^Jm yjJljJijf^sJj = JJJiikiJp iLiii^ Mi'llu mb Lituuiuu iJi^ L'JU M=i3 The Total Control™ Remote Access Concentrator gives you the power to support more subscribers in your existing facility space. How? With revolutionary HiPer™ DSP high-density technology. Now you can support up to 336 analog or ISDN calls in the same 8.75" tall Total Control chassis that’s been the access platform to leading networks for more than a decade. Grow with the leaders. Be prepared for tomorrow’s demands with Total Control’s award-winning software upgrad¬ able architecture that’s designed to support new technologies like multimedia and voice-over-1 P. Satisfy today’s demand for faster downloads’ with x2'" technology. Grow with Total Control, the remote access platform of choice from the leader in networking. Save Up To $3,900. For a limited time, you can double your port count and save up to $3,900 with 3Com’s Double Upl program.* Choose Total Control... The Remote Access Platform of Choice™ For more information about the premier high density solution and a Free CD ROM that lets you build your own virtual Total Control system, call 1-800-877-7533, ext. 6973 or visit hiper.3c0m.com. And check out our ISP-only marketing programs at: www.3com.com/solutions/ svprovider/promos.html. iMlobatics Total Control. From the leader in networking. WQAEBWATCXJl Guide to Internet Access and the World Wide Web FABLE OF CONTENTS ISSN: 1054-2760 Volume XI, Issue 11 NOVEMBER 1997 Rudolph Geist — POLICY FORUM An ISP-CLEC? — Should You Become One. 58 Ric Manning — MANNING THE WIRES BigCharts Helps Investors Compete With The Pros.62 Jack Rickard — EDITOR’S NOTES Lawlor Crucified and Sidgmore’s Richard Baguley — Penny Per Pixel Fantasies. EURO NEWS AOL and CompuServe: IN MY HUMBLE OPINION The European Angle.74 Letters to the Editor. John C. Dvorak — Steve Stroh — DVORAK ONLINE WIRELESS DATA DEVELOPMENTS Netscape and the Dead End Wireless Internet Multicasting.78 Road to Java. di. Jim Thompson — Thom Stark — TECHNOLOGY FRONT ©INTERNET WebSite Professional 2.0 . Wrap It Up (or They’ll Take It).80 Alan Cox — Wallace Wang — LINUX REDUX NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND Cracking the Mega$Nets Chain Letter Scam . 86 IPv6 Is Coming . BIG BOARD BRIEFS WorldCom Buys CompuServe, Sells to America Online.98 Forrest Stroud — Doug Shaker — CONSUMMATE WINSOCK APPS JAVA JITTERS rf5 The Network to Network Five ideas for Great Java Internet Software Scene. Programming Tools.90 Am Scott Swedorski - Doug Mohney — TUCOWS STREAMING MEDIA The Final Frontier.92 Media Clients. Paul Stapleton — Durant Imboden — ISP$ MARKET REPORT PUTTING THE NET TO WORK Co Metricom — Uni-verse Diplomat.100 Can Paul Allen Make it Work?. Editor/Publisher Jack Rickard Associate Publisher Brian Noto Advertising Sales Manager Bill Pettit Technical Director Gary Funk Alan Christian Editor-At-Fault Steve Clark Copy Editors Bill McCarthy Todd Erickson Contributing Writers Web Server Stat Programs Richard Baguley Doug Mohney PAGE 66 Alan Cox Paul Stapleton John Dvorak Doug Shaker Geoffrey Faivre- Thom Stark Malloy Steve Stroh Rudolph Geist Forrest Stroud Durant Imboden Scott Swedorski Ken Krechmer Jim Thompson ALSO Phil Lawlor Crucified Ric Manning Wallace Wang COVER STORY Phil Lawlor Crucified Snaphlc Design and Production Marla Asheim Jack Rickard.6 Conrad Hall Logging the Log Files Laura May Richard Baguley.66 Subscriptions/Circulation Using iHTML To Rotate and Document Banner Advertisements Cathy Rougier Gary Funk.34 Distributed Computed Advertising Sales Geoffrey Faivre-Malloy.40 Donny Yoshida Spam’s September Renaissance Laurel Zimmer Steve Clark.70 ISPCon Information Quicker Internet Dial-up Access Bob Holley Ken Krechmer.83 (800) 933-6038 MultiTech Bonds Two 56K Modems Editorial Offices Steve Clark.102 Kevin & Kell 8500 W. Bowles Ave., Suite 210 Littleton, CO 80123 Bill Holbrook.106 (303)933-8724 Editorial (303)933-2939 Fax TELEBITS.26 (800)933-6038 Subscriptions http: / /WWW. boardwatoh. com Franklin Telecom Offers Phone-To-Phone Service via Internet 3Com/Lucent To License 56K Patents World Wide Web http: / /WWW. boardwatch. com Osicom Pushes Routermate Family Internet Fax for End Users Offered By Comfax Electronic Mail Keynote Announces Real Time Browser Access Internet: Cisco Announces Training Program j [email protected] Shiva Ships 56k Cards for the LanRover subBcrlptlonseboardwatch.com $5.95 U.S. and Canada Boardwatch Magazine (lssn:1054- 2760) is published monthly at an LISTS OF THINGS annual subscription rate of $36. ($99 Overseas) by Boardwatch Magazine, WebWatch Ads.104 8500 W. Bowles Ave., Suite 210, Littleton, CO. 80123. Periodicals Advertisers List.106 Postage paid at Littleton, CO and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Boardwatch Magazine, 8500 West Bowles Ave. Suite 210, Littleton, CO 80123 Printed in Canada Copyright 1997 Jack Rickard All Rights Reserved EDITOR’S NOTES LAWLOR CRUCIFIED AND SIDGMORE’S PENNY PER PIXEL FANTASIES This may be the most interest¬ Phil Lawlor was dead on right in pubUc on the spam issue, and ing industiy ever spawned. the rest of the ISP community simply lacked the summary intel¬ lect to deal with it. 'Those that opposed him did so in cowardly, We have two very interesting devel¬ but at least predictably moronic fashion. 'They won. And they will opments for this issue. First, the spam pay the price for this many, many times over for years to come. thing is reaching critical proportions, and as an industry, we’ve probably just done one of the The situation is broadly comphcated by the fact that spam has dumbest things possible in a pretty broad universe of become an epidemic. Even a hve-and-let-live hbertarian such as readily available dumb things. Second, in the myself can just barely contain ever continuing game of dancing Internet road rage at the with elephants, we find ourselves in deluge of crap in my e-mail the at least interesting position of box. If I HAD a penny for doing it during some frenzied ele¬ every “make a million dollars phant mating. at home” scheme I receive by e-mail, I probably would have This past month, a federal judge made the million and be at ruled in a dispute between the home. And I really don’t Apex Global Information Service need to receive an e-mail (AGIS) and Sanford Wallace’s sohcitation to come find Cyber Promotions. The ruling dirty pictures on the was almost moronic, address¬ Internet — I was finding ing no substantive issues with them long before these regards to Mr. Wallace’s ever people knew there was an popular activities in delivering Internet — not that I needed millions of e-mail messages to them then either. But the pub- millions of e-mail boxes despite an hc roaring, threats, and muscle almost universal desire for him and flexing by Internet service his spam to eat feces and die. providers, largely led by Paul Vbde et al, is just pathetic. Rather, the case was a niggling Worse, it is grossly damaging interpretation as to when and if to the future of Internet service AGIS could disconnect Cyber providers throughout the land. Promotions from the AGIS back¬ bone. Basically Phil Lawlor threw Phil Lawlor took the public in the towel and joined the ranks of position that Internet service ISPs adopting “spamming policies.” providers are not responsible The judge ruled he would have to for content of e-mail, web observe a 30-day termination notice sites, etc. His story was that and couldn’t actually do the discon¬ he runs a network and oper¬ nect before October 16. ates computer equipment, and that what people did with I would like to publicly apologize to Phil Lawlor and the their properly paid for Internet connections wasn’t any of his entire Internet community for not taking a stronger stance on this earlier. We did do a bit of a spot on it earlier in the business. Take it up with them directly. year, but it was a delegated story and I should have done it It was precisely the correct position in a LOT of ways, but he myself. There were a lot of other things happening at the was beaten to death by his own peers over it to such a degree time and I was remiss. 6 Boardwatch - November 1997 that his network wouldn’t work very well anymore. Ostensibly assume everyone now knows that teach¬ “hackers,” but widely known to us all as other ISPs, flooded his ers and doctors are REQUIRED by system with every kind of attack from simple e-mail tornadoes law to report any injuries or obser¬ to syn-flood attacks to who knows what in an attempt to pun¬ vations that MIGHT imply domes¬ ish him for “harboring spammers.” ISPs were unsympathetic tic violence or child abuse. You to his position most probably based on the obvious, if minus¬ DID know this law was passed did¬ cule, economic gain AGIS derived from the Cyber Promotions n’t you? What information passes account. It made Lawlor’s position appear insincere. I rather between you and your doctor is ; gather it was quite sincere. At ISPCON’97, we had other ISPs privileged, just between you and parading around in T-shirts denigrating AGIS for their posi¬ the doctor and the state and any tion, and Lawlor looked harried, frenzied, and beaten. I meant to appropriate law enforcement entities say a kind word but was too busy giving away a Hummer. that might want to know. It’s not that the doctors CAN report dt, they are The mindless concept at work here is that if ISPs all adopt an themselves liable for criminal charges if anti-spam policy, then spam will go away.