November "Ask Dr. Internet
Michael S. Hart
This is "Ask Dr. Internet" for November, 1996
Responding to the questions we received from October 15 to November 14
Comments:
We just got a card from WIRED that read:
"When the Digital Revolution rolls over you,
you're either part of the steamroller
or you're part of the road."
Gee. . .I wonder where they got that from?
You might be able to read something about us in the Wall St. Journal
next Thursday in section two, or so we have been told. Of course we
cannot guarantee what they will say, if anything. The Wired article
may have been pushed back to six weeks from now.
Q0.
Cookies.
Because there have been SO many questions about cookie we have larger
than usual answers. . .skip this section if your browser has not been
asking your for cookies.
Q1.
Pierre Salinger and the TWA Flight #800 Crash.
Q2.
More About The Internet Around The World.
Q3.
I Heard The British Were Trying To Buy The Internet.
Q4.
I Heard That You Won't Be Able To Buy Software Anymore,
Only Rent It.
Q5.
How Is The Internet Growing?
Q6.
Why Is It So Much Cheaper To Buy A Whole New Computer,
Than To Upgrade It Piece By Piece?
Q7.
Why Is The US Government Classifying My New Cable Modem Hookup
As "Munitions"?
Q8.
What Have You Heard About A New 500Mhz CPU Chip
Q9.
What Have You Heard About This New Treaty That Will Make It Illegal To
Compile And Publish Statistics, And Apparently Many Other Facts.
Q10.
Book Review and Interview
"Holy Fire" by Bruce Sterling
*****
Q0.
Cookies
A0.
This First Part Is Perhaps Best Considered as Cookie Propaganda
A cookie is an unique piece of information generated on-the-air and sent
to you from up-to-date WWW servers that identifies your request of a
particular Web page.
That cookie might be then used by the server to recognize you just AS YOU
when you will re-contact it later.
This could bee useful for purposes such as a commerce-on-line service to
let the server track your orders just as YOURS, while others are
visiting the same cyberstore and each one receives his own and unique
cookie.
The cookie is a small, inoffensive text file saved in your browser's
directory or folder and stored in RAM while your browser is running. Most of
the information in a cookie is pretty mundane stuff, but some Web sites use
cookies to store personal preferences, such as items already ordered
or any other kind of preference you could have set meanwhile.
If you want to see what information is stored in your current cookie
file, use a text editor or a word processor to open a file called
cookie.txt or MagicCookie in your browser's folder or directory.
***However, Many People Hate Dealing With Cookies***
***So Much So That Some People Still Consider Cookies As A Virus***
THWARTING COOKIES
For computer users who dislike the idea that Web site operators can track
their repeat visits through "cookie" technology, there are several ways to
block the software from collecting or relaying that information. PrivNet's
Internet Fast Forward < http://www.privnet.com/ > prevents the browser from
sending cookies. The program can also block those annoying little ad
banners, eliminating the time it takes to download them. Anonymizer
< http://www.anonymizer.com/ > functions more as a proxy service -- the
information is not given out unless the user grants permission. "Surfing
feels anonymous, like reading a newspaper," says Anonymizer's creator, "but
it's not. What Netscape needs is a feature saying, `Look, I never want to
see another cookie again.'" (Scientific American Oct 96 p50)
HTTP COOKIES
Preliminary Specification - Use with caution
Cookies are a general mechanism which server side connections (such as CGI
scripts) can use to both store and retrieve information on the client side
f the connection. The addition of a simple, persistent, client-side state
significantly extends the capabilities of Web-based client/server applications.
OVERVIEW
A server, when returning an HTTP object to a client, may also send a piece
of state information which the client will store. Included in that state
object is a description of the range of URLs for which that state is valid.
Any future HTTP requests made by the client which fall in that range will
include a transmittal of the current value of the state object from the
client back to the server. The state object is called a cookie, for no
compelling reason.
This simple mechanism provides a powerful new tool which enables a host of
new types of applications to be written for web-based environments. Shopping
applications can now store information about the currently selected items,
for fee services can send back registration information and free the client
from retyping a user-id on next connection, sites can store per-user
preferences on the client, and have the client supply those preferences
every time that site is connected to.
A cookie is introduced to the client by including a Set-Cookie header as
part of an HTTP response, typically this will be generated by a CGI script.
Syntax of the Set-Cookie HTTP Response Header
This is the format a CGI script would use to add to the HTTP headers a new
piece of data which is to be stored by the client for later retrieval.
Set-Cookie: NAME=VALUE; expires=DATE;
path=PATH; domain=DOMAIN_NAME; secure
NAME=VALUE
This string is a sequence of characters excluding semi-colon, comma and
white space. If there is a need to place such data in the name or value,
some encoding method such as URL style %XX encoding is recommended, though
no encoding is defined or required.
This is the only required attribute on the Set-Cookie header.
expires=DATE
The expires attribute specifies a date string that defines the valid life
time of that cookie. Once the expiration date has been reached, the cookie
will no longer be stored or given out.
The date string is formatted as:
Wdy, DD-Mon-YYYY HH:MM:SS GMT
This is based on RFC 822, RFC 850, RFC 1036, and RFC 1123, with the
variations that the only legal time zone is GMT and the separators between
the elements of the date must be dashes.
expires is an optional attribute. If not specified, the cookie will expire
when the user's session ends.
Note: There is a bug in Netscape Navigator version 1.1 and earlier. Only
cookies whose path attribute is set explicitly to "/" will be properly saved
between sessions if they have an expires attribute.
domain=DOMAIN_NAME
When searching the cookie list for valid cookies, a comparison of the
domain attributes of the cookie is made with the Internet domain name of the
host from which the URL will be fetched. If there is a tail match, then the
cookie will go through path matching to see if it should be sent. "Tail
matching" means that domain attribute is matched against the tail of the
fully qualified domain name of the host. A domain attribute of "acme.com"
would match host names "anvil.acme.com" as well as "shipping.crate.acme.com".
Only hosts within the specified domain can set a cookie for a domain and
domains must have at least two (2) or three (3) periods in them to prevent
domains of the form: ".com", ".edu", and "va.us". Any domain that fails
within one of the seven special top level domains listed below only require
two periods. Any other domain requires at least three. The seven special top
level domains are: "COM", "EDU", "NET", "ORG", "GOV", "MIL", and "INT".
The default value of domain is the host name of the server which generated
the cookie response.
path=PATH
The path attribute is used to specify the subset of URLs in a domain for
which the cookie is valid. If a cookie has already passed domain matching,
then the pathname component of the URL is compared with the path attribute,
and if there is a match, the cookie is considered valid and is sent along
with the URL request. The path "/foo" would match "/foobar" and
/foo/bar.html". The path "/" is the most general path.
If the path is not specified, it as assumed to be the same path as the
document being described by the header which contains the cookie.
secure
If a cookie is marked secure, it will only be transmitted if the
communications channel with the host is a secure one. Currently this means
that secure cookies will only be sent to HTTPS (HTTP over SSL) servers.
If secure is not specified, a cookie is considered safe to be sent in the
clear over unsecured channels.
Syntax of the Cookie HTTP Request Header
When requesting a URL from an HTTP server, the browser will match the URL
against all cookies and if any of them match, a line containing the
name/value pairs of all matching cookies will be included in the HTTP
request. Here is the format of that line:
Cookie: NAME1=OPAQUE_STRING1; NAME2=OPAQUE_STRING2 ...
Here are some sample exchanges which are designed to illustrate the use of
cookies.
First Example transaction sequence:
Client requests a document, and receives in the response:
Set-Cookie: CUSTOMER=WILE_E_COYOTE; path=/; expires=Wednesday, 09-Nov-99
23:12:40 GMT
When client requests a URL in path "/" on this server, it sends:
Cookie: CUSTOMER=WILE_E_COYOTE
Client requests a document, and receives in the response:
Set-Cookie: PART_NUMBER=ROCKET_LAUNCHER_0001; path=/
When client requests a URL in path "/" on this server, it sends:
Cookie: CUSTOMER=WILE_E_COYOTE; PART_NUMBER=ROCKET_LAUNCHER_0001
Client receives:
Set-Cookie: SHIPPING=FEDEX; path=/foo
When client requests a URL in path "/" on this server, it sends:
Cookie: CUSTOMER=WILE_E_COYOTE; PART_NUMBER=ROCKET_LAUNCHER_0001
When client requests a URL in path "/foo" on this server, it sends:
Cookie: CUSTOMER=WILE_E_COYOTE; PART_NUMBER=ROCKET_LAUNCHER_0001;
SHIPPING=FEDEX
For more about cookies, and there is plenty, try:
http://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc822.txt
http://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc850.txt
http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/Protocols/rfc1036/rfc1036.html#z6
http://ds1.internic.net/rfc/rfc1123.txt
Q1.
Pierre Salinger and the TWA Flight #800 Crash.
A1.
As most of you who follow the media at all know, a large passenger
plane exploded and went down off Long Island, New York, but we may
not be able to publish the information about it. . .even though it
happened quite a while ago.
What we would tell you is that Pierre Salinger, former White House
Press Secretary, released to the press some information previously
posted on the Internet months ago and still there as of last week,
suggesting that the plane was shot down by the U.S. Navy.
The point of our mentioning this is not that we think this is true
. . .the point is that the information, which had been on the Net,
apparently for months, vanished overnight from those locations, at
least from some, if not all of them.
Therefore, we further encourage you, beyond our normal statements,
which are meant to save bandwidth, to save data locally, do NOT do
what most people do, and leave the data where you found it, with a
presumptive presumption that it will be there when you come back--
a day, or a week, or a month, or a year later.
Megabytes are a dime these days, you waste more of your own valued
time in redownloading information again and again and the truth is
that half of what you look at when browsing is something either in
a site you previously browsed, or that a close friend did.
Example: an efficiency expert once reported that most phone books
are used to look up the same phone numbers over and over and over,
so s/he recommended that you either put a mark beside each number,
as you look it up the first time, to make it easier to find again,
or to write it on the covers of the phone book.
Of course, most people will deny they could benefit from this, but
after trying this for a few years, I was amazed.
So. . .don't be the victim of "Link Rot" and lose your data. . .it
could be something you really want later. [See the three rules of
computing listed at the end of this edition of Ask Dr. Internet.]
Q2.
More About The Internet Around The World.
A2.
Internet World reports that the net is expanding around the world,
with more than 186 countries now reachable with e-mail. Yet 98%
of all computers providing net access and content are in North America,
Europe, Japan, and Australia. The result? "The continents of Africa,
Asia, and South America are tiny islands in cyberspace."
[Credit to Bruce Sterling's novel, Islands in the Net, 1989,
talk about a visionary, most of the people on the Internet now
had never heard of it then; more about Bruce Sterling below.]
Telephone lines and other parts of the technological infrastructure
constitute a major barrier between these islands and the cyber mainland.
Africa, for example, "has the lowest teledensity (phone lines per population)
in the world. The continent has 12 percent of the global population, but
only 2 percent of the world's main telephone connections." Another barrier
is outmoded regulations, such as those in India that keep all telephone
service in the hands of a government monopoly.
Q3.
I Heard The British Were Trying To Buy The Internet.
A3.
"ANOTHER GLOBAL GORILLA": BT TO BUY MCI
British Telecommunications is about to buy MCI Communications for as much as
$21 billion. The combined companies will have an annual revenue of $35
billion and operations in 70 countries. Industry analyst Gary Miller says:
``You really only have had one internationally recognized global player and
that's been AT&T. Now you have another global gorilla.'' MCI will continue
to operate under its present name. (Washington Post 2 Nov 96) [Edupage]
You should also be advised that various organizations are building what they
call "Second Internets". . .some are academic, some commercial, some even in
the governments. . .they all realize now what everyone on the Net realized a
few years ago when it happened, that for the governments, who paid for it in
the first place, to sell the Internet to the phone companies, was a HUGE!!!!
mistake. . .which cost them more in the first year of renting back Net lines
than it would have cost them to keep it running themselves for 6 years. . .!
Q4.
I Heard That You Won't Be Able To Buy Software Anymore,
Only Rent It.
A4.
MEANWHILE, SOFTWARE SHIFTS TOWARD SUBSCRIPTION MODEL [Edupage]
Microsoft has sold its software packaging operation and is planning to
distribute most of its Windows upgrades over the Internet, says the
company's CFO: "We are starting to evolve our revenue model to
subscriptions." The major barrier to adopting that strategy whole-heartedly
right now is the lengthy download times it can take users to upgrade their
favorite software. The next version of Windows (97 or 98, depending on
release date) will definitely be shipped in shrink-wrapped boxes, say
company officials, but beyond that, they're hoping that the flexibility of
the Internet will allow them to offer more of a cafeteria-plan type approach
to incremental enhancements. (Investor's Business Daily 31 Oct 96 A6)
This sort of thing has been tried before, without success, when companies
tried to prevent you from selling a program you had only "licensed", on a
presumption that you didn't "own" the program, only were "licensing" it--
the courts declined to uphold this view.
However, if you never even get anything physical. . .and the really biggy
players get behind it, you may never own anything ever again.
Q5
How Is The Internet Growing?
We will give a more detailed report on this in our annual January report,
but here is something for now. Remember this report is only for the US.
SURGE IN ONLINE USERS PREDICTED
A new study by Inteco Corp. predicts that 13.5 million new households will
sign up for online services within the next year, with 42% of those
households still needing to buy their first computer. The poll of 2,660
households also yielded a surprise finding -- online usage among households
with income above $25,000 has declined, from 9.8 million earlier five
months ago, to 8.7 million now. The total number of online households in
the U.S. is pegged at 15.2 million. (Investor's Business Daily 4 Nov 96 A6)
This is out of over 100 million people online in the world. There are
different statistics for households versus individuals, so be careful.
Q6
Why Is It So Much Cheaper To Buy A Whole New Computer,
Than To Upgrade It Piece By Piece?
A6
The reason for this is the same reason that the parts of a car are worth
more than the car itself. . .profit margin. The companies fight tooth &
nail to have the best price deal on the items you see advertised. . .and
on the other items, where there is less competition. . .prices soar.
For example: rent a car at San Jose International Airport for $50, AND!
pay an extra $100 for your plane ticket, than you would for the same Air
Line's flight to San Francisco International Airport a few miles north.
Not only is everything much more expensive at San Jose International but
you are limited in the hours you can travel or rent a car. Up the road,
at SFO. . .you can fly and rent 24 hours a day and the same car from the
same rental company. . .$35. . . more below, about computers this time.
COMPAQ COUNTS YOUR OPTIONS [From Edupage]
A key component of Compaq CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer's strategy when he took over
the company in 1991 was to make the most of its "options" business --
peripherals such as the 17-inch monitors that many computer users are now
demanding, as well as networking cards and modems. The strategy has
enabled Compaq to keep its profits up in a business where the margins on
PCs have shrunk to bare bones minimums. Profits on peripherals are roughly
double those of basic PCs. "We're an options company attached to a
computer company," says the head of Compaq's commercial PC options
division, which boasts its own engineering, marketing and manufacturing
staff. (Forbes 4 Nov 96 p352)
Q7.
Why Is The US Government Classifying My New Cable Modem Hookup
As "Munitions"?
A7.
In case you hadn't heard about it the US government appears to feel that
ANY message it cannot read is a danger to society and must be put behind
steel or kryptonite bars.
As we have said before, you should AUTOMATICALLY PRESUME YOUR EMAIL IS READ
by someone other than the person to whom it is addressed. There is plenty,
PLENTY, about this if you want to search for more.
NEW ENCRYPTION BLOW-UP LIKELY
Because it makes use of a 128-bit encryption code that is much more powerful
than the 40-bit code authorized for export by the Clinton Administration, a
$300 TV set-top device developed for Web-surfing and e-mail has been
classified in the "munitions" category to keep it away from terrorists and
criminals. The device is manufactured by the Sony and Philips corporations
based on a design by Web TV Networks, Inc., which had planned to market it
next year in Europe and Japan. However, having recently proposed a "key
recovery" encryption plan using third parties to hold parts of the
encryption key, the Clinton Administration is unlikely to allow exportation
of the Web TV device. (New York Times 8 Nov 96 C2) [Edupage]
More on Internet Privacy. . .
INTERNET USERS VALUE THEIR PRIVACY
The 1996 Equifax/Harris Consumer Privacy Survey for the Internet reveals
that Internet users place a high premium on their online privacy, relative
to non-Internet users. 60% of the Internet users interviewed said their
anonymity shouldn't be compromised when they visit a Web site or use e-mail.
Only 45% of non-Internet users were sympathetic to the desire for online
anonymity. About half (49%) of the Internet users who participated felt
that the federal government should be restricted in its ability to scan
Internet messages, compared to only a third (34%) of non-users. 71% of
Internet users did not want online service providers to track their
Web surfing patterns for marketing purposes, while 63% of non-users felt
this activity was intrusive. The telephone survey of 36 million people
also found that Internet users tended on average to be better educated, earn
more money and have a somewhat more liberal outlook than non-users. (BNA
Daily Report for Executives 10 Oct 96 A24) [Edupage]
Q8.
What Have You Heard About A New 500Mhz CPU Chip
A8.
Our guru's guru, Kevin Gilmore says that there is never going to be a
1Ghz CPU chip, at least until a significant technological advance may
come along. . . I, on the other hand, as usual, love sticking my neck
out and will predict a 1Ghz chip without such an advance.
Here is the latest.
BIG MAC -- EXPONENTIAL WORKING ON 500-MHz MAC CHIP
Exponential Technology recently debuted its X704 microprocessor, a 500-MHz
PowerPC chip slated for use in Apple Macintosh computers, as well as
machines made by DayStar Digital Inc., Power Computing Corp. and UMAX
Computer Corp. Apple has worked closely with Exponential engineers during
the development process and is rewriting the Mac ROMs to function at the
higher speeds. The X704 is based on BiCMOS technology -- a combination of
the CMOS technology typical in microprocessors and the bipolar architecture
more commonly found in mainframe processors. The X704 chips are scheduled
to ship in March 1997. (MacWeek 3 Nov 96) [Edupage]
Q9.
What Have You Heard About This New Treaty That Will Make It Illegal To
Compile And Publish Statistics, And Apparently Many Other Facts.
A9.
"U.S. Government officials are pressing for the adoption of
an International treaty that will (if enacted) significantly
change the ways sports statistics are controlled and
disseminated. The treaty isn't specifically directed at sports
statistics -- it is a much broader attempt to create a new
property right in facts and other data now in the public domain -
- but it will have an enormous impact on the legal rights
exercised by the National Football League (NFL), Major League
Baseball (MLB), the National Basketball Association (NBA), the
National Hockey League (NHL) and virtually all other professional
or amateur athletic leagues. [The same treaty will radically
affect the way that stock prices, weather data, train schedules,
data from AIDS research and other facts are controlled."
You can get more on this from:
James Love
Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.essential.org/cpt
lo...@tap.org; 202/387-8030
Here is Edupage's take on this:
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TREATY WORRIES SOME ACADEMICS
A multinational treaty on intellectual property protection for databases,
slated for consideration at the World Intellectual Property Organization's
meeting next month in Geneva, has scientists, librarians and some scholarly
societies concerned over what they view as overly broad protections for
information contained in a database. While database publishers need some
protection against digital piracy, any solution should also protect "the
interests of society and the full and free flow of information for
scientific research," says the president of the National Academy of
Engineering. The Academy has joined with the Institute of Medicine in
recommending that the U.S. take "no precipitous action" on the treaty. A
lawyer at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has called scientists'
concerns about fair use overblown. He says the draft treaty contains
provisions to allow the U.S. to enact a fair-use exemption in the
legislation it would pass to enact the treaty. (Chronicle of Higher
Education 15 Nov 96 A31)
Q10.
Book Review and Interview
"Holy Fire" by Bruce Sterling
You are invited to read this book, we highly suggest it,
and to email us your questions for Bruce Sterling; these
questions do not have to be about the book.
So far our staff has given Holy Fire an average rating of 90.
Part One of Dr. Internet's Review of Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling
Holy Fire starts on the Cyberpunk's Pacific Rim, but without any
of the usual suspects, no really identifiable Pacific Rim people
. . .more like people from the 1960's, but set in the 2090's, as
medical advances approach the point where for every extra year a
person lives, medicine advances enough to add a year of life, an
interesting premise to examine.
Our heroine, and we note that the last few years have brought us
leading female characters from all of the major cyberpunkers, is
riding the shockwave between the time when people would expect a
limited lifetime and the time when they could logically expect a
lifetime of unlimited duration, barring the unforeseen.
The action starts up when she [Mia] picks up a stray hippie-like
girl named Brett [who later turns out to be named Natalie]. The
interaction between Mia and Brett strongly evokes Mia's maternal
feelings, as strongly as she had had them with her own daughter,
Chloe, many many decades ago.
Brett takes Mia on a tour of her little [to Mia] life, shows Mia
her dreams and sorrows, and in her own naive way tries to appear
as though she might be able to conquer the world, if she only is
to be given a chance. Mia thinks she is about as dangerous as a
"kitten in a basket."
However, Mia's little excursion out of the painfully normal norm
of her life, where everything is planned and drab [how else will
she be able to life as long a life as possible?] sticks to Mia's
subconscious, and surfaces during her next rejuvenation.
Instead of emerging as Mia, she emerges as "Maya," illusory copy
of Brett's hippie dreamlife, and she makes good an escape from a
life which now appears to be behind strong gerontocracy bars.
Mild Spoilers Follow!!
Maya makes her way to Europe and ends up fulfilling Brettdreams,
even to the point of literally having the society of gerontocrat
haut couture at her feet, and is interviewed after this feat, by
none other than Brett [who is now apparently operating under her
real name of Natalie, perhaps somewhat indicative of her role in
the birth of "Maya."
Maya recognizes Brett, but Brett denies her Brettness. After an
exciting evening of falling from grace, Maya and Brett<=>Natalie
finally agree on having met before, and Natalie realizes that it
is Mia, and that Mia has stolen her dream, her life, and has had
the opportunity to do all the things she told Mia as Brett, back
in the beginning.
We can't really go further with employing major spoilers, and we
would like to include more quotes, which we haven't yet received
permission for, so we will conclude the review next month with a
set of questions for Bruce from our readers.
Part One of Dr. Internet's Interview With Bruce Sterling
Drnet asks:
1. This book is much more of a "Cyberpunk" [I am not sure it
is a term I like, got any others?] work than previous works--
do you read the works of writers such as: Gibson, Stephenson
and Barnes? . . . Holy Fire seems to fit right in with them.
Well, I read Gibson, Stephenson, Rucker, Shiner, Cadigan, these people are
all friends of mine. Of course HOLY FIRE is a cyberpunk book -- anything
I write will be called "cyberpunk," it doesn't matter what it is or what
it's about; if I do it, it's "cyberpunk." I accept this. I don't mind the
label "cyberpunk" because I can see the justice in it. I don't have much
use for terms like "post-cyberpunk" or "former cyberpunk," because they seem
to have even less content than "cyberpunk."
I was very into "cyberpunk" when we original cyberpunks were struggling
to figure out what to do. Nowadays I have an actually quite good
understanding of what it is I'm trying to do with my writing. So instead
of trying to convince other people to write more like me, I'm increasingly
interested in doing things that I know only I can do.
There are topics and approaches in my writing that are clearly
informed by cyberpunk techniques and cyberpunk methods of extrapolation.
But you're not going to find a lot of other books like HOLY FIRE. In the
next few years I'm going to make science fiction do things it's never done
before.
Drnet asks:
2. Would you describe your work as only fiction, or could we
also use visionary? In this sense, do you feel your work may
change the future, as well as predict it? Would you be upset
if your readers saw your work as a call to change?
Oh, it takes quite a lot to upset me. I don't worry very much about the
prospect of becoming a pop genre novelist who accidentally sets the world on
fire. I've got some pretty odd readers, but not many of them are violent
revolutionaries.
What does kind of worry me a bit is when guys like Newt Gingrich
start writing science fiction novels, or when fantasy writers like Mark
Helprin write political speeches for Bob Dole. I don't think my science
fiction novels are gonna change the future much, so I don't fret overly
about my sanctified role as some kind of socially responsible visionary
wizard. I'm not Einstein, or Edison, or even H G Wells, and I like calling
my work "science fiction." I don't declare it be a visionary tract or a
political manifesto.
However, if you ever see me writing speeches for Al Gore, you can get
back to me on this topic.
Drnet Asks:
3. All the cyberspace stories seem to include an increasing,
nearly exponential separation between the rich and the poor--
including, but not limited to, the Information Rich and Poor;
can you describe this in terms of your own vision of present-
time and future-time?
Well, there *is* an increasing separation between rich and poor. Doesn't
require telepathy to figure that one out.
It's a trend. No trend lasts forever. It's something to thing about,
but it's not the only thing to think about. As far as "information rich"
goes, if information meant everything, then librarians would be the most
powerful people on earth. "Information rich" counts for something, but
old-fashioned rich rich still counts for plenty. And when it comes to
exercising political power and control, you'd be surprised to discover just
how useful a large, well-equipped army can be.
Drnet says:
4. Another feature of cyberspace stories appears to be a new
fascism for the control of information. . .almost reactionary
in its reaction to new modes of the Information Age, designed
to keep these new modes of information transmission out of an
assignation with the public, and locked in the bed/boardrooms
of the elitists.
Is this a question? If time has taught me anything, it's that there's
a very weird kind of ductility between the so-called public and the
so-called elite. Elite by whose standards? Elite under what
circumstances? Take a step outside the Group of 7 for a while, and it's
very clear that the entire population of the United States is an "elite."
At the moment I think it's clear that the single most powerful and
influential interest group in the US is the Christian Right, but it's very
hard to call them an "elite." These people are mostly pathetic lower-class
crackers who believe anything they're told from a pulpit.
Maybe you could call Steve Forbes an "elitist," because he was born
wealthy, has four hundred million dollars, and runs a large and influential
publishing and media concern, but if you actually look at the guy and listen
to what he's saying, it's obvious that there's just not a lot there. Bill
Gates is super-rich and comes from a mildly prominent regional family, but
just a few years ago Bill was just an ugly little hippie nerd. If he ever
gets hit in the head with a brick, his empire will come apart like a
sandcastle. It could come apart anyway; as castles go, Microsoft looks very
gimcrack and temporary.
I know a little bit about how fascism actually worked, so I don't throw
that term around loosely.
***
The first three rules of computing:
#1. Back up your data.
#2. Back Up Your Data!
#3. BACK UP YOUR DATA!
If this is the ONLY thing you ever learn from "Ask Dr. Internet" it
will still be very worthwhile that you have read this.
***
You can reach the Dr. Internet Web Sites as follows:
This page includes our disclaimer, has links to our PG site,
to all the issues and, for each issue, to ALL the
questions/answers, plus links to a page to submit question:
http://promo.net/drnet/feed.html
to a page to do searches about the issues contents:
http://www.promo.net/drnet/search.html
to our FTP site:
containing the original text of each issue plus a .zip
archive including all the texts so far.
The same general index page has a subscription form
to subscribe to the Drnet Newsletter.
***
You can get the Project Gutenberg books via FTP and the Web:
ftp uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu or ftp 128.174.5.14
login: anonymous
password: your...@your.machine
cd pub
cd etext
cd gutenberg
cd etext95 [or 94, 93, 92, 91 or 90. 70's and 80's are in /etext90]
get filename (be sure to set bin, if you get the .zip files)
get more files
quit
get INDEX?00.GUT ? = 1,2,4,8
New files in etext96, of course.
***
ftp ftp.prairienet.org or ftp 192.17.3.4
username: anonymous
password: your...@your.machine.domain
[this is your email address where you are]
cd pub/providers/gutenberg/etext96 [etc, as above]
ls or dir for a listing of files
get filename.txt (ascii files)
get filename.zip (binary zipped files)
be sure to type "binary" before retrieving the .zip files!
Project Gutenberg Web Sites can now be reached at:
http://promo.net/pg/ [This is the definitive site for now]
ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/etext/gutenberg/pg_home.html
http://www.prairienet.org/pg
The Gutenberg archive can also be accessed from Singapore at
http://www.sol.com.sg/pg
and from Silicon Valley at
ftp://cdrom.com/pub/gutenberg
and
ftp://archive.org/pub/gutenberg/etext/etext96
and etext95/94/93/92/91 and etext90, of course.
Please let me know if you need more information.
mh