Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!ccu.umanitoba.ca!herald.usask.ca!alberta!aunro!aupair.cs.athabascau.ca!atha!decwrl!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bloom-picayune.mit.edu!athena.mit.edu!jik From: jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) Newsgroups: comp.unix.admin Subject: Re: IRC and Security Message-ID: <1991Mar13.232433.3162@athena.mit.edu> Date: 13 Mar 91 23:24:33 GMT References: <7748@uceng.UC.EDU> <7753@uceng.UC.EDU> Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system) Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lines: 19 In article <7753@uceng.UC.EDU>, pmartin@uceng.UC.EDU (Paul Martin) writes: |> Sorry but IRC appears to be SOLELY used for entertainment. This is a |> poor example of how to spend the students and taxpayers money. During Desert Storm there Israelis on IRC during many of the bomb attacks, giving eye-witness reports of what was going on (trying to censor themselves for fear of giving away important information, for the most part). Furthermore, people all over the world were reporting news in real-time; for much of the time, it was possible to get a compilation of all the important facts from all the major news sources by logging into IRC. I don't consider that "entertainment," I consider it an integral part of the "electronic community" for which I think we should be striving. -- Jonathan Kamens USnail: MIT Project Athena 11 Ashford Terrace jik@Athena.MIT.EDU Allston, MA 02134 Office: 617-253-8085 Home: 617-782-0710