杏吧原创

LET鈥檚 begin with what鈥檚 good about Laurence Canter and Martha Siegel鈥檚 book. The title is a publisher鈥檚 dream: that hot topic, the Internet, mixed with the promise of riches. A surefire hit, though they could probably have pressed a few more buttons: 鈥淗ow to Lose Weight, Increase Your Sex Appeal and Make a Fortune on the Information Superhighway鈥� would outsell the Bible, at least briefly.

Well, that鈥檚 it for the good things. After this, you have to open the covers, and everything goes rapidly downhill. I don鈥檛 think that I鈥檝e ever come across a more badly-argued set of prejudices.

Canter and Siegel gained astonishing notoriety on the Internet in April by advertising their services as immigration lawyers on every one of thousands of 鈥渘ewsgroups鈥�, the electronic notice boards on the Internet 鈥� a technique known as 鈥渟pamming鈥� (see 鈥淎 spammer in the networks鈥� 19 November 1994). This went against the ethos of the newsgroups, not only because it was advertising, but most of all because it was irrelevant. It meant users had to make more effort sorting the worthwhile messages from the rubbish. Only a tiny bit, in this case, but big oaks that obscure the view grow from little acorns planted by immigration lawyers. If every company, from tiny to huge, decides to post 鈥淔or sale鈥� and 鈥淵our chance to get rich!!鈥� notices to every newsgroup, I for one will quickly seek out other, advertising-free sources, on or off the Net. The advertisers will have defeated themselves.

As an example of Canter and Siegel鈥檚 flawed reasoning, they argue first that there are no rules on the Internet, so you can do what you want. But when the systems administrators who run the networks connected to the Internet acted together to wipe out the lawyers鈥� 鈥渟pam鈥�, Canter and Siegel complained that this violated their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech.

There鈥檚 also the assumption, which runs through the book, that everyone on the Internet is, or wants to be, American, and subject to American laws. Perhaps we should expect this attitude from lawyers who earn their living dealing with people who want to immigrate to the US. But it is not true.

All right, what does the book provide? It splits into two chunks, personal and technical. The personal bits, written in a chatty style, laced with bile for anyone who has ever disagreed with their point of view, form the start and tailpiece, and describe how Canter and Siegel got onto the Net and how they feel at ease annoying everyone who thought that they had found somewhere free of advertising. These sections are full of factual errors. For example, they claim that the term 鈥渟pam鈥� was invented for their posting tactic (it predated it by years); they confuse private bulletin boards with the wider Internet; and 鈥渓ibel鈥� is spelt 鈥渓iable鈥�, a wonderful mistake for a pair of lawyers. And then there are the opinions: 鈥淏y the time you read this, some of the [electronic] protesters we encountered may have been gathered up and locked away where vandals and the like belong.鈥�

The quieter, middle section of the book is more technical, with stuff about SLIP, PPP and other Internet protocols. This is so sensibly written that I鈥檓 tempted to think that Canter and Siegel did what they recommend later in the book 鈥� 鈥渉ire a geek鈥�. A geek is someone who knows much more than you about technical things. Canter and Siegel seem to regard 鈥済eeks鈥� in the way that some people view Filipino maids: plentiful, cheap, easily fired once they鈥檝e done what you want 鈥� and not to be socialised with. But rather than cleaning the kitchen, geeks set up computer programs that let you spam the newsgroups.

The book is blighted by the lack of an index, though a small plus is that it gives some brief explanations of terms such as e-mail, ftp, gopher and World Wide Web.

Do Canter and Seigel offer a good way to make that fortune? Well, yes and no. Certainly the techniques described 鈥� spamming, junk e-mailing, using the World Wide Web home pages 鈥� would work if you were the only one doing them. But the systems administrators are sharp: software called Cancelmoose rapidly deals with spamming; junk e-mailing earns endless dislike, as well as retaliatory e-mail. Generally, once capable computer people begin to dislike you, anything can happen. And, if everyone starts advertising on the Net, then it will be charged for. Life will then turn in to a war where advertisers like Canter and Siegel try to avoid paying, and offspring of the Cancelmoose hunt them down. It鈥檒l be entertaining to watch.

Turn thankfully, then, to Cyberspace and the Law, which is a well-argued excursion around 鈥淵our Rights and Duties in the On-Line World鈥�. It has an index. I learnt a lot from it: about copyright of e-mail (who really owns it?), how obscenity is defined in the US, where 鈥渇reedom of speech鈥� laws do apply (only on US government-funded systems), when online contracts become binding, how interstate laws apply to the Internet, and what wiretapping means for Americans. Though short, it鈥檚 far more useful than Canter and Siegel鈥檚 effort; certainly worth buying if you鈥檙e thinking of marketing through the Internet. This is where I wouId spend my $20.