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Great Email, Janet. Although I do not have Parkinsons, I do love people with Parkinsons, amen. I can run errands, cut grass, clean house, bring a meal. My kids love to help folks, too. If there is anyone in the Richmond VA area on the list, and if you need your grass cut, errands done, or just a good visit, meal cooked or just someone to talk to, email me directly, or call me directly. What is great about the internet is that it can be a great resource for offline communications too. If you are a member of this list, but have trouble with computer viruses, or have computer problems, I can help on that some, too. You folks are great! OH, want to hear a weirdo story? I have lots of these in my archives. This is really out of left field--and if you want more, I have 'em. http://www.woowoo.dwoloz.com/car.wmv God Bless You All, Jeff Bayard 701 Pocono Drive Richmond, VA 23236 Cell Phone:804-869-4485 Help Fund the Cure! http://dialforacure.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "janet paterson" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Sunday, August 03, 2003 6:41 PM Subject: Re-run: Re-vised Re-post: Internet Identities - Who Are We? > hi all > > an encore of > a re-visioning of > a re-post of > a re-minder > > janet > > --------------------------------------------- > Internet Identities - Who Are We? > --------------------------------------------- > > The miraculous medium which is the Internet provides access to > unprecedented communication on a global scale. On a personal scale, I > discovered the PARKINSN listserv support group on-line in July 1995. Both > events, going on-line and finding a Parkinson's Disease (PD) support group, > changed my life. > > The Upside: I can now lay claim to a PD cyber-family whose members are > contributors to several PD forums on-line. > > The Downside: I have discovered Internet 'games' - hoaxes, viruses, flames, > spam, parodies, cyber-stalking, all perpetrated under the umbrella of > Multiple Internet Identity Syndrome. This is still an uncontrolled > frontier, after all. > > A brief history. The Internet was created in 1972 for some USA government > agencies and universities; it was 'free' and limited to plain-text-based > E-mail messaging. And then the games began: E-mail anonymisers and > re-mailers entered the scene (begging the question: When does 'anonymising > one's E-mail address' morph into 'protecting one's privacy' and 'concealing > one's identity'?) > > After the World Wide Web (WWW) was invented in 1991, photographic images > became WWW-viewable and Internet-transferable. In fact, pornography, much > of it illegal around the world, comprised the bulk of the initial traffic > on the WWW. 'Chat rooms' and 'avatar games' where identities are > re-invented as a given part of the 'action', and which had been popular in > the text-based Internet world, now flourished. > > Enter the general public of the global village, you and I, who want to look > up information for homework assignments, or buy a book at amazon.com, or > check out the hurricane warning, or locate long lost friends and relatives, > or share inspiration and experience via a web site, and who don't > necessarily understand what kind of world they are surfing into. > > Anonymity can be used to share ideas, emotions, and information without > racial, religious, disability, lifestyle, or economic 'factors' getting in > the way. > > Anonymity can also be used to manipulate and deceive with apparent impunity. > > It pays to be circumspect: I would never walk into Central Park or Queen's > Park or any Park (say) and sit down on a bench donated no-charge by > Columbia University or the University of Toronto or the Massachusetts > General Hospital (say) and lay my emotional self bare to a stranger who > simply happens to be there and sporting a nametag declaring "Hi! I'm Joe > and I have PD!", just as I would never leave my grandson or my > granddaughter, not to mention my cats, in the care of a stranger wearing a > nametag claiming "Hi! I'm Joe and I am a baby- / pet- sitter!" > > 'Buyer Beware' or maybe 'Money Talks' pertains here. Most of the WWW forums > and chat rooms and website services are free; if we pay 'nothing' for a > service (e.g. free user names and e-mail at yahoo.com or msn.com or ... ?), > we need to be cautious about how we use it, especially in this > market-driven society of ours. Which brings me to the concept of a > market-driven WWW. > > Meshing a non-commercial entity which has been geared to anonymity with a > commercial community which has to guarantee transaction security above all > or fail, has one or two inherent potential pitfalls. When telephones were a > relatively new technology, some were abused; I worked for the phone company > way back when, advising customers on handling obscene or harassing calls. > Caller ID and other techno-advances have transformed that scourge into a > virtual antique. Telemarketers are the new version, but technology is > catching up with them, too (at least I hope it is - where do they get their > calling lists from anyway?) > > The difference between the telephone communications networks and the > Internet and WWW communications networks is that the users, you and I, pay > hard cash for every aspect of telephone service. (I pay Bell Canada $35.00 > every month for the my own phone line and I pay Look Communications [aka > Idirect.com] $24.56 every month for access to the internet on an unlimited > basis.) > > In a sense, those payment transactions form the basis of our 'id' or > 'password' or entitlement. I suspect that future Internet users will have > to ante up something similar, maybe in the form of a combination internet - > identity - passport - cashcard. > > My cyber-hint for this month? If you join an on-line PD forum, I recommend > sharing telephone numbers and telephone calls as part of getting > acquainted. Although my telephone number and my E-mail address have been > plastered all over the Internet for the past two years, I have NOT received > a single unwanted phone call; there is nothing to fear but fear itself; > trust me! > > Do not necessarily suspect all, but do be circumspect with all. The > 'medium' may not bring the 'message' we expect, but it is still a miracle, > in my humble opinion. > > Marshall MacLuhan's famous quote comprised two parts: "The medium is the > message and the content is the user". A-men to that! > > --------------------------------------------- > revised and updated 2003/08/02 > --------------------------------------------- > original published > in the May 2002 newsletter of: > Parkinson Society Ottawa, > 1053 Carling Avenue, > Ottawa, Ontario K1Y 4E9 > Canada > Tel: 613 722 3241 > --------------------------------------------- > > janet paterson: an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit primarily perky, parky > pd: 56-41-37 cd: 56-44-43 tel: 613-256-8340 > e-mail: [log in to unmask] > w-site: www.janetpaterson.net > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn