Slashdot Mirror
URIICA
Mr. Slippery writes: "While catching up on the RISKS Digest (ought to be mandatory reading), I leaned about the new Union for Representative International Internet Cooperation and Analysis, started by Peter G. Neumann, Lauren Weinstein, and David J. Farber, names of some significance. Their goal: "The Internet should be dedicated to the needs and well-being of people all over the world, in a truly representative and fair manner.""
From http://www.sethf.com/freespeech/censorware/essays/ censorwareorg.php
...").
by Seth Finkelstein, former chief programmer of Censorware Project
February 1, 2001 (originally published in Ethical Spectacle, February 2001 )
"Reporters come in as newspaper men, trained to get the news and eager to get it; they end as tinhorn statesmen, full of dark secrets and unable to write the truth if they tried."
-- H.L. Mencken
Summary
This essay describes what happened to website for the Censorware Project (http://censorware.org ), an activist organization which produced much work exposing the flaws of censorware (programs euphemistically called "filters"). In brief, the site was taken down for one week in August 2000, put back, then was taken down again on November 4 2000. As of this publication (February 2001), the second removal has lasted three months, and appears permanent. Both times, the shut-downs were done deliberately by the webmaster, Michael Sims. This is an account of the why and wherefore.
Disclaimer: The author is a biased, partial, partisan, interested party to the events chronicled below.
Beginnings
The White Rabbit put on his spectacles. "Where shall I begin, please your Majesty?" he asked.
"Begin at the beginning", the King said gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop."
-- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Unfortunately, I can't begin at the beginning, only very near the end. The story of the formation, tensions, and then public meltdown, of Censorware Project would fill a book (plus an updated edition concerning the aftermath and issues about partial re-grouping). This article is a cautionary tale about what happened to the censorware.org website, and some associated personal memoirs.
Censorware is software designed and optimized for use by an authority to prevent another person from sending or receiving information. It's more than an essay in itself to discuss the politics of censorware, the various government mandates and laws involving it, and the free-speech opposition to it. For background on these topics, see websites as such as Peacefire or The Net Censorship Dilemma (or Seth Finkelstein's Anticensorware Investigations)
The Censorware Project was formed by a group of writers, lawyers, and activists in late 1997. The coFounders were Seth Finkelstein (the writer of this essay), Bennett Haselton, Jamie McCarthy, Michael Sims, James Tyre, and Jonathan Wallace. The goal was to expose information about censorware products. I donated my skills as a senior-level programmer. Michael Sims became the webmaster.
We produced a great amount of important free-speech material. But analyzing censorware is hard, unrewarding, legally risky work. Programmers have been sued for reverse-engineering the secret blacklists. To compress a year's worth of story down to a few sentences, there came a time I received legal advice that I was heading for a lawsuit. I was the person with my fingers on the server. There was a deep conflict between what Censorware Project could do which would be good for me, as a programmer at risk of being sued, and what would be good for e.g. Michael Sims, in terms of promoting his nascent career as a journalist. The fact that I'm writing this essay should tell you what was the outcome of that conflict.
I'm Grand Poohbah or I'll Shoot This Site!
"Buy This Magazine or We'll Shoot This Dog!"
-- famous National Lampoon cover (January 1973)
On Wednesday, August 30 2000, the webmaster for Censorware Project, Michael Sims removed the contents of censorware.org for the first time. All reports, essays, and other information were taken down from the website. The front page was replaced with a message about "Closed for remodeling". That was false. There was no remodeling planned. Michael Sims had taken down the website as a means of retaliation (concurrence: Jonathan Wallace's account : "... Mike Sims' reaction to a perceived slight was to take the site down for a week,
The perceived slight (and retaliation) was against James Tyre, a Censorware Project member who had written to Michael Sims the following message, protesting one of his (Sims) unilateral actions as Censorware Project webmaster:
Date: Fri, 04 Aug 2000 00:41:08 -0700
To: cwp
From: "James S. Tyre"
Subject: The CWP Unperson
"[Finkelstein], however, was already an unperson He did not exist: he had never existed." -- 1984
Michael, the "why" does not matter, but I just happened to look at http://censorware.org/admin/, and was surprised and saddened to see that you have removed any reference to Seth. I hardly ever check that page, so I do not know how long ago this was, but I just saw it.
You and he have become enemies, and there is nothing which I can do about that, apparently. But you can not deny the contributions he made, that CWP likely never would have existed but for him.
He had been listed as a former member, though I do not recall the exact language. Unpersoning him is just wrong.
Please reconsider.
James S. Tyre mailto:jstyre[at-sign]jstyre.com
[old address deleted]
Given the prospect of having this message becoming known, Michael Sims' reaction was not to reconsider, but to shut down the censorware.org website. That sounds unbelievable. But it's true.
Hostage Sites and No Deals With A Terrorist
When you have shot and killed a man you have in some measure clarified your attitude toward him. You have given a definite answer to a definite problem. For better or worse you have acted decisively. In a way, the next move is up to him.
-- R. A. Lafferty
The first take-down of censorware.org by Michael Sims was a source of much consternation. Nobody else had thought to mirror the site, because he was taking care of it. There was serious concern that he might permanently destroy all the material.
Ironically, it turned out that the person who had the most complete copy of the content was me. On August 21, I had made a copy of all the text on the website, simply as a precaution to check against further shenanigans (I still regret not making a full mirror, but at the time it didn't seem necessary).
While Michael Sims made no explicit demands, and ignored almost every attempt to contact him, it's my own view that the message was utterly clear. If we ever wanted to see the Censorware Project website alive again, then: Beg! Agree, in Jonathan Wallace's later phrasing , "the group was exclusively his". Don't argue. Otherwise, the retaliation will be anything from having one's name stricken, to the whole website being destroyed.
Days went by. People started to notice that links to the material on the Censorware Project website were broken, and asking what had happened. One of the main censorware-advocates was curious. Michael Sims continued to ignore everything. It seemed like everyone involved was being drawn into a circus of "Day x, of the Censorware Project website held hostage". And personally, I was deeply worried about the prospect of ending up as a bargaining chip in a bizarre negotiation with the terrorist.
I thought the longer this went on, the worse it would become. Pressure would build, and I feared the politics involved. And bluntly, I was extremely tired of being jerked-around by Michael Sims. I didn't want to play his game.
On Tuesday-Wednesday night September 5-6 2000, I had a many hours-long discussion with James Tyre (see above). I intended to put up a partial mirror of the censorware.org material on my own personal website (http://sethf.com) He did not bless it, but did not forbid it either. That was good enough for me.
Then I got to stay up the rest of that night actually constructing the partial mirror. I wanted to get it done and up as quickly as possible. I essentially had only the plain-text dump from August 21 2000, not many images or html files. So it was a fairly complicated programming task to organize those files into something usable.
Wednesday morning September 6 2000, I put up my text-mirror of censorware.org. I told a few people about it, but didn't send out any major announcements (or make any extensive comments in the mirror itself). Personal note: I'm a professional programmer in my mid-30's, not a college student. I do not enjoy stress-filled all-nighters. I had my reasons for pulling that one, but it was an unpleasant experience, and I felt every hour of it.
Thursday afternoon September 7 2000, I send out a message to a few people about possibly retrieving Censorware Project website HTML pages from browser caches (as well as, ahem additional personal comments on the situation).
Mirable Dictu ("it is marvelous to relate"), on Thursday evening September 7 2000, I noticed activity on the censorware.org website, and it seemed the content was being put back online. I send mail about this. And get to spend another late night downloading the files off the website in case I don't get another chance, and comparing that mirror-copy with copies made by others. My mirror was no longer necessary, so I eventually took it down.
Michael Sims never gave an explanation as to what motivated him to restore the website in that case, and I doubt he would admit the following. But I believe that my putting up a partial mirror was the reason. That changed the dynamics of the situation. It was then no longer his game, of beg and plead with him to release the hostages, err, hosted-pages. The incentives were reversed. Suddenly, time was working against him, not for him. The more he delayed, the more my mirror would become the website people used. He was losing control of the situation. His best strategy then became to backpedal and attempt to salvage whatever influence he could.
I cannot prove this explanation. But it fits the timing and behavior.
(Note - can someone help me with the missing lyrics?)
The Business - Get Yer Tits Out
[Oi oi oi!]
Ever since I was 8 years old
I been a fan of the centerfold
Girls good lookin, they got class
Shove my cock right up their ass
It makes great time, or so I heard
So go in there and shag his bird
[???? ???? ???], makes us sick
[??? ?? ????] get on my dick
Get yer tits out for the boys! [x 4]
The girl next door, she just don't care
Gunna get buried in her pubic hair
She got long legs and wears pink socks
Now I let my tongue right up her box
I know a nice way to [??? ????]
But you gotta be care that you don't get AIDS
Take her home, get back to your place
Get her upstairs and cover her face
Get yer tits out for the boys! [x 4]
Get yer tits out for the boys! [x 4]
...but i don't think it'll take off. the anarchists want to keep anarchy and the corporate types will want power to stay with the institutions they control: ICANN most specifically.
One might ask the same about birds. What ARE birds? We just don't know.