Xref: utzoo news.admin:2443 news.sysadmin:727 news.groups:4272 Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!labrea!sri-unix!ctnews!pyramid!prls!philabs!micomvax!ray From: ray@micomvax.UUCP (Ray Dunn) Newsgroups: news.admin,news.sysadmin,news.groups Subject: Re: JJ's phone number Message-ID: <1098@micomvax.UUCP> Date: 3 Jun 88 21:56:31 GMT References: <5954@cup.portal.com> <2877@palo-alto.DEC.COM> <6013@cup.portal.com> Reply-To: ray@micomvax.UUCP (Ray Dunn) Organization: Philips Electronics Ltd. (TDS - Montreal) St. Laurent QC, Canada Lines: 65 In article <6013@cup.portal.com> Customer_Portal_Service@cup.portal.com writes: >.... A pseudonym on Portal (such as JJ) is a convenience, not a way >to hide one's identity. Huh? Give me that again? Other than being a convenient way to hide one's identity, what other sort of convenience is it? >It seems ironic that Portal gets flamed for permitting JJ to (in our >opinion) deliberately abuse the net, then also gets flamed for not >protecting him from the consequences of his actions. Last time I looked, two wrongs *still* did not make a right! Your action was not "not protecting him", it was deliberately throwing a customer to the wolves. Now *you* probably think that he should pay the consequences, I know *I* think that he should pay *some* consequences, and probably *everybody* thinks that he should ...., but somehow the behaviour of Portal in this whole affair does not smell too good. The fact is, JJ took advantage of facilities *you* offered him, and which he payed for (?), and which you presumably do not monitor too closely. I even got a Bad Feeling reading all the obviously Low Key specific responses you posted in all the various newsgroups. I don't know why, but I would have felt happier if they had been hands-in-the-air-horror broadcast far and wide! There was something contrived there. Readers: Frankly I don't think any fraud was involved, the guy was just panhandling. My reaction when I saw the posting was concern for the amount of flame traffic it was going to generate, not too much concern over the posting itself - that was trivial to handle, the 'n' key did it, although several times were required - a minor irritant, I must admit. The sanctimonious outpouring from the net.names lived up to expectations! We n'd over more *copies* of the posting in the outcry than were originally posted! Why are we always so surprised when this sort of inevitability happens? The net is *wide open* to such abuses, and sites like Portal's mean that accountability on the part of their users is about nil. They just lose their account - do I hear a faint "Big Deal!" from JJ as he drives away in his supposed BMW? So, if as a community we cannot accept jj.behaviour, then perhaps the accountability should be directed towards the *site*. I do believe that we should question whether *uncontrolled* access to USENET should be allowed by general public-access sites, particularly those who make profits out of that access to USENET. Portal, by deliberately publishing the guy's name and telephone number, have attempted to divert attention which was turning towards *them*. Well, my reaction is - let's take an even closer look at them, and their ilk, on USENET. -- Ray Dunn. | UUCP: ..!{philabs, mnetor}!micomvax!ray Philips Electronics Ltd. | TEL : (514) 744-8200 Ext: 2347 600 Dr Frederik Philips Blvd | FAX : (514) 744-6455 St Laurent. Quebec. H4M 2S9 | TLX : 05-824090