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******                           N o I Z                               ******

            - - - - The Cyberpunk Information Source - - - -



(](](](](](](](](](](](](  L I N E  N O I Z  )[)[)[)[)[)[)[)[)[)[)[)[)[)[)[)
I S S U E  -  #                               N O V E M B E R  2 6 , 1 9 9 3

: File !
: Intro to Issue 3
: Billy Biggs <ae687@freenet.carleton.ca>

: File @
: Bandwidth
: Steven Baker <Steven.Baker@AtomicCafe>

: File #
: Billy Idol: Cyberpunk - CD Review
: Kipp Lightburn <ah804@freenet.carleton.ca>

: File $
: Attitude is Everything
: Gonzo <annonymous>

: File %
: CyberCulture Houston '93 Schedule
: Darek Brzeski <musi5@menudo.uh.edu>

: File ^
: Technosys, the "NSA", and a very unfunny joke
: Keith Eluard<KEITHWRITERS@delphi.com>

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
File - !

Here is issue 3. Apparently the person writing that sci-fi story hasen't
given me the next part. I was waiting for it before putting out this issue
but have decided to distribute without the story.

We were having a few problems with the distribution, but that seems to be
cleared up by now.

Subscriptions can be obtained by sending mail to:

dodger@fubar.bk.psu.edu

With the words:

Subscription LineNoiz <your address>

In the body of the letter.

Da editor nerd, Billy Biggs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
File - @
Submission for Line Noize November 16, 1993 from Steven.Baker@AtomicCafe
      or StevenBaker@Delphi.Com

 
 
 
                              -BandWidth-
                          November 16th, 1993
                        -----------------------

 
   On Compuserve, no one can hear you scream.  Or at least the management
   of Compuserve cannot hear you.  Recently a number of people have been
   leaving messages on USENET's "online services" section about how CIS
   will not respond to requests of members wanting to cancel their
   memberships.  It seems that these disgruntled users are leaving EMAIL,
   calling the main office, and sending letters requesting that they STOP
   billing their credit cards.  Compuserve apparantly has a poor method of
   handling these type of requests, as very few of them are processed and
   some users have found CIS billing them years after having cancelled the
   account.  This and other aggressive money making tactics have the
   population of Cyberspace referring to Compuserve as 'CI$'.
 
 
 
                                  o-o-o-o
 
 
    It seems that Prodigy is having trouble pleasing it's users also.  Many
    USENET boards are having multiple message thread headers that ask the
    question "Who has bailed out of Prodigy?".  For years Prodigy was
    considered an affordable alternate to the other online services.
    Having the financial backing of Sears, they were able to secure
    agreements with many computer manufacturers and just about every
    computer system that was sold came with a startup membership package.
    Prodigy restructured the way they charge over the summer and it ended
    up costing the message base orientated users more money, so they
    bailed.  Prodigy has also introduced an Internet Email gateway, but
    they have tacked some steep costs to sending and receiving Email over
    the Internet, and that did not go over very well at all.
 
 
                                  o-o-o-o
 
 
    In the 1980's the average computer hack could not find BBS's in his
    local area that had the software he was looking for.  The really good
    systems were located in major cities , and many users were in suburbs
    and rural areas that were a long distance call to these boards.  Rather
    than pay the extremely high phone bills these hacks began using illegal
    phone codes to make long distance calls.
    These codes were hacked out using a program that was set up to call a
    local MCI/Sprint/Ect access number and call a long distance number that
    would answer with a carrier.  It would use a five digit code that was
    randomly generated by the program.  If a carrier detect was sensed the
    program knew that the call went through and it would log these codes
    into a data file.  These codes were posted and traded on boards all
    over the country and until a few years ago the phone companies could
    not really pinpoint who was doing it.
    Amidst these illegal activities Sprint decided to head this threat off
    at the pass by offering a program called PC Pursuit.  This would allow
    you to use the Sprint network to call certain area codes on data only
    lines for a given amount of hours a month at an affordable rate.  With
    the advent of digital switching systems being used by the phone
    companies , hacking codes (phreaking as it is known) was getting to be
    dangerous.  Pc Pursuit was a good legal alternative , but it never went
    over to well with everyone.
    As of today, unofficially, Pc Pursuit has been cancelled by Sprint.  I
    made some calls to the main office but I could not get a comment.  I am
    sure that by the time you read this, Sprint will have issued a
    statement.

                                  o-o-o-o
 
    Delphi has recently expanded their Internet services by adding Telnet,
    Ftp, Usenet, and several popular utilities.  They offer this full
    access to the Internet for $1.00 an hour, up to 20 hours a month.  In
    fact Delphi is now officially known as Delphi Internet Services , and
    promises to be the launching vehicle for the Murdoch interactive media
    expansion.
    People complain about Delphi being hard to use for beginners,  and some
    of the SIG's are just stagnant.  It is difficult to batch download and
    they do not have an excellent file library.  I suspect Delphi is using
    all of their resources to concentrate on the Intenet.  Take for example
    the new user friendly interface into USENET.  It basically takes it
    down to a menu system and offers thousands of groups.
 
    America Online is planning on expanding their Internet presence by
    introducing the same things Delphi is.  In fact, every major online
    service is planning on expanded Internet services, but Delphi is the
    only one to come through yet.


                                  o-o-o-o

   Many gamers are eagerly anticipating the release of Doom by ID software.
   It promises to be the ultimate in 3D gaming.  It will be much like
   Apogee's Wolfenstein, but much more advanced.  On the USENET there is a
   lot of talk at COMP.SYS.IBM.PC.GAMES.ACTION about this game.  Several
   BETA-TESTERS have left messages saying that is the most incredible game
   they have ever played.  It will be out the first week of December, and
   most of the popular FTP sites and BBS's will carry the shareware
   version.
   Interestingly enough Apogee is due to release their new 3D game called
   Blake Stone.  It was supposed to be out a few months ago, but it has
   been repeatedly delayed.  Strange thing is that every time ID has
   announced a delay with Doom -- so has Apogee with Blake Stone.  Apogee
   will have nothing to do with this release of Doom.


                                  o-o-o-o

   If you are a user of USENET, do us all a favor and do not reply to the
   messages that have a header of 'MAKE MONEY FAST'.  They are appearing
   everywhere with a lot of replies in the threads.  Hopefully if we just
   ignore these people, they will go away.
 
 
                                  o-o-o-o
 
 Comments or Questions?
 
 Send Email to STEVENBAKER@DELPHI.COM
            or STEVEN.BAKER@ATOMICCAFE.COM
 
              This has been Bandwidth for November 16th, 1993
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Now the famous Idol CD. Here are the actual tracks.

1  1:02 Unnamed: Intro, talks about a science-fiction cyberpunk setting
2  4:33 Wasteland
3  0:19 Unnamed: Just alot of noise
4  3:33 Shock to the System
5  5:04 Tomorrow People
6  6:23 Adam in Chains
7  4:34 Neuromancer
8  4:45 Power Junkie
9  0:28 Unnamed: Intro to next song
10 3:53 Love Labours on
11 6:57 Heroin
12 0:23 Unnamed: Connected to 'heroin'
13 7:28 Shangrila
14 4:50 Concrete Kingdom
15 0:39 Unnamed: kinda strange
16 5:45 Venus
17 4:37 Then the Night Comes
18 0:25 Unnamed: Weird
19 5:01 Mother Dawn
20 0:56 Unnamed: Ending

Total Time: 71:51

Total time taken up by weird pointless tracks: 4:12

-- My thoughts

Well, at least it isn't a short CD (I hate little crap cds) but not much
else is great about it. My thoughts are this. Wasteland- Sorta okay kinda
crappy. Shock to the System- nice drums, okay I guess. Tomorrow People-
sucks. Adam in Chains- 3 min. of hypnotic suggestions and then the song.
I liked it, but it has nothing to do with CyberPunk. Neuromancer- sucks.
Power Junkie- sucks. Love labours on- give me a break. Heroin- I didn't
like it. Shangrila- Great name, crap song. Concrete Kingdom- not bad,
but I wouldn't add it to my mix tape. Venus- Sucks. Then the Night Comes-
sucks, not a bad chorus, but I didn't like the song. Mother Dawn- Great
song, I liked it, nothing to do with CyberPunk.

All in all, I guess it was an okay CD, nothing great about it, nothing to
do with cyberpunk, well, not much.

You have to admit, I think, that alot of the CD creates a definitely
strange atmosphere. I also liked the weird pointless track idea.


File - #
>From: Kipp Lightburn (ah804@freenet.carleton.ca)
Subject: Idol Review


 
Instant CyberPunk (Just aDD Jolt)
---------------------------------
(A review of Idol's 'Cyberpunk')
 
  the packaging looked like someone had taken a copy of WIRED,
several episodes of Max.Headroom, the covers from Gibson's books,
shoved them through a fractal painter, and then dropped several
times. littered with quotes like "Plucked from the blendo stream"
"No Religion" "from the adrenaline channel to the endorphine
channel".  it was an attempt at pouring himself into an image;
would the music live up?
  the first song one would come across would be 'Wasteland'
complete with an intro talking about information being the
currency of the future(try the present bill).  the song chanted
on about No Religion at all;  a brief mention of VR law and
computer crime, and the fantasy in his machine.  but the lyrics
tipped it more toward a post.apocalypse feel rather than the info
highway the intro hinted at. also packaged into the tune was a
sampling from the movie Road Warrior "Out in the wasteland..."
  then came 'shock to the system'. i'm sure we've all heard it.
more of a tribute; lyrically ;to the L.A.riots. (though his video
appeared to be inspired by Highlander 2: the sickening).
  'Tomorrow People' though it sounded more high.tech; lyrically
fell short again of representing a dark future of information
junkies. nor did it even touch onto a cyber attitude.
  Then I heard the next 'Adam in Chains' it started out with
what sounded like a sampling from a subliminal you.too.can.relax
tape, so plugging ears I anxiously.*?* awaited the end.
  .............ready?.........'Neuromancer'. someone read the
book before writing this one.  it's possible to see that the
ideas squeezed out here were inspired after someone had read the
back cover of the book. still in fairness, lyrically cyber,
but the ears tell me 'POP.ROCK'.
  'Power Junkie' the actual song had zip to do with the title.
but if you read the back of the packaging and saw titles like
"neuromancer" and "POWER junkie" you might be led to beleive a
cyberpunk mood.
  'Love labours on'  do I have to review this one?
  'HEROIN' ...hmmm... Prozac anyone?
  then idol deals with the virtual.net 'Shangrila'.  in a
roundabout.way shangrila represents a virtual community where we
can live forever. mind you its really roundabout so it could be
unintentional/coincidental.
  behind door number10 'CONCRETE kIngdom' we find nothing that a
milk bottle a wind tunnel and a tuning fork can't fix.
  'Venus' all about venus the love goddess. hey didn't the intro
at the beginning of the tape discuss corporate wars?
  'When the Night comes' and 'Mother Dawn' end the barrage, by
joining up with 'Love labours on' and 'Venus'.
  all.in.all a pop-rock collection, containing a breif reference
here or there to CP and its movement.  if you're an idol fan the
sound is the same as all his last.  if your looking for cyberpunk
commentary you'd find more in the occassional Jesus Jones song
than in this entire tape combined.
 
			--Kipp Lightburn (ah804@freenet.carleton.ca)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
File - $

 
===============Cut Here=========With Scissors====================
 
This is pertaining to being a cyberpunk, the hacker variety, in RL
and on the Net.
 
 
 
   <<<Attitude is everything>>>

     Just for a moment, let's talk about cyberpunk and attitude.
It isn't just about what you can do.  It's about what you _say_ you
can do.  An example:  I went to a tech school for a year and I had
an older friend that taught me a lot of stuff about computers.  I
don't know nearly as much as him but because I know where to use
it on and who to tell about it, I'm known as a cyberpunk while my
friend is still just a computer scientist.  Why is that?  People
only term other by what they know about you.  If I predict that I
will crash the system at certain time, say like...  in 10 seconds,
I will be considered an asshole by those who know about it if I
tell them.  But if I anonymously wall it, I'm considered a
cyberpunk.  (Wall means to broadcast to everyone.)  If I break into
someone else's account, pull some stuff off a Usenet group like
alt.sex.duct.tape.gerbils, and send it to all the teachers saying
"I wrote this." it won't do much good to have it go unknown who did
it.  That's why aliases are important.  You must develop a
character who does these 'pranks' so to increase your image.  But
you, as a person, are only considered a cyberpunk to those who you
reveal it.  I'm well known for my nickname, Gonzo.  My other
nicknames are not so well known.  I don't want any connection
between them.  Gonzo is the playful hacker.  Another is the deadly
hacker.  The other is the cypherpunk.  If the association was made,
zzzzzt, I'm in trouble.  So remember, it's not who's the best with
a program, computer, phone, etc but who announces it the best
WITHOUT GETTING CAUGHT!!  If you are good at that, you can be a
good cyberpunk.
 
 
                              The Great Gonzo

===========Cut Here================With a Chainsaw==============
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
File - %
 
>From: musi5@menudo.uh.edu (Darek Brzeski)
Subject: CYBERCULTURE HOUSTON '93 SCHEDULE
 
 
CYBERCULTURE HOUSTON '93 INVITES ALL INTERESTED IN THE CREATIVE USE
OF COMPUTERS FOR A THREE DAY EXPLORATION OF ART, PERFORMANCES AND
DEEP THOUGHTS ON TECHONOLOGY


CyberCulture Houston '93 
Commerce Street Artist Warehouse & Gallery 
2315 Commerce Street 
December 10-12, 1993 
Contact: Melanie Mitchell (713)227-8917 
Internet: cyber@fisher.psych.uh.edu

 
CyberCulture Houston 93 is an event featuring the creative potential of
emerging computer technology in performance and visual art, the
circulation of ideas in an electronic form, and the social and
cultural Implications of this interaction. 
 
The event will begin on Friday with an opening of the visual art
exhibition at 7:30 pm. Physically represented works will be accompanied
by a Virtual Art Gallery, designed by the University of Houston
Architecture Department, and presented by local virtual reality
designers and consultants, CyberSim Virtual Reality Inc. Visitors will
be able to put on a headmount and fly through electronically generated
fantasy worlds. Flying robotic sculptures, designed and built by the
Austin Robot Group, will cavort overhead. Performances will begin at
8:00 pm.  Jennifer Bourgaline's dance group will perform an original
piece, centered around the effects of technology on humanity. 
BodySynth, a performance group from San Francisco, will create
electronic music through sensors connecting the muscles of the dancer's
body to a MIDI system.  Human Systems Performance Group, from Austin,
will perform "Gabrielle: A Living Hypertext", bringing a close to the
first evening. 
 
On Saturday, Eyecon Interactive Media will add their
exhibit of the Mandala System, a 2D projected virtual reality system,
which allows up to four people to create music by bouncing floating orbs
of light around the projected virtual world.  Demonstrations,
presentations, and panel discussions will be held that afternoon on
topics raised through the social use of computers, including Life in
CyberSpace, Hacking Artificial Life, and Nontraditional 3D Spaces. Some
of our speakers will include Brian Parks, the designer of the Flogistron
VR Chair, as featured in _Lawnmower Man_, and Ronn Harbin, a premier
computer animator.  The topic of the last panel discussion of the day
will be"Computers as Artistic Media."  Several artists from Australia,
Norway and across the United States will participate electronically over
the Internet.Dissemination Network will begin the evening performances with
a performance of electronically altered video/music/dance performance.  The 
BodySynth will then present an audience-interactive performance piece using 
his MIDI-sensors. Again bringing a close to our evening will be the Human 
Systems Performance Group. On Sunday, CyberCulture Houston will end on a wilder
note. The performance group Burning Man will explode on stage. Houston's Pope
Charlie will lead a Church of the Subgenius Devival, Free Virtual Reality
Combat simulation games will be provided courtesy of CyberSim, Inc.
 
There is no admission charge for any of the interactive exibits or
discussion panels. The price of admission to the performances will
be eight dollars which will include the whole evening of preformances.
CyberCulture is a nonprofit wing of Electronic Frontiers Houston and
the proceeds will be used to cover artists' costs and future events.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
File - ^
>From: KEITHWRITERS@delphi.com
Subject: Technosys, the "NSA", and a very unfunny joke


Never Rub Another Man's Rhubarb
or, Why Social/Reverse Engineering is NOT Cool
by Keith Eluard, Technosys
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 
!	The Hoax
 
When I was planning to release Prosody and Mirrorshades, my text composition
programs, I was
expecting *some* backlash from governmental bodies because it would be possible
to transport
Prosody out of the US because I would send it via Internet. Fine. That was
expected and understood
when we were planning the whole shebang. With spin control, it could be good
advertising for us. "If
The Feds are scared of it, then it must be good..."
 
What we were NOT expecting was what happened: on 6 November 1993, our lawyer
received an
email from a person claiming to be "Jerome Marshall of the NSA" (National
Security Agency),
stating that all persons involved in the release of Prosody would be subject to
arrest and seizure of
property if all of our data and notes on the project were not turned over to
the "NSA". Two days
later, we received a physical letter on Department of Justice stationery
stating the same thing. A
confession: I'm not as Hip to the Clip as I should and so thought the NSA would
be under the DoJ.
We were advised by our lawyer (he wishes anonymity-i wish him my foot up his
butt) to comply.
And we were going to do just that until a fortuitous email from John Markoff
suggested that we
contact the NSA ourselves via the phonebook rather than the contact numbers
listed in the
correspondence.
 
It seems as if there is an ugly joke going on here, and I'm not amused by my
part in it.
 
The National Security Agency (informally and unofficially) claims that there is
no employee of the
NSA that should or would have contacted us, our lawyer, or anyone connected
with us about
Prosody, much less DEMAND OUR DATA. The contact we made at the NSA (I will not
reveal her
name as she cannot officially speak for the NSA) helped clear up some of the
confusion thrown in
our path:
 
	1.	The NSA is under the Department of Defense, not Justice.
	2.	Encryption is not illegal (NO SHIT)
	3.	My programs are not encryption, no matter what anyone says. They are not
based
on any accepted cryptographic method and do not pose any threat to anyone's
(in)security.
 
After discussing this with our new legal counsel, we have come to the
conclusion that this entire affair
was a practical joke in very bad taste or an attempt to steal the programs by
using the current
paranoia/hysteria that says ALL FEDS ARE BAD. Not that I saying they're good,
but they're not all
bad.
 
As I said before, I'm not amused...
 
@	What Will Happen
 
Our plan at Technosys is this: we will revise the code for Prosody and
Mirrorshades to completely
cripple the "encryption" factors and then release them as PD/shareware on the
internet. Meanwhile,
we will encourage everyone who we talk to as we float through c-space that they
join the EFF, or at
least find out their data rights on the Net. Also, we will work with any other
software developers out
there in on the Net to create a "Concerned Citizens Network" to help monitor
and prevent reverse
engineering/social engineering/outright theft of our programs. Eventually, we
will release a Natural
Language encryption program based on accepted RSA algorithms (ala PGP), but
only in physical
form (i.e. diskette) to prevent raising anyone's eyebrows.
 
All in all, about what we were going to do anyway...
 
#	What YOU Can Do
 
Lots of things. Join the EFF. Get involved with Computer Professionals for
Social Responsibility (if
applicable to you). Contact your system administration to find out exactly what
your data rights are
(a local college here in Indianapolis will NOT allow anything sent via PGP on
its host, for example).
Do some research on the things that concern you about the current
security/insecurity situation.
Write Mr. Bill & OzoneMan (president@whitehouse.gov,
vice.president@whitehouse.gov) about
what you find and aren't happy with. And above all, talk to other users you
know about what is
wrong and what you could do to fix it.
 
Then fix it.
 
$	RESOURCES FOR THE CONCERNED
 
Technosys:	limetwig@mindvox.phantom.com (K Eluard)
		keithwriters@delphi.com (K Boyle)
 
cert.sei.cmu.edu/pub
	-=-Computer/Internet Security info

info@eff.org
	-=-address for the EFF

president@whitehouse.gov
vice.president@whitehouse.gov
	-=-sorry, when I get an address for the real potentate, I'll put 	HER'S here
too
 
Thanx for your patience and attention.
Pax.
-=-Keith Eluard
*
"Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage
to try to change the
things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of the people I had to kill
because they pissed me
off."
*
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEXT ISSUE DUE OUT SOMETIME BEFORE DECEMBER 6th


END LINE_NOIZ.3
--
Billy Biggs    Ottawa, Canada    "When all else fails,
  ae687@Freenet.carleton.ca          read the instructions"
