Birth of a Story
by Marji James
In creating an article for the Bulletin about Bill Brown's Digest, telling how that forum of more than 80 Thinkers helps to link Mensans all over the world, I thought of an example centering around an enquiry by Dan Brown (the Mensan author of Digital Fortress, a novel now in its 5th printing by St. Martin's Press, ISBN:0-312-18087-X) that was relayed to me by Paul Anderson (a TexMensan who figures prominently as a word-slinger on Bill's forum) in hopes that I might forward it to Tom Streeter (Orange County Mensa's grand elocutionist and a nationally celebrated essayist) for an informed viewpoint on the topic of protecting intellectual property such as e-mail.
Tom Streeter not only responded,
but he later created an article
(http://users.deltanet.com/~streeter/zerendip.htm) around that topic
as part of a body of essays
on subjects ranging from the trivial to the profound and sometimes sublime.
Mensa Authors Consult Each Other
By Paul Anderson
<wrdslngr@swbell.net>
<escritor@bigfoot.com>
A Texas Word-Slinger Whoo's a Night Owl
When I received the letter from Dan Brown about his book Digital Fortress and his solicitation of my ideas and thoughts, my first thought was: "The tip of the Iceberg is being EXPOSED!"
As best as I can recall, Dan Brown sent a letter stating that he had written a
book about personal security and that it was to be released in early 1998.
Among other things, the book dealt with the impending nightmare of the
National Security Agency (NSA) seeking permission (endorsement?) from Congress
to read personal e-mail under the pretense of averting terrorism in the United
States.
My imagination began to run wild. What would become of the nonthreatening
material this type of surveillance would surely expose?
During my early days as a member of Mensa, I was designing and selling
communications systems, through open bids. It became obvious that my bid
numbers were falling into the hands of my competitors. After I had established
that this is what was occurring, I sidestepped this leak by phoning out my
bids by telephone as usual, with great fanfare, then quietly slipping off to a
pay phone and putting out the real bid just minutes before bid deadlines.
There was more than one entity involved in the leaks. The end result was that
what was supposed to be sacrosanct and secure, was not.
My mention of this to Bill Brown brought a response from him: "Remember that during
World War II, all ham radio operators were silenced!" I failed to see the similarity of
the two actions.
I remembered Marji James
(ZerendipT@aol.com)
had put me into contact with a Texan living in
Orange County who is an attorney and who had been assistant District Attorney
for a while in Texas. I asked Marji if Tom Streeter would have an interest in
responding to Dan Brown's enquiry. My first worry was the possibility of
unrestricted industrial espionage spinning off as a by-product. In addition to
that, talk show hosts would have another source of scandals or leaked
hanky panky. They could start the Secret Tryst of the Month contest.
Not only was Tom Streeter aware of this surveillance by various entities, he
had part of his web site dedicated to it. I have since mentioned the intent
of the National Security Agency (NSA) to Jay Jacobson, head of the Texas ACLU.
He says they oppose email surveillance. However, I realize that they have many
other fires to fight. There are just too many civil liberties that need to be
defended for one self-funding organization to even hope to address.
Paul Anderson, Box 1101, Leander, TX 78646
wrdslngr@swbell.net
escritor@bigfoot.com
http://www.angelfire.com/tx/nightowlnest/
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/3393/
--
From the May 1998 Mensa Bulletin.