Re: Internet 2.0   
     By: Shadowheart to Khelair on Tue Mar 05 2013 18:40:00   
      
     Wow I just found a trove of mail in this conference that I haven't replied to   
   in g-d knows how long.   
      
    Sh> You are almost correct but you must be young because originally fidonet   
    Sh> and things like usenet and what not were around before the conveniance   
    Sh>  of the internet to transfer the mail packets. long ago in a land far far   
    Sh> away sysops used to use things called front door mailers and such to   
    Sh> frequently call out to other bbs's in order to send netmail back and   
    Sh> fourth from bbs to bbs. back then the bbs was used daily to send and   
    Sh> receive email because it wasnt as instant as it is now a days. some   
    Sh> sysops had their bbs's configured to do the mail transfers at midnight.   
      
     Well I don't know who is considering what as young here any more, but I'm 38   
   right now, for whatever that is worth.  I didn't get into things as early as I   
   could've due to a pretty isolationist upbringing.   
     When I really started playing around was when I found the first dialups for   
   *NIX systems such as the colleges and all being around.  There were UUCP and   
   DARPA/milnet before the Internet, too, I believe.  As far as the front end   
   mailers and all of that, I'm well aware.  I was there when that stuff first   
   came around the upper midwest USA.  Didn't catch on with it really well until   
   after Wargames was released, but after that point it was on.   
      
    Sh> The 'internet kill switch' is a rumor and theoretical at that. i am not   
    Sh> saying the government does not have the power to order the servers running   
    Sh> the internet because most are probably run in area 51 or something. Do   
    Sh> nott get me wrong, i believe it is important for it to continue running we   
    Sh> need persons like yourself calling polititions out to be parinoid of   
    Sh> infringing on our constitutional rights. if no one squeeked their wheels   
    Sh> no one would get anything fixed because the politicians would become   
    Sh> complaicent.   
      
     I certainly do not mean any sort of 'internet kill switch' as an actual big   
   red switch that Obama or whoever has hidden behind one of the drapes in the   
   oval office.  When I'm mentioning the 'kill switch', I guess it could be   
   handled many ways, but my suspicion is that feds would just sweep in or make   
   their calls or whatever to people at the telecommunications firms and it would   
   be fed only to restricted places after that.  I don't think it's such a huge   
   leap to make, but that's just me.   
     I agree with keeping the wheels squeaking regardless.   
      
    Sh> networks would revert to dial up connections.   
    Sh> it would be slow but i think we would find a way to manage.   
      
     That's precisely why I started my own BBS, to manage a system that had   
   communication capabilities spread out between AX.25, modem, internet protocols,   
   etc...  I want to make sure that I've got that capability ready to go.   
      
    Sh> this is how much the bbs scene has mutated to/from the internet. it also   
    Sh> demonstrates how entagral the internet has become and how much of   
    Sh> political   
    Sh> suicide it would be for any politician to "press" the internet "off/kill"   
    Sh> switch.    
      
     If it were in their best interests to care about public opinion at the time,   
   I suppose.   
      
    Sh> all you need is one phone number of an active dial up bbs and you can get   
    Sh> other dial up numbers from that one. that is how we used to do it back in   
    Sh> the day. it was word of mouth and grew from there. i remember going to a   
    Sh> Radio Shack to get my first bbs numbers.   
      
     That part I never experienced.  Met another friend who was into that stuff   
   that made me realize that modems were actually accessible to people in the   
   area.  I'd not seen magazine ads or anything anywhere else to make me think   
   that they were real prior to that point.  I was a naive kid sometimes.  I think   
   if I ever came across one and hadn't known any numbers to call I probably   
   would've ended up there at some point, though.  That's when they were still   
   giving away the comics and everything.   
      
     -D   
   --- SBBSecho 2.27-OpenBSD   
    * Origin: Tinfoil.synchro.net - now at FTN (1:340/200) (1:340/200)