Editorial

Welcome to Issue 37 of Capital of Nasty, as we slowly drift into an Indian summer. The nights are not humid and suffocating as before and the days are getting incredibly shorter, that little bit of sun that could shine through the day covered by thick gray clouds which promise rain and (not too far from now) snow. It's only September, but the stores are already stocked with Halloween material, and I am already shivering in fear of the hideous Country-style Christmas carols that will follow October, pouring out of the store's speakers. Hopefully I will not be there this year for the usual brainwashing. No, no Egg Nog. Sorry, long day.

Rudi Chiarito wrote in regard of the GUI discussion from our last Editorial and has a few things to say about the "Privacy on the Internet" article, which proves that I am too paranoid and not too well informed:

The answer to the rhetorical question demostrates that you are unsure about the true origins of the GUI. The development at Apple were the pioneers of stealing the GUI. Apple discovered the GUI when Steve Jobs and company were present for a demostration in 1979 of a machine developed in 1973 by Xerox PARC called the Alto.

Sad but true: the folks at the PARC Labs in Palo Alto also invented (among the others) laser printers and Ethernet boards (nowadays most networks in this world use Ethernet). Apparently Xerox managers were only interested in producing copiers, so they eventually got rid of those too-bright engineers.

A video about demented managers worth watching is The Deathbed Vigil Party and other tales of digital angst by Dave Haynie, but unfortunately AFAIK it's no longer being produced. If you know a rabid Amiga user, chances are that you can borrow his copy, though.

It takes a bright mind and years of work to come up with a great idea, but it also takes two minutes and an Economics degree to f*** it up.

Privacy on the Internet

  by Leandro

thought. After I registered the domain name CAPNASTY.ORG with Internic, my account in Finland, which is set as my e-mail address in their database, started to receive the first signs of spam. I'm not accusing Internic of giving my address to some spam list, however I do find it a little strange that suddenly my mailboxes (electronic and non) are filled with junk. Microsoft keeps on

Internic databases are public. Not just your email address, but your phone number and postal address are available on request (on Unix and other advanced operating systems, it's a matter of issuing one simple command).

Leandro Asnaghi Nicastro (CAPNASTY-DOM)
322 (removed) Toronto, ON M4J 1P8 etc.

Billing Contact: Asnaghi-Nicastro, Leandro (LA672)
ordnael@FREENET.HUT.FI
+1-416-469-etc. etc.

It's part of the standard procedure, which was agreed upon when men were real men, women were real women and Billy Boy didn't own the entire world yet.

You might be a bit upset about it, but such data are vital when there are any problems with your domain (i.e. one of your machines gone crazy, someone from your domain attacking other hosts on the net, etc.). In such cases, the fundamental question is "who're you gonna call?"

various Intranet solutions. Not only all of these have my name on it, but the words "President" or "CEO" are right after. My office e-mail account, and now my account in Finland, receive spam of all sorts. I don't want to receive this stuff, I don't want companies to know about me, I don't want to find my mailboxes full of garbage.

Don't register your domain, then. You have to face the music somehow.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to give the impression that I am another Unabomber that wants to break all links with society, and live in my little hut up in the mountains. It's just that I wish I

What's wrong with that? I mean, as long as you have a leased line.. ;)

Cookies allow companies to invade your privacy and access your >phone number, credit card number, address, and other sensitive

False.

personal information and preferences. The next time you enter that website, they will know that you've been there before, what you've been looking at and perhaps what advertising to throw at you.

That's the only true thing about cookies. What's wrong with them knowing where I have already been on their site?!?!? This way, e.g. they already know I'm a computer geek, so they won't bother me with diaper advertising.

There is no such thing as the word "Private" on the Internet. Even your e-mails, have you been wondering who else is reading them?

Oh, that's simple: my system administrators, every now and then. I'm simply amused. They even check my files: and I often download lots of worthless stuff, just to make them waste some time figuring out what the hell that new "sp-1.1.1.tar.gz" file is. Plus, it must be tough, when they have to browse through the >100 emails I receive every day. It serves them right :)

Anyway, straight from Seneca's Letters to Lucilius: "No thing is as good as keeping silent, talking as little possible to others and as much as possible to themselves."