[From Bill Powers (940524.1815 MDT)]
Rick Marken (940524.1330)--
I would like to hear the the answer to Tom's question, viz.
does anyone disagree with my interpretation of the quotes as
being evidence of controlling? But I would also like to have
all of you -- Gary, Tom, Bill C. and Bill P. -- answer as
honestly as you can how you FELT when your controlling
Certainly I am trying to control something that Mr. Thigh Cream is
trying to disturb: freedom of our net from a certain kind of noise,
which I predict will rise without limit if we do not oppose it,
forcing us to operate behind closed doors. And I have chosen to do
this controlling by identifying the source of the disturbance and
acting to remove it, as nearly as I can. You're damned right that I
felt something while I was doing this: a very energetic state which,
if I had not acted upon it, I would call being furious. This is not
the kind of undertaking one can carry off in a state of
unpreparedness to act.
Just to keep everyone up to date, at around 2:00 PM local time I
send the following fax to the manager of the Mailboxes, Inc. outlet
indicated in the return address of the sender:
ยทยทยท
-------------------------------------------------------------
May 24, 1994
Manager
Mailboxes, Etc.
18524 NW 67th Ave.
Miami, Florida 33015
Dear Sir,
I am writing from Colorado about a possible scam being perpetrated
by one of your mail box users, #311. This morning this user
broadcast the following message to a large number of electronic
conferences on the internet, using a fictitious e-mail return
address:
--------------------------
[message replicated here]
--------------------------
As mentioned, the e-mail return address given was bogus, a trick
which is known to some hackers but is not used by any honest person.
It is clear that the person giving his name as Matt Keough wishes
respondents to his advertisement not to be able to identify him,
either by email or by a return postal address. There is no such
person in the greater Miami area with a listed telephone number.
I believe that even aside from the content of the advertisement,
the false e-mail address is grounds for suspecting a scam. If this
person were to receive and cash checks from some number of gullible
people, all that would be necessary would be to abandon the mail
box; there could be no way to trace the person after that. Have you
checked to be sure this person has given a real address or telephone
number?
A suspicion is not, of course, proof of any wrongdoing. But to us
internet users, encroachments of this kind on the free communication
that goes on via the internet could be a serious threat to the whole
idea of an information highway. I, and many others like me, hope
that you will follow up on this complaint, and engage the help of
the police or the FBI if necessary to determine whether Mailboxes,
Etc. is unwittingly aiding in a form of mail fraud.
Yours truly,
etc.
----------------------------------------------------------------
As you can see, I am trying to get a message to Mr. Thigh Cream that
he is disturbing some very strongly defended controlled variables,
and that the wisest course would be to desist. I do not intend to be
reasonable or understanding about this. I intend for the disturbance
to stop.
There are people out there who are beginning to see the internet as
a source of free commercial advertising. What they must learn is
that the users of the internet do not want it used this way. And
they must find out that free access works both ways: the recipient,
in this medium, is not helpless. To quote Bill Glasser, _Take
Control of Your Life_.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Best to all,
Bill P.