the FBI was able to decrypt these files thanks to an
inside informant. Deciphering these archives revealed the
following contraband:
"Eighty percent graphic image files of
attractive young women without veils on, or, in fact, much
clothing of any kind.
"Fifteen percent digitally stored pirated copies
of Western pop music and Western videos, still illegal to
possess in Teheran.
"And, five percent text files in the Farsi
language describing how to build, deliver and park truck-
bombs in major urban areas.
"I can't conclude my brief remarks today without
a mention of a particularly odd development having to do
with *wireless* computer telecommunications. Since it is
now possible to transact business entirely in cyberspace,
including financial transactions, many information
entrepreneurs in 2015 have simply given up any physical
home. Basically, they have become stateless people, 21st
Century gypsies.
"A recent tragic example of this occurred in the
small town of North Zulch, Texas. There some rural law
enforcement officers apprehended a scruffy vagabond on a
motorcycle in a high-speed chase. Unfortunately he was
killed. A search of his backpack revealed a device the
size of a cigarette pack. In searching the dead man's
effects, the police officers, who were not computer
literate, accidentally broke the device. This tiny device
was actually a privately owned computer bulletin board
system with some 15,000 registered users.
"Many of the users were wealthy celebrities, and
the apparent outlaw biker was actually an extremely
popular and nationally known system operator. These
15,000 users were enraged by what they considered the
wanton destruction of their electronic community. They
pooled their resources and took a terrible vengeance on
the small town of North Zulch, which, by contrast, had
only 2,000 residents, none of them wealthy or
technologically sophisticated. Through a combination of
harassing lawsuits and sharp real-estate deals, the
vengeful board users bankrupted the town. Eventually the
entire township was bulldozed flat and purchased for
parkland by the Nature Conservancy.
