Net.Wars

Both newbies (newcomers to the Internet) and Netizens (old-timers) will find challenges and rewards in this witty, knowledgeable and timely report from the electronic front. Journalist Grossman covers in considerable depth the battles now raging over First Amendment rights, security, privacy and general standards of conduct in cyberspace. The Net has been a place where people speak their minds, freely and even offensively, and many Net users would like to keep it that way. As Grateful Dead lyricist and Electronic Frontier Foundation co-founder John Perry Barlow has declared, ""cyberspace should be its own sovereign state."" Politicians and various special-interest groups don't see it that way, however, and push to govern what may well be an ungovernable universe. Grossman's tour takes in pornography and the Communications Decency Act; cliques and kooks on the Net; gender online; and issues of Internet capacity, overload and access. She highlights thorny issues related to encryption, including the ongoing efforts of the U.S. government to outlaw ""strong encryption"" software, which it ranks as a munition for export purposes. Such topics as ""public-key cryptography"" may seem remote and difficult to grasp now, but they're bound to start entering everyday conversation soon, as we all struggle to decide how much of our own business to conduct, secrets to send and lives to live online. (Jan.) FYI: For an online version of net.wars, with links to many of the sites mentioned, go to www.nyupress.nyu.edu/netwars.html