User:Vivek.m1234/Myyyyyyyyyyyy Cyberspace Stuff

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Grex
FoundedJune 26, 1991
TypeCommunity foundation
(
US$ 25,000
Websitewww.grex.org
www.cyberspace.org


Grex, also known as Cyberspace Communications is a nonprofit,

shell provider
in existence today.

History

Grex

Grex came on line on June 26, 1991 and opened to the public on July 18.

assumed business name of Grex, was formed to run it.[4] Grex has always been firmly dedicated to open access.[5] To ensure democratic operation of the system, they have compiled a set of by-laws[6] allowing any member to call for a binding referendum on any issue.[7] Grex thrived in the academic environment and culture that proximity to the University of Michigan provided and its early development was influenced by this.[8]

Days in the "Dungeon"

The "Dungeon" was located in the basement of a 150 year old house on the west side of Ann Arbor, in a very small space about 7 x 13 feet, and its raison d'être was to house Grex's collection of computers, modems, telephone interfaces, and other electronic equipment. Most of the time the dungeon was left unattended with the lights off, because the equipment ran by itself, or could be controlled and configured remotely by telephone. Occasionally it was necessary for a staff member of Grex to come around and do maintenance on this equipment, so there were a couple of chairs placed in the room, but there never was much room for anything else.[9]

The Pumpkin, circa 1996

Grex's computers were housed in small windowless room in an old industrial building in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The rent was $60 a month (exclusive of electricity) and the room was called "The Pumpkin". Its walls were a pumpkin orange-pink, and there were pumpkin leaves and flowers, and the occasional butterfly, painted on it.[10][11]

Provide Net

Currently Grex is at provide.net[12]

Services

The system currently runs on an

unprivileged, and free Unix shell access to all its users.[14]

Lots of

GDB, Strace) have been made available at no cost to the lay user.[15] Users can also host their personal-website (eg: http://johndoe.cyberspace.org), and are permitted to run CGI
scripts.

Outbound access from Grex, for non-members, is severely restricted and

bouncers[16][17] do not work because of patches implemented at the kernel level; mailing lists and file storage are also not provided.[12]

As a member (who has made a donation and sent ID), you can: vote in Grex elections, serve on the board of Cyberspace Communications, access outbound

FTP, and IRC sites from Grex. You can also access web sites running on unusual ports, from Grex using (lynx or links).[18]

The simplest way to access Grex and its myriad services is to create a new account, by connecting to cyberspace.org via

script kiddies, a newuser has to 'validate' his account after logging in. This is done by typing help at the restricted shell and following the instructions provided. Validation costs you nothing, and gives you complete access to all services. If you wish to read the conferences anonymously you can use this link
.

Software

Grex runs some unique and antiquated software that was cutting edge at a time when computer conferencing systems were not widely available.[20]

  • Newuser: Grex runs two versions of the newuser program, used to create a new user-account. The web based newuser program can be accessed from here and the telnet version can be accessed from here.
  • PicoSpan: a computer conferencing software.
  • Backtalk v0.9.0, was first released on Oct 6 1997.
    Gnu Public License
    .
  • YAPP v3.0, or Yet Another Picospan Program was written by Dave Thaler. It's more difficult to install and maintain than Motet, and it has a relatively clunky feel. Like Caucus, it does have a command-line interface.[22]
  • Cursive v0.11: a program to generate signatures and text using ASCII was written in 1985.[23]
  • Party, The original version of party was written by Marcus Watts for
    System III Unix some time around 1983, for use on the original Mike Myers' M-Net system (this was the second free public-access Unix system in the world). An early version of party migrated to CDDB[24] (the first public-access Unix system in the world) where it sprouted many new features, including channels.[25]
  • Orville-Write v2.55.0, is an alternative to the default write program. It has many features which are not present in the default write including helper flags, telegrams, access control, and more.[26]

Community

Size

The Grex community has varied in size over the years. This is dated, 7/26/98 10:51:13 AM:

We've been getting lots of new users. On the average day, we get 175 people signing up for new accounts. Last Saturday we had 250 new users, a new record. We keep breaking our records though. Grex now has about 24,000 users. At the current rate of growth, we expect to exceed 64K users sometime next summer. This has our Unix gurus worried because most versions of Unix, including ours, go cross-eyed at the concept of more than 64K users.[27]

Currently Grex is small enough that you could read the bulk of the conferences daily, and address most of the regular posters on a first name basis. Conferences include Agora - the main meeting place, Programming, Cooking, Music, Gardening and many others. There is a group chat room called 'party', but the number of users you find online, vary depending on the day of the week and time. The majority of regular Grex users are from Ann Arbor, Michigan, but the Internet being what it is, users login from anywhere - from American soldiers in Afghanistan using SSH, to people from China.[28]

Grex Walk

A group of Grexers meet every Saturday morning at 10 AM, throughout the entire year for a walk through the Arboretum, followed by lunch at the local eatery. The meeting place is at Gallup Park and everyone is invited. The walk usually gets underway at about 10:15, so don't worry about being a few minutes late.

Policy, governance and finances

Cyberspace Communications functions as an online

public charity, it is supported entirely by donations
from users, and all staff members are volunteers.

Cyberspace vs Engler

In 1978, the Michigan state legislature enacted a statute to protect children by prohibiting the distribution of obscene materials to children of that state (1978 Public Act 33, M.C.L. 722.671 et seq.; M.S.A. 25.254(1) et. seq).[30] In an effort to modernize the statute due to the advent of computers, the Legislature then amended the statute by means of 1999 Public act 33. The act primarily attempted two things: 1) it added criminal prohibitions against using computers or the Internet to disseminate sexually explicit materials to minors 2) it changed the language of the statute so that the statute prohibits the dissemination of "sexually explicit" materials to minors rather than "obscene" materials.

The amendments to M.C.L. 722.671 et seq., was signed by Defendant, John Engler, the Governor of Michigan on June 1, 1999. It was set to take effect on August 1, 1999. Violations were punishable by up to two years in jail, and a fine of up to $10,000, or both.

Cyberspace claimed that the Act would adversely impact them because it was unconstitutionally vague or over-broad. They maintained that it would have a chilling effect on their freedom of speech under the

enjoin
the amendments to the statute.

Michael J. Steinberg, Legal Director of the ACLU of Michigan said that "The law would reduce the level of discourse on the Internet to that which is appropriate to a seven year-old,"[31]

The Court concluded that a preliminary injunction would not cause substantial harm to others, but would serve the public interest, because it would protect the free expression of millions of Internet users both within and outside the State of Michigan.

Cyberspace vs Engler is often quoted on the web and in books on law, in the context of free speech on the Internet.[32][33][34][35][36][37]

References

  1. IRS. Cyberspace Communications, Internal Revenue Service - ePostcard (Form 990-N) filing
  2. ISBN 0789710560. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help
    )
  3. ^ Wolter, Jan. A Partial History of Computer Conferencing in Ann Arbor
  4. ^ Department of Energy Labor & Economic Growth, Corporate Entity Details, Assumed Business Name
  5. ISBN 978-0546660609
    .
  6. ^ Cyberspace Bylaws
  7. ISBN 0131723219. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help
    )
  8. ^ Uses of Electronic Communication to Document an Academic Community.
  9. ^ Huron Valley Community Network, Dungeon
  10. ^ Grex Staff Notes: A Tour of the Pumpkin, May 2001
  11. ^ Grex Staff Notes: A Tour of the Pumpkin Sep 2, 1997
  12. ^ a b c Huron Valley Community Network, Dialup Service
  13. ^ Cyberspace System
  14. ISBN 0471597821
    .
  15. ISBN 1568300646
    .
  16. ISBN 9792740031
    .
  17. ISBN 9792747192
    .
  18. ISBN 0938661922
    .
  19. ISBN 0072133198. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help
    )
  20. ISBN 9792042660
    .
  21. ^ Backtalk: Full Release History
  22. ^ Transaction Net: Web Conferencing
  23. ^ Cursive
  24. ^ The Once and Future M-Net
  25. ISBN 0787603643. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help
    )
  26. ^ Debian: Package: orville-write
  27. ^ Spring.net BBS
  28. ^ Grex, Howard Rheingold
  29. IRS. Cyberspace Communications, Internal Revenue Service - ePostcard (Form 990-N) filing
  30. ^ Cyberspace Communications, Inc., et al. v. Engler
  31. ACLU. ACLU Challenges Michigan Cyber-Censorship Law, Citing Commerce Clause and Free Speech Rights
  32. ^ Stuckey, Kent. Internet and online law.
  33. ^ Girasa, Rosario. Cyberlaw: national and international perspectives.
  34. ^ Bittker, Boris. Bittker on the Regulation of Interstate and Foreign Commerce.
  35. ^ J. Klotz, Robert (2004). The politics of Internet communication. Rowman & Littlefield.
    ISBN 0742529266
    .
  36. ^ Torrans, Lee Ann (2004). Libraries Unlimited.
    ISBN 1591580358. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Text "Law and libraries: the public library" ignored (help
    )
  37. ^ V. Van Puymbroeck first = Rudolf. The World Bank legal review: law and justice for development. Kluwer Law International, 2003.
    ISBN 0821350641. {{cite book}}: Missing pipe in: |last= (help
    )

External Links
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