The Angelic Conversation

This file contains all the e-mail I've received from the Guardian Angels/CyberAngels. A couple of things strike me about what's here:

(1) They say that their members are "people who have contacted us and said they will keep a look out" The truth is that their members are simply people who have contacted them. I, in fact, am a CyberAngel, simply as a result of an 'are you for real?' e-mail. I don't think this is a very safe way to run an organisation of this kind. The 'real-world' Angels won't take random volunteers; why will their on-line version?

(2) I cannot help but infer a great deal about the CyberAngels' motives from the fact that ferreting out people who are exchanging information which could lead to another Oklahoma bomb comes last on their list of Bad Things, well below stopping Our Children from being exposed to This Filth. This, to me, says an awful lot about their covert agenda.

Anyway, judge for yourself or click HERE to go back to Charlie Don't Surf.

Date: 18.8.95 5:21 pm To: joe mcnally From: ganetwatch@aol.com Subject: update Dear CyberAngel Where are you located? We are looking for anyone in the New York City area who would be willing to volunteer some time at the New York City HQ to help with the CyberAngels / Netwatch project. If you are interested, please email us back. We are also looking for a volunteer from Arizona to do an interview. Let us know. Secondly, here is a letter from a journalist, looking for CyberAngels to do a short interview with. She says it will be confidential. Email her if interested. Lastly here is some further information about the Netwatch project. We hope you can continue to help us. Just FYI, we are geting a lot of information about how our volunteers are making things safer and more pleasant in our World Cybercity. Keep up the good work and look out for a newsletter soon. Gabriel Dear CyberAngel, I am a journalist in San Jose, CA writing an article on the CyberAngels for the San Francisco Chronicle. I am very interested in finding out your reasons for "patrolling" the Internet, and the tactics you are using in your 8 volunteer hours. Ideally, I would like to speak with you on the phone for about a10-15 minute interview. But if you would like to communicate through E-mail that would be fine as well. Either way, I have no problem with protecting your identity; as my intent is not to expose you in any way. I am planning to finish this article early this week (August 14-18) so the earlier I hear from you, the better! Thanks for your help, and I hope to hear from you soon. Sincerely, Erin English CYBERANGELS Dear NetUser Welcome to the Guardian Angels Netwatch or "CyberAngels" project. This is an Internet patrol project started by senior members of the world famous "International Alliance of Guardian Angels", whose world HQ is in New York City. 1) How did the CyberAngels project start? The Cyberangels project was born in June 1995, after a discussion between senior Guardian Angels about the apparent lawlessness of the Internet world cybercity. Guardian Angels leaders on the West Coast (LA and San Francisco) had been online for the previous 2 years, and when Guardian Angels Founder and President Curtis Sliwa himself went online and got his email address, we began a serious discussion about cybercrime and how the Guardian Angels might respond to it.Curtis Sliwa has a daily talk radio show on WABC in the New York state area. Once he was online with an email address, he made the announcement over the radio, and his email address immediately started to receive letters telling stories of online harassment (stalking), hate mail, pedophiles trying to seduce children in live chat areas, and complaints from worried parents about the easy access their children had to hard core pornographic images. Realizing that there was a big issue at stake here, Curtis began discussing the Internet issues on his talk show, and as the debate raged daily, and the letters kept pouring in, we realized that perhaps we were being asked to DO SOMETHING. One of the key questions from every worried parent was "What can I DO?" We sat down and discussed what we the Guardian Angels could do to help reassure parents and to make the Net a safer place for kids and others. The answer was simple - we should do what we do in the streets. The Internet is like a vast city, and there are some rough neighborhoods in it. Why not patrol the Internet, particularly in the "rough neighborhoods" just like a neighborhood watch? And why not recruit our volunteers from the very people who inhabited this vast world cybercity? Who better than to cruise the Net watching out for people's safety than Net users themselves? After all, who else could do it? Never an organization to leave it to the government, we decided to do something ourselves. So the GA Netwatch program was set up - to provide a monitoring service on the Internet. Our main concerns are with hate crimes, sexual harassment and child abuse. Activities between consenting adults (providing they are within the law) are not our concern. We believe simply that the same laws of human decency and respect for others should apply to the Internet as well as the street. We are also looking out for the many fraud schemes operating on the Net, particularly credit card fraud, and for any more serious crimes, including information about terrorism, bomb-making, weapons trading etc. We are also interested in keeping our eyes on unsupervised areas of the Net where children may roam. For example, parts of the Net are like a porno store on Main Street with the door wide open, and with no staff inside. Kids are walking by.... The only sign on the door says "Dont come in here if you are under 18". But there is noone there to check what is happening. And naturally enough kids are wandering in and looking at the merchandise. This is not acceptable on the streets of our cities, and yet we are allowing this on the Net. Organizations like "Safesurf" are campaigning for Websites to register as "child friendly", and are helping to promote new software for parents to restrict their children's access to the Internet. We support those organizations. But our role is different. We believe in the power of citizens' patrols. The Netwatch project is simply asking for volunteers to keep their eyes open on the Net, and to not tolerate violations of other peoples basic rights. 2) How is the program administered? At this moment we are just a mailbox in cyberspace. Volunteers send their information to Gabriel at GANetwatch and we send them a briefing on what we want them to do. Each volunteer volunteers to spend a minimum of 2-8 hours per week cruising the Net and looking for places where they believe there may be unacceptable activity, then they pass on the information to us. We keep our members informed via email. So at present it is very basic and simple. The main target areas we ask people to check over are: a) Live talk sites b) Kids sites c) Message boards, where Users can leave postings d) Newsgroups (particularly "alt." newsgroups) e) Any sites providing material / discussions / images / contacts of a sexually explicit nature (there are thousands!) 3) What is the purpose of the project? The purpose of the project is: a) To pressurize service providers to enforce their terms of service. b) To give advice and assistance to victims of hate mail, harassment and sexual abuse online. c) To watch out for users violating terms of service by committing cybercrimes and to report them to relevant authorities (Sysadmins, or even Police). d) To help to make unnecessary Government legislation by showing the government that the world Net community takes the safety of our children, and the well being of all Users, seriously. 4) How do we find our volunteers? We originally appealed for volunteers on Curtis Sliwa's WABC radio show and later through media articles about us. Prospective volunteers then email us and we send them a briefing. We do not direct them where to go specifically. Thy are free to wander wherever they wish. Members alert us to areas where there are problems and then we may investigate. Investigation may take the form of traveling there ourselves. We encourage all users to report system violations immediately to Sysadmins. We do NOT advise our volunteers to confront the criminals / violators themselves, either online or via email. 5) Do CyberAngels identify themselves in Cyberspace? We are anonymous in cyberspace. Noone cruises with a Cyberangels badge. And we do not encourage our volunteers to identify themselves online, nor to take on violators personally (via email or via postings). 6) What is the email address of the project? GANetwatch@aol.com is our current address on the Net. This will change when we have our website constructed. Current Netwatch Coordinator is Colin "Gabriel" Hatcher. 7) How will the project develop? Right now we are just a mailbox in cyberspace. Soon we will have our own web-page, and we will be setting up message boards so that visitors to our virtual office can discuss publicly the issues of regulation and censorship on the Net. We may even set up a mailing list as well. Our web page is currently under construction. The first stage of our project is to involve volunteers in pressurizing Internet Providers to enforce their terms of service. This involves the accumulation of information and the reporting of violations to Service Providers. The second stage of our project brings in the Police. This is where we refer information about possible crimes to the relevant Police authorities, particularly Fraud departments and Sex Crime departments. For the third stage of our project we will have a section on our Web Site where we will be offering rewards for information about various cybercriminals. There will be the equivalent of "Wanted" posters, asking for further information about people who have already been reported to us. 8) How do you check your volunteers? We cannot at present do that. There is no formal recognition of "CyberAngels" at present, although in time we will hold regional conventions, where we will meet with our volunteers. None of our volunteers is qualified to represent our organization. They are simply people who have contacted us and said they will keep a look out. 9) Is this a First Amendment Issue? What about Freedom of Speech? We are not trying to abolish free speech, but we believe that freedom of speech should not be exercised if by exercising it you are violating someone else's basic rights. For example I could claim freedom of speech to justify talking sexually and obscenely to a young child - but we all know that that is wrong. This is not a First Amendment issue. Breaking the law takes precedence over "freedom of speech". We are all granted our freedom, but not the freedom to rob, rape, hurt, or otherwise harass innocent people. 10) The Internet is huge and unregulated. Surely such a project is an impossible task? The fact that the Net is impossible to maintain crime-free is no reason for us to do nothing. Each person does their part. If everyone picked up their own trash, there would be no need for garbage collectors. The same could be said of our streets. We are not naively hoping to eliminate crime from the Net, only to play our part in protecting the innocent majority from the violations of the tiny tiny minority. 11) What should volunteers be looking out for? We are interested in our members watching out for: a) Hate crimes (like racist postings, hate mail) etc. b) Sexual harassment (eg Online stalking) c) Sexual abuse of children. d) Kids access to pornographic material. e) Anything where Service Providers Terms of Service are being violated. f) Fraud schemes operating, usually through message boards, where Users are offered the chance to "get rich quick". These sometimes involve the trading of credit card numbers and/or calling card numbers. g) Information about weapons, bombs and/or terrorism being traded on the Net. 12) What kinds of changes would the Guardian Angels / CyberAngels like to see? a) On the Net there are no Police. User ID is impossible to verify or trace back. The very anonymity of Users is itself causing an increase in rudeness, sexual abuse, flaming, and crimes like pedophile activity. We the Net Users must take responsibility for the problem ourselves. One of our demands is for more accountable User IDs on the Net. When people are anonymous they are also free to be criminals. In a riot you see rioters wearing masks to disguise their true identity. The same thing is happening online. We would like to see User ID much more thoroughly checked by Internet Service Providers. b) We would like to see Websites registering as "Child Safe" or "Child Friendly", so that parents can use the new software to restrict children's access. c) Most importantly we would like to see thousands and thousands of "CyberAngels" - the Net Users themselves - cruising around the Net, and keeping a watch out for violations of other users basic rights. 13) To be a CyberAngel... Please send information about anything you find on the Net which you believe to be unlawful, harmful, hateful, threatening or constituting harassment , particularly if it relates to minors, to Colin "Gabriel" Hatcher, Coordinator of the Guardian Angels NetWatch Program at : ganetwatch@aol.com We will keep you informed by E-Mail of how the project is progressing. Any significant discoveries by you will also be featured (with your permission) on Curtis Sliwa's regular WABC Radio Talk Show (New York area). Please follow our advice and DO NOT attempt to challenge cybercriminals either in live areas, nor via email nor via postings on message boards. Simply report the violations to us at Netwatch, and also to the System Administrators, or Service Providers, of the cybercriminal. Email can usually be sent to "Postmaster@..." or "Sysop@..." or "Sysadmin@...", or find out by writing to the company and ask them who you contact to report a violation. Good luck! Curtis Sliwa, President & Founder, Alliance of Guardian Angels Colin "Gabriel" Hatcher, Alliance of Guardian Angels, GA Netwatch Coordinator Date: 20.9.95 8:27 pm To: joe mcnally Received: by mail02.mail.aol.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) id PAA06059; Wed, 20 Sep 1995 15:18:00 -0400 Date: Wed, 20 Sep 1995 15:18:00 -0400 From: GANetWatch@aol.com Message-ID: <950920151750_104333073@mail02.mail.aol.com> Subject: REQUEST FOR INFO Dear CyberAngels Hi from all of here at GANetWatch HQ. We are trying to update our mailing list right now. Could you all email us back and tell us: 1) Your full real name (we have your user id already!), 2) Your age, 3) Where you live - city / town and country (full address is not required) 4) Your profession (job, student, fulltime parent etc) and 5) Whether you have any kids. Thanks! Our Web site is still under construction. The delay is due to security measures that we are taking. Im sure you understand why! :) Keep on rockin and shockin the Net. Your volunteer work looking and passing on information is already helping to make a difference. The FBI bust on AOL made us all very happy...some people think the law cannot touch them online...they are WRONG! Best wishes and Dare to Care Gabriel BTW, you can check our credentials any time by telephoning 212 501 7373 (Curtis Sliwa) - that's the Guardian Angels office in New York City, or 415 931 7099 (Sebastian Metz) in San Francisco, or 213 856 8063 (Gabriel) in Los Angeles. E-Mail from: ganetwatch@aol.com Subject: CYBERANGELS STRIKE BACK!! FBI RAIDS 120 HOMES, ARRESTS DOZENS IN CHILD PORNOGRAPHY PROBE BY LAURA MYERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER. 13 SEPTEMBER 1995 The FBI made at least a dozen arrests and searched 120 homes nationwide Wednesday, concluding a 2 year investigation into the use of the nation's largest computer network to distribute child pornography and arrange sex with children. The raids involving America Online Users marked the first time federal agents investigated the misuse of such networks for exchanging typed conversation and other material from computer to computer. "We are not going to permit exciting new technology to be misused to exploit and injure children," Attorney General Janet Reno said. US child protection laws make it a crime to create, possess or disseminate child pornography. Violators face up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The raids were conducted in 57 of the Nation's 94 Federal districts, according to the FBI, concentrating on the East coast where the investigation, dubbed "Innocent Images" began in 1993. The Justice Department issued a statement, saying at least a dozen arrests had already been made and 120 homes searched, but that many more arrests were expected. Cities involved include Miami, New York and Dallas and Newark N.J.. The FBI refused to release any further details. Carlos Fernandez, an FBI spokesman in Washington, said Federal authorities wanted to wait until arrests were completed. "We're not giving out much more at this time" Fernandez said. America Online has 3.5 million subscribers nationwide. Pam McGraw, a spokesman for the Vienna, Va. - based service, said the company has always cooperated with the FBI in turning in people who use the computer network to transmit pornographic material. An online "neighborhood watch" program also encourages users to report illegal activity, she said. "We're very troubled that some of the members have used the service for illegal activity," McGraw said. Child pornography isn't allowed on America Online's public spaces, and is usually transmitted via private electronic mail and private chat rooms. The FBI said that its investigation showed that child pornographers are turning to such computer networks more and more to lure curious youths. "The utilization of online services or bulletin board systems is rapidly becoming one of the most prevalent techniques for individuals to share pornographic pictures of minors, as well as to identify and recruit children into sexually illicit relationships," the FBI said in a statement. Previously 4 people had been arrested for traveling across State lines with the purpose of having sex with undercover agents posing as minors who had been recruited through the online network, the FBI said. During the latest investigation, the FBI said it collected pornographic evidence involving mostly victims ages 2-13 who were pictured either nude or engaged in actual or simulated sex. The probe began in 1993 when 10 year old George Stanley Burdynski was abducted from his Brentwood Md. neighborhood, according to the FBI, which suspected he was lured by computer pedophiles. The boy was never found. As part of the investigation, an undercover operation was set up by the Baltimore FBI office and an agent of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and coordinated by the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. Some online services have the ability to block or restrict access to areas of the computer network, including chat rooms aimed at adult users. Congress is contemplating restricting the types of materials one can transmit over computer networks, but that has raised First Amendment questions and the issue hasn't yet been resolved. ****************************************************************************** *********** A SWEET VICTORY FOR ALL OUR CYBERANGELS!!!!! GABRIEL

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