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 Find It Online
The Complete Guide to Online Research
4th Edition

ON DEMAND
Q PRESS
©2004 By Facts on Demand Press
206 W. Julie Drive, Suite 2
Tempe, Arizona 85283
(800)929-3811
www.brbpub.com
ON DEMAND
QPRESS
Find It Online
The Complete Guide to Online Research
4th Edition
1st Printing

©2004 by Facts on Demand Press and Alan M Schlein

Fact on Demand Press
206 W. Julie Drive, Suite 2
Tempe, AZ 85283
(800)929-3811

ISBN 1-889150-45-2
Edited by J.J. Newby and Peter J. Weber
Cover Design by Robin Fox & Associates

Schlein, Alan M.
Find it online : the complete guide to online
research / [by Alan M. Schlein ; edited by Peter Weber
and J.J. Newby]. - 4th ed.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 1-8891150-45-2

1. Internet addresses ~ Directories. 2. Internet

searching. 3. Web sites — Directories. 4. Street
addresses — Directories. 5. Database searching.
I. Weber, Peter J. (Peter Julius), 1952- II. Newby, J. J.
III. Title.

ZA4375.S35 2004 025.04

QBI04-200180

Allrightsreserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any form or by
any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case
of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Making copies of any part of this book for any purpose other than
your own personal use is a violation of United States copyright laws. Entering any of the contents into a computer for mailing
list or database purposes is strictly prohibited unless written authorization is obtained from Facts on Demand Press.

This book is sold as is, without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, respecting the contents of this book, including
but not limited to implied warranties for the book's quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose.
Neither the authors, the publisher, nor its dealers or distributors shall be liable to the purchaser or any other person or entity
with respect to any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.
Acknowledgments
I could never have gotten this book done without the incredible help and inspiration
of a lot of people.

Researching this book was both challenging and incredibly rewarding, giving me the
opportunity to tap into the knowledge of some of the best minds in the online world.

I should discharge my debt to them by absolving them of blame for any error or biases. Any
mistakes are mine. Having established that all problems are mine, I am deeply grateful to all
those who have helped along the way.

First, to my contributors, listed on the back cover whose insights, guidance, and willingness to
share your knowledge have taught me much of what I know. Many of you are simply the best
in yourfieldsand I thank you for your willingness to share your knowledge with me and
contribute to this book. Special thanks to Greg Notess, Nora Paul, Barbara Quint, Mary Dee
Ojala, Mary Ellen Bates, Amelia Kassel, Mark Goldstein, Gary Price, Danny Sullivan, Reva
Basch, and Chris Sherman who have repeatedly contributed to my growth as well as to
specific points of this book. A special note to Carole Lane and Don Ray; I can never thank you
enough for your expertise, guidance and support. Also a note of thanks to my great networks
at AIIP and IRE who have been good friends and supportive of every effort I make.

Next, I want to acknowledge that, at least for me, a reporter is nothing without a good editor.
In the first two editions, I had the guiding hand of Shirley Kwan Kisaichi. In the Third
Edition, I could never have done this without the skilled work of J.J. Newby. You outdid
yourself this time, making me continue to do better. P.S.: Congrats to J.J. and Jeff on the baby.

Thanks also to my team at BRB Publications - Mike and Mark Sankey, editors Peter J.
Weber, Ivy and Christine Bailey for having the continued faith in me to get this book into a
third edition and for all their help along the way. I would also like to thank my friend and
website designer Dan Levy; Vince Ricardel for the back cover photo; my many friends at the
National Press Club; and of course, a few journalists who have always helped on my career
path, Charlie Thomson, Brian Buchanan, Ian Brodie, and Hugh Davies. Also a note of thanks
to the folks at Dialog, Factiva, and LexisNexis for giving me access to your resources and
support for my training classes.
On a personal front, I dedicate this book to my Dad, Richard, who I think about all the time
and who inspired me to thoroughly enjoy the career I have chosen and whose memory and
spirit continues to thrive among all those he touched.

To keep this to a reasonable length, I would like to give a blanket thanks to all my friends,
family, clients and colleagues. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

To my mom, Betty, my brother Michael and his wife Jordan, my sister Carol and her husband
Craig and their children Margaret and Jamie, you all give me great joy. Also, to my extended
family, Fred Weinberg, Jason and Lara. You are an enjoyable bonus.

To my wonderful stress-relief team - you know who you are - for helping distressed me when
needed, and to my A-team (listed alphabetically) for keeping me motivated, relaxed, focused
and smiling:

Gina Adams, Elizabeth Auster, Angela Betters, Lolita Baldor, Randy Blumenfield, Anna
Darling, Lisa Day, Kelli Emerick, Cassandra Falls, Katherine Feldmann, Corinna Ferrer,
Christopher Fotos, Tatianna Franchesci, Robin Frasca, Tammie Gaydos, Rose Geiger Mitch
Gerber, Briana Gowing, Joanne Grossi, Holly Haines, J.J. Hastings, Mary Holverstott, Donna
Hover, Theresa Howell, Cynthia Hunter, Heidi Klamath-Moore, Holly Klotz ,Cheri Lacey,
Jean Lyman, Kendall Marks, Beth Marchak, Lisa Marshall, Ginny McNair, Sarah Memari,
Jackie Merrick, Eric Mittleman, Julie Montgomery, Jim Moody, Kevin "Kebmo" Moore,
Belinda Norton, Cheryl Peppers, Heather Pedersen , Tiffani Prior, Eric and Kat Powell,
Helena Rey, Rory Robertson, Jonathan Salant, Marsha Shaikh, Donna Sager, Gina Simpson,
Paul Skolnick, Stephanie Spong, Karen Spranklin, Mark Thalheimer, Eric Thompson, Patsy
Thompson, Nicole Vann, Stephanie Viers, Marsha Walton, Melissa Wang, Lora Ware ,Terri
Williams, Britt Wilsen. Desiree Wood, Lorrie Worley, Jessica Zicari, and the many other
friends in L.A. and Washington D.C. whose ears I bent in the course of this book. You should
only know how important you are to me.

To my amazing growing family of cats - Moose, Murph, Kali and Sammi - who always know
the perfect moment to crawl onto my lap and give me unrivaled joy and affection.

Alan Schlein, April 2004

 Contents

Contents

Browser Beware 4
A World of Knowledge at Your Fingertips 4
Have You Heard About...? 6
I Cannot Get Away From the Web.. .Or Do I Want To? Love Links 7
Problem Solving 8
Ultimate Entertainer; Home Is Not Just a Browser Button 9
Thoughtfulness at the Click of a Mouse; Keeping In Touch 10
More Creative Uses of The Internet 11
Not All That Glitters Is Gold 13
When Private Information Becomes Public; Data Mining 14
Online Technology - Picking Up Where Direct Marketing Leaves Off 15
The Letter You'll Never Get 17
Personal Information from a Marketer's Point of View 18
You Can Level the Playing Field! 21
Additional Websites for Creative Uses of the Internet 22

The Mechanics of The Internet 24

What's the Difference Between The World Wide Web and The Internet?
What Equipment Do I Need to Start Using the Internet? 24
How Exactly Do Computers "Understand" Each Other? What's an ISP? 25
What Are Internet Protocols? What Is TCP/IP? 26
What is an IP Address? 27
Who Runs The Internet? 28
What Is a URL? How Many People Are Online and Who Are They?
How Do You Read A Web Address (URL)? How Do Domain Names Work? 29
What Are HTML Tags and How Do They Work? 30
What Are Those Two-Letter Codes at the End of an Address? 31
What Are Second-Level Domain Names? 33
Tricks to Reading an Address or URL 34
Browser Software - Making It All Work What Is The Browser? How Do I Use It? 35
How Do I Customize My Home or Start Page? How Do I Use the Buttons to Navigate? 36
How Do I Keep Track of My Favorite Websites? What Does the Location Bar or
Menu Bar on the Browser Do? What is the Menu Bar? 37
How Do You Know If the Page Is Still Loading? What Is the Scroll Bar - Why Do I Need It?
How Does the History Work? How Do I Block Out Advertising? 38
Ad Blocking Software 39
How Do I Speed Up Page Loading? 40
 Find It Online
Everything About Email (Almost Everything); How Popular Is Email; What Are Its Advantages? ..41
How Does Email Work? 42
What Is an Attachment and What Do I Do With It? 43
Other Ways to Send Files and Information - Telnet, FTP, Digital Fax, and Voice Mail 44
What Is a Bounced Email and What Should I Do? How Private Is My Email? 46
What is Spam? 46
How and Where Do Spammers Get My Address? 47
How Do I Get Off Spam Email Lists? Other Useful Spam Fighting Sites 48
Saving Your Results; How Does Uploading and Downloading Work? Identifying File Types.... 50
Field Guide to File Formats 51
How To Save Files; Saving Text and Documents 53
Saving Images and Sounds 54
What If I Want to Save an Entire Web Page? 55
Saving Web Links; Using Compression and Sending Compressed Files 56
Virus Protection; What Are Viruses and How Do They Work? 57
Do I Really Need an Anti-Virus Program? How Can I Protect My Data?
Tips On Catching Viruses Before They Infect Your Computer 58
Good Resources About Viruses; Virus Hoaxes 59
Your Rights and Copyrights Online 59
Downloading Databases and Spreadsheets: A Practical Introduction 62
Finding Data 65
Converting Data; PDF Files 66
Additional Websites for The Basics 67

The Crucial First Step to Staying Afloat in a Sea of Data 69

Blending Skill, Common Sense, and Clever Intuition; Why the Internet Is So Tough to Index? 70
What Is a Search Strategy? 73
Framing Your Question 74
Determining Your Information Resources 76
Other Search Strategy Considerations; Sources, Friends and Enemies 77
Boolean Operators and Keywords: Bloodhounds of Online Searching 78

Search Engines, Subject Directories, and Meta-Search Tools 79

Searching and Search Tools: An Introduction 80
Search Engines; How A Search Engine Works; Crawler, Indexer, Query Process 81
Relevancy Rankings 83
Date Searching - A Search Engine Weakness 85
The Search Engine World - A Million Hits, Profitability and Other Half-Truths 86
Who Powers Whom? Chart 89
When to Use a Search Engine 90
Subject Directories; How a Subject Directory Works 91
When to Use a Subject Directory; General Topics; Popular Topics; Specialized Directories ..93
Finding Current Events 94
Finding Product Information 95
Search Engines Versus Subject Directories 95
Portals and Hybrid Search Tools; Vortals 96
Focused Crawlers 97
 Contents

Meta-Search Tools 98
Advantages and Disadvantages of Meta-Search Tools 99
Paid Placement or Paid Inclusion; Researcher Beware!
Paid Placement and Paid Inclusion - How They Work 100
Meta-Search Tools and Paid Positioning 101
Best Search Engine Tools 103
Search Engine Comparison Chart 112
Other Top Search Engines; New Search Engines to Watch 113
Best Subject Directories 115
Subject Directory Comparison Chart 118
Best Meta-Search Tools 120
All-In-One Meta-Search Tools 124
Specialized Search Tools (listed alphabetically by category) 125
Archive Searching; Bibliographies/Books/Libraries; Business Intelligence 126
Education; Engineering/Math/Computers; Environment 127
Genealogy; General-to-Specific Search Tools 128
Health and Science 130
History; KIDS Search Tools 131
Media Finders: Audio and Video, Image, Music 133
Military; News; NewsBlogs; Politics; Public Records 134
Reference Sites; Religion; Statistics 135
Toolbars 135
Tips from a Search Engine Guru 138
The Invisible Internet - What Search Tools Cannot or Do Not Access 140
Opaque Web; Private Web; Proprietary Web; Truly Invisible Web 141
Other Invisible Web Characteristics 142
Ten Tips for Searching the Invisible Web 143
Finding Images on the Invisible Web 145
Best of the Invisible Web 145
Local Searching - A Future Trend 146
Resources on Search Tools; Must-Read Best Search Tool Resources 148
Additional Websites for General Search Tools 149

A Guide to Fact Finding, Document Finding, and People Finding Research Tools 151
Contact Information and People-Finding Tools 153
Where Does Information on People Come From? What information is Available? 154
Best People Finders 155
Reverse Phone Searching 159
Yellow Page Finders 160
Email Finders 161
Group and Affiliation Listing Finders; Accountant, Architect, Association Finders 162
Aviation Professional Finders; College and Alumni Related Finders 163
Hollywood Finders; Information Broker Finders 164
Legal Profession Finders; Government Finders; Medical Professionals Finders 166
Health and Medicine Information Tools 167
Military Finders 171
Expert Finders 172
Genealogy and Personal History Search Tools; Adoption Search Tools; Biography Sites 174
Genealogy Resources 175
 Find It Online

Mapping Tools 178

Ready Reference Tools 181
Specific Reference Tools; Calculators 183
Dictionaries; FAQs 184
Time Aides; Quotation Finders 185
Networking and "Human Element" Tools; Usenet Newsgroups 186
A Newsgroup Primer 187
Searching Newsgroups 188
Case Study: Uncovering Government Abuse 189
Online Communities 190
Mailing Lists 192
Chat Rooms 195
Voice/Video Chat and the Internet as Your Telephone; Voice Over Internet Protocol 196
Voice Chat Resources 197
Instant Messaging: Changing The Way People Communicate 198
Conferencing; Videoconferencing 202
Online Audio Conferencing; Webrings 203
Blogs and Home Pages 204
Fee-Based Tools for Finding Specialized Information 206
Strategies for Using Fee-Based Services 207
How Do Fee-Based Tools Work? The Tasini Decision's Impact on Fee-Based Tools 208
Best Fee-Based Tools 209
Comparing the Giants 211
Useful Fee-Based Tools 212
Trend Spotting Tools 214
Additional Websites for Specialized Tools 214

U.S. Government Gateways; Best Government Gateways 223

Best U.S. federal Government Websites 225
Best Sites for U.S. Government Statistics 230
U.S. State and Regional Resources; Best U.S. Regional Gateway Sites 232
Best International Resources ; International and Inter-Governmental Agencies Finders 234
International Government Site Finders 235
International Legal Information; International Statistical and Economic Information 236
U.S. Political Sites; Best Political News Sites 237
Best Political Resources 238
Legal/Legislative Resources; Best Fee-Based Legal/Legislative Resources 239
Best Free Legal Resources 240
Congressional Sites 243
Law Enforcement Sites 244
Additional Websites for Government Resources 245

Government Records Versus Public Records; Changing Landscape of Public Records: 9-11 Fallout .248
Types of Public Records; Bankruptcy Court Records; Corporate Records 250
Court Records 251
Recorder's Office and State Agency Records 253
Vital Records 255
 Contents

Useful Records from Law Enforcement Agencies 256

Arrest and Incarceration Records; Criminal Records 257
Sexual Predator Databases; Missing Children Information; Driver and Motor Vehicle Records .258
Consumer Affairs Records and Licenses; Public Records Databases Fee-Based Tools 259
Document Access and Retrieval; Free Public Records Tools 261
Non-U.S. Public Records and Other Sources of Information; Aircraft Registration 262
Legal Information; Ship Operators 263
Data Sources for Asset Searches 263
Pre-Employment Background Checks 265
Thinking Outside the eBox 269
Additional Websites for Public Records 272

(The Kurt Vonnegut Sunscreen Story Hoax) 274

What Kind of News Are You Looking For? Online Versions of Stories from Print, Radio, or TV;
Archived Stories Not Available Elsewhere 276
Breaking News 277
Free vs. Fee News Sites 278
Types of News Resources 279
News Wires 279
Best Online News Wires 280
Newspapers 280
Best Online Newspapers 281
Magazines and Newsletters 282
Best Magazines and Newsletters 283
Television and Radio Sites; Best Television and Radio Sites 285
Video Images and Trend Stories Websites 286
E-Zines 287
News Search Tools; Best News Search Tools 287
The Better News Gathering Tools 290
Journalism Collections; Best Journalism Collections 291
Best News Collections: Print and Broadcast 293
Archives and Transcripts 295
Value-Added Journalism Sites; Best Value-Added Journalism Sites 296
Additional Websites for News Resources 297

Backgrounding a Company 304

Company Directories - How to Find Basic Information 306
Financial Backgrounding and Research 309
Company Information from News Sources and Public Relations News Wires 311
Business News 311
Free Web-Based Business Backgrounding Tools; Fee-Based Business-Focused Tools 313
Assortment of Fee-Based Business Tools 317
Credit Companies 322
Conducting Market Research; Free Sources of Market Research Data 322
Market Research Data Vendors and Brokerage Reports 324
Business Valuation: An Example 326
Sales Prospecting; Competitive Intelligence 328
 Find It Online
Best Competitive Intelligence Sites 329
Quick, Effective and Free Competitive Intelligence Using ... Link Feature 331
Patents and Trademarks 333
Personal Financial Information 334
Investment Research; Stocks and Bonds 336
International Trade; Non-Profits and Charities 337
Additional Websites for Business Tools 339

Information Barriers 344

Translation Services 347
Aids to Understanding; Where to Find the Information 348
General, Statistical and Economic Information for a Country/Region 349
Embassies - A Valuable Resource 351
Searching For International Companies 352
Region-by-Region and Country-Focused Tools 352
Africa 353
Middle East 354
Europe 356
Scandinavian Countries 359
United Kingdom; Russian Regions - Former Soviet Countries 360
Australia and the Far Pacific 361
Asia 362
Latin America 364
Canada 366
World Educational Resources; Global Search Tools 367
Global Subject Directories; World Regional Subject Directories 369
World News Tools; World Online News; News Search Tools 370
International Journalism Collections; A Plug for the Fee-based Services 371
More Tricks For Global Research 372
The Importance of People 373
Going Global Checklist 374
Additional Favorite International Resources; Additional Websites for International Research 376

Managing Incoming Information; Managing Email; Managing.. .Using Bookmark Folders 378
Managing Downloads; Managing Your Offline Life 379
Helpful Hard-Drive Organizers 380
Filtering: Controlling the Deluge 380
Filtering for Kids 381
Best Filtering Tools 382
Bots as Personal Search Tools 383
Best Bots 384
Push Technology 385
Push: The Downside 386
Alert Services 386
Computer Virus Alerts; Competitive Intelligence Alerts; Earthquake Alerts
Government Alerts; Table of Contents Alerts News Alerts 387
Other News Alert Tools 388
 Contents

Keeping-Up Tools 388

Journalism-Related Keeping Up Tools 391

Making Sure What You See Is What You Want 392

Credibility 393
Authority...... 394
How to Use ICANN to Trace Web Authorship 395
Researching Domains 397
Finding Experts Online 397
Think Creatively: Repositories of Experts Come in Many Different Forms 398
Search in Newsgroup and Mailing List Postings — But Be Cautious 398
Check Your Expert's Credentials and Credibility 400
Timeliness of a Web Page; Coverage and Objectivity 401
Evaluating Website Information 402
The Quick Link Credibility Test 404
Website Checklist; Determine Objectivity; Read Site Documentation; Identify Citation Data...405
Still Not Sure? Take the Virtual Chase Test 406
Other Sites for Evaluating Accuracy, Credibility, and Authority 406

Sample Search 1: People Finder 408

Before Going Online - Q & A 409
People Finder Search Plan 412
Sample Search 2: Business Profile : 419
Business Finder Search Plan 420
Sample 3: Problem Solving 426
Did You Find Enough "Right Information?" 430
More Search Strategies from Search Gurus 430
Super Searching Tips 431
"...Our Lives, Our Fortunes..." Protecting Yourself Online 432
The Five-Minute Challenge: Quick, Effective and Free Research 436
Identifying High-Potential Resources, Vendors, and Free Stuff. 440

Online Interactions: A Reality Check; Web Browsing; Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
Gated Communities 443
Discussion Groups and Bulletin Boards; Mailing Lists;
Usenet Newsgroups; Instant Messaging 444
Privacy and Email 445
Ten Tips to Combat Spam 446
Popups, Pop-Unders, and Messenger Service Annoyances 448
The Ultimate Gold Mine: You; The Golden Trail of Cookie Crumbs 450
Spyware: A Potential Hazard 451
Get To Know Your Cache 452
Major Privacy and Security Threats; Identity Fraud: A Devastating Epidemic 453
Medical Records: A Privacy Meltdown Waiting to Happen 455
Children: Prime Targets for Data Miners 457
Workplace Privacy 458
 Find It Online
Cell Phone and Camera Privacy Issues; Cell Phone Images 459
Web Cams 460
Your Data vs. Industry Concerns 461
Ten Tips for Protecting Your Privacy Online 461
More Ways to Protect Your Privacy; Deep Clean Your Computer 464
Disable Your Cookies 465
Use Anonymizers and Encryption; Padlock Your ISP; See Yourself as Others See You 466
End Marketing/Telemarketing; Stop Giving Out Your Personal Information 467
Read and Watch for Privacy Policies; Make Sure Online Forms Are Secure 468
The State of the Law 468
Some Perspectives on the Larger Debate 471
I Have Anti-Virus Software, Do I Need a Firewall Too? 472
Terrorism and Its Effects on Privacy 474
Additional Websites for Privacy and Protection 476

Private Online Sources of U.S. Public Records 479

Application Indices (Companies specializing in...) 480
Asset/Lien Searching/Verification; Background Information - Business 481
Background Information - Individuals 482
Collections; Competitive Intelligence; Direct Marketing; Employment Screening 483
Filing/Recording Documents; Fraud Prevention/Detection 484
Genealogy Research; General Business Information; Government Document Retrieval;
Insurance Underwriting 485
Legal Compliance; Lending/Leasing; Litigation 486
Locating People/Businesses; Real Estate Transactions 487
Risk Management 488
Vendor Profiles 489
Website Profiles - Employment-related Websites; A Taste of the Internet 536
 Foreword
n

The Internet has opened up a new world to millions of people. Think of the advantages. The
Internet enables you to be your own researcher and find information critical to making decisions
that affect your life. The Internet allows us to instantly tap into amazing information sources. It
allows people to answer questions they never could before, and communicate like never before.
Still, as super searcher Mary Ellen Bates says, many researchers look at the Internet as a gardener
looks at a field of wildflowers. There is a ton of great material there and you know it is there, but
you still need to pick your way through the huge amounts of weeds and nasty pests to find what
you want.
Find It Online is your field guide, a companion to help you zoom past the weeds and head straight
to the best of the Internet. It will show you what is really out there, how it can be useful to so
many areas of your life, and how to get the results you want quickly and efficiently. Consider this
book as your practical, how-to guide, updated yearly, with pages and pages of the best websites
and commercial databases, plus tips from some of the world's leading researchers.
This edition has new features. Fighting against spam. How to control popup ads. The best ways to
handle annoyances - you will find new and valuable information, resources, and techniques to
help make your online experiences more fun, rewarding, and have less hassles. This edition will
again highlight international online resources and provide tips for finding the information in other
countries, how to translate those results, and other important considerations for performing truly
global research. You will also learn that major search tools are becoming more local in focus.
We are seeing a new sophistication in the many search tools available to us, a world of tools no
longer limited to just search engines and subject directories. This edition of Find It Online
provides the latest in search developments in addition to teaching you the basic tenets of sound
research such as developing a search strategy, and also how to verify the information you find.
You will learn about the many tools in your research arsenal, why they are effective, and how you
can use them. For example, you will learn how to properly select from search engines, subject
directories, meta-search tools - and more - to find just what you need when you need it.
Find It Online - something you keep next to your computer and flip through the chapters as you
need them. Whether you are a newbie to the 'Net or a professional researcher, you are bound to
find tips and tricks, and useful resources that are relevant to your searching needs.
• Chapter 1 gives you a look at how people all over the globe are creatively using the
Internet to change the world around them.
• Chapter 2 gives you the basics you need to understand how your computer finds
information, and why your search works or not. Learn how to fight spam, handle email
like a pro, and know how to look good on the computer and on the Internet.
 Find It Online

• Chapter 3 helps you frame a strategy to find what you are looking for.
• Chapters 4 and 5 give you the latest look at search engines and the many other specific
tools you can use to find information. These chapters also focus on ways to tap into the
"invisible web" and get to hard-to-find information that search engines may not locate.
Learn the importance of "the human element" - finding experts or people knowledgeable
about the subject you care about, who can guide you quickly to the best information.
• Chapter 6 examines the amazing collections of information found on governmental sites.
• Chapter 7 looks at the expanding selection of public records available on the Internet.
• Chapter 8 looks at the myriad of news resources available online and where to find
breaking news online.
• Chapter 9 focuses on business information and how you can research companies,
competitors, and potential new markets around the world.
• Chapter 10 looks at the international landscape and shows you how to find information
in foreign places. This chapter includes locating translation tools enabling you to read
pages in foreign languages and find out what they mean in your native language.
• Chapter 1 1 examines managing andfilteringinformation. Here you will find tips and
tricks for triaging the overwhelming amount of information you get when you research.
This chapter also highlights some effective strategies for narrowing the barrage of
information by using alerting tools to track information that is important to you.
• Chapter 12 offers techniques and insights into determining if the information youfindis
accurate, credible, and the most up-to-date available.

• Chapter 13 gives you some specific searching examples and problem-solving techniques
you can apply to your own search requests.

• Chapter 14 offers a reality check on how your privacy is being violated when you search
for information. Learn about spam and ways you can protect yourself from prying eyes!
• A bonus chapter - The Cutting Edge - looks at how all this technology is changing and
where we are going in the near future, with the latest on wireless search tools, and
hotlinks directly to the best sites. You can only view this chapter online at
www.deadlineonline.com.
In addition, Find It Online offers a series of valuable indices, and at the ends of chapters are
additional websites to take you a few steps further. Not all information can be found for free
online, so we have included profiles of vendors who have public records for purchase.

Looking for more innovative ways to help you and your company research more effectively, contact me
and maybe I can show you and your staff how to do it with a hands-on demo. Conversely, I am always
looking for the latest techniques and tricks and the best sites, so if you have suggestions, or comments,
go to my website www. deadl ineonl ine . com or email me at alan@deadl ineonl ine. com
- Alan Schlein
 Creative Uses of the Internet

Chapter 1

Creative Uses of the Internet

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Browser Beware — A World of Knowledge at Your Fingertips — Have You Heard

About...? — I Cannot Get Away From The Web — More Creative Uses of the
Internet — Not All That Glitters Is Gold — When Private Information Becomes Public
— Data Mining — Online Technology: Picking Up Where Direct Marketing Leaves
Off — How Much Is Too Much, and When? — The Letter You Will Never Get —
Personal Information from the Marketer's Point of View — You Can Level the
Playing Field!

In Karoo National Park - a animal preserve that spans parts of South Africa, Namibia and The
Congo - modern technology has partnered with an ancient art to help protect the wildlife.
Preserving the legacy of the Kalahari bushmen, today's bushmen trackers continue to
successfully track game. They can follow nearly invisible animal tracks and identify the animals
that made them, when they made them, and even what they ate along the way. These bushmen,
like their ancestors before them, are an invaluable resource of information about the local
environment. For generations, conservationists have sought to tap that knowledge.
Now, despite their inability to read and write, the bushmen can record what they see and share
their unique wisdom with the rest of the world by using handheld computer devices linked with
satellites in space. Information that has never been written down is now being logged, cataloged,
and used to map the environment. Under this program - developed by Louis Liebenberg, Director
of Cybertracker Projects in South Africa, Namibia, and the Congo - these wired trackers are
enabling conservationists to accurately follow the wildlife across the African bush.
It works like this: when a tracker sees a black rhinoceros or other endangered species, he matches
it with a picture icon on his handheld computer. The attached global positioning system or GPS -
a technology used around the world by planes, cars, and boats for positioning and mapping
purposes - pinpoints the tracker's signal to a ground location within seventy-five yards of his
position. When he returns to camp, he uploads the information to a central computer. The
information is mapped so that park and conservation officials know precisely where endangered
animals are located. This helps the everyone drastically reduce threats from both predators and
poachers.
Add an internet connection into the mix, or wireless capability, and that information can be sent
anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds.
 Find It Online
This is not so unusual. The work of cybertrackers and the African bushmen is just one example of
the technological revolution reshaping our world.
Do we really know how to use the Web? Consider this: a 2004 Outsell (www. o u t s e l l i n c . com)
study of over 12,335 knowledge workers found that:
• 85 percent said they do not know what information is available on the Internet,
• 72 percent said they do not know which sources are reliable,
• 70 percent said they think information is "too hard tofind,"and
• 56 percent said they do not know how to evaluate sources.
And 88 percent of these people say they are "skilled" or "very adept" 'net users!
Is this feeling of being overwhelmed due to rapid advancements in information technologies - the
Internet, electronic notepads, a never-ending fount of publicly-accessible information?

Browser Beware
While the Internet offers remarkable opportunities to learn, the future also comes with the need
for caution. For better or worse, online technology is making it easier than ever for personal
information to be collected, disseminated and accessed by a mind-boggling array or people and
entities. Even if you do not use a computer, your privacy is being violated on a regular basis. You
are a part of the online world, whether or not you actively participate in it.
In order to retain some control of the information that can be found about you, it is incumbent on
you to learn exactly what someone else can uncover about you and how you can protect yourself
from being exploited.
So while a new world of information is easily available, the very information you want to know
about someone else may also be found about you. If you feel vulnerable, the best way to protect
yourself is to learn what others canfindout about you.
But first you need to understand how to use these resources. Think of the Internet as the world's
largest library, available whenever you need it.

A World of Knowledge at Your Fingertips

Veteran journalist Don Ray tells a story about a lonely man who went to his community library to
find a book that would teach him how be more affectionate.
Being standoffish and unapproachable, he did not want to consult with the knowledgeable
reference librarian who could have instantly pointed him to many affection-related resources. So
instead, he wandered for hours and hours trying to find a book on how to hug. Finally, after
almost an entire day walking around the library and looking at nearly every title in the entire
library, he found a book labeled How-to-Hug.
 Creative Uses of the Internet ^^M

"You can't take that book out," snapped the librarian as the man handed her the book at the
counter. "That's volume seven of the encyclopedia, How-to-Hug."
The lesson is if you keep looking hard enough, eventually you can find what you need. To be
smart and time-efficient, it is always better to learn how the system you are using works.
Despite the myth to the contrary, you cannot find "everything" on the Internet. If you learn how
to use the search tools and understand how the Internet works, then you can avoid spending hours
aimlessly looking for that one site in a million and quickly pinpoint exactly what you want to
find. In the process, you can protect your privacy by learning what information can be found
about you and how to keep that information out of the hands of prying marketers.
Over the past couple of months, I have looked to the Internet to discover:
• how to calculate the difference between South African rand and American dollars
• the blue book value of a car
• the most popular words people search for on the Internet
• how to check the weather report in Hawaii (sunny and warm, surprise)
• a synonym for the words "amplitudinous"
• if a specific lawyer has been sued for malpractice
• absolutely everything I can about an alleged terrorist
• the patient safety records of some nursing homes
• the proper way to fix a plumbing problem
• how to buy dinner for someone while they are honeymooning on a remote island
• a vegetarian restaurant in the Netherlands
• the gravesite of someone's ancestor
• how to write a grant request and a business plan
• the location of the nearest ATM machine
• how to track my packages being shipped across the world
• who was born and what happened in history on a friend's birthday
• how to compare the cost of living in different cities for friends who were looking for jobs
• the rules of a long-forgotten childhood game
Another creative use of the Internet, at least for me, is to let its strengths compensate for my
weaknesses. A confession. I am hopelessly geographically-impaired. When people tell me to go
west, I am in trouble. Now, because I routinely look at map sites like www. mapquest. com or
www. mapsonus . com, I can find my way. These sites provide turn-by-turn directions, telling
you to make a left at this corner and arightat that one.
 Find It Online
D
Some people suggest the Internet's time has already come and gone. I think otherwise. Between
580 million and 655 million people were online in 2002 and those numbers keep skyrocketing,
with as many as 945 million expected online by the end of 2004 according to Computer Industry
Almanac www.clickz.com/stats/big p i c t u r e / g e o g r a p h i c s / a r t i c l e . p h p / 5 9 1 1 _ 1 5 1 1 5 1
Can you find everything you want on the Internet? Using computers in research is a big step in
the direction of finding information. Vast stores of information are on the Internet, but locating
exactly what you want requires some forethought about how to search for it. Unquestionably,
computers can manipulate huge volumes of information, but getting exactly what you want when
you want it requires more than putting in a keyword and praying you come up with the right
answer.

Have You Heard About... ?

Nonetheless, the Internet is transforming the way we work, learn and play, from cradle to grave,
with some innovative and creative uses of the technology.
- Parents use computers with videoconferencing equipment to watch their premature infants in
neo-natal intensive care and talk with the doctors and nurses at the same time. Couples looking to
adopt can search the Internet for children available worldwide, while couples looking for the
latest fertilization techniques can find a virtual catalog of sperm and egg donors online. Across
the United States, parents are using small video cameras strategically placed in their community
daycare centers to watch their children and even talk with their children while the parent is at
work and the child is at daycare. The Internet has also revolutionized placement services for
finding daycare and live-in nannies.
- Computer access is only now really coming to Japan. In January, 1998, a Nikkei Market Access
survey counted almost nine million people online, or less than seven percent of the country. By
March of 2000, twenty-one million people were online, or seventeen percent of the population.
That number has shot up dramatically over the past four years, to 80 million people out of Japan's
population of 127 million and almost 25 percent do not use a PC computer to gain access to the
Internet, according to NUA. The largest growth has been by teenagers using wireless I-mode
cellular phones. A large percentage of the millions of new Internet users in Japan are using I-
mode phones acquired in the past two years. Teenagers send email messages, talk, of course, and
send photos to their friends using the digital camera included within the phone.
- As you get older the Internet has more and more useful resources. Education, from distance
education to home schooling, is available worldwide, including entire classrooms with wireless
laptops.
- For the working person, the Internet's usefulness is obvious - getting everything from the latest
news to the latest stock information to checking to see if someone has a criminal record.
- For those nearing retirement (or just dreaming of it), there are many excellent financial
planning, retirement planning and other investment sites.
 Creative Uses of the Internet

- Death is big business on the Internet. There are tributes to people who are dead, those who just
refuse to admit they are dead - The Dead Psychics Line at www.geocities.com/
Athens/Forum/6909/dead.html and even pages to the "living dead." There are even betting
pools on when certain celebrities will die. Seriously, on Stiffs.com (www.stiffs.com). If you
like quirky sites, there is the National Museum of Funeral History (www. roadsideameri
ca.com/attract/TXHOUfuneral.html).
- There are serious pleas from those who need life-saving organs and perhaps the most unusual,
kiosks on the Internet tied to cemeteries where biographers and families write and film video
tributes to honor those who have recently passed away.
From the serious to theridiculousto the sublime, you can find it online.

I Cannot Get Away from The Web...

...Or Do I Want To?
By J.J. Newby
I use the Internet all day long to research writing projects for my professional life, but in recent
years, I've found that it has insidiously worked its way into being an increasingly important
tool in my personal life, so much so that an ISP or access line outage escalates to a priority one
emergency in my household!
In 1995 there was not as much out there as there is today, but that did not stop mefromfinding
the Serial Killers Home Page, now at www.mayhem.net/Crime/serial .html. It was a
personal favorite because it fulfilled a disturbing fascination the journalist in me developed.
These days most of my favorite pages are decidedly more domestic as I plan a wedding and a
home purchase in the same year, but I stillfindthat the Web is a terrific way for me to satisfy
many of my information and entertainment needs rangingfromthe macabre to the mundane.
Here are just a few of the many ways you can use the Web for more than just research.

Love Links
Ifirstfound out how my life-long bestfriendand new husband felt about me when I received
an email which led to a website he constructed that told me he loved me. If you don't have a
steady mate in your life, I know many couples who found true love on the Web via dating sites
such as Match.com (www. match. com) or Matchmaker.com (www.matchmaker. com). On
these sites, you can post a photo and a profile then sift through those of other members until
youfindyour match. Think of it as a relationship search engine. The site hides your real email
address so you can safely communicate via protected email before you give out any identifying
information. Once it is time for thatfirstdate, Yahoo! Yellow Pages (http : //yp. yahoo. com)
will help you twofindrestaurants or other businesses/services nearby (mini golf, bowling,
 Find It Online
whatever your pleasure is) allowing you to search by name or category and by proximity to an
area or address. Most importantly, it allows you to get directions, which you can double-check
at MAPBLAST (www. m a p b l a s t . com, now owned by Microsoft). Nothing kills a first
impression like being late or getting lost.

For a night at the movies, you can search movie listings online at your local paper or use a
regional entertainment guide. There you can read the reviews and find the closest theater with
the best show times. Resources vary by area, but a Washington D.C. area example is
h t t p : / / e g . w a s h i n g t o n p o s t . c o m / s e c t i o n / m o v i e s . Many movie theaters now sell
tickets online, so you can skip the long lines at the box office.

Once you get to the "comfortable" stage with your date, you can plan a quiet dinner with what
you already have in the pantry with recipe searches at Busy Cooks (http : / / b u s y c o o k s .
a b o u t . com and go to Recipe Box), or www. r e c i p e s . com. Enjoy a steady stream of DVDs
by subscribing to NetFlix (www. n e t f l i x . com/Default). Provide them with a list of your
movie requests and you'll receive new DVDs each time you mail back the old ones.

Keep the romance alive by sending flowers and gifts (www. 8 0 0flowers.com,
www, ftd.com, www. thepopcornf a c t o r y . com) and the occasional silly card
( h t t p : / / g r e e t i n g s .yahoo.com or www. f lowgo. com).

And once you know this is forever, learn about the four C's of diamond ring shopping and even
try your virtual hand at ring design at www. adiamondi s f o r e v e r . com. Once she says "I do"
however, expect her to disappear for hours at a time when she logs onto The Knot
(www. t h e k n o t . com) which is the destination site for cyber-sawy brides because it provide a
personalized online checklist, seating chart software, articles, chat rooms, a place to host a
wedding website, a virtual gallery of wedding dresses, bridesmaids dresses and other wedding
attire, and tons more. She will rapidly overtake the bookmarks section of your browser marking
wedding favor places (www. b r i d a l i n k . com), registry sites (www. weddingchan
n e l . com), places to order invitations (www. wedding. o r d e r s . com) and much, much more.
If you are the groom, you should encourage this, however, because otherwise you will have to
go from store to store and vendor to vendor with her, so letting her work it all out online means
you can stay sane and use your weekends for your own activities.

Problem Solving
Many times, when I haven't known where to turn, I've turned to my trusty tool — the Web.
When our cats dug up a neighbor's garden, I found many resources on the Web including tips
at www. g a r d e n f ounda t i o n . com/pet s / p e t s 2 . htm, do-it-yourself methods for keeping
them from climbing fences at www. c o r p o r a t e v i d e o . c o m / k l i p s / d e t a i l s . htm,
instructions for building a kitty kennel at www. j u s t 4 c a t s . com, and the solution I finally
went with, Cat Fence-In at www.catfencein.com. There are tons of resources for just about
 Creative Uses of the Internet

every kind of pet and every kind of pet crisis. Need a company that specializes in ground
transportation of pets? Try www, feather sandfurvanlines . com.
Unexpected babysitting duty for a friend? Thank goodness for coloring pages printed from the
Web, which you canfindthrough this coloring book search engine
http://ivyjoy.com/coloring/search.html.
When I suddenly broke out in a mysterious rash at the office, I quickly ruled out the possibility
of it being anthrax orricinby going to the Centers for Disease Control: www. cdc . gov. I also
discovered it was a case of stress-induced hives by visiting the Skin Rash Flowchart at
http://familydoctor.org/flowcharts/545.html.
When an out-of-state meeting ran long, the fact that I had downloaded the airline's flight
schedulefromthe Internet to my Palm Pilot proved to be a time saver. In a matter of minutes,
I was able to call and switch my tickets to the exact flight I wanted.
I am convinced there are few everyday problems that cannot be solved via the Web.

Ultimate Entertainer
Since I am often asked by friends and families to plan and organize parties for milestone
events, I've found so many helpful resources on the Web. I have found baby shower games
(www. df c r e a t i o n s . com/BabyShower. html), guidelines for age-appropriate parties for
kids (www. parenting. com, www. parents . com, www. amazingmoms . com), and for a
real party twist, found a How To Host a Murder party kit (www. mystery-games . com/w
ooden-horse/murmyspar. html). It is easier to shop online for party decorations and
goodies than runningfromstore to store, and the selection is much better. Afrequentstop is
Birthday Express (www. birthdayexpress . com) and for the murder party, I found several
things at Marshal Moody (www. marshalmoody. com/5Os . asp).

Home I s Not Just a Browser Button

Get a taste for what kind of home your money will buy in a particular area by looking online at
www. r e a l t o r . com. You can search by zip code, by area, or, if you want to know more about
a specific house, by MLS listing. You put in some parameters and get back prices and listings
of homes in that area, usually with pictures and detailed square footage information, perhaps
even a 360 degree "virtual home tour." Before you shop for a mortgage, be sure to check your
FICO score — the credit score most lenders use to calculate your creditworthiness — at
www.myfico.com. Comparison shop for mortgages with online services such as eLoan
(www. eloan. com), or your bank or credit union may have an online application. You can
practicallyfinda new home without, well, leaving home!
Once you have found the home, there are a ton of packing and moving resources, including a
Relocation Wizard (www.homefair.com/homefair/wizard) that allows you to plug in a
 Find It Online
moving date and other factors (kids, pets, etc.) and spits out a prioritized and dated task list for
planning and executing a move. Once you have settled in, find organization and decorating tips
at Organized Home (www. organizedhome. com) and maintenance tips such as how to fix
your toilet at sites like Toiletology (www. t o i l e t o l o g y . com/index. shtml).

Thoughtfulness at the Click of a Mouse

Online registries and wish lists (one of the best is at www. amazon. com) make gift buying
easier for both the buyer and the recipient — no more chartreuse turtlenecks from Aunt Hilda.
With family and friends spread out around the nation, I love online shopping sites for the
simple fact that I can shop at any time of day or night, and they will gift wrap and ship it
overnight. I can buy a gift at the last second. With its partnerships with companies such as Toys
'R Us, Amazon.com is popular as a one-stop shopping center for gifts for people of all ages.
For collectibles and other quirky gifts, Ebay's auction site (www. e b a y . com) is a great place to
find just about anything. Often the items are new and in the original box. For the person who
has everything, a Super Certificate allows you to buy one gift certificate that is good at
hundreds of stores and websites (www. g i f t c e r t i f i c a t e s . com). For a gift of luxury, do
not miss SpaFinders (www. s p a f i n d e r s . com) where you can either find a spa service or buy
a gift certificate good at spas around the world. Catalog shopping has never been easier thanks
to a variety of catalogs online including Solutions (www.solutionscatalog.com) and
gourmet shop Harry and David (www. h a r r y a n d d a v i d . com).

Keeping In Touch
This is not site-specific, but it shows you how the Web can bring far-flung family members
closer. My father used to joke that I was the hub of a communications network — the Newby
Network — and that I could hear and disseminate family news in a matter of hours. Thanks to
the Internet, now it takes seconds. Literally every member of my family has an email address,
including the infants and the elders. Most even have their own websites. All of us have Instant
Messaging accounts through AOL. So, when my sister went into labor, my mother in Florida
called my father in California who, unable to find me by phone, IM'ed me, so I could IM my
then-fiancé Jeff, who IM'ed his family in Florida, while at the same time my father IM'ed my
aunts, uncle, and grandparents. When we decided to call the hospital, I looked it up online,
found out the room extension, talked to my sister to get the details (a boy, seven pounds, nine
ounces, healthy, 20 inches long), and was able to broadcast this news in real time to all my
anxiously awaiting relatives. The IMs were chiming loudly on my screen while I talked to her,
and I was able to answer their questions: Does he have hair? Eye color? How is the father
holding up? It did not take long for the proud daddy to upload digital photos to the new baby's
website.

When we see photos on the website we like, we can easily move them over to Shutterfly
(www. s h u t t e r f l y . com) which allows you to order dye-sublimation ("real" photo prints)
 Creative Uses of the Internet

copies of digital photos. You can also try Ofoto.com at www.ofoto.com. I made the proud
parents a brag book of their baby, and copies for all the grandparents.
m
If you want your family to be able to peek into your life, but do not have the skills or desire to
maintain your own website or web log, you may want to look into a no-programming-skills-
required online diary site at http : / / d i a r y l a n d . com.

Plan Your Life

Yes, you can find tools for just about every stage of life. Many are positively silly, like the love
calculators at www. l o v e t e s t . com, some claim to be based on proven methods, like the
Chinese baby gender calendars at www, thelaborof love. com/chart, and others are tools
for serious topics like the online funeral planner at www. funeralplan. com/funeral
plan/preneed/personalplan. html. There truly is a checklist for everything, and you
can find just about all of them at www.checklists.com.
~ J.J. Newby is a former television journalist and has spent the past seven years as a ghostwriter and consultant
to Silicon Valley executives as well as a self-professed web addict. Email: j jnewby@aol. com

More Creative Uses of the Internet

As the Internet matures, more and more creative uses of the 'Net develop.
Using online phone books and people-finding tools, refugees all over the world use the Internet to
reconnect their families. In Kosovo, relief volunteers set up websites and distributed pamphlets to
help reunite families who were separated during the fighting. In the Middle East, displaced
Palestinians in refugee camps are able to use the Internet to communicate with family members.
Free speech and Internet usage is a difficult problem in some parts of the world. In China, despite
government opposition, anti-government dissidents have used the Internet to spread their
message. This has prompted the Chinese government to order Internet service providers to screen
private emails for political content. The Chinese government suggests it will hold the companies
responsible for subversive postings on their own websites.
The Internet has also served to bring a sense of community to expatriates living far away from
their homelands.
Great innovations have been made because of the wireless capability of the Internet - especially
for the military and law enforcement. In the war on terrorism in Afghanistan, the U.S. military
used handheld wireless computers to let soldiers know instantly where they were, where they
needed to go, and where the enemy might be. Using orbiting satellites, soldiers view three-
dimensional digital landscape maps that give them a precise overview of the battlefield.
When American troops conducted a night raid that led to the capture of Saddam Hussein in
December, 2003, digital technology allowed vehicles to be seen onscreen at a tactical operations
center - a mini war room - where Army commanders watched every move from miles away.
 Find It Online
o
Crime fighting has taken on new dimensions because of technology. Many U.S. and British towns
have video cameras around busy downtowns and intersections to monitor crime. Most American
police officers' vehicles are wired with sophisticated computers allowing the officer to quickly
check a suspect's background.
Early in 2004, a seventeen-year-old California boy found his own picture on a missing children's
website and discovered that he was allegedly abducted from Canada fourteen years ago by the
woman that he believed was his mother.
The Internet's increased usage and the huge surge in the popularity of chat groups, particularly
among teenagers, has led to great concern about the access sexual predators have to children. So,
law enforcement and even vigilante groups have worked to catch these people, and state
governments in the U.S. now post websites with lists of convicted sexual offenders and their
addresses to warn communities.
In the United States, possessing photographs of a child engaging in a sex act is illegal, as is
sending such photos over the Internet or downloading them onto a computer. So officers pretend
to be teenage girls, chatting online with suspects and then luring them to a public place where an
arrest can be made. Some law enforcement agencies have aggressively pursued this kind of
internet policing, while others have gone so far as to arrest anti-porn vigilantes.
Real estate is another industry that has dramatically changed as a result of the Internet.
At least in the U.S., the Internet has become a great time saver in buying a house or shopping for
a place to live. Estimates are that sixty percent of U.S. homebuyers used the Internet to shop for a
house and most of them used it to find information about specific areas and neighborhoods. A
few years ago, the head of a realtors group pronounced the Internet as a major "threat" to realtors.
When the Internet generated more business, they changed their opinion. Most realtors use the
Internet to "show" houses. This helps cut down the number of actual house visits a realtor makes,
giving them more time for other aspects of their business.
Paper blueprints are on their way out in the construction industry as are fax machines, replaced by
handheld devices complete with wireless modems and mapping software. Several of the biggest
construction companies are using linked websites, making it easier for contractors, builders, and
subcontractors to collaborate on everything from design and engineering, to management, to
buying materials, posting schedules and bidding for jobs.
While the Internet's use is now widely accepted in real estate, the medical field has been slow to
endorse the inevitable changes. Now, physicians are starting to use handheld computers to assist
them in various procedures — writing prescriptions, keeping track of billable hours, checking
drug interactions, measuring appropriate doses and identifying side effects. The wireless
computers have also prevented some pharmacies from accidentally giving patients the wrong
medicine.
 Creative Uses of the Internet
o
Dozens of companies have transformed travel arrangements by setting up websites for electronic
ticketing, discounted airfares, and registration for hotels. Pre-select your meals, too. Even more
changes are envisioned for the travel industry in the near future.
More and more airports have kiosks that provide travelers with easy Internet access, but soon
internet-enabled technologies will appear throughout the airports. Alaska Airlines. Southwest
Airlines, Midwest Express Airlines, and American Airlines, among others, let customers print
boarding passes from their personal computers. Airlines can also scan in driver's licenses and link
them to boarding passes via a bar code, allowing the gate agent to identify the passenger without
the traveler having to reach into their pocket for ID. In the future, digitalfingerprintingand eye
scan technology may be added for identification purposes.
With people turning to the Internet to find the perfect sofa or even a car, then why not online
therapists? To the excitement and alarm of some experts in the field, new mental health websites
are offering the type of counseling once available only in the intimacy of a therapist's office.
Several allow you to email your therapist for guidance and advice, for a fee.
Farmers across the world have also seen major changes in the way they do business, shopping for
the best deals on machinery and supplies, especially chemicals to kill bugs and weeds. Also
farmers are exploring the Internet to find the best prices for their crops. In China, over 30,000
farmers in the coastal city of Ningbo peddle their plums, peaches, and peacocks on the Internet.
According to the People's Daily newspaper, the Ningbo farmers praise the Internet, a medium
they call "a bridge" that leads the farmers "to fortune." Chinese officials say the farmers are
selling their produce to more than twenty countries.
Perhaps the most profound changes caused by the Internet have been in how peoplefindjobs.
Not only are dozens of websites collecting resumes, posting job openings, and providing job-
seekers with guidance and advice, but many companies have taken to saving travel money by
using the Internet's video conferencing capability to conduct job interviews online. Target,
Macy's, Home Depot, and other big-name retailers - even the Mirage Resorts Casino - have
replaced paper applications and in-person interviews with computer kiosks for the initial
screening of applicants.

Not All That Glitters I s Gold

Forward-looking Internet experts like John Patrick of IBM predict that one day the Internet may
become a utility - every bit as life changing as electricity. That it will deliver instant information
anytime, anyplace, and will be fast, natural, easy, intelligent and trusted, but, as Patrick notes, the
technical reality keeps pulling that transformation back. The Internet remains in a messy global
build-out stage and people are finding themselves the human guinea pigs for this technology.
But not-quite-there-yet technology is not the only downfall of the Internet. There is the human
impact as well - which is still being studied and measured. Initial academic studies of the
Ql Find It Online

So the long-term impact of the Internet on global society is still undetermined, and most likely
will change along with how our use of the Internet changes.
One clear area where the Internet has proven to have negative consequences is in the area of
privacy. What follows here will begin to explain the unseen information caching aspect of the
business that is the Internet. Also, Chapter 14 illuminates privacy and protection issues, and what
you can do to protect your best interests.

When Private Information Becomes Public

There is no doubt, the Internet is changing our lives in significant ways, but at what price? The
ease with which information can move around in the digital age means more information is
shared and disseminated than ever before - and that includes information you do not want
everyone in the world (literally!) having access to.
From the skeptic's viewpoint, the Internet's future is closing in on us. It is a future in which every
detail of our lives is noted, stored and, more often than not, sold to marketers and advertisers,
conscientious service-providers and con-artists alike.
If you feel vulnerable, you should. Your privacy is being violated on a daily basis by the
companies you buy from and the organizations you interact with. They may be recording
information about you on their computers.
If you think you can avoid the online world, you are sadly mistaken. Like it or not, the online
world has already found you. Chapter 14 will open your eyes to how the Internet affects your life.

Data Mining
The process of harvesting information, referred to as "data mining," is a huge, booming business.
When you register your pet, your house, or your car, pay your taxes, use a credit card, send in a
warranty, subscribe to a magazine or conduct any of the hundreds of activities that comprise
normal life, you leave behind information about yourself. In recent years, the quality and detail of
information about our lives has skyrocketed.
In the old days - what we can call "B.C." for "before computers" - credit card bureaus and junk
mailers collected information about people from the purchases they made and the warranty cards
they mailed in, but the companies had to record the information by hand, and cross-referencing of
the material was an inaccurate and unwieldy process. They were able to target market groups by
gender, age, ethnicity, neighborhood and so on, but with nowhere near the precision they do now.
 Creative Uses of the Internet

•a
Magazines sell their subscription lists to direct marketers, too. Increasingly, so do other
institutions such as schools, churches, banks, insurance companies, and mail order companies.
They do it mostly without your knowledge and, in some cases, contrary to your consent. To these
companies, information about their customers belongs to them, not you. They consider the money
they make from selling the information to be part of their profit stream.
Businesses are not immune to the same kind of targeting. There is such interest in business
profiles that many companies build extensive databases, company profiles, and reports on
industries and competitors. In addition, companies target specific businesses and follow their
every movement to get new sales leads, and scour publications and all kinds of information to get
a jump on a trend or to stay a step ahead of the competition.
Three of the leading U.S. data mining companies - Metromail, (now Experian), First Data
Corporation, and Acxiom - control huge databases with demographic, geodemographic,
psychographic and behavioral information. First Data claims to maintain a database of more than
160 million individuals, and ten million U.S.-based businesses. Metromail Corporation claims to
sell data on ninety-five percent of U.S. households.
This data includes our birth dates, how often we travel, what we buy, prescriptions we use and
whom we telephone. In the U.S., some companies also gather, store and sell Social Security
Numbers - numbers that uniquely identify every U.S. citizen and are essentially the golden key to
a cache of private information. The major U.S. credit bureaus - Experian, Equifax, and Trans
Union - maintain databases with information about people's jobs, income, bank accounts, credit
limits and most significantly, credit card transactions.

Online Technology:
Picking Up Where Direct Marketing Leaves Off
Direct marketers who buy wholesale or custom-made databases from credit card companies and
other sources use the information to develop more product marketing and targeting strategies.
You know those telemarketing calls that keep your home phone ringing off the hook? Guess how
they got your name, number, and buying habits? Right. Read on.
There is one big difference between traditional direct mail and the Internet. Internet target
marketing starts where direct mail ends. Online technology enables almost anyone to access
information contained in one or more databases and combine them in a nanosecond. This allows
the marketers and their clients to zero in on your specific interests.
In fact, some of the largest commercial sites on the Internet have agreed to feed information about
their customers' reading, shopping and entertainment habits into a system developed by Engage
Technologies of Massachusetts. Engage is already tracking the moves of more than thirty million
Internet users, recording where they go and what they read - often without the user's knowledge.
 Find It Online

•a
Not surprisingly, this technology disturbs privacy-rights advocates who worry about the
increasing ability of online companies to collect and store personal data.
Example: A cat food company wants to introduce a new line of gourmet food products. Using
traditional direct marketing techniques, they could contact a data miner and purchase lists
of people who precisely fit their target profiles. The data would include home addresses,
phone numbers, the names of their pets and contact information for the nearest pet store to
their homes.
They could also purchase lists of cat owners and people who buy cat products from
supermarkets and pets store companies. Using the Internet, they could purchase lists of
email addresses of people who visit cat-related websites or those who use cat-related
newsgroups and mailing lists. Such discussion groups are in abundance on the Internet.
The cat-related groups include a l t . a n i m a l s . f e l i n e s , a l t . c a t s , and
r e c . p e t . c a t s .misc. (Discussion groups are discussed in Chapter 5, Specialty Tools.)
In addition, there are other discussion groups, called mailing lists, where people subscribe to
receive correspondence about specific subjects. One cat-related group is called the PURRS
mailing list, which dubs itself "a purrfect place for all cats and kittens to chat."
Marketers are only beginning to tap into these groups as sources of information.

How Much I s Too Much, and When?

Some companies advertise their ability to obtain the past and current addresses, phone numbers,
birth dates, driving records, bankruptcy history and other information on just about anyone in the
United States. It is access to these kinds of records that let people make important "public safety"
connections between databases - things like exposing drunk-driving schoolbus drivers and
pinpointing where the unsafe bridges and roads in your community are.
You could be a customer. You could also be a target. You could be both at the same time without
knowing it. That's because the Internet relays information from one computer to the next until it
reaches its destination computer. Anyone who can view your data can grab it, copy it and keep it.
They can do anything they want with it: alter it, sell it, pass it off as someone else's personal
history - you name it.

**hot tip: Most people do not realize that what you thought was a private email between you
and a friend could actually be seen by others along the route. At every step along
the way your information footprint passes across the screens of numerous online
handlers whose staff (permanent, temporary, subcontracted, ex-convicts,
whomever) can read your data — information that you never intended for
unauthorized viewing.
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 Creative Uses of the Internet
IB
The Letter You Will Never Get
By Don Ray

Dear Average Customer:

Just a long-overdue note to say thanks for all the information you gave us yesterday —
information we computerized and are making available to hundreds of other marketers like us.
You are our prime source of information, and income.

In case you weren't paying attention, here is where you dropped loose "information change"
into our little "information piggy bank:"

When you turned on your cellular phone this morning, we noted that you got a late start to
work. We did not sell the information, but we are working on it.

You stopped to get gas and used your electronic credit card to pay for the gas and a quart of oil.
I see you bought that new synthetic oil. We sold that information to the manufacturer. They
said they may send you a coupon for the next one before they sell your address to someone
else. You might want to drop them a thank you note.

Did you miss breakfast again? You stopped at the chain fast-food place and used your ATM
card. You actually had them put mayonnaise on your potato nuggets? We will alert the
condiment manufacturer. They may want to track the rest of your eating habits.

We were wondering if you were running low on cash. Sure enough, you stopped at the ATM
for a $60 withdrawal. Oh, I hope you do not mind, but we notice from the security camera there
that you are a bit overweight. Too much mayonnaise and potatoes? Just kidding. We sent the
information from your bank account to a couple of weight-reduction clinics. We do our best to
keep you in good health.

Hey, thanks for dropping your business card into that fishbowl at the restaurant. Listen, don't
count on getting a free lunch, but we were able to see from your card that you work in retail
sales. At your age, you should be doing better. We took it upon ourselves to give your name
and address to a couple of trade schools. For a minute we thought you might want to go to a
truck driving school, but with your driving record you might be better off as a dental hygienist.

While you were at work, we received that warranty card you mailed last week when you
bought the new DVD player. Thanks for letting us know that you like to play tennis, you enjoy
gardening, and you and your spouse have a combined income of $72,000. We will let the
appropriate people know. There are some telemarketers who will call you tonight to tell you
about some promising stock options.
 Find It Online
o Oh, wait. Tonight's your bowling night. We just got the list from the bowling center. Is your
spouse going to their creative writing class tonight? After using their credit card to buy $115
worth of textbooks, they had better go.

You went to the supermarket on your way home last night. You saved $3.80 by using your
handy Preferred Customer Card, and we were able to learn a lot about your family. You have
been buying disposable diapers for over a year. You were buying the pink brand, with the
protection at the bottom. Now you are buying the blue brand with the protection infront.A
baby boy, eh? I confess, we checked the birth certificates to learn the little tyke's name.
Brandon, eh? Named after your mother's father. How nice.

You know, we really value all the wonderful marketing information you are giving us. We have
visions of tracking you for the next twenty years.

Again, thanks so much to you, your spouse, your kids and Rascal for all you've done for us.

Sincerely,

Your Neighborhood Marketing Folks

p.s.: Forgot to mention that Rascal needs his rabies vaccination before the end of the month.
~ Don Ray is a multimedia investigative journalist and a sought-after speaker in information gathering, privacy
and public records. He has written books on sources of information, interviewing, checking out lawyers and on
document interpretation. His email address is donray@donray. com

Believe it or not, some people do not mind marketing. In fact, the following piece illuminates the
bright side to advertising on the Internet.

Personal Information
from a Marketer's Point of View
ByRobbinZeff
Before you get all worked up and conclude that the use of personal information by marketers is
a bad thing and has no direct benefit to you, consider this:

• When is a quarter-page print ad in a magazine not just filler on a page?

• When is a billboard not just scenic junk?

• When is an ad on the radio not just noise on the airwaves?

The answer: when it is information you want!

 Creative Uses of the Internet
|Q
Having someone know what you like and how you like it can simplify the buying process. I
like it when I go to my favorite coffee shop and Bill behind the counter knows just how I like
my latte and has it ready for me when I get to the front of the line. Bill can do this because I
have been there before. He remembers how I like my latte. Bill also knows that I like scones,
and his recommendation of the day's choice of scones will often result in a sale. This
personalized service makes me feel at home and results in my returning again and again. In
short, it is good business.

Targeting and personalization in advertising on the Internet has the same effect. Through the
sophisticated technological capabilities of the Internet, an advertiser can deliver the right ad to
the right person at the right time. In the example above, when Bill recommends a scone as he
hands me my coffee, he knows that it is the right time to hit me up for an additional purchase.
This strategy works just as well in selling books or CDs. If you are purchasing the latest murder
mystery novel by John Grisham, you might be interested in an ad for a similar page-turner by a
different author. In which case, the ad becomes a source of information.

This is precisely the strategy behind targeting and personalization in Internet advertising: put
the right ad in front of the right person at the right time to increase the relevancy of the ad to
the individual. For the marketer, personal information allows the advertiser to maximize the
efficiency of the advertising and make each ad a piece of relevant information to the consumer.
Targeting like this has been the age-old dream of advertisers. What the Internet brings to the
forefront is the ability to deliver on this promise.

Targeting Based on Content and Context

The first level of targeting in marketing is based on content and context. For example, when
you first read a fashion magazine like Vogue or Glamour, you expect to see fashion ads for
clothing and cosmetics. The content of the magazine is about fashion as are the ads. When you
read the Los Angeles Times, you expect to find ads for businesses in the Los Angeles area.
Moreover, the ads in the Los Angeles Times not only represent business in that geographic area,
but also narrow in on specific interests so that in the automotive section you find ads directly
relating to cars: car dealers, automotive repair, car washes, etc. Likewise, when you watch a
baseball game on television, the commercials reflect the audience demographics so that you see
beer and car ads instead of ads for diapers or back-to-school sales.

Targeting based on content and context is easily achieved on the Web by placing ads on
specific websites and on particular pages within those sites. Search engines do this through
keyword ad placement. For example, an advertiser can buy a specific keyword like "allergy"
and every time that keyword is requested, an ad for its allergy relief medicine appears on the
page. This is only the beginning of the targeting capabilities for internet advertising. (See the
Paid Placement sidebar in Chapter 4, Search Engines.)
 Find It Online

Targeting Based on Analyzing Website Log Files

The next level of targeting information comes from analyzing the log files of websites. Log
files hold all the on-site activity records: who entered the site, what browser was employed, the
user's entrance and exit pages, etc. This information is useful for understanding the traffic and
usage patterns on a site, but it does not provide demographic information. Why? The log file
identifies only the Internet address of the computer that visited the site, not the individual
behind the computer. The only real way to get demographic data on the Web is to ask the user
for this information. Sites gather data through registration forms, subscription forms, contest
registration forms, and the like. The strategy works.

Example: A major newspaper chose to make its online access free to all registered users. Why?
The value of the demographic information provided by the viewers was deemed to be more
valuable than the potential income from subscription fees. Information about the demographic
profile of its readership enabled the newspaper to charge a premium for its ad space.

But, online targeting can do even more. The backbone of direct mail is using databases to target
consumers with specific interests and then exposing them to products that their profile might
find of interest. These databases are built on previous buying patterns, magazine subscriptions,
and even Zip Code analysis. Marketers rent these lists and then send their material to the
targeted lists. Internet marketers compile their own lists in addition to overlaying existing
database information. The result is that soon Internet marketers will be able to do everything
online that traditional direct marketers do by mail, but online targeting can go even further.

The next level of targeting is unique to the technological capabilities of the Internet. Through a
technique called "collaborative filtering," companies are learning the buying preferences of
consenting searchers and then using this information to recommend books, music, and even
movies. The result is that an enabled site can function as an old and trusted sales clerk who
knows your taste in music and movies and, consequently, knows just what to recommend.

Then there is a method of Internet targeting based on actual behavior in which special software
analyzes the user's behavior on the site and then presents ads based on analysis of the user's
behavior during that particular online session. Each user session is unique and the software
does have to store the data. For example, a web searcher who behaves like a thirteen-year-old
girl will receive ads that appeal to thirteen-year-old girls. Later, if that person comes to the site
and acts more like an adult, different ads will be shown.

So, is it a bad thing to have an advertiser know what you like and how you like it?

When the issue of access to personal information is put in this light, the answer for most
consumers is "no." Targeting in advertising is actually a service to the customer. One way or
another, ads will be shown on websites. Personally, I appreciate the fact that when I visit my
favorite websites, I am only shown ads for products and services of interest to me. Likewise, I
like the fact that when I walk into my favorite coffee shop, Bill behind the counter knows just
 Creative Uses of the Internet
El
how I like my latte. My only hope is that someday my computer will be able to brew up a great
latte while I am on the Web.
~ Robbin Zeff is president of the Zeff Group, a research and training firm specializing in Internet advertising
and marketing. She wrote the best-seller Advertising on the Internet and The Nonprofit Guide to the Internet.
Her email address is robbin@zef f . com website is www. z e f f . com

You Can Level the Playing Field!

Before you can regain control of how people may be perusing your information, you must
understand the online landscape. You can protect yourself by using the same technology that
people are using to find information about you. Chapter 14, Privacy & Protection, will show you
how to protect yourself and how you can use the information collected about you or someone else
to your advantage.
It is a matter of understanding the kind of access that you have in a given situation. Examples:

Example 1: You work for a company that solicited and received bids for a large contract.
The lowest bid looks good ... too good. So, you go online and discover some
interesting facts: the low-bidding company incorporated just two years ago, and its
CEO's previous companies were tangled in numerous lawsuits, liens and
bankruptcies. Clearly, the CEO had a habit of changing companies every time he
ran into trouble - and he ran into trouble regularly.
Example 2: You are a divorcée and your alimony checks have been shrinking. You are due
a specified percentage of your ex's income, and something seems amiss. So, you
start digging online and discover through public records that he has remarried and
is in the process of transferring his assets to his new wife. Clearly, his strategy is to
reduce his assets and reduce his alimony payments. You have a right to file a court
appeal, and do, and the court is made aware of his hiding of assets. You fought
back by using public records, which cost you almost nothing to access.

The list of everyday applications is endless. As you read this book you will become familiar with
tools and concepts that enable you to move freely and effectively online. Websites are constantly
changing, but the techniques to master searching on the Internet will continue to work as the
Internet evolves. These techniques enable you to find more recent sites on subjects that interest
you. Chapter 14, Privacy & Protection, lays out a number of ways for protecting your privacy.
H£l Find It Online

Ask the Internet Therapist Integrative Medicine (One Medicine)

www.asktheinternettherapist.com www.onemedicine.com
Feeling a little edgy and need to talk about that problem? Provides balanced information on supplements, vitamins
This site offers counseling through email. and alternative therapies. Provides time-limited access.

Bone Marrow Donors Worldwide Japan In Your Palm.com

www.bmdw.org www.j apaninyourpalm.com
Worldwide links for bone marrow donors. Resource for expatriates who use Palm Pilots.

Butler County Dog License Finder Kdnuggets

www.butlercountyohio.org/auditor/dl sea www.kdnuggets.com
rch.cfm Newsletter for the data mining industry and research site.
You found a lost dog in Butler County, Ohio, and it has a
license tag - go to this site to find out who the owner is! Life Saving Organs & Marrow Requests
www.marrow.org
Care Scout National blood marrow donor program, and more.
www.carescout.com
This site permits you to access some comparative data on Natural Pharmacist
nursing homes by Zip Code or area in the U.S. Fee for www.naturalpharmacist.com
detailed reports. Info on supplements, vitamins, and alternative therapies.

Citadon CW People Going Global

www.citadon.com/products/citadoncw.htm www.peoplegoingglobal.com
Centralized bidding system for online construction Resource for expatriates.
industry.
Rent a Priest
Cybertracker USA www.rentapriest.com
www.natureoutlet.com/cybertracker Allows you to find a priest or religious person to marry
American version of South African cyber tracking tool used you. No, you cannot marry the priest, More than 2,500
to keep track of wild animal habits. priests available.

Destination RX Sacramento Restaurant Inspections

www.destinâtionrx.com www.emd.saccounty.net/eh/emdfoodprotect.htm
A search engine that scours most leading retail drug sites Dining out in Sacramento tonight? First check here.
for the products - prescriptions, OTC, and non-drug items
- and other things to make you feel all better.
Studies with Government Funding
www.clinicaltrials.gov
ExPat Focus Starting place to find where clinical trials are available.
www.expatfocus.com
Resource for expatriates In Europe and around the world.
Therapistfinder
www.therapistfinder.com
ExpatExpert Feeling a little out of sorts and need help? Look here to
www.expatexpert.com locate mental health professionals.
Resource for expatriates.
Traffic School Online
Health Notes www.trafficschoolonline.com
www.healthnotes.com Central clearinghouse for traffic schools online.
Provides balanced information on supplements, vitamins
and alternative therapies Provides time-limited access.
 The Basics ^ ^

Chapter 2

The Basics
Basic Internet Terminology
and Concepts

The Mechanics of The Internet — Browser Software; Making It All Work — Ad

Blocking Software — Everything About Email (Almost) — What Is Spam? — Saving
Your Results — How Does Uploading/Downloading Work? — Identifying File Types
— Field Guide to File Formats — How to Save Files — Virus Protection — Good
Resources About Viruses — Virus Hoaxes — Your Rights and Copyrights —
Downloading Databases and Spreadsheets — Additional Internet Basic Resources

r irst, in this book there will be no talking about "surfing" unless it relates to the beach. There
will be no talk of "cyberspace" or the "information superhighway." These terms have been used
to the point of being meaningless when discussing online research. (Okay, okay; maybe we will
let the information superhighway reference go because it can be a useful metaphor...)
Second, while this book contains thousands of useful sites, the wonder as well as the frustration
of the Internet is that it changes every single day. New sites are added on the Internet at a frantic
pace, and existing sites can disappear without warning. So the focus of this book is not to be the
definitive index of websites, but to get you pointed in the right direction and teach you how to
reason your way through the Internet and find what you are looking for quickly and efficiently.
Finally, a caution: think carefully before you write, send, or post anything on the Internet. Do not
post anything you would not post on, say, a grocery store bulletin board, or as journalists say, do
not say anything you would not want to see attributed to you on page one of the newspaper.
While most of your email discussions will be private, mistakes happen and if you live online by
the public standard - meaning that everything that happens will be broadcast to the masses - your
caution will give you some peace of mind.
This chapter is designed to give anyone - novice or expert - a quick understanding of the basics
of how the Internet works and tips for using it more effectively. The chapter is divided into
subsections and uses the question and answer format to allow more experienced web users to skip
around to only the answers that interest them. Hopefully, this book will become a steady
companion with you as you work your way around the Internet. Feel free to skip around to the
chapters most relevant to your searching needs.
El Find It Online

What I s the Difference Between The World Wide Web

and The Internet?
If you have ever visited New York City, or looked at it on a map, you know that when people talk
about the city, they mean Manhattan Island. As New Yorkers quickly point out, New York City is
actually five boroughs — Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, The Bronx, and Staten Island.
Nonetheless, anytime anyone except a New Yorker talks about New York, they mean Manhattan.
Most people tend to use the words "the Internet ('Net)" and "the World Wide Web (Web)"
interchangeably, but they are not the same. Much like Manhattan is just a part of New York City,
the Web is just the dominant part of the Internet.
The Internet is a set of rules that allows computers to connect and communicate with other
computers easily, a development by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Agency (DARPA) in
1969 as a way for researchers and defense contractors to exchange information.
The World Wide Web (www) was developed in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee, who was a computer
programmer working for CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Berners-Lee
constructed a graphic interface that allowed you to see photos and graphics, hear sounds, and
view videos by simply clicking on a hypertext link.
So the Web is only a part - yes, the dominant part - of the Internet. In most cases, when you look
at your email, technically you are doing it separately from the Web. When you talk in chat rooms,
you can do that without accessing the Web. When you share files, like swapping music or text
files, that too can be done without the Web. All of these things can also be done using the Web,
which is why things get confusing. Again, think of Manhattan Island and realize that the Web is
just a part of a much larger Internet.

What Equipment Do I Need to Start Using the Internet?

First, it helps to understand that "the Internet" is not a singular thing. It is a collection of computers
around the world connected via phone and data lines. There is no single point of entry to the
Internet - it is a crazy quilt of computers and connections.
So to get "on" you need to have a way to reach the other computers. You need a phone number
that can connect you to the Internet, an interface device and software that does the mechanics of
dialing that phone number so that the computer network can understand it, and you need a
password that lets the system know that it is really you who wants to get started on an internet
journey. The phone number and password information are provided in advance to you by your
Internet Service Provider (ISP).
The third thing you need is that interface device that can talk to other computers, and also a device
or software that displays this information so you can see it. Just a couple of years ago, the answer
to "what do you need to get online?" was straightforward: a personal computer, a modem that
hooks into your telephone line, an account with an ISP, and some software. That is still the starting
point for most of us, but now there are many ways to connect your computer to the Internet.
 The Basics

Now, people can access the Internet from dial-up phone lines, dedicated digital high-speed phone
lines, cell phones, and other mobile devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs). So the
answer is a little more complex, but the formula is the same. You still need a device that has a
computer's capabilities, a way to connect to the computer network, plus software such as a web
browser, email client and possibly other software components. Much of this software is preloaded
on your computer (we will use the term "computer" to universally mean whatever device you are
using to connect to the Web) and only requires you to enter a few pieces of information from your
ISP in order to get you up and running.

How Exactly Do Computers "Understand" Each Other?

Computers cannot see, hear, or comprehend - they basically just compute numbers. So everything
on a computer - words, sounds, images - is translated into a series of ones and zeroes so that the
computer can "see" or "hear" what it receives. Telephone lines, however, rely on sounds. So
when you use a modem to connect to the Internet via the telephone line, your computer or device
sends out digital information (ones and zeros) and the modem converts them into special sounds
the phone line can understand. The act of your modem "talking" to another modem is called a
handshake. Once your modem connects to another computer, it can then talk with any other
computer that is also connected.

What I s an ISP?
Because there is no single gatekeeper to the Internet, an internet service provider creates a secure
entry point into one of the many computers that comprise the Internet. They provide accounts for
individuals and companies to access the Internet. These accounts include a unique ID and
password, and a phone number or connection your computer can use to connect to the ISP's main
computer. There are a variety of pricing plans and ways you can connect to the Internet.
Usually your ISP will provide software programs including a web browser, electronic mail or
email program, and sometimes additional software. They also tend to provide customer support
and technical information. Many also offer a wide array of other services including hosting web
pages. Most ISPs will work with the browser and email programs already installed in your
computer, but some internet companies like America Online (AOL) and Microsoft Network
(MSN) provide their own proprietary software to get you online. This includes a way onto the
Internet as well as a range of other online servicesfromnews to travel information, to chat rooms
- available only to their members. AOL, the largest of these online services, has thirty-three
million subscribers.
Internet Service Providers, telephone and cable companies have different methods of charging for
internet access. In the United States, the standard has become unlimited access for between
US$20-$25. High-speed cable unlimited access costs a little bit more, and satellite delivery is
usually more than that. In parts of Europe, Asia, and Latin America, access is charged on a per-
minute basis, so the costs of spending time on the Internet can vary dramatically. As a result, the
way someone researches a subject will change based on their budget. Also, when faced with per-
minute charges, people tend to go where they are familiar instead of exploring new sites.
^3 Find It Online

What Are Internet Protocols? What I s TCP/IP?

Internet jargon is an alphabet soup of acronyms. TCP/IP refers to the method computers use to
communicate via data lines — phone lines, cables, satellites. You probably will not need to know
much about this in order to start your research, but it is helpful to understand when someone starts
talking to you about things like "lost packets."
When computers connect to send information back and forth, they do so using a system in which
the data is sent in chunks of information, known as packets. The packets are numbered and given
an address to the target computer. They are then sent through the Internet to be delivered. On the
receiving end, the target computer grabs up the packets and reassembles them in their original
order. The nice part is when you send something, you do not have to worry about the packets and
how they work. The Internet routes the packets through different routes, allowing the system to
operate efficiently. The receiving computer tests to ensure that all the packets arrive correctly,
and if errors are found, it asks the original computer to send the packet again.
The specification standards by which all these computers send each other information - or "talk"
- are called protocols. There are hundreds of different types of protocols including ones to send
email and ones to copy files from one place to another.
Lots of researchers are able to conduct their business without ever understanding the following
few paragraphs. However, there may come a time when you need to understand the system of
protocols and how they work in order to pass your information around the Internet.
The two most important protocols are the ones that allow data to be transported as packets. They
are called IP or Internet Protocol, which moves the packet data from one place to another, and
TCP or Transmission Control Protocol, which manages the flow of packets and ensures they
arrive without errors. Together they are called TCP/IP.
A few other protocols are important depending on what you are sending. When you are setting up
your domain name, you will use a DNS or Domain Name System, which translates domain names
like c b s . com to IP numbers. FTP is File Transfer Protocol, which allows you to copy entire
files between computers. HTTP is the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, which allows the distribution
of web data through hypertext, the language that gives you the ability to link one site to the next.
POP is the Post Office Protocol, which is needed to get email messages from a mail server. When
you use a POP, you check your email and download the email to your computer before you can
access them. SMTP is Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, which allows you to send messages to a
mail server and finally MIME or Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions, encodes different types
of data so you can send them via email. Other programs that may work instead of using POP are
web mail, IMAP4, and mail forwarding.
 The Basics

IMAP servers, or Internet Message Access Protocol servers, are sometimes used as alternatives to
POP. POP is great when you are using your own computer, because you must download the email
before you can read it. If you travel away from your PC or cannot take your laptop with you,
downloading your messages onto other people's computers can be a big problem later. That is
where IMAP comes in handy. With IMAP, you leave the email on the server, so you can read the
messages at your convenience. They stay on the server until you delete them. That way you can
check them from the office and again from home, or when traveling, before you delete them.
Most ISPs prefer you use a POP server so that they do not have to store your messages.
You can also use web-based email services that allow you to send and receive mail using only
your web browser.
Web mail works through the World Wide Web instead of using a separate email program. The
information rests on a server on the Web, and you never download it to your hard drive. Under
web-based mail, the browser acts as your simple email program. The big advantage of using web
mail services is they tend to be free since you already have the browser, and you can access them
from almost any computer in the world. It also allows those without their own computer to
receive email. It also provides a modest level of privacy or anonymity, allowing you to write
email from your office when you do not want to use your work email address. I strongly
recommended that you get a web-based email address as a backup to any POP-based email
service in case your regular email is not working.
There are a few downsides however to web-based email services. These services can be
extremely slow at times, and are often loaded with advertisements. Even worse, some of these
services put advertisement tags on the bottom of every piece of email so even your recipients will
see the ads. The worst part of this is that they are notorious for being the recipients of spam and
there is almost no way around it. (See the spam section below for more information.)
Mail forwarding is another option. With this type of email, your mail is redirected to wherever
you choose. This allows you to switch Internet Service Providers without losing your regular
email address. This can also be accomplished by setting up what is called an alias.
A few of the better web-based mail services include:
MSN Hotmail Lycos Mail Yahoo! Mail
www.hotmai1.msn.com http://login.mail.lycos.com http://mail.yahoo.com

What I s an I P Address?
When you are connected, your computer will be assigned a unique internet address, called an IP
address. This is the official location of your computer while it is on the Internet and allows other
computers to route information to you. No two computers can use the same IP address
simultaneously. Some ISPs give you a static IP address - your computer will always have the
same address, while others assign a dynamic address to you each time - a different number each
time you log in. The reason for dynamic IP addresses is that there are so many computers
accessing the Web at various times, that eventually it would run out of numbers. Dynamic
addresses allow web users to recycle addresses that are not in use at that particular time. Your
E9 Find It Online

The IP address or IP number is a code made up of a series of numbers separated by dots that
identifies a particular computer on the Internet. Every computer requires one to connect to the
Internet. A web IP address looks like 216 . 1 4 7 . 4 7 . 1 3 4 and if you put h t t p : / / in front of
that particular IP address in the location bar on your browser, you can go to that specific page,
which belongs to a terrific glossary on computer terms by Sharpened.net. Domain names are the
word-based addresses for websites and are usually much easier to remember than the IP address.
A domain name does not become active until it is matched to an IP address. Before you can send
something to someone, your email program must ask your Domain Name Server to convert their
email address to its IP address. This process is called a DNS lookup. Coincidentally, DNS lookup
is a valuable tool forfindingwebsites that are no longer active.
In addition to allowing computers to route information back and forth, IP addresses can be used
as investigative tools. Law enforcement agencies around the world have been able to track
criminals directly to specific computer IP addresses, even dynamic ones. (See the Chapter 14,
Privacy & Protection for more details.)

Who Runs The Internet?

What makes the Internet so disorganized is also one of its great strengths. Nobody runs the
Internet. That is because it is really a collection of many smaller networks, not one giant network.
There are groups that manage parts of the Internet but no one manages it as a whole. It probably
will not make a big difference to you, the user, one way or the other. Without a centralized
system, legislative efforts to regulate the Internet by local or even national governments are
extremely difficult to accomplish. What is permissible in one country can be prohibited in
another. While you may have the ability to express your opinion about another country's rules
and laws, someone from that country may not have that luxury. Information may flow from one
country to another across the Internet, but local governments can enforce their own laws. With
millions of people online from nearly every country in the world, and the Internet's incredible
diversity, it is almost impossible to design laws or guidelines that work worldwide. Fortunately,
as the Internet grew, online etiquette and standards of acceptable behavior have developed.
It is not all chaos. There are some groups that help establish policies for the Internet. ICANN, (the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers at (www. i c a n n . o r g ) coordinates
domain names, while the Internet Society (www. ISOC.org) acts as a clearinghouse for
technical standards. The Internet Engineering Task Force (www. IETF.org) works to establish
Internet protocols and iron out problems. The Web Consortium (W3C) (www.w3c.org) acts as
a forum to discuss specifications, guidelines, tools and software to develop what it calls a
"collective understanding." For more details on the way the Internet is loosely organized, go to
the ICANN website.
On a more practical level, a handful of companies - like Microsoft, America Online, Yahoo!,
Intel, and Cisco have undue influence over how the Internet works simply because these
companies and their products greatly shape the infrastructure of the Internet and therefore, how
we use it.
 The Basics jjjj^j

How Many People Are Online and Who Are They?

That number is constantly changing. The best "educated guesses" are between 709.1 million
(www.emarketer. com) to 945 million (Computer Industry Almanac at www.c-i-a.com). That
is up dramatically from the 605.6 million who were online in 2002. Country-by-country
breakdowns and ethnic makeup are also available from these sources.
Here is a statistical question worth answering: Is the Internet still a male bastion? The answer: if
the U.S. is an indication, the answer is no. In the U.S., women now outnumber men online, and
the rest of the world is not far behind.
To find out the latest numbers on how many people are online and where they are from, here are
some links to sites that follow that information:
Clickz Stats
www.clickz.com/stats/big picture/geographics/article.php/151151
www.clickz.com/stats/big picture/geographies/
Global Reach
www.glreach.com/globstats/index.php3
Nielsen Net/Ratings
www.nielsen-netratings.com

What I s a URL?
A web address is also called a URL or Uniform Resource Locator. Every web page has a unique
URL that can be broken into three parts: the protocol, the domain name, and the file path. While
in the early days many pronounced this "earl," the common pronunciation is to spell it out "u-r-1."

How Do You Read A Web Address (URL)?

How Do Domain Names Work?
Domain names can tell you who the entity is, what kind of entity (company, individual,
government) and sometimes what country they are from.
Let us say we are looking at the following address: www. whitehouse. gov.
The letters before the " : / / " describe the way a browser can get to the resource. The "http : / / "
stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, which is the way the Web moves data around. Following
the colon are two slashes (always forward slashes, never backward slashes). The "www" indicates
23 Find It Online

Some addresses may start out with h t t p s : / / or f t p : / / -these are just different types of
connections, called protocols, to computers on the Web.
At the end of the domain name - after the . (or "dot") - is a two- or three-letter abbreviation that
indicates the top-level domain. This part of the domain tells you the kind of organization the
website you are looking at is, or the country where the host server is located.

.com — refers to a commercial site (most companies use this extension)

.edu — refers to an educational institution
.gov — refers to a government agency in the United States
.mil — refers to a United States military organization
.net — refers to a network (most dot-nets have been reserved for organizations like ISPs)
.Org — refers to a non-profit or non-commercial organization
Beginning in 2001, ICANN, one of the governing organizations of the Internet, approved seven
additional domain names scheduled to be rolled out over time. They are
.biz — refers to any business
.info — refers to any individual or company
.name — refers to any individual
.aero — refers to airlines
.COOp — refers to business cooperatives
. m u s e u m — refers to museums
.pro — refers to business professionals like doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc.
ICANN proposed another round of new domains in early 2004. To find out more, you can visit
the ICANN website (www, icann.org).

What Are HTML Tags and How Do They Work?

Will They Be Around for a Long Time?
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is a set of special codes referred to as "tags," which
instruct a web browser how to display a hypertext document. It is like a collection of styles that
define the different parts of a web page. All HTML documents are written in plain text (ASCII)
format, making them universally readable by different web browsers running on different
computer platforms.
 The Basics

HTML tags consist of a left angle bracket (< or "less than" symbol) followed by the name of the
tag and closed by a right angle bracket (> or "greater than" symbol). Most tags are paired, with a
beginning (or open) and an ending (or close) tag. You can see the HTML coding on your browser
by clicking on "View," then "Source."
HTML coding is what makes the Internet easily readable to crawlers, but HTML has many
weaknesses. So the creative minds behind the Internet have been looking to a newer language to
help move the Internet into its next phase. It is called XML.
As Internet expert John December explains, XML (extensible Markup Language) is a method for
defining structure in documents. The philosophy behind XML is that the information (text,
images, etc.) of a document can be identified through a set of rules. With these rules, a variety of
software applications (like browsers) can interpret, display, or process data in documents.
XML, similar to HTML, was created to specifically address the issue of writing documents for
the Web. As in HTML, XML authors use elements bracketed by open and close tags. Unlike
HTML, XML does not limit you to a fixed set of elements and entities, giving you much more
flexibility and allowing the documents to include context and have structural relationships in your
documents. XML is the next big language.
Using XML, you will be able to define your own elements, which allows you to create a logical
structure in documents. So instead of being locked in by HTML coding, you can add elements
(like an image or a person) to help define structures that are in complex relationship. This
flexibility will ultimately help organize web pages and how they relate to one another. For more
on how this works, see John December's excellent site www. december. com

What Are Those Two-Letter Codes at the End of an Address?

As the Internet is truly a global experience, email addresses and websites outside the United
States often carry a two-letter country codefromIANA, the internet assigned numbers authority.
Here is the comprehensive list of country and territory codes. For updates, visit
www.iana.org/cctld/cctld-whois.htm
ac - Ascension Island .az - Azerbaijan .bv - Bouvet Island
ad - Andorra .ba - Bosnia and Herzegovina .bw - Botswana
ae - United Arab Emirates .bb - Barbados •by - Belarus
af - Afghanistan .bd - Bangladesh .bz - Belize
ag - Antigua and Barbuda .be - Belgium .ca - Canada
ai - Anguilla .bf - Burkina Faso .cc - Cocos (Keeling) Islands
al - Albania .bg - Bulgaria .cd - Congo, Democratic Republic
am - Armenia .bh - Bahrain .cf - Central African Republic
an - Netherlands Antilles .bi - Burundi .eg - Congo, Republic of
ao - Angola •bj - Benin .ch - Switzerland
aq - Antarctica .bm - Bermuda .ci - Cote d'Ivoire
ar - Argentina .bn - Brunei Darussalam .ck - Cook Islands
as - American Samoa .bo - Bolivia .cl - Chile
at - Austria .br - Brazil . cm - Cameroon
au - Australia .bs - Bahamas .en - China
aw - Aruba .bt - Bhutan . C O - Colombia
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
The Project Gutenberg eBook of 1900; or, The
last President
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
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Title: 1900; or, The last President

Author: Ingersoll Lockwood

Release date: October 12, 2019 [eBook #60479]

Most recently updated: October 17, 2024

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1900; OR, THE

LAST PRESIDENT ***
 —1900—
OR,
THE LAST PRESIDENT

BY

INGERSOLL LOCKWOOD,
Of the New York Bar.

Copyright, 1896, by Ingersoll Lockwood.

The Trade Supplied by

THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY,
New York.
 The Chicago Platform assumes, in fact, the form of a
revolutionary propaganda. It embodies a menace of national
disintegration and destruction.
Garret A. Hobart.
 CHAPTER I.

That was a terrible night for the great City of New York—the night
of Tuesday, November 3rd, 1896. The city staggered under the blow
like a huge ocean liner which plunges, full speed, with terrific crash
into a mighty iceberg, and recoils shattered and trembling like an
aspen.
The people were gathered, light-hearted and confident, at the
evening meal, when the news burst upon them. It was like a thunder
bolt out of an azure sky: “Altgeld holds Illinois hard and fast in the
Democratic line. This elects Bryan President of the United States!”
Strange to say, the people in the upper portion of the city made no
movement to rush out of their houses and collect in the public
squares, although the night was clear and beautiful. They sat as if
paralyzed with a nameless dread, and when they conversed it was
with bated breath and throbbing hearts.
In less than half an hour, mounted policemen dashed through the
streets calling out: “Keep within your houses; close your doors and
barricade them. The entire East side is in a state of uproar. Mobs of
vast size are organizing under the lead of Anarchists and Socialists,
and threaten to plunder and despoil the houses of the rich who have
wronged and oppressed them for so many years. Keep within doors.
Extinguish all lights.”
Happily, Governor Morton was in town, and although a deeper
pallor overcame the ashen hue of age as he spoke, yet there was no
tremor in his voice: “Let the Seventh, Twenty-second and Seventy-
first regiments be ordered under arms.” In a few moments hundreds
of messengers could be heard racing through the silent streets,
summoning the members of these regiments to their Armories.
Slowly, but with astonishing nerve and steadiness, the mobs
pushed the police northward, and although the force stood the
onslaught with magnificent courage, yet beaten back, the dark
masses of infuriated beings surged up again with renewed fury and
strength. Will the troops be in time to save the city? was the
whispered inquiry among the knots of police officials who were
directing the movements of their men.
About nine o’clock, with deafening outcries, the mob, like a four-
headed monster breathing fire and flame, raced, tore, burst, raged
into Union Square.
The police force was exhausted, but their front was still like a wall
of stone, save that it was movable. The mob crowded it steadily to the
north, while the air quivered and was rent with mad vociferations of
the victors: “Bryan is elected! Bryan is elected! Our day has come at
last. Down with our oppressors! Death to the rich man! Death to the
gold bugs! Death to the capitalists! Give us back the money you have
ground out of us. Give us back the marrow of our bones which you
have used to grease the wheels of your chariots.”
The police force was now almost helpless. The men still used their
sticks, but the blows were ineffectual, and only served to increase the
rage of the vast hordes now advancing upon Madison Square.
The Fifth Avenue Hotel will be the first to feel the fury of the mob.
Would the troops be in time to save it?
A half cheer, a half cry of joy goes up. It is inarticulate. Men draw a
long breath; women drop upon their knees and strain their eyes; they
can hear something, but they cannot see as yet, for the gas houses
and electric plants had been destroyed by the mob early in the
evening. They preferred to fight in the dark, or by the flames of rich
men’s abodes.
Again a cheer goes up, louder and clearer this time, followed by
cries of “They’re coming, they’re coming.”
Yes, they were coming—the Twenty-second down Broadway, the
Seventh down Madison avenue, both on the double quick.
In a moment or so there were a few bugle calls, and a few spoken
commands rang out clear and sharp; and then the two regiments
stretched across the entire square, literally from wall to wall, in line
of battle. The mob was upon them. Would this slender line of troops,
could it hold such a mighty mass of men in check?
 The answer was a deafening discharge of firearms, a terrific crack,
such as some thunder bolts make when they explode. A wall of fire
blazed across the Square. Again and again it blazed forth. The mob
halted, stood fast, wavered, fell back, advanced again. At that
moment there came a rattle as of huge knives in the distance. It was
the gallant Seventy-first charging up Twenty-third street, and taking
the mob on the flank. They came on like a wall of iron, bristling with
blades of steel.
There were no outcries, no cheers from the regiment. It dealt out
death in silence, save when two bayonets crossed and clashed in
bearing down some doubly-vigorous foe.
As the bells rang out midnight, the last remnants of the mob were
driven to cover, but the wheels of the dead wagons rattled till
daybreak.
And then the aged Governor, in response to the Mayor’s “Thank
God, we’ve saved the city!” made answer:
“Aye, but the Republic——.”
 CHAPTER II.

Great as has been the world’s wonder at the uprising of Mr.

Bryan’s “struggling masses” in the city by the sea, and the narrow
escape of its magnificent homes from fire and brand, yet greater still
was the wonderment when the news was flashed across the land that
Chicago did not stand in need of a single Federal soldier.
“Chicago is mad, but it is the madness of joy. Chicago is in the
hands of a mob, but it is a mob made up of her own people—noisy,
rude and boisterous, the natural exultation of a suddenly
enfranchised class; but bent on no other mischief than glorying over
the villainous and self-seeking souls who have ground the faces of the
poor and turned the pitiless screw of social and political power into
the hearts of the ‘common people’ until its last thread had been
reached, and despair pressed its lupine visage hard against the door
of the laboring man.”
And yet, at this moment when the night air quivered with the mad
vociferations of the “common people,” that the Lord had been good
to them; that the wicked money-changers had been driven from the
temple, that the stony-hearted usurers were beaten at last, that the
“People’s William” was at the helm now, that peace and plenty would
in a few moons come back to the poor man’s cottage, that Silver was
King, aye, King at last, the world still went wondering why red-eyed
anarchy, as she stood in Haymarket Square, with thin arms aloft,
with wild mien and wilder gesticulation, drew no bomb of dynamite
from her bosom, to hurl at the hated minions of the law who were
silent spectators of this delirium of popular joy.
Why was it thus? Look and you shall know why white robed peace
kept step with this turbulent band and turned its thought from red
handed pillage. He was there. The master spirit to hold them in
leash. He, and he alone, had lifted Bryan to his great eminence.
Without these twenty-four electoral votes, Bryan had been doomed,
hopelessly doomed. He, and he alone, held the great Commonwealth
of the West hard and fast in the Democratic line; hence he came as
conqueror, as King-maker, and the very walls of the sky-touching
edifices trembled as he was dragged through the crowded streets by
this orderly mob, and ten times ten thousand of his creatures
bellowed his name and shook their hats aloft in mad exultation:
“You’re our Saviour, you’ve cleaned the Temple of Liberty of its
foul horde of usurers. We salute you. We call you King-maker. Bryan
shall call you Master too. You shall have your reward. You shall stand
behind the throne. Your wisdom shall make us whole. You shall
purge the land of this unlawful crowd of money-lenders. You shall
save the Republic. You are greater than Washington. You’re a better
friend of ours than Lincoln. You’ll do more for us than Grant. We’re
your slaves. We salute you. We thank you. We bless you. Hurrah!
Hurrah! Hurrah!”
But yet this vast throng of tamed monsters, this mighty mob of
momentarily good-natured haters of established order, broke away
from the master’s control for a few brief moments, and dipped their
hands in the enemy’s blood. The deed was swift as it was terrible.
There were but four of them, unarmed, on pleasure bent. At sight of
these men, a thousand throats belched out a deep and awful growl of
hatred. They were brave men, and backed against the wall to die like
brave men, stricken down, beaten, torn, trampled, dragged, it was
quick work. They had faced howling savages in the far West, painted
monsters in human form, but never had they heard such yells leave
the throats of men; and so they died, four brave men, clad in the blue
livery of the Republic, whose only crime was that some months back,
against the solemn protest of the Master, their comrades had set foot
on the soil of the commonwealth, and saved the Metropolis of the
West from the hands of this same mob.
And so Chicago celebrated the election of the new President who
was to free the land from the grasp of the money-lenders, and undo
the bad business of years of unholy union between barterers and
sellers of human toil and the law makers of the land.
Throughout the length and breadth of the South, and beyond the
Great Divide, the news struck hamlet and village like the glad tidings
of a new evangel, almost as potent for human happiness as the
heavenly message of two thousand years ago. Bells rang out in joyful
acclaim, and the very stars trembled at the telling, and the telling
over and over of what had been done for the poor man by his
brethren of the North, and around the blazing pine knots of the
Southern cabin and in front of the mining camp fires of the Far West,
the cry went up: “Silver is King! Silver is King!” Black palms and
white were clasped in this strange love-feast, and the dark skinned
grand child no longer felt the sting of the lash on his sire’s shoulder.
All was peace and good will, for the people were at last victorious
over their enemies who had taxed and tithed them into a very living
death. Now the laborer would not only be worthy of his hire, but it
would be paid to him in a people’s dollar, for the people’s good, and
now the rich man’s coffers would be made to yield up their ill-gotten
gain, and the sun would look upon this broad and fair land, and find
no man without a market for the product of his labors. Henceforth,
the rich man should, as was right and proper, pay a royal sum for the
privilege of his happiness, and take the nation’s taxes on his broad
shoulders, where they belong.
 CHAPTER III.

The pens of many writers would not suffice to describe with

anything like historical fullness and precision, the wild scenes of
excitement which, on the morning after election day, burst forth on
the floors of the various exchanges throughout the Union. The larger
and more important the money centre, the deeper, blacker and
heavier the despair which sank upon them after the violent
ebullitions of protest, defiance and execration had subsided. With
some, it seemed that visions of their swift but sure impoverishment
only served to transform the dark and dismal drama of revolution
and disintegration into a side-splitting farce, and they greeted the
prospective loss of their millions with loud guffaws and indescribable
antics of horseplay and unseemly mirth.
As the day wore on, the news became worse and worse. It was only
too apparent that the House of Representatives of the Fifty-fifth
Congress would be controlled by the combined vote of the Populists
and Free Silver men, while the wild joy with which the entire South
welcomed the election of Bryan and Sewall left little doubt in the
minds of the Northern people that the Southern Senators would, to a
man, range themselves on the Administration side of the great
conflict into which the Republic was soon to be precipitated. Add to
these the twenty Senators of the Free Silver States of the North, and
the new President would have the Congress of the Republic at his
back. There would be nothing to stand between him and the
realization of those schemes which an exuberant fancy, untamed by
the hand of experience, and scornful of the leading-strings of
wisdom, can conjure up.
Did we say nothing? Nay, not so; for the Supreme Court was still
there. And yet Justice Field had come fully up to the eightieth
milestone in the journey of life and Justice Gray was nearly seventy,
while one or two other members of this High Court of Judicature
held to their lives with feeble grasp. Even in due and orderly course
of events, why might there not come vacancies and then?...
In spite of the nameless dread that rested upon so many of our
people, and chilled the very blood of the country’s industries, the
new year ’97 came hopefully, serenely, almost defiantly in. There was
an indescribable something in the air, a spirit of political devil-me-
care, a feeling that the old order had passed away and that the
Republic had entered into the womb of Time and been born again.
This sentiment began to give outward and visible signs of its
existence and growth in the remote agricultural districts of the South
and Far West. They threw aside their working implements, loitered
about, gathered in groups and the words Washington, White House,
Silver, Bryan, Offices, Two for One, the South’s Day, Reign of the
Common People, Taxes, Incomes, Year of Jubilee, Free Coinage,
Wall Street, Altgeld, Tillman, Peffer, Coxey, were whispered in a
mysterious way with head noddings and pursing up of mouths.
As January wore away and February, slipping by, brought Bryan’s
Inauguration nearer and nearer, the groups melted into groups, and
it was only too apparent that from a dozen different points in the
South and North West “Coxey Armies” were forming for an advance
on Washington. In some instances they were well clad and well
provisioned; in others, they were little better than great bands of
hungry and restless men, demoralized by idleness and wrought up to
a strange degree of mental excitement by the extravagant harangues
of their leaders, who were animated with but one thought, namely, to
make use of these vast crowds of Silver Pilgrims, as they called
themselves, to back up their claims for public office.
These crowds of deluded people were well named “Silver
Pilgrims,” for hundreds of them carried in hempen bags, pieces of
silverware, in ninety-nine cases of a hundred, plated stuff of little
value, which unscrupulous dealers and peddlers had palmed off upon
them as sterling, with the promises that once in Washington, the
United States Mint would coin their metal into “Bryan Dollars”
giving “two for one” in payment for it.
While these motley “armies” marched upon the capitol of the
Republic, the railway trains night and day brought vast crowds of
“new men,” politicians of low degree, men out of employment,
drunken and disgruntled mechanics, farmer’s sons, to seek their
fortunes under the Reign of the People, heelers and hangers-on of
ward bosses, old men who had not tasted office for thirty years and
more, all inspired by Mr. Bryan’s declaration that “The American
people are not in favor of life tenure in the Civil Service, that a
permanent office holding class is not in harmony with our
institutions, that a fixed term in appointive offices would open the
public service to a larger number of citizens, without impairing its
efficiency,” all bearing new besoms in their hands or across their
shoulders, each and every one of them supremely confident that in
the distribution of the spoils something would surely fall to his share,
since they were the “Common People” who were so dear to Mr.
Bryan, and who had made him President in the very face of the
prodigious opposition of the rich men, whose coffers had been
thrown wide open all to no purpose, and in spite too of the satanic
and truly devilish power of that hell upon earth known as Wall
Street, which had sweated gold in vain in its desperate efforts to
fasten the chains of trusts and the claws of soulless monsters known
as corporations upon these very “Common People,” soon to march in
triumph before the silver chariot of the young Conqueror from the
West.
 CHAPTER IV.

There had been a strange prophecy put forth by some one, and it
had made its way into the daily journals, and had been laughingly or
seriously commented upon, according to the political tone of the
paper, or the passing humor of the writer, that the 4th of March,
1897, would never dawn upon the American people. There was
something very curious and uncanny about the prediction, and what
actually happened was not qualified to loosen the fearful tension of
public anxiety, for the day literally and truly never dawned upon the
City of Washington, and well deserves its historical name, the
“Dawnless Day.” At six o’clock, the hour of daybreak, such an
impenetrable pall of clouds overhung the city that there came no
signs of day. The gathering crowds could plainly hear the plaintive
cries and lamentations put up in the negro quarters of the city. Not
until nearly nine o’clock did the light cease to “shine in darkness”
and the darkness begin to comprehend it.
But although it was a cheerless gray day, even at high noon, its
heaviness set no weight upon the spirits of the jubilant tens of
thousands which completely filled the city and its public parks, and
ran over into camps and hastily improvised shelters outside the city
limits.
Not until the day previous had the President announced the names
of those selected for his Cabinet. The South and Far West were fairly
beside themselves with joy, for there had been from their standpoint
ugly rumors abroad for several days. It had even been hinted that
Bryan had surrendered to the “money-changers,” and that the
selection of his constitutional advisers would prove him recreant to
the glorious cause of popular government, and that the Reign of the
Common People would remain but a dream of the “struggling
masses.”
 But these apprehensions were short lived. The young President
stood firm and fast on the platform of the parties which had raised
him to his proud eminence. And what better proof of his thorough
belief in himself and in his mission could he have given than the
following:
Secretary of State—William M. Stewart, of Nevada.
Secretary of Treasury—Richard P. Bland, of Missouri.
Secretary of War—John P. Altgeld, of Illinois.
Attorney General—Roger Q. Mills, of Texas.
Postmaster General—Henry George, of New York.
Secretary Navy—John Gary Evans, of South Carolina.
Secretary Interior—William A. Peffer, of Kansas.
Secretary Agriculture—Lafe Pence, of Colorado.
The first thing that flashed across the minds of many upon
glancing over this list of names was the omission therefrom of
Tillman’s. What did it mean? Could the young President have
quarreled with his best friend, his most powerful coadjutor? But the
wiser ones only shook their heads and made answer that it was
Tillman’s hand that filled the blank for Secretary of the Navy, left
there by the new ruler after the people’s own heart. Evans was but a
creation of this great Commoner of the South, an image graven with
his hands.
The inaugural address was not a disappointment to those who had
come to hear it. It was like the man who delivered it—bold,
outspoken, unmistakable in its terms, promising much, impatient of
precedent, reckless of result; a double confirmation that this was to
be the Reign of the Common People, that much should be unmade
and much made over, and no matter how the rich man might cry out
in anger or amazement, the nation must march on to the fulfillment
of a higher and nobler mission than the impoverishment and
degradation of the millions for the enrichment and elevation of the
few.
Scarcely had the young President—his large eyes filled with a
strange light, and his smooth, hairless visage radiant as a cloudless
sky, his wife’s arm twined around his, and their hands linked in those
of their children—passed within the lofty portal of the White House,
than he threw himself into a chair, and seizing a sheet of official
paper penned the following order, and directed its immediate
promulgation:

Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C., March 4th, 1897.

Executive Order No. 1.

In order that there may be immediate relief in the terrible financial

depression now weighing upon our beloved country, consequent
upon and resulting from the unlawful combination of capitalists and
money-lenders both in this Republic and in England, and that the
ruinous and inevitable progress toward a universal gold standard
may be stayed, the President orders and directs the immediate
abandonment of the so-called “gold reserve,” and that on and after
the promulgation of this order, the gold and silver standard of the
Constitution be resumed and strictly maintained in all the business
transactions of the Government.

It was two o’clock in the afternoon when news of this now world-
famous Executive Order was flashed into the great banking centres of
the country. Its effect in Wall street beggars description. On the floor
of the Stock Exchange men yelled and shrieked like painted savages,
and, in their mad struggles, tore and trampled each other. Many
dropped in fainting fits, or fell exhausted from their wild and
senseless efforts to say what none would listen to. Ashen pallor crept
over the faces of some, while the blood threatened to burst the
swollen arteries that spread in purple network over the brows of
others. When silence came at last, it was a silence broken by sobs and
groans. Some wept, while others stood dumb-stricken as if it was all
a bad dream, and they were awaiting the return of their poor
distraught senses to set them right again. Ambulances were hastily
summoned and fainting and exhausted forms were borne through
hushed and whispering masses wedged into Wall street, to be
whirled away uptown to their residences, there to come into full
possession of their senses only to cry out in their anguish that ruin,
black ruin, stared them in the face if this news from Washington
should prove true.
 CHAPTER V.

By proclamation bearing date the 5th day of March 1897, the

President summoned both houses of Congress to convene in
extraordinary session “for the consideration of the general welfare of
the United States, and to take such action as might seem necessary
and expedient to them on certain measures which he should
recommend to their consideration, measures of vital import to the
welfare and happiness of the people, if not to the very existence of
the Union and the continuance of their enjoyment of the liberties
achieved by the fathers of the Republic.”
While awaiting the day set for the coming together of the Congress,
the “Great Friend of the Common People” came suddenly face to face
with the first serious business of his Administration. Fifty thousand
people tramped the streets of Washington without bread or shelter.
Many had come in quest of office, lured on by the solemn
pronouncement of their candidate that there should be at once a
clean sweep of these barnacles of the ship of State and so complete
had been their confidence in their glorious young captain, that they
had literally failed to provide themselves with either “purse or script
or shoes,” and now stood hungry and footsore at his gate, begging for
a crust of bread. But most of those making up this vast multitude
were “the unarmed warriors of peaceful armies” like the one once led
by the redoubtable Coxey, decoyed from farm and hamlet and
plantation by some nameless longing to “go forth” to stand in the
presence of this new Savior of Society, whose advent to power was to
bring them “double pay” for all their toil. While on the march all had
gone well, for their brethren had opened their hearts and their
houses as these “unarmed warriors” had marched with flying
banners and loud huzzas through the various towns on the route.
 But now the holiday was over, they were far from their homes, they
were in danger of perishing from hunger. What was to be done?
“They are our people,” said the President, “their love of country has
undone them; the nation must not let them suffer, for they are its
hope and its shield in the hour of war, and its glory and its refuge in
times of peace. They are the common people for whose benefit this
Republic was established. The Kings of the earth may desert them; I
never shall.” The Secretary of War was directed to establish camps in
the parks and suburbs of the city and to issue rations and blankets to
these luckless wanderers until the Government could provide for
their transportation back to their homes.
On Monday, March 15th, the President received the usual
notification from both houses of Congress, that they had organized
and were ready for the consideration of such measures as he might
choose to recommend for their action.
The first act to pass both houses and receive the signature of the
President, was an Act repealing the Act of 1873, and opening the
mints of the United States to the free coinage of silver at the ratio of
sixteen to one, with gold, and establishing branch mints in the cities
of Denver, Omaha, Chicago, Kansas City, Spokane, Los Angeles,
Charleston and Mobile.
The announcement that reparation had thus been made to the
people for the “Crime of 1873” was received with loud cheering on
the floors and in the galleries of both houses.
And the Great North heard these cheers and trembled.
The next measure of great public import brought before the House
was an act to provide additional revenue by levying a tax upon the
incomes, substantially on the lines laid down by the legislation of
1894. The Republican Senators strove to make some show of
resistance to this measure, but so solid were the administration
ranks, that they only succeeded in delaying it for a few weeks. This
first skirmish with the enemy, however, brought the President and
his followers to a realizing sense that not only must the Senate be
shorn of its power to block the “new movement of regeneration and
reform” by the adoption of rules cutting off prolonged debate, but
that the “new dispensation” must at once proceed to increase its
senatorial representation, for who could tell what moment some one
of the Northern Silver States might not slip away from its allegiance
to the “Friend of the Common People.”
The introduction of a bill repealing the various Civil Service acts
passed for the alleged purpose of “regulating and improving the Civil
Service of the United States,” and of another repealing the various
acts establishing National Banks, and substituting United States
notes for all national bank notes based upon interest bearing bonds,
opened the eyes of the Republican opposition to the fact that the
President and his party were possessed of the courage of their
convictions, and were determined, come good report or evil report,
to wipe all conflicting legislation from the statute books. The battle in
the Senate now took on a spirit of extreme acrimony; scenes not
witnessed since the days of Slavery, were of daily occurrence on the
floors of both the House and the Senate. Threats of secession came
openly from the North only to be met with the jeers and laughter of
the silver and populist members. “We’re in the saddle at last,”
exclaimed a Southern member, “and we intend to ride on to victory!”
The introduction of bills for the admission of New Mexico and
Arizona, and for the division of Texas into two States to be called
East Texas and West Texas, although each of these measures was
strictly within the letter of the Constitution, fell among the members
of the Republican opposition like a torch in a house of tinder. There
was fire at once, and the blaze of party spirit leapt to such dangerous
heights that the whole nation looked on in consternation. Was the
Union about to go up in a great conflagration and leave behind it but
the ashes and charred pedestals of its greatness?
“We are the people” wrote the President in lines of dignity and
calmness. “We are the people and what we do, we do under the holy
sanction of law, and there is no one so powerful or so bold as to dare
to say we do not do well in lifting off the nation’s shoulders the
grievous and unlawful burdens which preceding Congresses have
placed upon them.”
And so the “Long Session” of the fifty-fifth Congress was entered
upon, fated to last through summer heat and autumn chill, and until
winter came again and the Constitution itself set limits to its lasting.
And when that day came, and its speaker, amid a wild tumult of
cheers, arose to declare it ended not by their will, but by the law of
the land, he said: “The glorious revolution is in its brightest bud.
Since the President called upon us to convene in last March, we have
with the strong blade of public indignation, and with a full sense of
our responsibility, erased from the statute books the marks of our
country’s shame and our people’s subjugation. Liberty can not die.
There remains much to be done in the way of building up. Let us take
heart and push on. On Monday, the regular session of this Congress
will begin. We must greet our loved ones from the distance. We have
no time to go home and embrace them.”
 CHAPTER VI.

When a Republican member of the House arose to move the usual

adjournment for the holidays, there was a storm of hisses and cries
of “No, no!”
Said the leader of the House, amid deafening plaudits: “We are the
servants of the people. Our work is not yet complete. There must be
no play for us while coal barons stand with their feet on the ashes of
the poor man’s hearthstone, and weeds and thorns cumber the fields
of the farmer for lack of money to buy seed and implements. There
must be no play for us while railway magnates press from the
pockets of the laboring man six and eight per cent. return on thrice
watered stocks, and rapacious landlords, enriched by inheritance,
grind the faces of the poor. There must be no play for us while
enemies of the human kind are, by means of trust and combination
and ‘corners,’ engaged in drawing their unholy millions from the very
life-blood of the nation, paralyzing its best efforts and setting the
blight of intemperance and indifference upon it, by making life but
one long struggle for existence, without a gleam of rest and comfort
in old age. No, Mr. Speaker, we must not adjourn, but by our efforts
in these halls of legislation let the nation know that we are at work
for its emancipation, and by these means let the monopolists and
money-changers be brought to a realizing sense that the Reign of the
Common People has really been entered upon, and then the bells will
ring out a happier, gladder New Year than has ever dawned upon this
Republic.”
The opposition fairly quailed before the vigor and earnestness of
the “new dispensation.” There were soon before the House and
pressed well on toward final passage a number of important
measures calculated to awaken an intense feeling of enthusiasm
among the working classes. Among these was an Act establishing a
Loan Commission for the loaning of certain moneys of the United
States to Farmers and Planters without interest; an Act for the
establishment of a permanent Department of Public Works, its head
to be styled Secretary of Public Works, rank as a cabinet officer, and
supervise the expenditure of all public moneys for the construction of
public buildings and the improvement of rivers and harbors; an Act
making it a felony, punishable with imprisonment for life, for any
citizen or combination of citizens to enter into any trust or
agreement to stifle, suppress or in any way interfere with full, open
and fair competition in trade and manufacture among the States, or
to make use of any inter-State railroads, waterways or canals for the
transportation of any food products or goods, wares or merchandise
which may have been “cornered,” stored or withheld with a view to
enhance the value thereof; and, most important of all, a preliminary
Act having for its object the appointment of Commissioners for the
purchase by the Federal Government of all inter-State railway and
telegraph lines, and in the meantime the strict regulation of all fares
and charges by a Government Commission, from whose established
schedules there shall be no appeal.
On Washington’s Birthday the President issued an Address of
Congratulation to the People of the United States, from which the
following is extracted:
“The malicious prognostications of our political opponents have
proven themselves to be but empty sound and fury. Although not
quite one year has elapsed since I, agreeable to your mandate,
restored to you the money of the Constitution, yet from every section
of our Union comes the glad tidings of renewed activity and
prosperity. The workingman no longer sits cold and hungry beside a
cheerless hearthstone; the farmer has taken heart and resumed
work; the wheels of the factory are in motion again; the shops and
stores of the legitimate dealer and trader are full of bustle and action.
There is content everywhere, save in the counting-room of the
money-changer, for which thank God and the common people of this
Republic. The free coinage of that metal which the Creator, in His
wisdom, stored with so lavish a hand in the subterranean vaults of
our glorious mountain ranges, has proven a rich and manifold
blessing for our people. It is in every sense of the word the ‘people’s
money,’ and already the envious world looks on in amazement that
we have shown our ability to do without ‘foreign cooperation.’ The
Congress of our Republic has been in almost continuous session
since I took my oath of office, and the administration members
deserve your deepest and most heartfelt gratitude. They are rearing
for themselves a monument more lasting than chiseled bronze or
polished monolith. They knew no rest, they asked for no respite from
their labors until, at my earnest request, they adjourned over to join
their fellow citizens in the observance of this sacred anniversary.
“Fellow citizens, remember the bonds which a wicked and selfish
class of usurers and speculators fastened upon you, and on this
anniversary of the birth of the Father of our Country, let us renew
our pledges to undo completely and absolutely their infamous work,
and in public assembly and family circle, let us by new vows confirm
our love of right and justice, so that the great gain may not slip away
from us, but go on increasing so long as the statute books contain a
single trace of the record of our enslavement. As for me, I have but
one ambition, and that is to deserve so well of you that when you
come to write my epitaph, you set beneath my name the single line:
“Here lies a Friend of the Common People.”
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