disapproval,", Noxon predicted.
"There are a lot of 12-year-olds getting their heads filled with
a lot of ideas they're probably not ready for yet."
Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist David Clark, one
of Internet's founding fathers, has described the network as
"anarchic democracy at its best."
It is hailed by policy makers as the most significant\j\ technological innovation since the telephone.
About 60 miles from the computer in Noxon's bedroom, Internet has
helped people an isolated, historically black university to the
forefront of high-energy physics.
[Jump to page 22A]
Prairie View A&M University is working on a crucial element ofthe superconducting super collider. All it took was one man's
vision -- along with Internet to bring it alive.
"Prairie View has a real role in the SSC in the future, simplybecause of that network," said physicist Dennis Judd, the
catalyst for Prairie View's ascent. "Few people know how much we
really use this."
Using Internet, Prairie View researchers browse the library a the
the Stanford Linear Collider in California. They interact with
Fermilab in Chicago, Beijing University, and the Houston Advanced
Research Center in The Woodlands.
Prairie View's new research partner is Rice University -- one of
seven Internet outreach collaborations matching historically
black universities with traditional research giants.
The network arose from the shared desire of the research,
military and education communities to better communicate
How it works
It works like this: An institution's computers are wired
together in a network, allowing individual users to share
information and expensive resources. Each such network in turn
is connected via phone lines, finger optics or satellite to other
networks, ultimately allowing the users at scattered locations
to work together almost as if they were in the same room.
Baylor College of Medicine offers an example. Researchers there
are working on an image management system that will let
specialists in Houston consult electronically with patients'
hometown doctors, giving them instant access to the scans and
test performed in Houston.
Medical students will soon be granted regular access to Internet
-- once they've received an education about it.
"We need to be sure that the students are cognizant of the
responsibilities they have," said Stan Barber, director of
networking. "We don't' want some of the problems students have
caused in the past to be caused by Baylor College of Medicine
students."
These problems -- created by other users as well as students --
include hacking and the user of valuable computer facilities to
circulate pornography. In both cases, Internet emerges as a key\j\ battleground of free speech and social responsibility.
"People are encouraged to experiment," said Rice University's Guy
Almes, who has become a national figure as primary directory for
Internet operations in Texas. "There's no Gestapo watching over
this thing."
Since there are virtually no rules, the catalog of information
includes voluminous pornography, along with advice on
recreational drugs, satanism, paganism, and sex slaves.
Some users find such material offensive. "Someone is paying for
the computers that this filth is stored in. SOmeone is payingfor the phone time so that this trash can piggyback in with the
useful communications," said Rick Miller, a student at the
jUniversityjUniversity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
The "someone" usually is the taxpayer, since an estimated two-
thirds of the network's cost is paid for by the federal and state
governments.
When Miler protested to university officials, his own computer
was barraged with pornography from other users objecting to whatthey viewed as Miller's intrusion into their freedom of
expression.
"There was over 1.27 megabytes of article dumps from
alt.sex.bondage," recalled Miller, whose private mail from the
Chronicle also was answered by a UWM consultant who had
intercepted the letter.
"It's an open network," said WIlliam Bard, director of Internet
operations for the University of Texas system. "That's one of
the things that makes it as useful as it is."
It can link a researcher with a supercomputer nearly anywhere in
the world. This can reduce the time between research and
publication from years to days.
Appeal of electronic mail
The fundamental questions of science can be addressed by the
world's best minds working in collaboration. Students may join
the process, gaining unique experience and insight.
"I want this country to have the most capable network to support
higher education and research that we can possibly get," said
Stephen Wolff, who oversees Internet for the National Science
Foundation, the network's primary federal funding agency. "We
already do. We have the beset in the world, and I aim to keep it
that way and make it better."
Congress and President Bush share Wolff's goal. Tennessee Sen.
Albert Gore's $2 billion Federal High-Performance Computing Act,\j\ due for funding consideration this week, would make Internet the
centerpiece of the nations's drive for technological pre-
eminence, using it as the launching point for a more widely
available successor to Internet, to be called the National
Research and Education Network.
"The administration supports the National Research and
Education Network and, obviously, does not think that
pornography is an appropriate incorporation into this network,"
said Alixe Glen, deputy White House press secretary. But the
administration plans to take no formal action against the
pornography.
The bill seeks to multiply direct federal spending by a factor of
20, to $400 million. Under the NSF's funding policies, this
would trigger several billion more in spending on the local
level. The bill would include another $1.5 billion for related
endeavors.
The money would benefit a maze of Internet connections that has
grown up piecemeal in 35 nations over the past two decades. As
many as 10 million people now have access to the network.
Experts no longer know the full extent of Internet, its value, or
who is using it for what.
Texas has more than 60 distinct Internet sites, including Johnson
Space Center, businesses, and educational institutions. Each
provides direct service to anyone associated with it, and may
also propagate the network further into the community.
Two of the nation's 13 regional Internet backbones are in Texas
-- the Texas Sesquicentennial Network maintained by Rice, and the
Texas Higher Education Network.
Recent legislation will proved the state's secondary schools with
networking -- likely with Internet.
The volume of network activity doubles every two months, while
the number of participating universities doubles every 13 month,
Almes said.
"Part of the good and the bad of this is that people are going to
be using the network in ways I never hear about," he added.
Electronic mail is the great innovation of the network. E-mail
works just like U.S> mail -- prepare the materials to send, type
the address of the recipient, post the letter.
Since computers do the sending, however, it's possible to address
a single package to a mailing list of recipients with a shared
interest in the subject matter -- be it cold fusion of hot
pornography.
When a mailing list becomes popular enough, it can become a
public newsgroup, making it much more readily available to
everyone on the network.
\j\ Those reading and contributing to mailing lists and newsgroups
range from teen-agers to the world's leading scientists.
The popularity of individual newsgroup is snot officially
monitored, but one unofficial survey conducted in March by DEC
indicated that alt.sex was the second most popular newsgroup,
with an estimated audience of 100,000. (Rec.humor .funny -- a
humor digest - was the most popular.)
Some of the activity on Internet probably violates state and
federal obscenity laws, said Russel Turbeville, chief of the
economic crimes-consumer fraud division of the Harris County
district attorney's office. But as a practical matter,
prosecution would be difficult of impossible.
"Where you start dealing with computer frauds especially, where
you have thousands, tens of thousands, maybe a million victims,
how do you deal with that in the indictment, and how do you prove
things in court?" Turbeville said.
Copyright laws ignored
Clear Lake High School honor students will receive Internetaccess beginning this summer. The school knows about thenetwork's explicit content, but hopes the honor system and thethreat of a bad grade will discourage students from exploringwhere they should not. They all signed a form saying they woulduse the tool as intended.
"I don't' think that pornography has any redeeming value, noteven for me, and especially not for my students," said a ClearLake teacher who declined to be identified. "Those adults whowant to participate, I'm not going to say what's right of them. But I think society has got to put some sort of bounds oneducating kids."
UT's Bard noted that high school students doing research
projects could benefit from online electronic catalogs
and associate with many research and education libraries.
"It would roved and indispensable and limitless source of
information that could be used to supplement of even replace that
found in the school libraries," said Noxon, 17, who will be ajunior next year.
On the Internet, every controversial story or letter is followed
by a ringing debate -- often sparking the interest of hundreds of
people who missed the original article. In the case of Cindy's
Torment, a vicious tale of rape and torture, this resulted in its
being reposted and privately mailed to a wide audience.
Often, erotic stories are posted in installments. One recent
series about pedophilia and incest turned out to be chapters from
a published novel, and the publisher's lawyers wanted it to stop.
Eventually, it did, after all but three chapters were posted. The\j\ entire book is now distributed privately vi E-mail. The
publisher has become a victim of Internet's capacity to support
hidden theft of services.
The most vivid example of this is digitized pictures. Thousands
of X-rated pictures are available -- most scanned in from men's
magazines in violation of copyright law.
The pornographic libraries on the network also include political
commentary. For example, North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms'
campaign against government funding of erotic art inspired the
"Jesse Helms Erotic LIterature Contest." The object was to
produce erotica that might please the Republican senator -- keep
it reasonably clean, mention fidelity or the church.
The contest originated at the University of Iowa. The collected
entries are now available in the Internet libraries of Tulane
University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
MIT is the leading presence in Internet's cultural heritage.
The heart of this heritage is MIT's Media Lab, which ash
variously been called visionary, flaky, and the lunatic fringe of
MIT. They say they're inventing the future of publishing, but
you won't find any journalists there.
Among the accomplishments the lab touts are an interactive video
disk of the Aspen, Colo Ski resort. It cost the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency $300,000, and earned for the lab former
sen. WIlliam Proxmire's Golden Fleece award dishonoring
questionable use of tax dollars. Another time, DARPA unwittingly
funded development at the Media Lab of an album cover for the
eclectic rockers Talking Heads.
This is the intellectual atmosphere that gave electronic life to
the Church of the Subgenius, a Dallas cult ostensibly formed to
ridicule cults. Members, who can be legally ordained, worship a
yuppie deity called Bob.
Hackers fight regulations.
The Media Lab's Subgenius Digest is an interactive church
newsletter. It provides the phone numbers of practicing
Christians, along with tips on how best to harass them -- all in
the name of Bob.
Also at MIT, is the closely guarded, lesbian-oriented Sappho
mailing list. Saphho was an effective tool in the successful
fight to overturn Mills College's decision to admit males. It
motivated the troops, communicated strategy, and gave progress
reports on the battle.
Last but not least is MIT's electronic library. It may be one ofthe best research tools around, but at night it becomes one
of the world's most capable instruments of pornography.\j\
"It comes back to free speech," said Howard Jares, Internet
director at the University of Houston. "The actual content is
secondary. (Intellectual freedom) fosters the whole creative
process, and that's the kind of thing we're going to have to do
to succeed as educators."
Turbeville said Internet pornography raises constitutional
issues: "You have the right to speak your mind, but do you have
the right to (in effect) walk into somebody's home and say it?
That's interesting."
In general, according to various legal sources, computer use and
abuse represent developing areas of law, with few issues settled.
Beyond pornography and free speech, the technology raises broad
fears of vulnerability. Even as Internet is finding its way into
all walks of society, society is realizing the network wasn't
designed to be secure.
In late May, federal and state agencies intensified a nationwide
sweep of computer hackers. Noting that more than 40 computer
systems and 23,000 data disks had already been seized in the last
two years, network experts launched a counterattack. A legal
defense fund is now being put into place.
The hackers reacted to the crackdown in predictable fashion --
they're using the Internet to build support. They published a
special electronic edition of 2600, the hacker's magazine,
detailing the government's two-year-old campaign.
"There are civil rights and civil issues here that have yet to be
addressed," wrote one.
"Everytime there is a perceived crisis, law enforcement agencies
and legislators overreact, and usually due process and civil
liberties suffer," said Rep. Don Edwards, D-Calif., reacting to
the crackdown.
The most famous hacking case is that of former Cornell University
student Robert Tappan Morris, 25. Last month he was placed on
three years probation, fined $10,000 and ordered to perform 400
hours of community services for unleashing a "worm" program that
paralyzed thousands of Internet-linked computers nationwide in
1988.
He was the first person convicted under the Federal Computer
Fraud and Abuse Act prohibiting interference with the performance
of a government computer.
Computer luminary Mitch Kapor, the founder of Lotus Technology,
believes society will rise to the challenge of making the most of
Internet's promise while guarding against its perils.
"I think (Internet) is a terrific social experiment from which
there's an enormous amount to learn, but I think it's time\j\ somebody took the lessons and built something of more lasting
value," he said.
"Regional-based systems like the WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic
Link) in San Francisco that draw a constituency and seethemselves as members of an electronic community ... are a muchbetter basis for beginning this sort of global electroniccommunity."
"I don't think it's the government's business to ban
(controversial material), or to take any position on it," Kaporadded. "I don't know how to solve it without causing all sorts
of First Amendment problems. If there's a paying market for
alt.sex.bestiality, we should tolerate it.
"I just don't think the government ought to fund it."
Sidebox 1>
Head>
Internet may have 10 million users
Here are brief answers to some basic questions about Internet.
Q: What is Internet?
A: It is an international computer network for research and
higher education. Any of the computer users with Internet access
-- who may number 10 million -- can share information and
resources with other users almost instantly.
Q: Who uses it?
A: Everybody who's anybody in technological circles, including
most military facilities, universities, and businesses and
individuals engaged in research. In Texas, noted participants
include Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Advanced Research
Center, Rice University, Southwestern Bell, Texas A&M University
System, University of Texas system, University of Houston, and
Southern Methodist University. State high schools may soon
receive access.
Q: Who runs it and how is it organized?
A: The National Science FOundation provides guidance for the
maintenance of the data transmission facilities that connect
individual sites. The sites, which are usually university of
laboratories, maintain their own internal networks. Ultimately,
the network is designed so that the users themselves are largely
responsible for the use and contents of Internet.
Q: Who pays for it and how much does it cost?
A: Network officials ("net.gods" in user jargon) put a price tag
on Internet of $2 billion-$4 billion. No one cat get much closer
to that because the system is so big and loosely organized. It's
possible to determine what a public university spends on
computer operations, for example, but not to calculate how muchof\j\ that is Internet. And it's certainly not possible to determine
whether costs are associated with legitimate research or
controversial pursuits such as pornography.
At Clear Lake High School, it took $250,000 just to set up four
computers with initial access to Internet. A private school or
business doesn't even have to proved a general figure.
One source estimate two-thirds of the network's cost is paid for
by the federal and state governments.
The National Science Foundation is the most visible funding
agency, and it has a budge of $20 million dedicated to the
Internet. But the Department of Defense is almost certainly
spending more on the technology, as are other agencies such asthe National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Q: How is the government involved?
A: Through direct grants and through the budgets of other
agencies, the government funds the National Science Foundation,which built and maintains the "backbone" that makes various
Internet possible. Various government agencies like Internet
because it's an enormously useful research tool -- and a manger
can run the office from anywhere in the world.
Congress is scheduled to debate funding this week for a bill that
would proved $2 billion to expand Internet and create the next
generation of related technology.
In addition, state governments participate through their funding
of public universities.
In the long term, the National Science Foundation would like to
move toward a self-supporting high-performance nationwide
backbone with a way of monitoring and charging for use. But most
sources agree that's a long way off.
Q: What security measures protect sensitive material on Internet?
A: Internet was built for academics and researchers, with an
expectation that an honor system and trust would keep it secure.
But nobody knew 20 years ago that in 1990 the network woulddouble in size every two months. They didn't know it would be
accessible through business and community bulletin board
systems. Security has emerged as the next big issue, as
demonstrated by the fed's current crackdown on hackers.
The military maintains private networks within the national
networks that are supposed to protect classified information.
Q: How do hackers fit in?
A: Hacking is exploring the services on a network, and doesn't
necessarily mean attempting to break in. But the term hacker is
often used to describe someone with malicious intent who tries to
guess a password or exploit known security flaws in order to
gain access to mainframe computer.
Anyone on Internet is already in touch with the nation's finest
supercomputers -- that's the point of the network. But there'sno handbook of what's available, so the hackers explore various
computers hooked to the network to see what's stored on them.
Most hacking is not destructive, and little law has developed
on hacking. There are rudimentary protection for the privacy of\j\ personal materials stored on computers. And a two-year-old law
makes it a crime to interfere with the operation of a government
computer. Most actions against hackers cite laws on the abuse of
credit cards or theft of long distance services.
Q: Why does Internet raise issues of academic freedom and free
speech?
A: Anything you can write publish, broadcast, or yell from the
top of a building, Internet can propagate further, faster, more
elegantly. Thus, age-old issues of freedom of speech and
expression vs. public safety and moral sensibilities have moved
into this high tech arena. The technology is just now being
refined, so nobody has really asked the questions yet - -much
less come up with the answers. That's what is happening now.
-- Joe Abernathy
Sidebox 2>
Head>
The language of Internet
o Address: A designation for sending electronic mail to aspecific user.
o Backbone: The nationwide data transmission connections and
switching equipment that support electronic traffic such as that
generated by Internet.
o Cyberpunk: A new age cult among computer fanatics wherein the
machine is viewed as an extension of the person, creating a
creature of superhuman abilities.
o Cybersex: The computerized version of phone sex. Two or more
individuals have "sex" by exchanging erotic e-mail.
o Cybermarriage: An ongoing agreement by two or more people to
engage in cybersex.
o E-mail: Electronic mail, a system of computerized
correspondence between users.
o File transfer: The movement of text, software, images, orother
data between computers.
o Hacking: Gaining unauthorized computer access to a network.
o LAN: Local area network, an interconnected group of personal
computers or work stations, perhaps with a mainframe computer.
Many businesses use LANs.
o Mail bomb: The intentional overfilling of a user's electronic
mailbox by other users who object to something he or she has done
on the network. Mail bombs can make an account unusable and can
cause structural damage to the network, to the extent that the
activity qualifies as a felony in Texas.
o Modem: a MOdulator/DEModulator allows an isolated computer
not connected to a LAN to talk with other computers via the
phone lines.
o Flames, flame wars: When one takes a stand on an issue, the
stand is likely to draw "flames," the network's jargon for
vicious personal attacks.
o SESQUInet: The Texas Sesquicentennial Network, administered by
Rice University and the main conduit into Texas for Internet.
o Site: A computer host offering Internet of Usenet access.\j\ o THEnet: The Texas Higher Education Network, which provides
Internet access to Texas locations outside the Houston
metropolitan area. THEnet is largely administered by the
University of Texas and Texas A&M systems.
o Usenet: The formal name given to Internet news groups. While
Internet access is granted only to those involved in research and
education, anyone can have access to the Usenet and E-mail
capabilities of Internet.
o WAN: Wide area network, an interconnected group of computers
much larger than a LAN. Internet, a WAN, covers 35 countries.
-- cut here --
--
J. Eric Townsend -- University of Houston Dept. of Mathematics (713) 749-2120
