Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit From: uc006@freenet.victoria.bc.ca (Michael Bakunin) Calgary Herald Feb 2/94 Cyber-Nazis baffle German police BERLIN(AP)- A year-old computer network has become the communications backbone of Germany's Nazi scene, with users sharing ideas on how to rid the country of foreigners, co-ordinate illegal rallies and swap bomb-making recipes. The Thule Network, guarded by passwords and loyalty tests, consists of at least a dozen bulletin boards in three western German states, law-enforcement officials and computer experts said. It is used by Nazis to avoid detection by police. The network's name derives from a German secret society that included many leading Nazis among its membership. With the network's aid, some 500 neo-Nazis formed a convoy that drove into the city of Fulda and rallied unhindered last year. But the Thule Network is much more than a place to look for rides to rallies. Suppose some young Nazis want to put out a newspaper, for example, but lack the know-how. Just plug into Resistance, one of the network's bulletin boards. "A network-connected attorney can check the text, a graphics office can put together the newspaper," the Resistance host says in a digital preamble. The network is also a refuge- where a crowd closely watched by police can disappear into cyberspace. Technologically ahead of most police, network gatekeepers are having considerable success keeping out the law. Not a single one has been prosecuted. "German police don't know much about computers and bulletin boards. It's very new for them," said Uwe Kauss, editor of the Munich-based computer magazine Chip, which has penetrated the network through informants. Chip estimates 1,500 of Germany's more than 40,000 Nazis are active on the network. Along with mobile phones and answering machines, the Thule Network is helping a diverse Nazi scene establish a united front - a phenomenon acknowledged by Germany's government. -- Autonomedia 618-620 View St. Victoria, BC V8W 1J6 Canada email: uc006@freenet.victoria.bc.ca