Join a Usenet NewsgroupGETTING ONLINE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 4.
The Internet as a Medium for Communication
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Are there ways to join in open exchanges of ideas and information on the Internet?
Internet Discussion Groups (IDG) provide an excellent way to get involved in group and individual discussions on the Internet. IDGs include Usenet newsgroups, mailing lists, discussion groups, and IRCs (Internet Relay Chat). These services may be either unmoderated (anyone can post or respond to any message) or moderated (submissions and comments are edited or filtered by a designated moderator).
Usenet newsgroups consist of members who exchange articles and information on specific subject areas, referred to as "newsgroups" (or "groups" for short). Newsgroups are an active forum for human rights issues. Usenet newsgroups have certain rules of etiquette, so it is a good idea to read the Usenet new users guide before you begin.[26]
Once you have access to a newsgroup, you can read submissions or become an active participant in selected groups by posting a question or a response to another member's message. This is as simple as sending a message, called a posting, to the newsgroup's Internet address.
Figure 22: Newsgroup soc.rights.human viewed with Netscape Communicator
The Liszt™ Directory for Newsgroups [27] is a searchable directory of newsgroups where you can find groups listed that might interest you.
Your search on human rights matched 6 groups:
[local] clari.news.issues.human_rights freedom, civil rights, human rights. (moderated)
[local] fido7.su.human.rights fidonet su.human.rights - human rights (moderated)
[local] fj.soc.human-rights discussion about human rights, bioethics and discrimination.
[local] newsguy.pub.world.gov.democracy.human-rights world human rights/democracy. (moderated)
[local] soc.rights.human human rights & activism (e.g., amnesty international).
[local] zipnews.gov.world.democracy.human-rights reports on democratic process and human rights worldwide. (moderated)
Figure 23: Liszt search results for "human rights"
Deja News (http://www.dejanews.com) is a Web site which gives access to more than 50,000 discussion forums, including newsgroups. Both the Liszt Directory for Newsgroups and Deja News allow you interact with newsgroups at their Web sites with your Web browser, where you can respond to messages and post new ones (Figure 24).
Figure 24: Responding to a newsgroup posting at the Deja News Web site
The search engine AltaVista also searches newsgroups and shows individual postings matching search criteria, but does not support direct access (posting and responding) to particular newsgroups.
Subscribe to Email
List Services
Subscription to email lists (often referred to as Listservs or majordomos) provides an excellent way to stay informed and join in active discussions on specific human rights topics, especially if you only have email access to the Internet. Unlike the World Wide Web, where users must go to information sources themselves, members of mailing lists have information delivered to them via email. Although not one of the more advanced Internet services, electronic mailing lists carry thousands of messages every day, and offer the least technical and most accessible form of electronic communications over the Internet.
If you have a Web browser, the following is a partial list of services that will allow you to search for and often subscribe directly via the service to a particular list:
Note: If you only have access to email, you can still conduct searches for mailing lists through the Liszt Directory of Email Discussion Groups. Simply send a blank email message to liszter@bluemarble.net for details.
» Some Suggested Human Rights Mailing Lists
The following are some human rights-oriented mailing lists:
For additional human rights mailing lists, be sure to check the AAAS Directory of Human Rights Resources on the Internet at http://shr.aaas.org/dhr.htm, Topic: Email Lists.
» Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) makes possible live conversations on-line with colleagues all over the world. In addition to on-line conversations, you can send documents, programs, and pictures via IRC. IRC offers an alternative to telephone conversations. It also allows for multiple conversation participants, like the traditional conference call.
IRC is becoming a valuable medium for staying on top of breaking news. In 1993, when Russian lawmakers barricaded themselves inside the parliament building, some Muscovites and a couple of Americans set up a "news channel" on IRC to relay first-person accounts direct from Moscow, providing a continuous flow of information. [28] Recently, Indonesian students used IRC to organize anti-Suharto protests throughout the country and to communicate with people outside the country.
Once you have started your IRC program [29] and connected to an IRC server on an IRC network, you can join a channel and converse with others simply by typing text back and forth. Conversations may be public (everyone in a channel can see what you type) or private (messages between only two people, who may or may not be on the same channel). Your identity is a nickname you select when you set up the IRC software on your computer.
Figure 25: Welcome screen to the IRC network
Some Privacy Concerns about IRC Communications
IRC does not offer much privacy. Notice that in Figure 25, even though I have signed on with a nickname (Holandes), the server has displayed the following information about me: shansen.aaas.org (198.151.218.172). From this information, which is available to anyone who sees my nickname and wants to check my identity, someone could see that I am located at aaas.org, where my user name (and most probably my email name) is shansen. The number following (the IP or Internet Protocol number), pinpoints my exact location on the Internet (AAAS), where I was assigned user account number 172. The risk is that, in addition to unwelcome comments from others in the channel, someone could also contact you later by email.
You should also keep in mind that messages you send over IRC are passed along all the servers between you and the person you are writing to in the same manner as email messages. Most public IRC channels are run by channel operators. An IRC operator can and does log whatever messages are transmitted through the channel, so always assume that someone is eavesdropping on your conversations. I recommend that if you are using IRC to communicate with a specific person, log on to a server and create your own channel in which you become the operator for that channel. Or better yet, meet a colleague in a public channel and then create a private conversation outside the channel. Then, you simply need to establish a predetermined time, so people will know that you will be available there. [30]
Locating IRC Chat Forums
As IRC becomes more widely used, IRC forums may develop around human rights issues, although none have been formed to date. Liszt's IRC Chat Directory (LisztIRC), is a search engine which allows you to search for particular chat forums across all the major IRC networks at once. LisztIRC will search channel names and their one-line descriptions for keywords and phrases. The Liszt Chat Directory can be accessed at http://www.liszt.com/chat/. Try to conduct periodic searches to see if new discussion groups have formed in which you may wish to participate.
» AOL (America on Line) Instant Messenger™ Service
AOL Instant Messenger™ Service provides an easy way to communicate instantly with colleagues online, in one-on-one conversations. It is easier to use than IRC as there are no commands to memorize. It also offers a bit more privacy than communicating through the IRC channels in that your conversations are not open to all other users, but are limited to those with whom you have chosen to communicate.
To use the Instant Messenger Service, you need only to download and install the client software and register as an Instant Messenger user through America Online.[31] You do not need to subscribe to AOL to use the service and this service can be used from anywhere in the world.
Figure 26: An example of a conversation with AOL
Instant Messanger
Once the software is installed on your computer and you have registered, whenever you sign on you can see who of your colleagues are currently online and they can see that you are online. You then simply send a message to begin a conversation (Figure 26).
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Currently, there are several free services that will let you use the Internet to send and receive faxes. These services require access to electronic mail or the Web in order to send a fax. Some services require special software for your computer. Other Internet services include the conversion of incoming faxes to email. That is, when you receive a fax at a special number, the fax is scanned and sent on to your email address as an image file.
TPC.INT (The Phone Company's Remote Printing Service) is a free service that allows you to send faxes to international destinations via email or by using a fill-in-the-blank form on the TCP Web site. This service is an experiment in which a variety of companies, institutions and individuals around the world have formed a cooperative network. When an organization joins as a remote-fax server, it specifies the areas to which they are willing to send faxes. When you send a fax message, a computer looks at the phone number of the recipient's fax machine and then decides if any participating fax machines cover that area. If so, your message is routed to the appropriate machine. If not, you will receive a message informing you the fax could not be delivered. [32] In addition, one or more computers or fax machines in the network may be down at any given time, so you may have to wait and try to send your fax again later.
Access to the TCP.INT Remote Printing Service is available via the Web at: http://www.tpc.int/. It provides an on-line form for sending a fax while connected to the Web site. The Web site form allows you to include and attach files that contain much more formatting than just plain text sent in an email message. It offers language support for English, Italian, Czech, and German. And, if you want to send more than just a plain text email message, including graphics, fonts and special characters, there is client software available at the site that you can download. [33]
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I would like to have more telephone conversations with people I am working with, but I know that the phone lines are often tapped. Can the Internet be used to make secure telephone calls?
In addition to real time communicating over the Internet using IRC (see Section 4, Internet Relay Chat (IRC)), you can also use the Internet to conduct telephone conversations. PGPfone [34], developed by the author of PGP ("Pretty Good Privacy") Phil Zimmermann (see Sections 2, Use Digital Signatures and 3, Use Encryption), is like using a telephone. The difference is that no one but the intended listener can "hear" what you are saying, as your conversations are encrypted.
Figure 27: PGPfone connecting to a remote computer
on the Internet
PGPfone requires a multimedia computer (a PC running Windows ‘95/98 or Windows NT, or a Macintosh, with graphics and sound capabilities) and a fast Internet connection. [35]
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