PAT: Below is the message. You needn't reproduce it.
Note that the same message came through the WW II newsgroup even though
that group is moderated as well. Their moderator has also spoken of
the challenge to keep out the garbage that comes flowing in.
I am disappointed that the Internet has been allowed to fill up so much
with garbage, thievery, and malicious sabotage. Time magazine just had
a piece on how highly skilled hackers were attempting to enter (or
actually entered) US military sites. People who maintain firewalls
tell me there are constant hits. Consumers who hook up mini-home
networks to broadband DSL or cable are at risk for being hijacked by
hackers as launching points for further mischief.
This newsgroup discussed this issue recently. I was disappointed with
some posters who vehmenently denied any and all responsibility for the
lack of security, controls, and easy access of the Internet. Hiding
behind technical excuses is not the way to deal with a problem.
Many thousands of years ago humankind realized that if people are
going to live and work together they need to establish and follow
common guidelines so as to get along fairly and move forward. Civil
governments and religious law were established globally. Indeed,
humans have chosen authoritarian dictatorships over unorganized
anarchy as a better way to go. We created "civilization" and being
"civilized" was our goal.
For some unknown reason the long established laws which govern
traditional human interaction don't apply on the Internet. Apparently
if I knock on your front door and defraud you out of $1,000 the cops
will come after me, but if I manage to do it electronically, you're
[S---] out of luck. I don't know if that's because the laws won't
cover it, there is no willingness to fight such crime, law enforcement
is overwhelmed by it, or they can't figure out how to trace back the
money. If it's on credit card, why is it so hard to trace who received
the payment?
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As Lisa requested, the several K of
text which came along was deleted here. Lisa, I am also greatly
disappointed at how internet has become in the past several years. I
suppose it was unrealistic of me to expect it would always retain the
same status quo as it had in the 1980's, but still ... PAT]
hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com