Here's my WWW security profile. I've split it up into 5 sections, from "light" security, to "ultra paranoid" (my personal setting).

Even if you aren't interested in security at all, it's still worth checking out #1 and #3, for reasons I'll go into in those sections.

A long time ago (1994) there was a magazine about the emergent cyberculture called Mondo 2000. Chief weirdo R.U. Sirius was the media guru here, marshalling a cadre of iconoclasts writing articles about 90s topics like smart drugs and virtual reality. (Recommended media: the Mondo 2000 book, which serves as an encyclopedia of 90s cyberculture. Know your roots!)

Another of Sirius's media forays was much more short-lived than Mondo 2000: his industrial-pop band Mondo Vanilli (later renamed to MV Inc). Originally, the band's debut album IOU Babe was going to be on Trent Reznor's Nothing label. For some reason, this deal fell through, and Sirius released the album as a web-only download. (Years before this practice became trendy!)

The years have passed, and Mondo 2000 became replaced by the less edgy Wired as the popular, print media face of cyberculture. Sirius went from print media to podcasting. Since the album has disappeared off the Internet, I'm returning it here from my archives. It's pretty good, and pretty weird, even by today's standards.

MV Inc. was R.U. Sirius, Scrappi DuChamp and Simone Third Arm.

Dear Member of the Charter Committee:

I am writing you regarding Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), also known as Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). I consider this system of voting to be superior to the one currently implemented. I'm requesting the committee's recommendation of RCV to the King County Council.

RCV is more democratic than our current system. Instead of only getting to pick one candidate, voters rank each candidate: #1, #2, #3, and so on. Candidates ranked #1 are tallied, and if none of them have a majority, then the candidate with the least number of votes is eliminated, and the #2 votes are added to the tallies. This continues until a candidate gets a majority of the votes.

RCV saves money by eliminating primaries, since the less popular candidates are automatically eliminated in the runoff process. Potentially, hundreds of thousands of dollars can be saved this way. San Francisco saves as much as $2 million per election by using RCV.

I had a friend who claimed that at one time he'd taught English in a school. Sometimes he'd get students with seemingly insurmountable writer's blocks. For them, he had a method to hone their focus: write about something minute and apparently insignificant. He'd tell them to write about a brick.

Those students would write pages and pages about that brick. Every crack and pit on its surface, where the clay it had been made from was quarried, when and how it had been placed in the wall it now resided.

Once there was a band named Everyone's Grudge. They were some white, white, white gangstas, who did songs about killing, murdalizing, robbing, destroying people who stole their seats, and playing golf. If you looking up HAWD in the dictionary, these guys would be in there somewhere.

(The following files were provided by the band for free to their fans, on the late, lamented mp3.com.)

Dateless and desperate on Craigslist? Watch out for www-true.org (a front site for www.true.com) one of a handful of singles (or porn) sites who have been posting fake ads in the dating classifieds. Here's how the scam works---the bait will be an ad, typically (but not always!) spiked with photos of a cute young lady. When the mark responds, the "lady" replies with instructions to "get to know her better" by signing up to the dating or porn site, where she has a profile with more pictures, etc. A typical reasoning is that it makes her feel more comfortable to talk to somebody over the site, than though e-mails, and it also helps protect her from weirdos. (The concept that someone could be a weirdo, and still figure out how to register for a website, is beyond her.) How do I know that this is a scam? Well, besides the fake-sounding replies, there's the fact that more than one woman has replied the exact same way to me. When you get the same reply from 5 or 6 different ads, you get a little suspicious.

Below are some of the letters from these spammers; I will post more as I find out about them. I urge everyone reading this to boycott these sites, and any other company employing such devious tactics. True.com, for one, is a Better Business Bureau site. I wonder what the BBB would think of this sleazy spam that true.com (a.k.a www-true.org) is engaged in? You can register complaints here. Note that a company does not have to be endorsed by the BBB to register a complaint, so feel free to report any other Craigslist spammers you might find.

Another twist is the privacy concerns. I'm not just talking about the victims of the spam. Where did true.com, horny-matches.net, and datingactionnow.com get their photos from? Are these paid models? Or...? 

Just because somebody asks you to go to a website doesn't make them a spammer! Myspace, for example, is okay, because you don't have to register to view profiles. Bottom line: anybody who's honest won't expect you to register for a service just to meet them.

Crux Artist Collective (now located on 1421 Park Avenue) did this impressive mural on the side of the old 818 Art Gallery building. No sooner had it gotten done then 818 closed up, the building had new tenants, and the mural was painted over! (No kidding.) I'm not pointing any fingers, but that building is now occupied by the "Orchard Chapel", or some other kind of happy-crappy hoo-ha.

Anyway, all that's left are these photos I took, and the in-progress photos on the Crux site. (Artists from left to right are Weston Thomson, Rebecca Liberty, Christine Fulton, Labeba Alkhattat (flames), and David Sutherland.)

I sent this letter to AT&T in 2006.

Dear Sir or Madam,

I recently cancelled my DSL account with AT&T due to your corporation's opposition to net neutrality in congress.

I have received excellent service in the past, but have become more and more disillusioned with AT&T's politics. This began with your cooperation with the Bush administration's requests for phone records.

I am well aware of the arguments on both sides of these issues. Having used the Internet since 1997 (almost a decade now), I feel it has had a profound effect on my life. Although it has matured much in that time, it is still continuing to grow. As it does, it is imperative that access remain free and unhindered. This is the principle of net neutrality. Any company that threatens this freedom, which the Internet was founded upon, doesn't deserve my business. This is coming from someone who doesn't often engage in boycotts. (I will be looking for a way to get phone service from a competitor, as well.)

I believe that any money you make from a victory against net neutrality will be more than lost through bad publicity, and customers such as myself who leave in search of corporations who don't impose restrictions to access. Providers which honor net neutrality would gain favor over those which don't.

AT&T has the ability to positively influence the growth of the Internet. Attempts to weaken or eliminate net neutrality will, I think, ultimately fail. If not, though, they may create a system of gatekeepers similar to that which exists in the television and radio industries. Currently, the Internet is the most free and accessible medium in the world. If anything, efforts should be made to make it more free and accessible, not less.

Any system which imposes a "slow lane" and a "fast lane" on the Internet is a violation of the egalitarian principles which the Internet was founded upon. Further, the potential for abuse must be considered. Suppose a company wants to make a site unbearably slow because it belongs to a competitor, or contains criticism of that company? This could be the start of a situation like that which exists for cable television: access is no longer universal, but depends upon which provider you have.

Thank you for considering my thoughts in this very important matter.

Here's a paper I wrote back in 2002, when the first 9/11 conspiracies (now known as LIHOP, or "Let It Happen On Purpose") first began appearing. It probably needs a little work, but the essential idea is vital, especially when dealing with the vast field of "alternative media" that is available now, thanks to the Internet. A working BDK is necessary for the truly progressive: open-minded, yet critical.

In the months after the 2004 electoral debacle, there was much talk in our local Green Party about "infiltration by Democrats". The party had decided to throw its weight---not behind Ralph Nader, our perennial candidate with the star power, but a virtual unknown...Texas lawyer David Cobb. Allegations of a "rigged convention" flew. I had to laugh at the idea of "infiltration". Not that I would put it past the Democrats, mind you. The fear and paranoia of Nader was evident in their attack ads and other tactics against him. At times, it seemed like they were spending at least as much time dealing with "the Nader Factor" as they were with Bush. But they really didn't need to concoct any conspiracy to get into the party. They were already there. Most Greens were ex-Democrats, including myself. The question is: who was serious about the party, and ready to work for the party's goal...which, like the Dems, was to win elections. To that end, the Greens for Democracy and Independence was developed. (This was a risky move, because it split the party into pro-Democrat and anti-Democrat factions.)

However, I have noted with some amazement, another, seedier group is attempting to use our party to gain credibility. This is the so-called "911 Truth Movement", a ragtag coalition of conspiracy theorists who believe not just that Bush knew that the 9-11 attacks were being planned, but who actually did the planning. These are people who believe that Bushco, not al-Qaeda, flew the planes into the towers. Since that was not enough to put fear into the hearts of the simple Americans, they then used demolitions to blow up the 3 towers. And the only ones who were able to figure it all out were a band of disaffected peaceniks, apolitical college kids, right-wing militiamen, and Neo-Nazis.