crunch@well.UUCP (John Draper) (11/21/88)
I have had a LOT of responses to this article, mostly positive, and re-assuring. A Hack of a lot of advice which is ALWAYS welcome and I won't quote any messages that were sent to me privately, but WILL send messages via postings for those sites that bounced my mail. I have responded to ALL of them with great interests. And here are a few of the LATEST responses posted on Usenet.... Alexander J. Denner writes: > Having a UUCP site would make it much easier for them to >spread a malicious virus in a time of friction. Also, what if a virus >from the US leaks into Russia (or a virus from the USSR gets into the US)? >Such a situation would cause many problems and bad feelings. A Virus HAS leaked out and infected a LOT of Soviet IBM-PC's because they eagerly copied a lot of American PD Software. But the virus was stopped by eager programmers. Since when does UUCP allow the infection of transmission of viruses. I thought that the recent virus attack was through the Arpa net. Is UUCP Vulnerable?? If thats so, then you're right, we SHOULD'NT allow a DIRECT connection. At the very least, we SHOULD allow for an Article Exchange. It is easy enough to set up Direct Email, so what I am suggesting is sort of a forum, where discussions like research work, medical related work, or other exchange forums could exist. This is actually going on now, but little is devoted to PC Computers (or other types), etc. From the Soviets I met, they seem to be very sincere, as none I met are really associated with the govenment. They are ordinary people who like to use computers for peaceful purposes, games, and other work. >>Intourist guides are NOT required to accompany you EVERYWHERE you go. They ae >>at your disposal, should you prefer to use them. Costs of their services >>vary, depending on what you want to do, and the size of your group. >Mhhh. Sounds kinky! >Tell us more about soviet women. Are they really as ugly as we are lead >to believe? I suggest that you find that out for yourself!! The following sites have gaged my mail back to me. If your Email address is listed below, this is probably why I haven't responded to your questions. Please try and find me a path to your site, because I am not that familiar with paths. uwvax!cogsci.berkeley.edu!uwvax!uwmcsd1!carroll1!derek spaf (From SOMEWHERE) Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed the article, and I'll follow it up from some responses directly from the Soviets, and if you want to directly contact them, I'll show you how you can set up your OWN Email link. It isn't free of charge, but for those interested in contacting the Soviets, it's easier than it was a month ago. John D. Programmers Net uunet!acad!well!crunch
crunch@well.UUCP (John Draper) (11/22/88)
I'm STILL getting LOTS of very good feedback from my origional posting on the Soviet Union. Keep it coming... Some things I would like to know from you people are what kinds of information or articles you would like for me to obtain from the Soviet Union. For instance, what they are using computers for, how they expect to expand their market, and what kind of marketing oppertunities are available. And now, some more responses to some of the recent postings in "comp.misc". Greg Lee writes: >If they already have access, then it couldn't be easier for them to have >access, unless it's a question of degree or immediacy. If their access >is on the record, it would be bad public relations for them to cause >problems. If a network connection is ever permitted, the price would >probably be extra security precautions, in which case the net effect >(pun intended) would be more protection for sensitive information. If I'm not mistaking, the individual sites usually control what kind of access is available, and what newsgroups get published. I don't think the Soviets would jepordize their access by doing something un-ethical. Alexander J. Denner mentiones: >With a link, they can >peruse the info faster, more easily, and much more throughly. >Also, the KGB can devote the displaced people in this country to other >espionage activities. (They only have a limited number of people in >this country.) As I had mentioned earlier, the individual sites would have to take the responsibility for filtering newsfeeds to the SU. I would suspect they would want to do that for financial reasons, being that the link would cost $15/hr connect time. It's not THAT expensive, but enough so that individual sites would want to restrict the volume of messages in some way. As an alternate, if UUCP access issues are a concern, then why not a moderated, more tightly controlled mechanism for information exchange through Email. I've been passing articles from one net to another (With permission from the origional authors of coarse) for quite some time now, and have developed ways of doing it without wasting a lot of my time. Someone from University of New Mexico comments: >BTW to the original poster--the reason modems are a precious commodity >in the USSR is that the government considers many forms of information >to be secrets to be carefully guarded from the general public. >Modems transmit information too quickly to be managed or tracked, and >they are entrusted only to those who are deemed trustworthy. Modems are very common over there now. At least in the last few months. They are just hard to obtain, because like other equipment, they are not available. MOST modems come from OTHER western countrys, but according to people I have met, the government is not really discouraging their use. The REAL problem with modems is the quality of their phone lines. Bill Kennedy writes: >We, unfortunately perhaps, conduct these discussions in English, so it >might be difficult for a Soviet colleague to be as effusive as they might >if we had linguacode or esparanto (sp?). I, for one, would be interested >in seeing/hearing/following some discussion with the Eastern bloc. Let's >set the military/intelligence junk aside. I'm convinced that "our side" >and "their side" have already combed out everything "they"/"we" want, I'd >like to have access to the thoughts/problems of folks that we seem to think >still live in the age of the kerosene computer. >The HAM radio operators have done it for years. The facility to expand on that >is soon to be upon us, would anyone else like to pick up some pointers or >offer some with a colleague in the same racket? Might we not be able to >tear down some perceived or synthetic barriers? I don't know, that's why I >posted... Bill, in answer to your question, almost 90 percent know and can read English, they HAVE to in order to read our manuals. The HAM radio contacts are the correct analogy to use. The prime interest I have in establish an information exchange forum is to break down the communication barriers. Ken Seefriedcomments: >You are so sure, are you? You REALLY underestimate the Soviet intellegence >gathering machine if you don't think they have clear access to a nation >spanning, unsecure network linking the ccountries universities, companies and >research institute. Wake up, the Soviets are not stupid. If nothing else, >they probably have Portal accounts. You're probably right, because telenet access is very easy from there. Ken also comments: >This little 'Electronic Exchange Programme' sure isn't giving the KGB any >oportunities that it didn't already have, and it might give >Joe-(Boris)-Average-Russian-Computer-Jock a chance to say, "hey, these guys >aren't so bad for a bunch of imperialistic money-grubbing opressors of the >working class..." Maybe that will go both ways... Actually "Those guys" are ALSO a bunch of "imperialistic money-grubbing" people, they just aren't as experienced at it as WE are... Someone from the Rochester Institute of Technology comments: >Okay. The Soviet Union, eh? Well, first of all, I don't think that >this is really the place to discuss it, but since you asked, I might as >well tell you... If this isn't the place to discuss it, then where should it be discussed?? He goes on to comment: >Soviet women are among the most steroetyped women in the world. :-) >Some of the are ugly, yes...but some of them...well, I won't go into tha >here. :-) Suffice it to say that my KGB guide in Moscow was quite >attractive. :-) Yea!! But Intourist guides are NOT ALLOWED to socialize with their clients. So thats the latest comments at this time, Now, when I have time, I will go over all the responses, and summarize the Pros and Cons of UUCP to the USSR, and give you all an idea of how we stand on the issues. UUCP Access or not, I volunteer to act as a newsfeed moderator by passing articles back and forth in the interest of improved communications. If I get good participation, I'll continue it, If I get a ton of objections, I'll probably NOT continue it. So far, things look very positive. In the meantime, start thinking about what you might want to ask the average Soviet programmer, as I would be willing to pass this information on to them, and send you their responses. John D. Programmers Network