Netpunk – December 1998

"Every self-respecting punk rocker likes to say the word "fuck", and it's even more fun to type it…" So began my second column for MRR, back in March of 1996. That column was about the Communications Decency Act, and how the government was trying to push legislation through making it illegal to distribute "matter harmful to minors" on the internet. The act passed, and was eventually declared unconstitutional, after plenty of taxpayer money was spent defending it. (Get that, they used your money to defend their right to keep you from saying dirty words).

Anyway, by the time you read this, Congress will have passed (on October 16, 1998) new legislation restricting speech on the internet. The new law also will prohibit "matter harmful to minors" on the World Wide Web. Even the Justice Department lawyers who will have the task of defending the bill against challenges in court have said that it "poses difficult constitutional issues." Great, more of our money going to defend a bill that restricts our rights.

I’ve mentioned it before, and I’ll mention it again. To find out more about these sort of issues, you should keep an eye on the Center for Democracy and Technology website at http://www.cdt.org/. The full text of the resolution, and other technological issues are detailed at the site. The CDT also has an e-mail list of what new things are happening on the legal front. To subscribe to the list, send a message to majordomo@cdt.org . Leave the subject line blank, and in the body of the message, type "subscribe policy-posts" (without the quotations). Don’t let big brother fuck with your rights. Inform yourself now.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled punk rock websites and junk. Starting off this month is the Society Gone Madd! Homepage (http://home.earthlink.net/~societygone/). I don’t think I’ve mentioned this site before, but if I have, it’s probably time to mention it again. A little bit of stuff about the band, but the best thing about this site is the ability to order records and CDs via credit card at punk rock prices. The rest of the site needs work, but you can see some pictures, read some lyrics, and listen to parts of some songs.

There’s a pretty basic but pretty cool new French website called Mosquito!. Not a lot here yet, but there is a decent French scene report, an interview or two, and some record and zine reviews. The best thing about this is that it is simple yet well designed. Punk sites that are overloaded with frames, background music, and fancy animations could learn a thing or two from Mosquito!. Check it out at http://wwwperso.hol.fr/~mosquito/ .

Next up is another scene page. The Pittsburgh Punk page has a ton of shit on it, ranging from several dozen local bands, a list of zines, upcoming shows, promoters and more. This site has its shit together. Check out the page at http://come.to/pittsburgh and you’ll have something worthwhile to do next this Christmas when you’re stuck at a relative’s house in PA.

Rock and Roll RIP is a online live photo / interview page that features pictures and interviews with some better known punk bands who have played in Portland, Oregon and vicinity. Some decent pictures and words here of The Queers, UK Subs, Parasites, The Automatics, and more. Check it out for yourself at http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~shires98/concerts.html .

East Coast Panic is a decent band page that has, in the words of its author, "has all the regular crap that band pages have." Yep. Info about the band, upcoming shows, music, links, etc. East Coast Panic has members of the Pist and the Vomit Punx. Check out ECP at http://www.skapunx.net/~eastcoastpanic/.

For those of you who are fans of street punk, check out Outsider Records. Pictures and sound files here of bands like Snap-her, US Bombs, 999, Bonecrusher and more. Lots of "hidden" stuff on this site, which I think means they are just too unorganized to actually put things together correctly. There is some cool stuff you might stumble across, however. Oh, and you can check out their catalog of Oi! and streetpunk stuff. You’ll find Outside at http://www.outsiderrecords.com/ .

Our final site this month is OregonPunk, a site dedicated to Oregon Punk Rock. You’ll find it at http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/waterboys/115/ . OregonPunk isn’t very well established at this point, but there are some resources here for those of you who might want to book a show in Portland, Salem, or Eugene. Very few bands are listed, and I know Oregon has a load of them. Worth a look, though.

That’s gonna take care of this month. A reminder that you can find me on the web at http://netpunk.base.org and you can e-mail me at a new address (though my old one still works) – netpunk@diehippiedie.com . And, as always, I’m still paying the USPS for mail service at PO Box 8059; Santa Cruz, CA 95060. See ya.