cs2531bn@charon.unm.edu (Lazlo Nibble) (04/25/88)
>> ...A while back, some people started deliberately filling their signature >> files with USSR, ASSASSIN, HIJACK, etc. etc. etc., with the explicit >> intention of swamping any such monitoring device. > > I've noticed this too, and I've oftened wondered exactly what those > people were trying to do. Presumably, they object to the US form of > government and want to see America infiltrated/weakened/whatever. > So, to those of you out there who do this: am I right? Or won't you > admit to being anti-US? > > -michael j zehr Anti-US? I doubt it. "Protesting" a particularly nasty aspect of US policy, if the net is indeed being monitored? Quite likely. Look at it this way -- no one seriously interested in infiltrating or "weakening" the US is going to be sending such messages in the clear, over an easily-accessable data network. Therefore, if such a program of monitoring exists, these people are assuming that this program's intent is to find those persons who show an interest in "sensitive" subjects and put them on a list somewhere, for unspecified future use...presumably nefarious. While I think that trying to "swamp the software" with buzzwords is kind of silly (it's fun the first few times, but gets old after a couple of years), I think that reacting to it in the way you are is even sillier. Is anyone who questions any aspect of US policy automatically "Anti-US"? Do you actually believe that, or do you just use it as a shield to protect yourself from the thought that maybe...just maybe...this government is doing things it probably shouldn't be doing? Or is that a totally alien concept? It seems to me that a citizen has not just a right, but a *duty* to keep his eyes open, and start asking questions if he thinks things are happening that shouldn't be. It also seems to me that this discussion is getting far beyond the realm of the newsgroup it started in. I'm directing followups to talk.politics.misc. Lazlo Nibble /\/oo\/\