- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 410
(DND is mentioned about halfway down)
The Ottawa Citizen, Sat 10 Feb 2001
David Rider
Usenet messages posted from all levels of government
They are selling condominiums, cars and boats, debating the ethics of breeding hairless guinea pigs and reporting on bird sightings.
They are job-hunting, searching for overseas ancestors, bickering about God and asking for gun advice.
They are public messages posted to online discussion groups -- also called Usenet newsgroups -- by computer users with municipal, provincial and federal government e-mail addresses.
As opposed to e-mail, which is usually private, discussion groups are electronic public forums which can be joined by anyone with a computer and modem. Users click one of the tens of thousands of subject areas and can then read posted messages, respond to
them, or start a new a new topic `thread.‘‘
The Citizen used the Internet‘s deja.com search engine to sift through millions of online posted messages about everything from gardening to sadism, and found thousands of messages posted from government e-mail addresses in 1999 and 2000.
Most appeared to be work-related -- for example, requests for help using computer networks -- but many were personal.
The Citizen isolated messages bearing city hall e-mail addresses across the country, each provincial and territorial government, and two federal departments -- National Defence and Health Canada.
A single e-mail address for National Defence headquarters in Ottawa appears on several hundred different messages posted to a chatty, unofficial forum about the Canadian military, as do hundreds more posted to another about computer modems. The same name appears on all the postings.
Music was a hot topic, ranging from progressive/Christian rock to opera. Someone using an Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources e-mail address responded in a discussion group devoted to the music of Bob Dylan to a post by somebody from another Ontario gov
ernment department.
One user with a Saskatoon city e-mail address wanted the lyrics of a song beginning with ``Shake it to the east, shake it to the west.‘‘
Another with a Nova Scotia government address went to a newsgroup about Muppet creator Jim Henson looking for music from ``Muppet Musicians of Bremen‘‘ and ``The Frog Prince.‘‘
In a different universe of concern, hangover cures and ways to smuggle alcohol into concerts were topics from Alberta and Saskatoon.
In New Brunswick, several people using provincial e-mail addresses reported bird sightings and other flora and fauna observations to a naturalist newsgroup.
Sports were popular, including the ups and downs of professional teams and players.
An Alberta address appears on dozens of postings with detailed advice about aerobic exercise, while a New Brunswick government e-mail holder posted enthusiastically about Harley Davidson motorcycles.
In the world of buying and selling, a signed message from Saskatoon city employee seeks advice about whether to buy an antique .50-calibre Spanish-built gun.
More than 100 items listed in ``for sale‘‘ newsgroups came from government e-mail addresses. One Manitoba worker wanted $42,000 for a Bayliner boat while another was selling computers, a car and tires with rims.
An Ontario employee was selling a condominium while a colleague was offering a downtown Toronto parking space.
A Saskatchewan employee tried over the months to sell two cars, furniture, a CD-ROM and TV while looking for computers and a truck top. A message from a Saskatchewan government e-mail address was selling guinea pigs.
Speaking of guinea pigs, a Quebec government e-mail holder joined a guinea pig newsgroup to weigh in against the practice of breeding hairless types of the animal. ``Forcing nature is never good,‘‘ the message states.
An address ending with the ``hc-sc.gc.ca‘‘ appellation of Health Canada sent more than 100 messages to a newsgroup about the Worldwide Church of God, a U.S.-based evangelical church.
The Ottawa Citizen, Sat 10 Feb 2001
David Rider
Usenet messages posted from all levels of government
They are selling condominiums, cars and boats, debating the ethics of breeding hairless guinea pigs and reporting on bird sightings.
They are job-hunting, searching for overseas ancestors, bickering about God and asking for gun advice.
They are public messages posted to online discussion groups -- also called Usenet newsgroups -- by computer users with municipal, provincial and federal government e-mail addresses.
As opposed to e-mail, which is usually private, discussion groups are electronic public forums which can be joined by anyone with a computer and modem. Users click one of the tens of thousands of subject areas and can then read posted messages, respond to
them, or start a new a new topic `thread.‘‘
The Citizen used the Internet‘s deja.com search engine to sift through millions of online posted messages about everything from gardening to sadism, and found thousands of messages posted from government e-mail addresses in 1999 and 2000.
Most appeared to be work-related -- for example, requests for help using computer networks -- but many were personal.
The Citizen isolated messages bearing city hall e-mail addresses across the country, each provincial and territorial government, and two federal departments -- National Defence and Health Canada.
A single e-mail address for National Defence headquarters in Ottawa appears on several hundred different messages posted to a chatty, unofficial forum about the Canadian military, as do hundreds more posted to another about computer modems. The same name appears on all the postings.
Music was a hot topic, ranging from progressive/Christian rock to opera. Someone using an Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources e-mail address responded in a discussion group devoted to the music of Bob Dylan to a post by somebody from another Ontario gov
ernment department.
One user with a Saskatoon city e-mail address wanted the lyrics of a song beginning with ``Shake it to the east, shake it to the west.‘‘
Another with a Nova Scotia government address went to a newsgroup about Muppet creator Jim Henson looking for music from ``Muppet Musicians of Bremen‘‘ and ``The Frog Prince.‘‘
In a different universe of concern, hangover cures and ways to smuggle alcohol into concerts were topics from Alberta and Saskatoon.
In New Brunswick, several people using provincial e-mail addresses reported bird sightings and other flora and fauna observations to a naturalist newsgroup.
Sports were popular, including the ups and downs of professional teams and players.
An Alberta address appears on dozens of postings with detailed advice about aerobic exercise, while a New Brunswick government e-mail holder posted enthusiastically about Harley Davidson motorcycles.
In the world of buying and selling, a signed message from Saskatoon city employee seeks advice about whether to buy an antique .50-calibre Spanish-built gun.
More than 100 items listed in ``for sale‘‘ newsgroups came from government e-mail addresses. One Manitoba worker wanted $42,000 for a Bayliner boat while another was selling computers, a car and tires with rims.
An Ontario employee was selling a condominium while a colleague was offering a downtown Toronto parking space.
A Saskatchewan employee tried over the months to sell two cars, furniture, a CD-ROM and TV while looking for computers and a truck top. A message from a Saskatchewan government e-mail address was selling guinea pigs.
Speaking of guinea pigs, a Quebec government e-mail holder joined a guinea pig newsgroup to weigh in against the practice of breeding hairless types of the animal. ``Forcing nature is never good,‘‘ the message states.
An address ending with the ``hc-sc.gc.ca‘‘ appellation of Health Canada sent more than 100 messages to a newsgroup about the Worldwide Church of God, a U.S.-based evangelical church.
