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>
>CYBERANGELS: FAQ 
>
>The Guardian Angels "CyberAngels" project is an all-volunteer 
>Internet patrol and monitoring project started by senior members of the world
>famous "International Alliance of Guardian Angels", whose HQ is in New York
>City.
>
>We are a worldwide informal group of volunteers, whose mission is to be a
>Cyberspace "Neighborhood Watch".
>
>THE INTERNET IS OUR NEIGHBORHOOD - LET'S LOOK AFTER IT!
>
>1) How did the CyberAngels project start?
>
>The Cyberangels project was born in June 1995, after a discussion between
>senior Guardian Angels about the apparent lawlessness of the Internet world
>CyberCity.  Guardian Angels leaders on the West Coast of the USA (Los Angeles
>and San Francisco) had been online for the previous 2 years, and when
>Guardian Angels Founder and President Curtis Sliwa himself went online in New
>York City and got his email address, we began a serious discussion about
>CyberCrime and how the Guardian Angels might respond to it.
>
>Curtis Sliwa has a daily talk radio show on WABC in the New York state area.
> Once he had an email address, he made the announcement over the radio, and
>his email box immediately started to receive letters telling stories of
>online harassment (stalking), hate mail, pedophiles trying to seduce children
>in live chat areas, and complaints from worried parents about the easy access
>their children had to hard core pornographic images.
>
>Realizing that there was a big issue at stake here, Curtis began discussing
>the Internet issues on his talk show, and as the debate raged daily, and the
>letters kept pouring in, we realized that perhaps we were being asked to DO
>SOMETHING.
>
>We sat down and discussed what we the Guardian Angels could do to help
>reassure parents and to make the Net a safer place for kids and others.  The
>answer was simple - we should do what we do in the streets.  The Internet is
>like a vast city: there are some rough neighborhoods in it, including "red
>light" areas.  Why not patrol the Internet, particularly in these "rough
>neighborhoods" just like a Neighborhood Watch?  Just like our own Guardian
>Angels Community Safety Patrols.  And why not recruit our volunteers from the
>very people who inhabited this vast world CyberCity?  Who better than to
>cruise the Net watching out for people's safety than members of the Internet
>community themselves?  After all, who else could do it?  Never an
>organization to blame it on, or leave it to the government, we decided to do
>something ourselves.
>
>So the CyberAngels program was set up - an all volunteer team, providing a
>CyberSpace Community Safety Patrol and an Internet monitoring service.
>
>Current CyberAngels Chief Coordinator is Colin "Gabriel" Hatcher.
>
>
>2) What is the purpose of the CyberAngels project?
>
>The purpose of the project is 
>a) To promote and protect the idea that the same laws of decency and respect
>for others that apply in our streets should apply also to the Internet.
>b) To protect our children from online abuse.
>c) To pressurize service providers to enforce their Terms of Service.
>d) To give advice and assistance to victims of hate mail, harassment and
>sexual abuse online.  
>e) To watch out for users violating terms of service by committing
>cybercrimes and to report them to relevant authorities (Sysadmins, or even
>Police).
>f) To help to make unnecessary Government legislation by showing Government
>that the World Net Community takes the safety of our children and the well
>being of all its members seriously.
>
>
>3) How does the project work?
>
>Volunteers send their information to Gabriel at ganetwatch@aol.com and we
>send them a copy of our FAQ.  Each volunteer volunteers to spend a minimum of
>2 hours per week cruising the Net and looking for places where they believe
>there may be unacceptable activity.  It is up to each member where they go
>and what they look for, although sometimes we may send a bulletin to all
>members advising them to search a particular area.  
>
>If a volunteer finds criminal activity on the Net, GANetWatch functions as a
>clearing house for information.  We do encourage members to report violations
>themselves, but we ask that copies of all actions taken are forwarded to us.
> Members may choose instead to simply report the problem to us and leave it
>to our more experienced members to deal with.
>
>We keep our members informed via email, with a regular update on what's going
>on. 
>
>4) Why do we need volunteers?
>
>The Internet Community is huge - around 40-50 million people, and growing
>every day.  There are hundreds of new Web sites each week.  The more
>volunteers we have, the more effective we can be.  And by giving a little of
>your time to looking after the welfare of the Net, you can make a real
>difference! 
>
>WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS!  
>
>Anyone can be a CyberAngel.  The only requirement is that you commit a
>minimum of 2 hours per week to the project.  No previous experience or
>special skills are necessary...although a computer and an Internet account
>would be useful! :)
>
>JOIN US NOW!  LOOK AFTER YOUR CYBERCITY!
>
>We are anonymous in cyberspace.  Noone cruises with a Cyberangels badge.  And
>we do not encourage our volunteers to identify themselves online.  We DO NOT
>advise our volunteers to challenge cybercriminals directly, neither by
>arguing in live areas, nor by flaming in emails, nor by counter-postings on
>message boards / newsgroups.   Being a CyberAngel  involves no risk or
>danger.  You are volunteering only to be eyes watching the Net.
>
>
>5) What should volunteers be looking out for?
>
>We are searching to uncover and prevent:
>
>a) Child abuse and pedophilia;
>b) The trading in images of child pornography;
>b) Sexual harassment;
>c) Hate crimes, including harassment; 
>d) Fraud schemes operating on the Net (particularly credit card fraud);
>e) Software piracy;
>f) Computer virus developments;
>g) Terrorism, bomb-making, weapons trading etc.
>
>Activities between consenting adults (providing they are within the law) are
>not our concern.  
>
>Searching for the above violations our volunteers are encouraged to visit:
>
>a) Live talk sites (Chat Rooms, IRC areas, MUDs etc);
>b) Kids and Teens sites of all types;
>c) Message boards, where visitors can leave postings;
>d) Newsgroups (particularly "alt." newsgroups);
>e) Any sites providing material / discussions / images / contacts of a
>sexually explicit nature (there are thousands!)  These are unsupervised areas
>of the Net where children may roam.  For example, parts of the World Wide Web
>are online porno stores with the doors wide open, and with no staff inside.
> Kids can easily surf by.... The only warning says "Don't come in here if you
>are under 18".  But there is noone there to check what is happening.  And
>naturally enough kids are wandering in and looking at the merchandise.  This
>is not acceptable on the streets of our cities, and yet we are allowing this
>on the Net.  
>
>When discovering suspicious or criminal activity, CyberAngels should record
>the date, time and place and nature of the violation and write down the
>user's full ID and InterNet address.  Mail can be forwarded to
>ganetwatch@aol.com, or volunteers may copy and paste information to send. 
>
>Please follow our advice and DO NOT attempt to challenge cybercriminals
>directly.  Simply report the violations to us at Netwatch, and  also to the
>System Administrators, or Service Providers, of the cybercriminal.  Email can
>usually be sent to "Postmaster@..." or "Sysop@..." or "Sysadmin@...", or find
>out by writing to/calling the company (the cybercriminal's Service Provider)
>and asking them who you contact to report a violation.
>
>As far as Web Sites are concerned, w e are encouraging parents to use some of
>the new filtering software, that can screen out chosen areas of the WWW.
> Organizations like **"Safesurf"** are campaigning for Websites to register
>as "child friendly", and are on the cutting edge in helping to develop new
>software for parents to regulate their children's access to the Internet.  We
>fully support Safesurf and are working together with them.  Together we
>believe that CyberAngels and Safesurf will form an irresistible alliance for
>Good on the Net!
>
>
>6) How will the project develop?
>
>The first stage of our project is to involve volunteers in pressurizing
>Internet Providers to enforce their terms of service.  This involves the
>accumulation of information and the reporting of violations to Service
>Providers.
>
>The second stage of our project involves the Police.  Information about
>crimes will be passed to the relevant Police authorities, particularly Sex
>Crime departments and Fraud departments.
>
>For the third stage of our project we will have a section on our Web Site
>where we will be offering rewards for information about various
>cybercriminals.  There will be the equivalent of "Wanted" posters, asking for
>further information about people who have already been reported to us, and
>whom we have verified as cybercriminals.
>
>
>7) Is this a US  First Amendment Issue? What about Freedom of Speech?  Don't
>people have a right on the Internet to express their views freely?  Are the
>CyberAngels proposing censorship?
>
>CyberAngels support the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
>
>We are not trying to abolish free speech, but we believe that freedom of
>speech should not be exercised if by exercising it you are violating someone
>else's basic rights.  For example I could claim freedom of speech to justify
>talking sexually and obscenely to a young child - but we all know that that
>is wrong. This is not a First Amendment issue.  Breaking the law takes
>precedence over "freedom of speech".  We are all granted our freedom, but not
>the freedom to hurt, corrupt, abuse or harass innocent people.
>
>The First Amendment was not written to protect pedophiles.  No criminal can
>claim "freedom of expression" to justify a crime.  Child pornographers on the
>Net are criminals and should be brought to justice.
>
>8) The Internet is huge and unregulated.  Surely such a project is an
>impossible task?
>
>The fact that the Net is impossible to maintain crime-free is no reason for
>us to do nothing.  Each person does their part.  If everyone picked up their
>own trash, there would be no need for garbage collectors.  The same could be
>said of our streets.  We are not naively hoping to eliminate crime from the
>Net, only to play our part in protecting the innocent majority from the
>violations of the tiny tiny minority.
>
>The Internet Community consists of millions of people.  That is millions of
>potential CyberAngels.  
>
>TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
>
>
>9) What kinds of changes would the Guardian Angels / CyberAngels like to see?
>
>a) We would like to see an improvement in User identification.  User ID is
>impossible to verify or trace back.  The very anonymity of Users is itself
>causing an increase in rudeness, sexual abuse, flaming, and crimes like
>pedophile activity.  We the Net Users must take responsibility for the
>problem ourselves.  One of our demands is for more accountable User IDs on
>the Net.  When people are anonymous they are also free to be criminals.  In a
>riot you see rioters wearing masks to disguise their true identity.  The same
>thing is happening online.  We would like to see User ID much more thoroughly
>checked by Internet Service Providers.
>b) We would like to see Websites registering as "Child Safe" or "Child
>Friendly", so that parents can use the new software to restrict children's
>access.  We support Safesurf in their campaign on this issue.
>c) We would like to see Internet Service Providers enforcing their Terms of
>Service.
>d) We would like to see a worldwide blacklist of known cybercriminals,
>circulated to all Providers and regularly updated, so that these people could
>be denied access to Internet accounts.
>e) We would like to see the whole Internet Community united together to
>protect the Net from all crimes and violations.  
>
>JOIN US, NOW!
>
David Smith                 * "We truly believe that even though we live in
an evil 
bladex@bga.com              *  world, if you can stand up with a stronger
will, then you
President, EFF-Austin       *  can't be beaten down. This is the true spirit
of the
Board of Directors, CTCLU   *  EFF-Austin member"  -- John Woo