FIDONEWS -- 29 Jul 85 00:00:38 Page 1 Volume 2, Number 24 29 July 1985 +----------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | - FidoNews - /|oo \ | | (_| /_) | | Fido and FidoNet _`@/_ \ _ | | Users Group | | \ \\ | | Newsletter | (*) | \ )) | | ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +----------------------------------------------------------+ Publisher: Fido 107/7 Chief Procrastinator: Thom Henderson Fidonews is published weekly by SEAboard, Fido 107/7. You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in Fidonews. Article submission standards are contained in the file FIDONEWS.DOC, available from Fido 107/7. Disclaimer or don't-blame-us: The contents of the articles contained here are not our responsibility, nor do we necessarily agree with them; everything here is subject to debate. We publish EVERYTHING received. Fido in the News We seem to be getting alot of press these days, mostly bad. The latest story I've heard is about a bunch of kids in New Jersey who hacked away at a Pentagon computer. They don't seem to have caused any harm, just made general nuisances of themselves, but the media had a field day. I saw a news broadcast on one of the New York stations where they interviewed a Pentagon official about it. He firmly stated that there is no way any hacker can do any real harm (the reporter was concerned about kids getting control of satellites). Having studied Naval Intelligence, I know he's right. Government systems holding confidential data DO NOT have phone lines! This is nothing new; confidential information is never transmitted by phone. Once the reporter established that these kids were basically harmless, she went on to cover some "background" about home computers, modems, phone lines, and so forth. This mainly consisted of a short piece on remote bulletin board systems. FIDONEWS -- 29 Jul 85 00:00:40 Page 2 In fact, they actually demonstrated a person logging onto a bulletin board. And, here's the cute part, the Fido doggie was plain as day. Now, maybe I'm biased, but it strikes me that Fidonet is the cleanest collection of boards in the country. She wrapped up her whole piece by stating that while she didn't see anything illegal or immoral on the system she was looking at, that didn't mean it wasn't there, since there are different levels of access and not everyone sees everything. Nice, eh? She didn't say anything that wasn't true, but the way she said it implies secret cabals of subversive criminals, conspiring to overthrow The American Way Of Life. Face it, kiddos. The powers that be don't like us. Here we are, with unprecidented powers of communication, and nobody really knows what we can or will do with it. We have nothing less than our own private electronic mail system. I can sit here in my own little room and contact thousands of (more or less) like-minded people all over the country. You may not beleive it, but this translates into tremendous political power. It reminds me of something I was once told about military tactics. It matters not what they are doing, nor what we think they will do, but only what they CAN do if they want to. We are seem as being able to do a great deal, possibly much more than we are actually able to do. And we don't fit any of the established categories. Just look at where we are: o A guy sits in his room and types a message. It isn't printed in a newspaper or published in a magazine, but the next day hundreds of people read it. Within a few weeks thousands of people all over the country have read it. All of the normal channels of news distribution have been totally bypassed, for a cost counted in pennies. o A guy writes a program, and gives it away. Friends pass it on to their friends, and soon it's in use all over the country. People mail in voluntary donations. The guy isn't a non-profit organization, or a major corporation, or even a reasonably normal small company, yet he's making money without contracts, without dealers, without even charging anyone for anything. o A guy goes into business as a consultant. His startup costs are minimal; less than the cost of a used car. He has no office, no employees, no inventory, and no overhead, but he makes good money. Now I ask you, how possible was any of this ten years ago? We simply don't fit any of the established categories. This is a new industry, and it's working in totally different FIDONEWS -- 29 Jul 85 00:00:42 Page 3 ways from anything that's ever come before. Which is not to say that nothing new has ever happened; it has many times. But the normal reaction to new things is to try and shove them into old boxes, or to get rid of them if they won't fit. The independant consultant is being shoved into the old boxes. A bill has been introduced in California that would make an independant consultant legally an employee of his client. Federal legislation has been proposed to make a consultant's office in the home illegal, and to force consultants to hire only union employees. Tax rulings that are unfavorable to the independant abound, as many of you well know. Bulletin boards won't fit into any established category, though some people are trying. Classing a bulletin board as a "common carrier" is an attempt to define us in previously understood terms. Other attempts are a good deal more harmfull, as they sound like an attempt to classify a sysop as an accessory before the fact, and bulletin boards as conspiracies to commit felonies. We need to act NOW, before it's too late! We need to write our senators and representatives and tell them how we feel. We need to set up our own political action group to represent our interests. We need to make our voices heard. You should also write to your local newspapers, television stations, and radio stations telling them that you are willing to provide background on any computer related stories they get. To ban bulletin boards because a few of them are used for hacking is on par with shutting down the phone company because criminals use phones. FIDONEWS -- 29 Jul 85 00:00:44 Page 4 ============================================================ NEWS ============================================================ BBSLAW01.MSG From Chip Berlet, Public Eye Magazine. HELP FIGHT BAD BBS LAWS - 01 FEDERAL LEGISLATION RESTRICTING BBS OPERATION DUE SOON! POST THIS MESSAGE ON EVERY BBS IN AMERICA! A new federal law that would outlaw some BBS systems and severely restrict all others could be passed by Congress in 1985. A mobilization of SYSOPS and BBS users is urgently needed to ensure we have a chance to speak out on the new law. Watch BBS's for messages with "BBSLAWXX.MSG" headers or "HELP FIGHT BAD BBS LAWS - XX" titles. An ad-hoc group will be posting these messages on BBS's and the commercial systems. LAWMUG SYSOP Paul Bernstein and I have learned the law could be introduced as soon as MID JULY! Although aspects of the new law have been discussed for months by "experts" in Washington, NOT ONE SYSOP WAS CONSULTED until a June 20 conference in Chicago which Paul and I attended. Vague language in another telecommunications law already introduced in Congress might also restrict BBS activities. We urged the Congressional aide involved in that legislation to exempt BBS systems until we could let SYSOPS and lawyers study the language more carefully. We must also monitor this law. The law restricting BBS operations was prompted by panic over the possibility that children (minors) might read pornographic material, and by the wave of publicity regarding the malicious hackers and illegal credit card and phone information posted on BBS's by electronic graffiti vandals. Among the ideas SERIOUSLY DISCUSSED for the new federal law restricting BBS's are provisions which would require: * Registration of all BBS's as a public utility. * BBS users to log in with, and post their legal names. * SYSOPS to keep a log of all names of users. * SYSOPS to keep a log of all messages & access times. FIDONEWS -- 29 Jul 85 00:00:46 Page 5 * Criminal penalties for SYSOPS whose BBS's have illegal messages posted on them - even if the SYSOP was not aware of the message and had not been informed the message was there nor given a chance to remove it! While the law is currently only being discussed, there is much pressure to restrict and regulate BBS's. A good BBS law could protect BBS's and SYSOPS. A bad law could destroy BBS's in their infancy as a telecommunications phenomena. BBS's put the individual back into mass society in the age of telecommunications. BBS's encourage information sharing and remove barriers to discussion posed by social status, wealth, class, race, sex, physical size, and many physical handicaps. BBS's encourage the democratic process and are a powerful new communications system which deserves Constitutional protection and First Amendment Rights. NO LEGISLATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION! There will be differing views of wording, law, and tactics; all should be given a chance to be heard. Congress should delay passage of any BBS legislation until BBS users and SYSOPS have a chance to discuss the legal issues and make their opinions known in a series of Congressional hearings. Our discussion must start immediately and we must organize to block bad BBS legislation until our voices are heard. We share the responsibility. Time is short. Spread the word. It is the electronic age. We are all Paul Revere.... ------------------------------------------------------------ FIDONEWS -- 29 Jul 85 00:00:47 Page 6 THE FOLLOWING IS A SAMPLE LETTER THAT IS TO BE COPIED AND ADDRESSED TO YOUR TWO SENATORS AND CONGRESSMAN. IF YOU HAVE ANY INTEREST IN PRESERVING YOUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU SIGN AND MAIL OUT COPIES OF THIS LETTER. SPREAD IT AROUND TO ALL THE BBSES YOU CALL - ONLY A FLOOD OF LETTERS TO CAPITOL HILL WILL PROTECT US FROM REACTIONARY LAWS! Joseph P. Salemi _______________________________ United States _________________ Washington, DC As a user of a personal computer for telecommunications, and as a member of the new "electronic community," I wish to strongly protest the current proposals for laws regulating electronic Bulletin Board Systems. Recent negative publicity about a few such systems being used to spread illegal long-distance access codes and stolen credit card numbers has cast public doubt on our hobby. It is time that the record is set straight. Electronic BBSes are the freest form of interpersonal communications ever created. The people who use them do so as a way of sharing their thoughts, ideas, and information on the rapidly changing computer technology. Also shared are thoughts and ideas about the world in general; many systems have ongoing debates about National and world issues. Not since the days of the American Revolution, when thoughts and ideas were first spread around through pamphlets and flyers, has such a system of rapid communication been developed. The vast majority of BBSes and their users are honest people, who use this new technology in their work and as a hobby. We should not be punished for the illegal actions the few misguided people about whom there has been so much publicity. I therefore recommend that before any laws restricting the use of BBSes are passed, input is received from the operators and users of these systems. Representation of our interests in promoting the freedom of speech we exercise on the BBSes is the answer to reactionary laws. I urge you to support our position in this matter. Sincerely, ___________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------ FIDONEWS -- 29 Jul 85 00:00:49 Page 8 FIDO Re-Write This is a response to Jim Lynn and Paul Kelly who wrote an article for the last issue of FIDONEWS about the re-write of FIDO. I guess that I have a basic problem with the article in that as far as I know, there is no FIDO "re-write committee". From all of the information that I have been able to gather, there are simply a number of individuals who have taken it upon themselves to try and re-write FIDO. I don't know of any group that has as yet successfully emulated the entire range of FIDO operations. I myself have started a re-write project of my own, and so far I have about 90% of the message section written and working from the console keyboard. Any sysops interested in beta testing this software should call my board at (603) 888-8179 and dowload the file 'ROVER.ARC' which is the executable program, and some short documentation. As far as the ideas presented in the article go, I liked them a lot. The idea of overlays for FIDO is something that I simply never thought of, but now that I have thought about it, the question of how to implement it arises. This area would have to be more thoroughly explored to see if it is feasible. I could see FIDO being distributed as 2 .OBJ modules, one that would be the inner guts of FIDO, and 1 that would be a standard do-nothing overlay which could be tailored by each individual sysop that had the programming tools necessary to do such a job. I would welcome any input from groups that are also working on a FIDO re-write. Perhaps a lot of work could be saved by pooling our resources. Bob Hartman Sysop Fido 101/101 - The UN*X Gateway or if your nodelist is old Sysop Fido 101/10101 - SPARK SOFTWARE ------------------------------------------------------------ FIDONEWS -- 29 Jul 85 00:00:51 Page 9 Jami Morgan 15/1001 E.R.A. on Fido & FidoNet OK....first of all, all you male sysops DON'T FREAK OUT!! I am not a radical feminist....just another Fido Sysop who happened to notice there aren't many female sysops (in fact, glancing at the latest nodelist...I may be it!!) I haven't seen any bias in Fido regarding gender, so Congratulations!! But, with so many women in the computer field, it does seem odd to me that there aren't more female sysops. If I'm overlooking anyone... please contact me at 15/1001. Thanks!! Now, my REAL beef-- It seems that lately Fido News has been over run with articles about pirating. A topic that is more upsetting to me is "Crackers" and board crashers. In both Albuquerque, NM & Denver, CO, there seems to be a recent serious rash of this activity. So bad that we have possibly lost a few good sysops. Node 104/341 (DASUG) and a great sysop is down due to Trojan Horse type programs on his board, and he may not come back. Other non-fido boards in Albuquerque have been victimized and may not try putting their boards back up. Can't we as Legimate Sysops band together and do something about this plague? We can certainly "turn in" pirate boards. I don't like playing the role of "squealer"....BUT, laws are forthcoming on bulletin boards and electronic communications, and we need to stand up for the legitimate uses and make sure lawmakers recognize the difference between "Crackers" & pirates, and lawful uses of telecommunication. I would like to know if there is an organization that can lobby on behalf of this issue? This is serious, because if we don't stand up for ourselves, no one else will!! Any information on this issue would be greatly appreciated at 15/1001. Thank you for the time and space for this type of forum!! A Most Concerned Sysop, Sanyo BUGS BBS -- Albuquerque, NM Mt. Region 15, Node # 1001 7 Sanyo BUGS BBS -- Albuquerque, NM Mt. Region 15, Node # 1001 7 ------------------------------------------------------------ FIDONEWS -- 29 Jul 85 00:00:52 Page 10 There is a wonderful, new world out there for communication by PC. It revolves around references to man's best friend -- Fido! Like its namesake, Fido can be a worker, a thing of wonder, a fun pastime and a pain in the neck. Those of you who aren't involved have no idea and to you this article is addressed. The rest of you are saying "amen!" I never had a pup of my own before Fido. I couldn't really compare electronic Fido with the flesh and blood kind until I got both about the same time. PC Fido is much neater in many senses of the word. Nice people were responsible for both my dogs moving in. My mother-in-law decided my son needed a pup and Bob Klahn decided my office needed one. Both folk are tenacious. I have one dog at home that barks when I call sometimes and a dog at the office that usually will bark at those of you who own modems. Fido was created to help a couple programers keep abreast of their progress on a mutual project. Strange thing, though -- they were on opposite coasts. Tom Jennings, our doggy daddy, was in San Francisco and his counterpart was in Baltimore. Tom fathered Fido so they could compare source code, hence the FidoNet standard time of 1:00 A.M. Pacific time. From the two original NetMembers we have grown to more than 400 visible nodes. There are numerous Fido boards, or nodes, that aren't public and can't be enumerated. Safe to say, there are lots of Fidos out there on which you may use your typing talents. For a public domain program, Fido is well supported. The current version in distribution is 10K, --and there was a version 1. You will find fleas on Fido from time to time, but the flea powder troops are very active. Tom Jennings deserves a medal. This is a long way of saying R* is the most unreliable command in the lexicon. But, as it says on the Woodstock I album, "treat the imperfections as marks in fine leather -- proof of its authenticity. Anyone can be a Fido Sysop. You don't have to own a 3088 with VMS. I started my board with a 300 baud Hayes and two floppies for storage. Bob Klahn came to my office one Saturday afternoon and installed it. You may wish to download the files to make it run from many of the Fido boards. If you plan to put it to business use, your software consultant probably can offer some advice or assistance making it fit your hardware configuration. Fido is a public domain program and nobody should collect money for it, save Tom Jennings. There are some applications out there that dogfight with Fido and good business practice says you should check with a consultant who knows those conficts. See me for their names. It will cost you hourly rates but it's good insurance. If you want to use it for personal stuff there are countless people who will help you join the throng. I love it. I have been known to spend voluntary hours playing with it. I have also saved DAYS of FIDONEWS -- 29 Jul 85 00:00:55 Page 11 work due to the information that I could receive and send through it. I have saved weeks of travel time. One sysop has it trigger a beeper. He gets out of more lengthy meetings that way. Another Fido wakes his master and mistress with Bach a la PC. When Jim Goldschneider set up his Fido, two guys I know made his board exit to DOS at midnight, play him and his wife some classical music, and return to Fido. I forget their names. Moral: be thoughtful of your choice of folk to whom you extend sysop privileges. And that brings up a thought. I have seen many try to crash my system. I have seen no one succeed. Nor has anybody else. You can get in. Only those you allow to do so can get in. Some sysops do not let anyone in until they are asked first. And they frequently say no. Some sysops keep their boards a secret. It's fun. It's safe and profitable. Only conversation, good books and sex rank higher. Van Olmstead 107/214 (302)655-6342 hours 8:00 PM to 8:00 A.M. FIDONEWS -- 29 Jul 85 00:00:56 Page 12 ============================================================ WANTED ============================================================ From: Dan Taylor Sysop of 102/411 (213) 970-9238 I am trying to find some back issues of FidoNews from 1984. I have Vol. 1 #'s 1 and 2, but am missing the rest for December. I've been looking around the local boards, but no luck. If anyone has them (after all this time), or knows of someone who does, please let me know. My intent is to keep an on-line archive of all Fido Newsletters. Thanks very much! Dan Taylor... ------------------------------------------------------------ FIDONEWS -- 29 Jul 85 00:00:57 Page 13 -------------------------------- WANTED: Cbasic2 CP/M De-Compiler -------------------------------- I am looking for a De-Compiler for CP/M Cbasic2. That is a program that takes a .INT file, and converts it back into some form of source code. If you have any information on one of these, please contact me. Randy Berndt Fido_Net: Net 106 / Node 356 US Mail: AUA 6900 Fannin, Suite 546 Houston, TX 77030 Phone: (713) 791-1470 (days) Thank you. FIDONEWS -- 29 Jul 85 00:00:57 Page 14 ============================================================ NOTICES ============================================================ Correction to National USER LIST Bob Hartman SYSOP Fido 101/101 the UN*X Gateway For those of you that have received the National FIDO user list, there is one small change that you should make. My old node number (it should have been changed the Friday before this is published) was 101/10101. Unfortunately, the SHIPUSER program created a file NNNNnnnn.USR where NNNN was my net number (0101), and nnnn was my node number, which came out as 1010 instead of 10101. Unlike the FIDO software itself, they did not use a hexadecimal representation for the net and node numbers, and any node number that was 5 digits got truncated. Anyway, to get to the point, my new node number is 101/101 (to avoid such problems in the near future), and if you have the user list please change all occurences of 1010 to 101. ------------------------------------------------------------ The Interrupt Stack 27 Nov 1985 Halley's Comet passes closest to Earth before perihelion. 24 Jan 1986 Voyager 2 passes Uranus. 9 Feb 1986 Halley's Comet reaches perihelion. 11 Apr 1986 Halley's Comet reaches perigee. 24 Aug 1989 Voyager 2 passes Neptune. If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to Fido 107/7.