******************************************************************** NEW THINKING NEW THINKING NEW THINKING NEW THINKING NEW THINKING Free weekly email contributing to a philosophy for The Digital Age By Gerry McGovern Email: gerry@nua.ie Web: http://www.nua.ie ******************************************************************** February 21st 2000 Published By: Nua Limited Volume 5 Number 8 ******************************************************************** NUA NEEDS YOU! Nua is an Internet pioneer. We are looking for people who want to work with a company that is going places. People who want to make a real difference. People who are customer-focused. People who want only the best. Business Strategist (REF: JN0002181) http://www.nua.ie/about/jobs.html#bs Business Program Manager (REF: JN0002182) http://www.nua.ie/about/jobs.html#bpm Technical Project Manager (REF: JN0002183) http://www.nua.ie/about/jobs.html#tpm Usability Engineer (REF: JN0002184) http://www.nua.ie/about/jobs.html#ue Content Manager (REF: JN0002185) http://www.nua.ie/about/jobs.html#cm ******************************************************************** NUA KNOWLEDGE NEWS http://www.nuaknowledgenews.com ******************************************************************** THE CARING ECONOMY The Caring Economy, by Gerry McGovern, is published by Blackhall Publishing of 26 Eustace Street, Dublin 2, Ireland. ISBN 1-901657-61-2 Price _27.50 or US$35.95 mailto:blackhall@tinet.ie It is also available in the United States from Irish Books & Media, 1433 East Franklin Avenue, Minneapolis MN 55404-2135. Call toll-free (800) 229-3505 BUY THE BOOK FROM THE CARING ECONOMY WEBSITE http://www.thecaringeconomy.com/buy For further information please contact Mary Gorman mailto:mary@nua.ie ******************************************************************** CYBER VIGILANTES Did you know that US banks were warned well in advance that there would be attacks against large websites but that they told nobody except other members of an Internet security organisation for financial institutions? Let's spin that another way. You're in a neighbourhood and you see some of your neighbours boarding up their windows. They won't tell you why they're doing it, so you pass it off. That night a hurricane strikes. There were no warnings on the radio, TV or in the newspapers. The emergency services were totally unprepared. But this select group of neighbours knew because they happened to be members of a specialist weather monitoring organisation. There are some profound issues at play with regard to the Internet today. Perhaps the most profound is the role of government business and citizen. A large, powerful, media savvy voice is constantly saying that government should stay out, that it doesn't understand the Internet, that the Internet should develop a voluntary code of conduct that is privately policed. Individualism, liberty and freedom of speech are the colourful and emotive flags that this 'Government-Out' constituency vigorously waves. Let me tell you what they are really about. They are about big business who are in themselves mini-governments, who if they could engineer it, would have no laws, no regulations, nothing in the way of making as much money as possible out of the customer. This short-sighted greed is no good for anybody. It will ultimately ruin the Internet environment as a commercial medium, as customers get tired of having their personal information ripped off, get tired of private security vigilantes snooping in their computers, get tired of returns policies that aren't worth the bits and bytes they were typed on. We can't treat the Internet as some junk yard sale, where everyone is trying to get their fingers into everyone else's pockets, without running the risk of it turning into a junk yard. Government has flaws; we all know that. But government is our best attempt to create institutions that allow society to be managed in a civilised manner. Without government the choice is chaos or vigilantism. The current search for the hackers behind the major spate of website attacks is a mix of both. Scores of security firms are out looking for the culprits. Their driving objective has nothing to do with law and justice and everything to do with the hoped for PR announcement that their firm caught the nasty hacker. Members of these firms are posing as suspects and friends of suspects in online chat rooms and other areas, to the extent that 'suspects' are turning up all over the place at the same time confusing everybody. Law enforcement on the Internet is becoming a farce, and that's not good for anybody. Internet business will suffer if consumer confidence in the medium declines. As much as we would all like to clean up politics and make government more accountable, today right now - it is still all we've got. I have no problem with big business per se, but I don't want it 'protecting' my privacy and I don't ever want it out 'policing' my streets. Gerry McGovern <mailto:gerry@nua.ie> ******************************************************************** If you have enjoyed New Thinking, please consider telling somebody else about it. ******************************************************************** For New thinking archives, please go to: <http://www.nua.ie/newthinking/archives/index.html> ******************************************************************** NUA PRIVACY POLICY Nua respects absolutely the privacy of every person visiting our website or receiving one of our email publications. Nua has created a privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to your privacy, and the high value we place on your quality feedback. For the full privacy statement: <http://www.nua.ie/about/privacy.html> ******************************************************************** MAKING FREE INFORMATION PAY At Nua we've built our company on the principle of 'making free information pay.' We hope you have enjoyed our newsletters and that you find them useful. We think it's great that we reach 150,000 of you every week and that our subscriber base continues to grow. Could you do us a favour? If you like our newsletters and if they have indeed been useful to you, could you tell us about it? Could you write to us in a paragraph or two and tell us what you like about Nua and/or our newsletters. (Could you also please send some brief biographical information on yourself?) We'd like to use such quotes on our website and in marketing and advertising material, so please specify if for whatever reason you do not wish us to use your quote in this way. Please send your quotes to: Oriana Lo Iacono <mailto:web@nua.ie> ******************************************************************** NUA INTERNET SURVEYS http://www.nua.ie/surveys LOCAL IRELAND A local heart with a global beat <http://www.local.ie> ******************************************************************** SPONSORSHIP While New Thinking will always remain free to the subscriber, Nua is willing to talk to interested parties with regard to sponsorship. Contact Mary Gorman mailto:mary@nua.ie COPYRIGHT Where the work is by Gerry McGovern, you are actively encouraged to distribute and/or re-publish an individual piece, once proper credit and subscription details are given. Where the work is by another author, the work may be freely distributed in its full email format, but if it is to be published in another format, express permission of the author must be received. SUBSCRIBING TO NEW THINKING Send an email to: mailto:newthinking-request@nua.ie with the word subscribe in the body of the message. An automatic acknowledgement should be returned to you by e-mail within a few minutes. UNSUBSCRIBING Send an email to mailto:newthinking-request@nua.ie with the word unsubscribe in the body of the message. (Please remember to unsubscribe using the *exact* email address you subscribed with.) TECHNICAL PROBLEMS If you are having any technical problems, please email: <web@nua.ie> Gerry McGovern | ceo | e: mailto:gerry@nua.ie Nua/local ireland | dublin | new york | http://www.local.ie http://www.nua.ie t: +353 1 676 8996 f: +353 1 283 9988 The Caring Economy - http://www.thecaringeconomy.com