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T he Internet Is a series of computers, all
over the world, that are interconnected
through dedicated transfer lines.
Through this massive web of linkages, any
computer may communicate with any other,
at any time- This was developed so that
should a few computers shut down or lose
access for any reason, the rest of the net
would be largely unaffected.
The focal points of the Net are access
providers such as America Online, CEnie,
Prodigy, and some universities such as Texas
A&M. Individual users must have an access
provider to get on the Internet.
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See related pieces
Opinion, Page 11
By Jay Knioum
The Baitalion
he scene is familiar. Students
walk into the RCC for the first
time, and look around the room
as if they just set foot on Mars.
In their hands they clutch the arcane
instructions from their BANA professor
that command students to seek out and
retrieve the class syllabus from the ulti
mate evil — the Internet.
They are dumbfounded. They sit
down at a terminal and stare at it. The
terminal, unsympathetic, stares back.
After two hours, students still have no
syllabus, but have torn out the bulk of
their hair in frustration.
To many students,
this scene evokes bad
memories. But a bad
first experience with the
Internet is preventable.
The Internet, contrary to popular belief,
can be understood.
The Internet is simply a bunch of
computers all over the world that are
hooked together. The Internet is the
world’s largest such network, comprised
of around 20 million people and 1.5 mil
lion computers worldwide.
The Internet was originally known as
ARPAnet, created by the Advanced Re
search Projects Agency, a division of the
Defense Department. It was intended to
allow the military to maintain communi
cations with its researchers during the
first years of the space race.
Brett Summers, a philosophy gradu
ate student and help desk consultant for
Texas A&M Computing and Information
Services (CIS), said ARPAnet was de
signed to maintain communication in
the event of a nuclear war.
This communication is most useful
during other disasters, such as the San
Francisco in 1989.
“When the big quake hit San Francis
co, phone, radio and TV were all cut off,
hut we were still in touch with those peo
ple over the net,” Summers said.
The framework for what would be
come the Internet was laid in the form of
dedicated data lines by the federal gov
ernment. However, the Net has since left
total government control and has drifted
into the hands of the public.
At the moment, the Internet is still
largely a public domain, but is quickly
being absorbed by commercial interests.
Michael Edwards, supervisor for CIS’
customer help and training, said Vice
President A1 Gore is looking into priva
tizing the Internet. This would bring it
out of the government arena completely
and charge Americans for its use.
Summers said privatizing the Inter
net would be damaging.
“Privatizing will destroy (the Inter
net),” he said. “If it becomes privatized,
and the provider starts charging for traf
fic per, say, kilobyte, it’s basically going
to make it so that only large corpora
tions and government institutions can
afford to run Internet services.”
The Internet has not been priva
tized yet, and it is easier than ever to
become involved, particularly on the
A&M campus. There are two ways to
access the Internet. One of these is
by using the terminals in a publicly
accessible area.
Edwards explained that A&M gets its
Internet access from a T3 Link, which
connects Texas A&M to the University
of Texas. The third point in the link is
the Sprint corporation, which laid the
cable for this venture.
Summers said Sprint got through the
gate way ahead of anyone else in prepar
ing for the Internet age.
“Sprint is now heavily, heavily in
volved in the Internet, but not on a com
mercial level; not on a level that the av
erage consumer is going to see,” Sum
mers said.
The other way an individual may ac
cess the Internet is
through an access
provider. These are com
mercial companies that
provide Internet access
for a fee.
Companies such as GEnie, America
Online (AOL), Prodigy, and CompuServe
are all access providers.
Summers and Edwards said it is best
to use local access providers instead of
national services. Summers said one rea
son for this is to keep the interests on
the Net as diverse as possible.
“Another very important reason is
that on the Net, America Online, Prodi
gy and Delphi in particular, have had re
ally, really bad reputation problems,”
Summers said. “If you actually want to
get involved with people on the Internet,
if you’re coming from AOL, you’re going
to have a very hard time getting people
to take you seriously.”
The large services introduce hordes of
untrained “newbies,” or Net-amateurs,
into the Internet, which sometimes
angers experienced users.
“They have a complete hands-off poli
cy of responsibility towards their users,”
Summers said. “They tell
them nothing about eti
quette, nothing about the
culture that they’re about
to join. Basically what
you’ve got is people walking
into a party and behaving
inappropriately.”
As a step toward the
education of newbies,
Texas A&M formed the
Computing and Informa
tion Services to provide
answers and aid to new
Internet users on and
around campus.
CIS has help desks at
eight locations on campus,
in each of the major com
puter labs.
“We’re sort of a launch
ing point, I think, for just
about everybody coming
into Texas A&M — stu
dents, staff, facility, re
searchers — anyone who
needs to learn about com
puting and networking be
fore they leave the Univer
sity,” Edwards said.
“We get people through
the door onto the Net,”
Summers added.
CIS has worked to make
computer access easier to students by
giving short courses, printing handouts
on campus computer resources and by
creating the Dorm Wiring Project. Un
derwood, Moore, Lechner, McFadden,
Leggett, Dunn and Keathley Halls each
have two Ethernet connections in every
room.
Edwards urges anyone with questions
about the computer system to stop by.
“The help desk is a great place to
come,” he said. “We’ve got a ton of
handouts.”
In order to provide a comprehensive
guide to A&M computing services, CIS
has written “Computing at Texas A&M:
A World of Opportunity for Students,” a
56-page booklet that completely outlines
and explains the Internet services that
can be accessed on campus.
The free booklet is available at any
help desk and provides lists of help
desks on campus. The booklet also pro
vides e-mail addresses and phone num
bers of CIS personnel who can provide
information on creating a computer ac
count and password.
There are all kinds of things to play
with on the Internet, and yes, they can
be used to get some work done, too.
Those new to the Net are advised to
wait, watch and learn. Daniel Harty, a
systems analyst and engineer for the
South Boston Community Health Cen
ter, said users have a lot to learn before
they participate.
“Sit and watch,” he said. “Read the
old newsfiles and get caught up. Read
the FAQ (frequently asked questions)
before you ask a question that’s been an
swered a million times.”
“My biggest advice for anyone who
has just gotten on the Net is to spend a
couple months learning what’s going on
before you start frying to participate,”
Summers said.
A whole new world of
information available
By Jay Knioum
The Battalion
'll.
Robyn Calloway / The Battalion
Kim Yawn, a senior biomedical science major, pulls
up the Texas A&M logo through the school system.
illiam Gibson called it the
“consensual hallucination.”
In his novel, “Neuro-
mancer,” a tale set in a
grim, high-tech future ruled by giant
corporations, Gibson details an im
mense computer matrix into which
“netrunners” could enter.
The matrix is like another reality, a
virtual reality in which computer sys
tems resemble giant fortresses in an
ocean of data.
We aren’t that far yet, but the Inter
net has still done a remarkable job of
inserting itself into society. The sub
ject endlessly pops up in magazines,
newspapers and on television. The In
formation Age is here and so are the
consequences.
Vice President A1 Gore calls it the
“information superhighway.” Those
closely affiliated with the technology
say that Gore couldn’t be further from
the truth.
In fact, media catch phrases such
as “superhighway” usually irritate
those familiar with the Internet.
Daniel Harty, a systems analyst and
engineer for the South Boston Commu
nity Health Center and a former Texas
A&M student, said that “information
superhighway” is one of many terms
used to classify information networks.
“You (as a user) are not a Netjockey
or Netcowboy,” Harty said. “You may
be a ‘netrunner,’ or you may ‘surf the
net,’ or ‘ride the net,’ or ‘go on a net
run.’ Improper slang tends to be an
noying— better to use none than the
wrong one.”
Michael
Edwards, su
pervisor for
Texas A&M’s
Customer
Help & Train
ing at Com
puting Infor
mation Ser
vices (CIS),
said the infor
mation super
highway is a
description of
interactive
conferencing,
such as send
ing and re
ceiving e-mail
and files.
“The rea
son for the
highway
analogy is the
fact that
we’re talking about bandwidth,” Ed
wards said. “Bandwidth is the same as
a bunch of cars going from one place to
another on this highway. If you’ve got
all of us going at the same time, you’ve
got downtown Houston at rush hour.”
Whatever the analogy, the Internet
has opened new doors for communica
tion. People from all over the world
can meet and discuss any topic over
the Net, even if they aren’t computer
experts.
Brett Summers, a graduate philoso
phy student and CIS help desk consul
tant, is involved in two projects over
the Net with people he would never
have met otherwise.
“None of these people are what
you’d call computer-literate,” he said.
“They’re not computer-skilled people,
but they all use the net to come togeth
er to exchange ideas about whatever
interests them.”
With the diversity inherent in the
Internet, a few crumbs are bound to be
picked up. As with any form of commu
nication, harassment is not unknown
on-line.
“The reports of ‘cyber-creeps’ are,
unfortunately, valid,” Harty said.
“These people like to hack accounts for
annoyance value, to harass and flood
and generally aggravate anyone they
think they can.”
Harty pointed out that e-mail is still
mail and is protected by the federal
government. Harty said contacting the
sender’s systems administrator or the
police will usually take care of the
problem.
Harty advises users to not give out
their names and personal information
to anyone they don’t know over the In
ternet.
“Change your password frequently,
and don’t use words or names,” Harty
said. “Acronyms and number combina
tions work the best, especially if they
aren’t easily guessed words or num
bers. Your initials or your birthday are
poor choices.”
Edwards said the Texas A&M com
puter system has a “fire wall” which
prevents Telnet access, among other
things, from sites outside the Universi
ty without prior University consent.
Summers said CIS is confident that
hacking isn’t much of a problem
around A&M.
“We have some of the tightest secu
rity anywhere in the world,” Summers
said. “Many of the other Internet sites
around the world use security software
that was developed here.”
The media has had a major impact
on the way people view the Internet.
Edwards said the media has acted as
the Internet’s unofficial marketing de
partment.
“What I think the media has done,
for better or for worse, is it’s made peo
ple more excited and less afraid of the
Internet,” Edwards said.
Summers said the media has fo
cused more on sensationalism rather
than the technological achievements.
Summers said he feels that more at-
Robyn Calloway / The Battalion
Isaias Palomeque, a junior industrial engineering major, is just one of
the many students who take advantage of the Internet.
tention should be focused on the free
dom and accessibility of the Net.
“The thing is, that if one percent of
the nation owns four television net
works and has prime-time access to
200 million people and the opposite
view has a soapbox on a street corner,
that’s not equal time,” he said. “Every
one gets equal time on the Internet,
but you don’t hear about that.”
Summers voiced his anger of the
stereotypical image of the Internet as
a community of no-life computer geeks.
“I don’t think that media coverage of
the Net is a bad thing,” Summers said.
“I definitely don’t think that people
should be kept off the Net so that
those of us who have been here for a
while can have our own little elitist
community.”
Summers said that although he
would like to see more people get in
volved with the Internet, he would like
to see them better informed.
Summers recalled the recent contro
versy at A&M where someone posted
photographs of a nude woman posing
at various campus locations over the
Net.
“People were posting in sci.bio go
ing, ‘Where do I find those Aggie nudie
pictures?”’ Summers said. “This isn’t
what we need.”