Backlash Makes Waves In Cyberspace Organizers Of Gun Rights Group Move To A New Computer In Wake Of Bombing

A backlash against some groups using the Internet forced Spokane organizers of a computer discussion group against gun control to move the service last week.

The discussion group, called NoBan, had used a computer at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland since earlier this year.

Spokane residents Richard and Mary Hartman created the group to lobby for repeal of rifle and ammunition restrictions in last year’s federal crime bill.

The move came days after the April 19 Oklahoma City bombing, linked to right-wing militants. News reports since the bombing have discussed anti-government militia groups that use the Internet for recruiting and sharing information.

The request to move came from a Johns Hopkins computer system employee, not from university officials, said Richard Hartman, a software engineer for Output Technology of Spokane.

He would not identify that employee, who is a friend of a NoBan member and who offered use of the Johns Hopkins system to the group.

The anti-Internet backlash was the key factor in the move, Hartman added.

“There’s so much sliming of the Internet going on in the media. People are reacting with hysteria,” he said.

Some NoBan members are militia supporters, but those members did not use NoBan to discuss militia issues, Hartman said.

A number of other discussion groups that used the Johns Hopkins system also had to move. One of them focused on the Branch Davidian disaster in Waco, Texas, Hartman said.

Last week, Hartman transferred NoBan to a computer system in Washington, D.C.

His group, one of thousands of automated Internet lists around the world, relies on a computer system that automatically receives and sends electronic mail.

NoBan has more than 300 subscribers and is open to anyone.

The relocation disrupted NoBan’s system for 24 hours. The computer needed to run the group receives and stores all e-mail sent to its address. It then sends copies of the messages to subscribers.

The Hartmans used the Internet’s ability to reach thousands of people quickly at little cost last year to campaign against former House Speaker Tom Foley.

That computer effort, called DeFoley-Ate Congress, earned the Hartmans national status as innovators in so-called “cyberspace politics.”

They modeled NoBan on the anti-Foley campaign. Hartman and his wife maintain the subscription list from their Spokane home and remind participants to focus messages on gun issues.

Various interest groups have used university computers for years to operate electronic message lists. Washington State University has more than 70 automated e-mail groups, not all of them devoted to academic topics.

Johns Hopkins, a private university, has more than 100 e-mail groups on its computers, said Assistant Director for Academic Computing Len Watkins.

“The way we run our computer system here is very decentralized,” Watkins said. “People have groups here on all sorts of topics, from early music to Miata sports cars. For now, we have no reason to oversee or moderate what they do.”

Tom Sowa writes about technology for The Spokesman-Review. Readers can send him e-mail at tsowa@iea.com.