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                  >C O M P U T E R   U N D E R G R O U N D<
                                >D I G E S T<
              ***  Volume 2, Issue #2.19 (December 31, 1990)   **
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MODERATORS:   Jim Thomas / Gordon Meyer  (TK0JUT2@NIU.bitnet)
ARCHIVISTS:   Bob Krause / Alex Smith / Bob Kusumoto
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From: balkan!dogface!bei@CS.UTEXAS.EDU(Bob Izenberg)
Subject: a.k.a. freedom of expression
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 90 08:21:26 CST

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***  CuD #2.19: File 6 of 7: a.k.a. Freedom of Expression        ***
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I read this in issue 2.16 of the Computer Underground Digest:

          [ quoted text follows ]

                              IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

                             FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

                                       ATLANTA DIVISION

          UNITED STATES OF AMERICA             :
                                               :     CRIMINAL ACTION
                   v.                          :
                                               :     NO. 1:90-CR-31
                                               :
          ADAM E. GRANT, a/k/a The             :
          Urvile, and a/k/a Necron 99,         :
          FRANKLIN E. DARDEN, JR., a/k/a       :
          The Leftist, and                     :
          ROBERT J. RIGGS, a/k/a               :
          The Prophet                          :

          GOVERNMENT'S SENTENCING MEMORANDUM AND S.G. SS 5K1.1 MOTION
          [ quoted text ends ]

The assumption here, that an alias employed in computer communications is
the same as an alias used to avoid identification or prosecution, doesn't
reflect an awareness of the context within which such communications
exist. The very nature of some computer operating systems demands some
form of alias from their users. Management policy also affects how you
can identify yourself to a computer, and to anyone who interacts with you
through that computer. Look at some of the monikers that were assigned
to me to allow me to use various computer systems:

               Izenberg_Bob   (pretty straightforward)
               bei
               76615,1413
               BIZENBERG
               3935gbt
               root           ;-)

Some of those account names identify me personally with me the computer
user easily, some not at all.  Is it accurate to say that I'm Bob Izenberg,
a.k.a. one of the above account names?  Sure, between you and me, outside
of a court of law.  In the context of that court of law, that a.k.a. is an
accusation in itself.  If we strip the implication from those three letters
that the party of the leftmost part is calling themselves the party of the
rightmost part to avoid getting nabbed with the goods, what's left?  I am
known by another name when I use a computer?  Where's the surprise in that?
Maybe I'm Bob the person a.k.a. Bob the user ID.  For another slant on
this, let's borrow from my days covering town meetings.  I might also be
Bob, trading as Bob the user ID, as in:  Bob Izenberg, t/a Bob's Bar and
Grill.  There's no criminal intent there, not in the kinda bar I run.

In using a computer communications medium, particularly an informal one
like a BBS, the name you choose can set the tone for the aspect of your
personality that you're going to present (or exaggerate.)  Are radio
announcers using their "air names" to avoid the law?  How about people with
CB handles?  Movie actors and crew members?  Fashion designers?  Society
contains enough instances of people who, for creative reasons, choose
another name by which they're known to the public.  I certainly hope that
somebody mentions that Len Rose calling himself Terminus (which springs
from his correct perception of himself as somebody who kept the wheels of
comunication between legitimate users of AT&T's products moving, or from
the Foundation series by author Isaac Asimov) is fair use of a pseudonym,
well in line with community standards set by his peers.  Whenever somebody
uses a.k.a., correct them!

Bob Izenberg (512) 346 7019 [ ] cs.utexas.edu!%kvue,balkan%!dogface!bei

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