Volume 6, Number 49 4 December 1989 +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | _ | | / \ | | /|oo \ | | - FidoNews - (_| /_) | | _`@/_ \ _ | | International | | \ \\ | | FidoNet Association | (*) | \ )) | | Newsletter ______ |__U__| / \// | | / FIDO \ _//|| _\ / | | (________) (_/(_|(____/ | | (jm) | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Editor in Chief: Vince Perriello Editors Emeritii: Dale Lovell Thom Henderson Chief Procrastinator Emeritus: Tom Jennings FidoNews is published weekly by the International FidoNet Association as its official newsletter. You are encouraged to submit articles for publication in FidoNews. Article submission standards are contained in the file ARTSPEC.DOC, available from node 1:1/1. 1:1/1 is a Continuous Mail system, available for network mail 24 hours a day. Copyright 1989 by the International FidoNet Association. All rights reserved. Duplication and/or distribution permitted for noncommercial purposes only. For use in other circumstances, please contact IFNA at (314) 576-4067. IFNA may also be contacted at PO Box 41143, St. Louis, MO 63141. Fido and FidoNet are registered trademarks of Tom Jennings of Fido Software, 164 Shipley Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94107 and are used with permission. We don't necessarily agree with the contents of every article published here. Most of these materials are unsolicited. No article submitted by a FidoNet SysOp will be rejected if it is properly attributed and legally acceptable. We will publish every responsible submission received. Table of Contents 1. EDITORIAL ................................................ 1 Well, it's finally over .................................. 1 2. ARTICLES ................................................. 2 User Convicted of Destroying Data Faces 15 Years ......... 2 A Reply to Bob Moravsik .................................. 4 Come to FidoCon 1990! .................................... 7 3. LATEST VERSIONS .......................................... 9 Latest Software Versions ................................. 9 4. NOTICES .................................................. 12 The Interrupt Stack ...................................... 12 FidoNews 6-49 Page 1 4 Dec 1989 ================================================================= EDITORIAL ================================================================= I'm really pleased to mark the end of the Great IFNA Election Campaign. Friday, December 1, was the final voting deadline. From what I have seen thus far, an awful lot more people, both in terms of raw numbers and percentage of the net as a whole, voted in this election than in the original one, a few years back. This is probably due mostly to the fact that the FidoNet Coordinators were so heavily involved in conducting the election, and that ballots were cast using electronic mail rather than "real" mail. Last time, not enough people felt strongly enough to buy a stamp. This time, there certainly were strong feelings. I feel that these emotions also contributed to the final turnout. Now we have to get on with things. Whether IFNA gets its fifty percent or not, it's time to bury the hatchet, folks. And not in each other. Let's clean up the burst bubbles and useless confetti and good intentions and bad karma and get back to the business at hand. It's time to get back to promoting the free exchange of information.That's the underlying reason for FidoNet anyway, isn't it? Try something novel. The next time you wade through your conference mail (of whatever flavor) and you come upon some postings from somebody you've really pegged as useless -- give that person a break for once. Try to reverse your roles. Look past the rhetoric and really do your best to see things from their perspective. Even if you find that you can't, try to be tolerant of their views. Ask questions of them. Maybe you're just missing one strand in the entire fabric. We're all in this boat together. Let's all work the oars instead of arguing over who needs to be tossed overboard. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-49 Page 2 4 Dec 1989 ================================================================= ARTICLES ================================================================= User Convicted of Destroying Data - Faces Fifteen Years by Phil Buonomo, 1:107/583@FidoNet 520/583@AlterNet According to an article in the November 27th issue of PC Week, Richard March reports that Marshall Williams, a former cost estimator for Southeastern Color Lithographers Inc., was convicted on November 16th of using his former employers computer network to destroy billing and accounting data AND backup copies of that data, worth an estimated $400,000.00 in lost business and downtime. Williams, who faces up to 15 years in prison for his conviction, maintains that he knew nothing about the Athens printing firms XENIX operating system, and therefore could not have issued the commands to remove files from his terminal, despite the fact that a computer detection program written by Tim Plotner, a programming consultant for Computer Connection Inc. in Clarkesville Ga., traced the commands to Williams' terminal. A witness for the prosecution testified that Williams was at his terminal at least one time that the detection program traced the commands there. According to prosecutor Steve Jones, Williams motivation was "the pleasure of messing up the company." Those familiar with computer law feel that the conviction has broad implications for users of computer network system. According to this ruling, users who delete data can be prosecuted, whether such erasure was accidental or not. Since this is the first case were an employer was forced to prove that a defendant was "computer-knowledgeable", this case also challenges the legal defense of technical ignorance. Since this case introduced evidence created by a computer (the tracing data), it also raises the possibility that users of these networks could be framed. Plotner claimed that the possibility of someone modifying his program to frame Williams was far fetched because none of William's co-workers knew about it. But, Plotner added, tampering would have been possible if someone knew the program was installed and was familiar with the operating system. He also made it clear that the program only identified the terminal used to issued the removal commands, not the user himself. He said "We have been very careful here. We are not accusing Marshall Williams of doing something." FidoNews 6-49 Page 3 4 Dec 1989 Williams said last week, "I want everyone who uses a computer to know about this. It's a bad dream." Further discussions on this topic can be found in the SYSLAW Groupmail conference, available at 1:107/583@FidoNet. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-49 Page 4 4 Dec 1989 A Reply to Bob Moravsik by John Knox, 147/7 * Originally to Bob Moravsik in area SYSOP I've been resisting reply this for weeks. I just can't handle anymore. I'm sick of your GONGS and every other attempt by you to totally destroy the FidoNet we know today or that we might have tomorrow. Your article in FidoNews made me almost throw up. I only have a few things to say: WHAT small godforsaken rock did you crawl out from under? I've been in FidoNet for 5 years and to this day I've never seen ANYBODY come up will more crap than you have. Not even the Rouster. Compared to him, you are anybody's worst nightmare. Compared to you, he is made of gold. At least he provided positive input sometimes. I have yet to see that from you. You have done more to destroy this net in the past few months than I've done in 5 years to promote it, and believe me, I've pushed it almost every day. Oh, you wonder where I've been the last few months? Helping people, like I always do. I have had no desire to participate in the battles being fought, since they are meaningless and a waste of my time. I can do more by helping people than fighting with them. I've run our net as NC, I distribute echos as NEC, not to mention doing whatever else I can to help any sysop in need. But I will not fight with people who are totally insane. It is just pointless. Most of your remarks about Deathnet are totally incorrect and inconceivable. I have conversed with Thom, Fabian and Phil for only the past year, but I met them for the first time at FidoCon, and they are NOT bad guys. They have an idea that could promote this net far into the future. Unfortunately it's the people like you who spoil the fun for everybody else. You have NOTHING positive to say about anything, only negative. If you are so damn smart, why don't you come up with a solution, instead of whimpering about everything. All you do is promote general discontent and anger, which we DON'T need at the current time. FidoNet started as a group of people with an idea to promote communications and to form a network. Back in 1985 when I joined, there were only 400 nodes and not many hassles to worry about. Everybody was excited about this amazing new concept, and we all worked our asses off to help each other out and make the net florish, because we supported the concept. As the years went on, more and more people joined, not knowing really why they were joining, but just to get on the bandwagon. The more people we got, the harder it was for everyone to agree on everything, but we still tried. Notice the word "tried". Have you done that lately? FidoNews 6-49 Page 5 4 Dec 1989 IFNA was formed to attempt to provide some backbone, support and leadership for the net. Unfortunately, a few things went slightly wrong and suddenly it was the FidoNet flame for months to come. The net wanted somebody to lead us, but then they screamed because they weren't the ones leading. There were too many people wanting to be chiefs and not enough normal Indians. Everybody wanted to be President, but nobody wanted to be the blue collar worker. Today, we are in that same situation, but compounded tenfold. More widespread personalities, more people wanting control, and more people with gripes and complaints but no solutions. Have you ever proposed a solution? If so, I have never seen it, and believe me, I've seen every one of your messages for the past few months in this echo and many others. FidoNet is a concept. Without some leadership, the concept will die a bloody death. Without followers, there can be no leadership. If everybody wants to be a leader, there are no followers...just leaders arguing over who will be the "top" leader. That isn't a concept, it's a war just like the many this earth has already endured. Why do we need another war? Last few personal comments: In the past year, I have seen this net turn into one thing, and one thing only...a huge playground with hundreds of little kids running around starting fights and calling people names. This is exactly the scenario I see from my point of view. There are the few of us who stand back and stay out of the "games" because we have better things to do than petty bickering. I just wish there were more like our minority. Oh yeah...you keep griping about the FidoCon IFNA votes and such. You know where they are? Right here on this machine, safe from people like you who would only use them to start some other battle. I suppose you will flame me for that. I'm ready for it. It's called DEV>NUL. As acting secretary of IFNA at the Bod meeting, I watched the votes tallied. I approved the proxies and I oversaw then general agenda. I also sat through many many hours of Bod meetings watching a group of people with a fantastic concept. I took the minutes. I didn't say a word, because the Secretary can't vote. Nobody influenced me in any way. I didn't even know most of these people. I was an innocent bystander. I watched 20 people work their asses off and dedicate an entire weekend to form the ballot we are voting on now. Less than half were what you call DeathNet. The other half may not have originally liked the DeathNetters, but they supported their concept. That concept is DEMOCRACY. Call it what you want, but it is the ONLY thing that will keep FidoNet together today, tomorrow and far into the future. Call me whatever you want, but I know I'm right and you're not. That's all that matters. FidoNews 6-49 Page 6 4 Dec 1989 I can tell you that each one of the people at those meetings have a GENUINE desire to make FidoNet grow and florish for the people of the world. They have NO DESIRE WHATSOEVER to "take over", "rule the net" and do the so many other things you keep accusing them of. The people there were ones who have been in the net for years. They are the ones who have formed this net, along with many others like myself. None of us have any desire to "rule" or "take over" FidoNet. If we did, we would and could have probably done it long ago. There is no benefit to ruling. We want to PEOPLE of FidoNet to rule it. Isn't that what a democracy is? Oh, and one last thing. If I were the host of the FidoNet Gong Show, and if you ever showed your face on stage, I would break at least 10 gong mallets and make numerous dents in the gong itself for the non-class act you have performed. You wouldn't last 10 seconds before you'd be gonged off the stage. I'm sick of your gongs, I'm sick of your attitude, and I'm sick of your whining. If you want something done, then DO IT, but stop calling names and defacing people when you don't even know most of what you are talking about. There. I've said my peace. It probably won't do any good, since obviously things go in one side of your head and immediately out the other side. Of course with nothing in between, what's to stop them. To Butch: I sincerely apologize for this outburst, but I was just about to explode. Don't worry about removing me from this echo. I'm gone. I have been here, participating only occasionally but basically in the background for 2 years, and there is just no point in staying when there are all the people like Bob M to contend with. To everybody else: I apologize to you too. You shouldn't have to read this kind of stuff. We should be here talking about constructive things instead of wasting our time arguing. Ah...the old days when we used to help each other instead of attempting to behead each other. Those were the good old days. I wish you all luck in your battle. I have made my YES vote. I know what I want in FidoNet. I only wish other people could have the same positive outlook and see it the same way. Cheers to you all! ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-49 Page 7 4 Dec 1989 Come to FidoCon 1990! by Jim Vaughan, 1:226/300, IFNA Membership Services Committee Well, the tabulations are in, and we've made a decision. FidoCon 1990 is hereby awarded to: Net 107, New York/New Jersey MetroNet! The decision was rather easy, actually. Since announcing that we were accepting bids for next year's FidoCon back in October (right here in FidoNews), we only received two bids, one for New Jersey (less than a week after the announcement), and one for Colorado Springs. While the guys in Colorado did a great job (and a big THANKS for their submission!), there were several good reasons for holding FidoCon in Net 107. o Net 107's proposal was more cost efficient. On a per day basis, their proposal was the most inexpensive in at least the three years. o Recent FidoCons have been in San Jose, CA; Cincinnati, OH; Arlington, VA; and originally, Colorado. As you can see, there's never been a FidoCon in the Northeast, while virtually every other area of the US has had one. o Net 107's proposal listed a number of activities that were designed around making the conference one worthy of being a family vacation as well as just a sysops conference. o Colorado's already had a FidoCon. While widely acclaimed as the 'best' FidoCon, it seemed unfair not to give someone else a crack at it. As you can see, there were several good reasons for awarding it to Net 107, and a good reason NOT to give it to Colorado, so the choice was really simple. It might not have been so simple if there were more proposals submitted, but it seems that there just aren't that many people willing to do the work. The Net 107 proposal made it quite clear that they have the manpower, the drive, and the financial know-how to pull off the next conference. I'm sure there'll be lots of folks who'll claim that "DEATHNET STOLE FIDOCON". For those of you who feel that way, all I can say is, "Hey, man, where was YOUR proposal?" ;-) FidoNews 6-49 Page 8 4 Dec 1989 In the next few weeks you'll probably be hearing from Bill VanGlahn, the Net 107 FidoCon committee chairman, on how to go about registering, activities, lectures, etc. Node 1/90 in zone 1 is available for information, and will soon be changed to Bill's system. Well, if I can get up the bucks to make it to New Jersey from Ohio, I hope to see you ALL there next year! Jim ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-49 Page 9 4 Dec 1989 ================================================================= LATEST VERSIONS ================================================================= Latest Software Versions MS-DOS Systems -------------- Bulletin Board Software Name Version Name Version Name Version Fido 12q+ Phoenix 1.3 TBBS 2.1 Lynx 1.30 QuickBBS 2.04 TComm/TCommNet 3.4 Kitten 2.16 RBBS 17.2B TPBoard 6.0 Opus 1.03b+ RBBSmail 17.2 Wildcat! 2.00P Network Node List Other Mailers Version Utilities Version Utilities Version BinkleyTerm 2.30 EditNL 4.00 ARC 6.02 D'Bridge 1.21 MakeNL 2.20 ARCA05 2.01 Dutchie 2.90C ParseList 1.30 ARCmail 2.0 FrontDoor 2.0 Prune 1.40 ConfMail 4.00 PRENM 1.47 SysNL 2.65 EMM 2.02 SEAdog 4.51b XlatList 2.90 Gmail 2.01 XlaxDiff 2.32 GROUP 2.16 XlaxNode 2.32 GUS 1.20M LHARC 1.13 MSG 4.0 MSGED 1.99 PK[UN]ZIP 1.02* QM 1.0 QSORT 4.03 StarLink 1.01 TCOMMail 2.2 TMail 1.12 TPBNetEd 3.2 UFGATE 1.03 XRS 3.0 ZmailQ 1.09 Macintosh --------- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Red Ryder Host v2.1b3 Macpoint 0.91* MacArc 0.04 Mansion 7.12 Tabby 2.1 ArcMac 1.3 WWIV (Mac) 3.0 StuffIt 1.51 FidoNews 6-49 Page 10 4 Dec 1989 TImport 1.331 TExport 1.32 Timestamp 1.6 Tset 1.3 Timestart 1.1 Tally 1.1 Mehitabel 1.2 Archie 1.60 Jennifer 0.25b2g Numberizer 1.5c MessageEdit 1.0 Mantissa 1.0 PreStamp 2.01 R.PreStamp 2.01 Saphire 2.1t Epistle II 1.01 Import 2.52 Export 2.54 Sundial 2.1 AreaFix 1.1 Probe 0.052 Terminator 1.1 TMM 4.0b UNZIP 1.01* Amiga ----- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailers Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version Paragon 2.00+* BinkleyTerm 1.00 AmigArc 0.23 TrapDoor 1.11 booz 1.01 WelMat 0.35* ConfMail 1.10 ChameleonEdit 0.10 Lharc 1.00* ParseLst 1.30 PkAX 1.00 RMB 1.30 UNzip 0.86 Zoo 2.00 Atari ST -------- Bulletin Board Software Network Mailer Other Utilities Name Version Name Version Name Version FIDO/FoReM Door 1.1* BinkleyTerm 1.03g ConfMail 1.00 Pandora BBS 2.41c* The BOX 1.10* ParseList 1.30 QuickBBS/ST 0.40* ARC 5.21 GS Point 0.61 TurboArc 1.1 FidoNews 6-49 Page 11 4 Dec 1989 LHARC 0.40 PKUNZIP 1.00 MSGED 1.96S SRENUM 6.2 OMMM 1.40* Timestop 1.00 + Netmail capable (does not require additional mailer software) * Recently changed Utility authors: Please help keep this list up to date by reporting new versions to 1:1/1. It is not our intent to list all utilities here, only those which verge on necessity. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-49 Page 12 4 Dec 1989 ================================================================= NOTICES ================================================================= The Interrupt Stack 11 Dec 1989 Deadline for local IFNA vote tally challenges 15 Dec 1989 Network Coordinators report votes in IFNA plebiscite to Regional Coordinators 18 Dec 1989 Regional Coordinators report votes in IFNA plebiscite to Zone Coordinators 22 Dec 1989 IFNA plebiscite results posted in NODELIST.356 30 Dec 1989 Telephone area codes (5, 3 and 0) are abolished in Hong Kong 1 Feb 1990 Deadline for IFNA Policy and Bylaws election 5 Jun 1990 David Dodell's 33rd Birthday 5 Oct 1990 21st Anniversary of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" If you have something which you would like to see on this calendar, please send a message to FidoNet node 1:1/1. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-49 Page 13 4 Dec 1989 OFFICERS OF THE INTERNATIONAL FIDONET ASSOCIATION Thom Henderson 1:107/528 Chairman of the Board Les Kooyman 1:204/501 President Fabian Gordon 1:107/323 Vice President Bill Bolton 3:3/0 Vice President-Technical Coordinator Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Secretary Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Treasurer IFNA COMMITTEE AND BOARD CHAIRS Administration and Finance * By-laws and Rules John Roberts 1:385/49 Executive Committee (Pres) Les Kooyman 1:204/501 International Affairs * Membership Services Jim Vaughan 1:226/300 Nominations and Elections Steve Bonine 1:1/0 Public Affairs David Drexler 1:147/30.20 Publications Irene Henderson 1:107/9 Technical Standards Rick Moore 1:115/333 Ethics * Security and Privacy * Grievances * * Position in abeyance pending reorganization IFNA BOARD OF DIRECTORS DIVISION AT-LARGE 10 Courtney Harris 1:102/732 Don Daniels 1:107/210 11 John Rafuse 1:12/900 Phil Buonomo 1:107/583 12 Bill Bolton 3:711/403 Mark Hawthorne 1:107/238 13 Fabian Gordon 1:107/323 Tom Jennings 1:125/111 14 Ken Kaplan 1:100/22 Irene Henderson 1:107/509 15 Kevin McNeil 1:128/45 Steve Jordan 1:206/2871 16 Ivan Schaffel 1:141/390 Robert Rudolph 1:261/628 17 Kathi Crockett 1:134/30 Dave Melnik 1:107/233 18 Andrew Adler 1:135/47 Jim Hruby 1:107/536 19 Kris Veitch 1:147/30 Burt Juda 1:107/528 2 Henk Wevers 2:500/1 Karl Schinke 1:107/516 3 Matt Whelan 3:54/99 John Roberts 1:147/14 ----------------------------------------------------------------- FidoNews 6-49 Page 14 4 Dec 1989 __ The World's First / \ BBS Network /|oo \ * FidoNet * (_| /_) _`@/_ \ _ | | \ \\ | (*) | \ )) ______ |__U__| / \// / Fido \ _//|| _\ / (________) (_/(_|(____/ (tm) Membership for the International FidoNet Association Membership in IFNA is open to any individual or organization that pays a specified annual membership fee. IFNA serves the international FidoNet-compatible electronic mail community to increase worldwide communications. Member Name _______________________________ Date _______________ Address _________________________________________________________ City ____________________________________________________________ State ________________________________ Zip _____________________ Country _________________________________________________________ Home Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________ Work Phone (Voice) ______________________________________________ Zone:Net/Node Number ____________________________________________ BBS Name ________________________________________________________ BBS Phone Number ________________________________________________ Baud Rates Supported ____________________________________________ Board Restrictions ______________________________________________ Your Special Interests __________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ In what areas would you be willing to help in FidoNet? __________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Send this membership form and a check or money order for $25 in US Funds to: International FidoNet Association PO Box 41143 St Louis, Missouri 63141 USA Thank you for your membership! Your participation will help to insure the future of FidoNet. Please NOTE that IFNA is a general not-for-profit organization and Articles of Association and By-Laws were adopted by the membership in January 1987. The second elected Board of Directors was filled in August 1988. The IFNA Echomail Conference has been established on FidoNet to assist the Board. We welcome your input to this Conference. FidoNews 6-49 Page 15 4 Dec 1989 -----------------------------------------------------------------