PAT: Below is the message. You needn't reproduce it.
Note that the same message came through the WW II newsgroup even though that group is moderated as well. Their moderator has also spoken of the challenge to keep out the garbage that comes flowing in.
I am disappointed that the Internet has been allowed to fill up so much with garbage, thievery, and malicious sabotage. Time magazine just had a piece on how highly skilled hackers were attempting to enter (or actually entered) US military sites. People who maintain firewalls tell me there are constant hits. Consumers who hook up mini-home networks to broadband DSL or cable are at risk for being hijacked by hackers as launching points for further mischief.
This newsgroup discussed this issue recently. I was disappointed with some posters who vehmenently denied any and all responsibility for the lack of security, controls, and easy access of the Internet. Hiding behind technical excuses is not the way to deal with a problem.
Many thousands of years ago humankind realized that if people are going to live and work together they need to establish and follow common guidelines so as to get along fairly and move forward. Civil governments and religious law were established globally. Indeed, humans have chosen authoritarian dictatorships over unorganized anarchy as a better way to go. We created "civilization" and being "civilized" was our goal.
For some unknown reason the long established laws which govern traditional human interaction don't apply on the Internet. Apparently if I knock on your front door and defraud you out of $1,000 the cops will come after me, but if I manage to do it electronically, you're [S---] out of luck. I don't know if that's because the laws won't cover it, there is no willingness to fight such crime, law enforcement is overwhelmed by it, or they can't figure out how to trace back the money. If it's on credit card, why is it so hard to trace who received the payment?
[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: As Lisa requested, the several K of text which came along was deleted here. Lisa, I am also greatly disappointed at how internet has become in the past several years. I suppose it was unrealistic of me to expect it would always retain the same status quo as it had in the 1980's, but still ... PAT]