A few comments from the originator and the Staff of Zynet

I thought it might be of value to publish my stance on several areas of interest/concern to my users. Please keep in mind that these are my personal feelings, and are not necessarily reflected in Zynet's official stance. However, wherever possible, I have structured Zynet to reflect these 'values' if you will...

1. Users right to publish
2. Zynet users have the right to publish anything they wish on the Net, or WWW. According to the 1st amendment anyway, and thus I have taken the stance (On at least 2 occasions already), that I will not release logs or other 'personal' information concerning my users activities while connected to the net through us. This DOES NOT mean that I will NEVER do so, it simply means that up to now, no-one has shown me strong enough justification to release that info. This also does not mean that we do not monitor our users activities, we do, if there is reason to. Thankfully, there has yet been no reason to closely monitor anyone. I will address those issues if/when they arise.

3. Sexually Related Material
4. As stated above, my users have the right to publish anything they want, likewise, they also have the right to read/view anything they please as well. There will never be any locking of sites from within Zynet. Nor, will there ever be any censorship of the Usenet and other sources of sexually related material. Its is unfortunate that the technology is baring the darker side of our culture, but then again, perhaps its time we all looked at it rationally, and brought it into the light. I have never believed that censorship is a good thing. I have also never heard anyone say that they liked something to much, and thus should not do it anymore. What I do see/hear frequently, is 'other' people telling me that something I am doing should not be done. These control freaks would have us all live in a safe/mamby-pamby world where no-one ever thinks for themselves. That sort of a world is not for me, and I wouldn't dream of imposing that sort of structure on my users.
   However, it should be noted here, that 'spamming' is just bad behaviour, and will be dealt with most harshly. As a reader/user of the Usenet, I find it most distressing that system operators allow the continued spamming of the news groups, with little or no regard to the people who have to wade through all that crap constantly. Please be considerate of the rest of the world when posting to multiple groups.

5. Hacking/Cracking/Pirating/Viral Issues
6. Even though my official stance is that you will be dealt with most harshly (and you will), I am not without whimsy in my heart. I understand the romance involved in hacking. In years past I have done my share (nothing *BIG* so don't ask). Hacking is actually a great way to learn about getting around the net. However, the *ORIGINAL* hackers ethic included the stansa 'Do no harm!' and that holds true today. If you find a hole, by all means use it, look around, thats your payment for finding it, but:
   1. Do No Harm, modify nothing, steal nothing of *REAL* value
   2. Inform ROOT or POSTMASTER of the hole during that session! (I always found it amusing to send them mail from themselves :] )
   3. Publish the parameters of the hole in one of the various Usenet groups concerning system security (This is where your glory comes from, *NOT* your friends...)
      
7. I don't think there are many 'true' hackers left in these days of disposable society. But those of you left out there, find somebody and mentor him/her. Teach them what hacking truly is.
   Cracking is simply a method of pirating software (for those of you who don't know). Software piracy is against the law. If you are wondering why software is so expensive these days, this is the reason. It has been estimated that Microsoft stands to lose approximately 250 billion dollars due to piracy of Windows95(tm). So, the simple answer is to not 'copy that floppy'. However, I support this method of evaluation, I would not have purchased Windows95, had I not been able to preview it, luckily, I am on the beta program, and thus got my copy legally. But, the fact remains that much of the software I have purchased, I bought only after I had used for a while and found that it solved my particular problem. If the manufacturers would get it together, they would realize that Netscape has the right idea, using fully functional software that simply expires after a while. Zynet does not support piracy of software, however, we do read the liscense agreements on every package we have, and will remain within the agreement included on each software package we use.
   Virus's are a drag. The code is rather elegant, and even nice. But the distribution of code like this is really stupid. There are so many possibilities for something like this. You could release something that automagically patches software bugs or something. Why would anyone want to cause me the problem of formatting and reloading my software?? Who besides me would care that I had to? Most people aren't even writing their own stuff these days. I can pick up at least 5 engines put on the net to generate them for me. Where is the challenge in that?? I know, the old disgruntled employee story?? Forget it buddy, Put your hand in a bucket of water, pull it out real fast, the hole you leave is how much you are required in modern business, that hole also represents the impact of a virus dropped into your employers system. Sure, you can do a little damage, but be sure that they will come looking for you as a result. Pointless, much better to create than to destroy, that way, they look like idiots for getting rid of you... 'nuff said on that. Well, I think I have been long winded enough for now. Hope that clears up a few of your questions. If not, feel free to mail us and we will try to answer any questions you may have. Thanks for listening.

Zynet Staff