[LWN Logo]

********************************************************************
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