SPIKE

THE RABID
MEDIA
WATCHDOG




Get Your Privacy the Old Fashioned Way... Pay Extra For It!

In telephone land, it is already accepted without question that to remain unlisted, you must request it, or a fee must be paid to the phone company, as a "special service." But now that phones featuring Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) are coming on the market and phone companies are providing consumers with a new service, Calling Number Identification, shouldn't the practice of charging for privacy be re-evaluated?
Phone company GTE describes Calling# ID as "a service which allows a customer to view the telephone number on an incoming call before answering." On some advanced model phones, names can be displayed alongside numbers. So John Doe has been calling and bugging you for weeks and now you know when it's him calling before you pick up the phone. There is a flipside to this of course. Every time you make a call to a phone with an LCD, your name and number is advertised for all to see, even when you dial a wrong number. Be careful answering those call-in telephone polls, someone out there is paying attention to the information you've given them for free. And calling a store for a quick price quote could end up flooding your mailbox with junk mail for years to come or, in the very least, put your phone number on the telemarketing auction block.
That is, of course, unless you pay the fee to remain anonymous. GTE is benevolently allowing its local customers until February 15, 1995 to disconnect from this service for free. After that it'll cost $8- a pop to stay private. Those with unlisted numbers who don't cancel Calling# ID, will still be displayed.
So, once again, the choices are allow corporations to use and spread around your personal information freely and at will, or pay them extra and remain a private citizen. "Proof Positive" that the corporate view of Constitutional freedom is quite different from that of mere citizens'.

-Matt Robesch



Z's Michael Albert Visits Seattle

Michael Albert, long-time political activist, was in town recently, speaking about participatory economics to a large audience at Red & Black Books. Albert has been involved in many different alternative media projects in many different mediums. He is a co-founder of the South End Press book publishing collective, which has published his many books. He also is co-editor of Z Magazine, an independent political monthly.
Albert has been working to ensure that the ideas available in Z Magazine are available in cyberspace as well. He recently started the Left On-Line Bulletin Board System (LBBS), which features articles from Z and discussion forums on various topics. LBBS also offers interactive seminar and lecture courses in its Learning On Line University; faculty include Noam Chomksy, Juliet Schor, and Howard Zinn.
Another exciting project Albert is involved with is the Z Media Institute. I attended the first ZMI last year, and recommend it highly. It is a nine-day course with daily classes, guest lectures, and project groups. With a focus on media activism, ZMI offers training in grassroots organizing, project development, revolutionary theory and other topics.
For information about LBBS or Z Magazine, or an application to ZMI (June 1995), write to Z Magazine, 18 Millfield Street, Woods Hole, MA 02543. Albert's lecture will air on Mind Over Matters, KCMU 90.3 FM, on Feb.25th at 6 AM.

-Liz White



More Dead Ink

The turn of the year saw the demise of two local magazines, Neo and the Bean. Neo's monthly arts, essay, and variety fare was a distinct improvement over two earlier similar magazines, showing an interesting artistic flair and some crisp writing. But it suffered in the Seattle market from lack of clear editorial focus, leaving it exposed to advertising competition from the voracious Stranger. Clearly, similar pubs with high production costs will have to be launched by someone with much deeper pockets than were found in the Neo orbit.
The Bean also folded recently, victim of red ink and the exhaustion of lead man Roger LeBlanc. The Bean provided a nice mix of poetry, essays and short fiction, delivered on elegantly designed white pages. Although the magazine was moving closer to breaking even, the strain of putting out the issues wore on LeBlanc, who decided to let it fold. The demise of these two leaves Seattle's java joints bereft of a general variety mag to help ease down that caffeine.


Dear Seattle Area Print and Electronic Media,
The "Microsoft Buys the Vatican" article, circulated widely via the internet, was, in fact, a joke, not a hoax.
Please call off your internet inquisition. The fact that the internet is unregulated and uncensored is what makes it so beautiful.

Regards,
Spike, The Rabid Media Watchdog



Do you have a tasty media morsel for Spike? Do you know of censorship, bias, or other derisive behavior in the print, radio, television or computer media? Send it to the WFP WAfreepress@gmail.com and get it off your chest.




KCMU 90.3 FM Mind Over Matters Schedule for February, 1995

Saturday, February 4 Sunday February 5 Saturday February 11
KCMU Fund Drive, with the Best of Mind Over Matters: Sunday, February 11 Saturday February 18 Sunday February 19 Saturday February 25 Sunday February 26 All schedules are subject to last minute changes. Call 543-KCMU for updates.
Also be sure to catch the KCMU NewsHour Monday thru Friday starting with Pacifica Network News at 6:00pm.

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Contents on this page were published in the February/March, 1995 edition of the Washington Free Press.
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