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_Wired 1.3_
RANTS & RAVES
*************

Crypto-Rebels
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I don't think anything outside my religion has given
me more hope for the coming century than the "Pretty Good Revolution."

-- Jeff Warburton, jwarburt@is.med.utah.edu


Such elitist bullshit. The only reason why the punks want to distribute 
crypto-code is because they want to oppose the government. They don't 
particularly believe in American sovereignty and they feel like they are 
citizens of the "world." Therefore it is "their" obligation to jam 
American intelligence operations overseas. If you don't believe it is a 
legitimate function of government to infiltrate and subvert foreign 
nations' information and strategic businesses, just ask the French 
Intelligence Service. Or better yet, ask Hughes Aircraft or any other 
high-tech company.

-- Turner Jones, tsjones@delphi.com


Law enforcement people are overstating the threat that drug lords and 
other organized crime scum pose to the US. The real threat to the public 
welfare and economy is the theft of proprietary information and trade 
secrets owned by US companies - often, as your article on the EFF's 
efforts pointed out, by representatives of "friendly" intelligence 
agencies. That is the biggest and most pervasive argument for widely 
available, strong crypotography.

-- Doug Shapter, shapter@socrates.emd.edu


"Crypto Rebels" can be seen as a moot point. Why? Just as any dufus with 
a scanner can hear your cordless phone conversations, any dufus with a 
van full of fancy electronic equipment can "look over your shoulder"
any time you use an electronic device in your home. Your entire screen, 
every keystroke you make, and every character you print broadcasts 
energy in every direction. Everything you do is public. Encryption can 
be a mis-leading illusion. Food for thought.

-- James Sanchez, Address withheld


What really scares the NSA is people using read/write CDs in well-
shielded PCs for data and voice encryption/ decryption. You give your 
friends copies of random ASCII (or other codes) on CD, millions of 
digits (or digital voice code) in length. (Before microprocessors, this 
was a very cumbersome process, requiring mainframes - the reason 
algorithms like the public/private key system were devised). With 
random, rather than pseudo-random (algorithm-generated) keys, the neat 
things is: NSA can't do anything unless it gets physical possession of 
the CDs.

What the Wired article doesn't say, of course, is that the FBI and CIA 
can use the same terror tactics the DEA uses on drug dealers to obtain 
possession of any hardware, software, algorithms, private keys, CDs, the 
ID of those in the "network," and whatever else they want. You assume 
that these people observe the legal niceties. Not true.

-- Janet Whitney, Alexandria, Virginia


Papert on the 3Rs
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The "primary" access to knowledge must be direct experience, and some 
futuristic interactive version of Wild Kingdom is not going to tell a 
child more about giraffes than her living among them. And even then it 
is arguable that her knowledge is direct, for a native child of the land 
of the giraffe might come up with a whole body of knowledge that the 
Western child's social con-ditioning hides from her, even as the 
visiting observer.

-- Joseph Troise, Sausalito, California

To ignore the politics and yet still hope to reform this lethargic 
Goliath we call "public education" is like attempting to reform the auto 
industry by arguing whether or not the new car models should come 
equipped with single or multi-disc CD players. Until
we confront, head-on, the compelling issue of subtly changing the 
perceptions and attitudes of parents to a new, restructured educational 
model, we'll condemn ourselves to forever operate under the old one.

-- Kevin Bushman, Burley, Idaho


Help Us Rewire the White House
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I am one of the "computer geeks" trying to fix the computer and 
communications systems in the White House. (I am also a professor of 
computer science at the University of California, Berkeley.) The new 
administration has a rather sophisticated vision of how they want to be 
wired into the rest of the country - workgroup computing, high-
performance workstations, and Internet access. This could be the first 
fully wired administration. There are only a couple of problems.

The Executive Office is saddled with an archaic centralized computer 
system with very few workgroup LANs. While users in Media Affairs and 
OSTP are screaming for Internet access, we have to go slow to prove to 
the security experts that the interface can be resistant to in-truders. 
And finally, there isn't any money. George Bush spent six months of 
funds between November and January. And the recent stimulus package, 
including $4 million to upgrade phones and computers in the White House, 
went down in a defeat to the gloating Republicans (that's $4 million out 
of $15 billion - hardly a dent).

So why shouldn't computer "geeks" (as opposed to the political "wonks") 
write to their senators and representatives to support our efforts to 
bring the White House into the late 20th century? Does the headquarters 
staff of a $1.5 trillion enterprise deserve anything less? What are the 
implications for the US citizenry for poor decisions being made because 
of faulty, inadequate information systems? In this, the Congress is 
being penny-wise and pound foolish.

-- Randy H. Katz, PhD, rkatz@arpa.mil


Surrender the Pink
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It's apparent that Fred Davis has never written commercial software. If 
half the lines of code in Pink are written, it doesn't mean the 
product's half done. "The first 90 percent of a program takes 90 percent 
of the project time; the last 10 percent takes the other 90 percent."

-- David Dunham, Seattle, Washington


Why in a magazine with as thorough coverage of the techno-cyber-world as 
Wired offers, have I yet to see the words NextStep printed? Next is the 
only company offering a tried and true object-oriented operating system.

-- Rob Wyatt, rawyatt@scf.usc.edu


Speer's Waste of Space
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Steven Speer's review of the Toshiba color laptop T4400C 486DX was a 
waste of space. I'm no prude, but all the profanity was absolutely 
unnecessary. Especially since he didn't say a single review-oriented 
thing about the product. Forget the cuteness of your "little buddy" and 
give us some facts about the machine, not just profanity-sprinkled 
garbage!

-- Steven T. Jones, Middle Tennessee State University
   "Opinions are my own - no one else's"

(Steve says, "Get a fucking sense of humor.")


Logitech
^^^^^^^^
So, you only got one letter objecting to the Logitech ad? (Wired 1.2) 
Here's another. The ad uses a child in a way that no (self-respecting) 
adult would be used. It is pos-sible to do this when you have no respect 
for children or are willing to take advantage of those unable to protect 
themselves. I urge all your readers to avoid Logitech products whenever 
possible.

Jeff Hallgren (father of two), jhall@tahiti.umhc.umn.edu


The DAT Pact
^^^^^^^^^^^^
As a writer and audio producer who testified before two Congressional 
committees against the Audio Home Recording Act last year, I can tell 
you with firsthand knowledge that the story of DCC and MiniDisc (Street 
Cred, page 102) is far darker and deeper than your reviewer Gene Pitts 
would have one believe.

Music executives have long feared digital technology. They assume all 
non-professional owners of digital tape recorders are tape pirates. For 
this reason, the music industry used every legal threat possible to 
stall the introduction of the consumer DAT format, and has thwarted 
recordable CDs for the consumer market.

In an attempt to break the "digital" logjam, executives of the consumer 
electronics and music industries got together for a series of backroom 
meetings. Out of these came a compromise agreement known as the DAT 
Pact.  The DAT Pact did several things to benefit its industry 
participants. It allowed electronics manufacturers to build and sell 
consumer digital recording equipment without fear of lawsuits. In 
exchange for this concession, the music industry got several pounds of 
flesh:
     * A tax, cleverly disguised as a "royalty," is being charged 
manufacturers on the sales of all consumer and business-grade digital 
tape rcorderes and recording media. (It is 2 percent of the wholesale 
price for digital recorders with an $8 ceiling and 3 percent for blank 
media.) The tax, which is being passed on to consumers, is collected by 
the US Government and given directly to the music industry.
     * A copy protection circuit is required in all digital recorders 
for consumer and business use, including project studios and radio 
stations. (Only high-end studio equipment is exempt.) This prohibits the 
making of all second-generation digital copies, whether commercial or 
personal.
     An army of lobbyists was dispatched to Capitol Hill to announce the 
historic agreement that would "benefit" consumers. Key members of 
Congress signed on to the legislation. They eagerly posed for smiling 
photographs at pep-rally hearings with industry-provided pop recording 
artists.
     The Audio Home Recording Act, the legal mani-festation of the DAT 
pact, was signed by President Bush just before the 1992 election. At 
about the same time, seductive ads touting the marvels of DCC and MD 
began appearing in consumer magazines. The hype to buy "the next big 
thing" in audio technology has begun. The remaining question is: Will 
consumers take the bait?

-- Frank Beacham, New York, New York

(See Copywrong ( page 48) by Richard Stallman, for an alternative to the 
DAT Pact.)


ILM Isn't Lucas Digital
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A quick correction. George hasn't changed the name of Industrial Light & 
Magic to Lucas Digital. Lucas Digital is basically the new place on the 
corporate chart that ILM (and Skywalker Sound) now plug into. But we're 
still ILM. Also, Stan Winston wasn't part of ILM - he's had his own shop 
for a while.

-- Joe, Industrial Light & Magic


Nick's Erroneous Zone?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Nicholas has made erroneous statements in his second piece as well. 
Evidently he does not know that the main subject of this piece has been 
thoroughly discussed in FCC circles. The "bit police" are prevented by 
law from allowing TV stations to use the second channel for anything 
other than simulcasting. Otherwise it would be a grant of a channel 
without allowing other parties to compete for it in the normal way that 
spectrum assignments are made. Should the FCC allow non-simulcasting use 
for the second channels, they will be taken to court instantly.

-- William Schreiber, wfs@image.mit.edu


Tired
^^^^^
For me, Wired is tired. Same old same old same old same  couldn't you 
look at the spaces between the ones and zeros? Couldn't you seek out 
people who apply technology to some earthly good - or beauty? Couldn't 
you profile one Woman In Technology And The Arts who isn't Brenda Laurel 
or Camille Paglia? (Stinks of tokenism to the uninitiated.) Sorry, I 
guess I just don't get it.

-- Abby Joslin, San Francisco, California


My only criticism is the model for the Wired T-shirt on page 109. How 
about equal time for the next issue? Isn't there a Wired Republican (or 
noted conservative) who would model your shirt? How about asking Rush 
Limbaugh?

-- Chad, chadb1216@aol.com


I hope the layout is simplified. Case in point, one of the board members 
wanted to look at the table of contents, but couldn't find it. I said, 
"Look for something that looks like a weird, hard-to-read 
advertisement." "Oh yeah, here it is."

-- Donald Theophilus, theo@hitl.washington.edu


These music reviews, are they relevant? The elite-exclusionary problem 
of technically dense media is enhanced quite enough by jargon; people 
don't really need more parameters to live by to feel like they belong in 
Wired's readership.

-- Rod McFarland, rod@leco.plant.ubc.ca


Wired
^^^^^
Congratulations on the launch of Wired. It's a very impressive start in 
all respects: Editorial content, design, ad sales, ...the whole package. 
I have to say it's one of the best independent launches I have seen in 
many, many years.

-- Jann S. Wenner, Editor & Publisher, Rolling Stone

1. Can't sleep 2. Thanks.

-- Anonymous, Hypernet Interactive


Sure beats reading PC Week. Oops, here comes the boss - gotta go . . . .

-- Steven Wilcox, Burlington, Massachusetts

When I read your magazine, I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or break 
into a government computer system.

-- Eric Schmitter, st_schmitter@stdvax.cc.slcc.edu


How dare you hook me on this new junk called Wired with a measured 
bimonthly fix. I need another hit NOW!

-- K. Gerard Garlow, gerard@tenetledu

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