Group Action Is Best

Chapter Four

The next day, tens of thousands of members of over 5000 regular groups clicked through the latest messages copied to their emails from their groups and opened the pictures. One by one they clicked on a picture that turned out to be nothing about gardening or religion or home repair, but a picture of a naked woman straddling a naked man. She was sucking on the head of his dick and his tongue was buried up in her cunt. The picture opened with the simple caption, "When Net Groups Leaves Our Groups Alone, We'll Leave Your Group Alone." Sam and Rick and Tony and the others sat back and waited to see what happened. 

Almost immediately the various groups were filled with, "Oh My God!" and "How Dare They!" and "Get These Filthy People Out of Here!" missives. In a single day 200 profiles were banned from those groups. That was expected. It also didn't matter since each of the guys had 19 other profiles to use and monitor the groups with. As Sam said, they just sat back for a few days and waited. 

During those few days, Sam sent out a note to the guys. He said he may as well admit that a very special guy had been working with him from the beginning. He wouldn't say much about the guy, except that he actually worked for Net Groups. That was a coup in itself, Sam said, but it turned out this guy worked in that section of Net Groups that did the work of deleting those adult groups they received complaints about. The guy said that he'd had an awful busy couple of days as complaints suddenly flooded the email boxes of their servers. The complaints were about somebody posting porn pictures in their groups, and Net Groups had better get busy and do something about it. 

Sam said the guy told him that his supervisor told everyone in the section to begin actively searching out the adult groups. They were to delete those groups as soon as they came across them. The guy told Sam he really hated doing it, and actually only deleted any groups when his supervisor was looking over his shoulder. 

Sam said he hoped that everyone understood how valuable it is to have a spy right in the thick of things at Net Groups. He said he was planning to keep the guy a secret even from Rick and Tony and the others, but knew they were all too sharp and would see right through him. He also cautioned everyone that after they read his note, they were not to mention this guy again to anyone except each other. Anything that could compromise him was too much. "Just know," Sam wrote, "that we have a strong ally, and I'll let you know how things are progressing not only from our end, but what the big wigs at Net Groups are thinking, too!" 

The next phase of the plan was for everyone who was banned and who therefore lost one email address and profile from Net Groups to create another to replace the lost one. They used this new one to re-join the same groups. Then they used one of their older characters to post a message to the groups saying, "I've read the latest notes. I can't believe this is the kind of a group that allows porn!! I'm unsuscribing and sending a complaint to Net Groups about you people right now!!!!" Then they actually unsubscribed from that group and sent a complaint to NetGroups. After that they started infiltrating new groups.

The next message from Sam told the guys that there hadn't yet been a plea to Net Groups from any one to leave the adult groups alone. So the next day, they all used another of their profiles to post another picture. This one was a little more graphic, but the picture opened with the same message, "When Net Groups Leaves Our Groups Alone - We'll Leave Your Group Alone." Again they all sat back and watched.

Once again the next day there was another mass banning from the groups. This time among the usual shocked messages there were several from the owners of the groups. But all they could do was promise to keep a watch on the posts and not let the porn posts through. On Sam's instructions they all used another profile to send another post the next day with the same caption, but in many of the groups the posts didn't make it. So the owners really were watching like they said they'd do. That wasn't good. But Sam had a "Plan B."

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Chapter Five

Over the next couple of days the guys all sent a video clip to the groups that monitored their posts. When posting a video clip, the poster had a choice of having the group members automatically notified that a clip was posted. The guys chose against it. Since the method of posting to that section was different and largely un-monitored even the owners didn't know a clip was posted. Then the guys used a different profile to send a note to NetGroups complaining that the group was just a front for porn so the group could get around the requirement of listing as an adult group. 

When Rick and Tony got home from school the next day they found that all the groups they had sent a video clip to and complained about were deleted. There was also a cheery note from Sam telling them that NetGroups was inundated with complaints (from guess who?) about the supposedly "clean" groups, and his spy at NetGroups was only too happy to delete them on his own without waiting for his supervisor to tell him to. 

"Don't expect a whole lot from this, guys" Sam warned in his note. "Right now we're just causing some confusion - shaking things up a bit. But we ARE turning some heads both at NetGroups and in the individual "clean" groups. We're letting them know that we are around, that we do have a voice, that we can be just as sneaky as they are, and that we fully intend to do just that. We're starting to put some pressure on the big wigs at NetGroups and we need to keep it up. But at least we can consider this first "salvo" a success."

Rick and Tony felt good about it and decided to celebrate - right on top of their desk. Then they went to fix their dinner and "celebrated" in the kitchen. Then they went to the living room, put a porn video in the VCR, and "celebrated" in front of it rather than watch it. Then they went to their bedroom and...oh hell! You know what they did there!!

The next afternoon Rick got an email from one of his group owner buds who reported that one of the clean groups he had infiltrated had a note posted saying that the management of Net Groups was contacted. Net Groups responded promising to investigate the sudden posting of porn pictures and vid clips into the non adult groups. Rick was concerned and forwarded the information to Sam. There was also still no contact to Net Groups pleading for them to leave the adult groups alone.

"You have to remember," Sam wrote to everyone, "we are dealing with extremely narrow minded people here. They see themselves as the final authority on all things and are loathe to admit that any one else may have an upper hand on any subject. Even when faced with overwhelming evidence these kind of people are still incapable of independant thought, and will not change their mind. Even the management of Net Groups thinks that the mere suggestion of an "investigation" will scare us away. They have convinced themselves that they have that much power (that comes from my "source" at Net Groups). In many ways though; the state and federal legislators support these people because they always wave the flag and the Bible when they talk. They are all of the opinion that their sheer force of numbers will always guarantee that they will have their way. Unfortunately, they do have some reason to be convinced because people who are on our side rarely speak up. That's why they think that all they have to do is say, "Boo!" and we're expected to cower in fear and behave ourselves. As far as sheer numbers go: no one really knows just exactly what those numbers are. The religious people simply assume they are the majority, and not only do they expect all of us to believe them, but they and the law makers carry on based on the assumption that we do believe them. What we're doing right now is showing them that we don't believe them, that we do have a voice, and that we're going to be heard. But it will take some more time because these people literally need a brick to fall on their head before they start thinking on their own. According to my source there is no investigation going on because no one in Net Groups management knows where or how to begin."

So Rick and Tony and all the other guys continued to post pics and vid clips in their groups with the same message over and over again, and joining new groups as the clean groups were deleted. After another month Sam reported that he heard from his spy at Net Groups that they finally started receiving a few emails telling them that if leaving the adult groups alone would keep this "smut" from the clean groups, that maybe Net Groups should do it. But only a few. That was okay, Sam said. It was only a ripple, but ripples are how changes get started. Besides, Sam said, he had a Plan C, and told the guys to hang on until they heard from him again.

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Chapter Six

A couple of weeks later on a Tuesday Sam sent a message to all the guys and told them to forward it through the layers as quickly as possible. As Sam said, Rick and Tony turned on their TV on Thursday evening and found themselves on the news. Sort of.

The news anchor explained what Net Groups was, and showed a few examples of some of the clean groups. She also explained what the adult groups were. Then she reported that a few months ago there was a sudden "onslaught" of pornographic pictures and videos being sent to the clean groups, all with the same message. She then reported that Net Groups would routinely delete the adult groups for supposedly violating Net Groups' Terms of Service, and apparently the adult groups were upset about it. Net Groups, she said, promised that first they would find a way to put a stop to it, and then they would take legal action against who ever was doing it.

After the show they found another email from Sam. He said not to panic - that Net Groups was still grasping at straws and didn't really know what they were going to do, and had no real plans. His source at Net Groups, he said, reported that they weren't doing anything more than they ever did. They still would only delete groups they received specific complaints about, and the number of those types of complaints has stayed constant so far. What he was doing though, was responding to the complaints he was getting from Sam's guys about the porn in the clean groups and happily deleting them!

But still some of the guys were getting worried, including Rick and Tony. A few of the guys dropped out of the whole thing. Sam did his best to calm them down - reminding them that Net Groups was only using psychology on them to try to scare them away. They still had over 180 guys active and they were doing good. Some of the guys reported that a couple of the clean groups they joined gave up and the group owners closed down their own groups. They said they'd rather not have a group at all than have to put up with "that trash" getting through. Regardless of the reason given, the important thing was that those group owners gave up and went away.

A week later Sam sent another note to the guys and once again told them to watch their TV, and that he would meet Rick and Tony in the chat room after the show. "The show," turned out to be "60 Minutes" and the guys were the lead story. Rick and Tony watched it in their bed, with their arms around each other, their mouths hanging open, and their eyes widened.

The story ran for 20 minutes. It explained what Net Groups was, it's history, and what has been happening lately. A few obviously exasperated people were interviewed who owned some clean groups. They basically said they didn't know what was going on, that Net Groups wasn't doing enough to protect them, that they were completely innocent victims, and that somebody should do something. 

Then the scene switched to one of the offices of Net Groups itself. Rick and Tony found themselves feeling a little weird that they were somewhat surprised to see that there really was an actual place where Net Groups operated. The interviewer and the camera crew simply walked into the section where the groups were monitored and deleted and put the department head on the spot. His name was Albert Hartbrook. He was an older man in a wheelchair, and he appeared as exasperated as the others. He explained that simply going through one by one and deleting all the adult groups wasn't such an easy task as everyone thought - there were simply too many of them, and groups that were deleted were re-started under a different name within a few days. Also, he said, as long as the adult groups followed policy and listed themselves as adult groups and took appropriate precautions to deny entry to underage children and to warn everyone that they were in fact an adult group, that deleting all of them under general principles would raise a free speech question and leave Net Groups open to lawsuits: a statement that was confirmed in a later interview with an attorney from the American Civil Liberties Union.

The department head was asked why adult groups were deleted in the first place. He said that when they receive enough complaints about a particular group that they were obligated to take action. And deleting the group was the only logical action to take. He was then asked what type of complaints he had been receiving and he evaded the question, saying only that all complaints were taken seriously. Again he was asked point blank specifically what kind of complaints there were, and again he evaded the question.

The interviewers on that program are aggressive, and they were this time too. Finally the interviewer asked the question that Sam and the guys were hoping for.

"As long as these adult groups abide by the terms of service, i.e. that they list themselves as an adult group, take precautions that only adults were allowed entry, and don't promote those things that are illegal - why don't you just leave them alone?"

"Well," the department head said, "you have to understand, Net Groups is supported by advertisers......"

"Mr. Hartbrook.." the interviewer cut in, "I'm not asking you about advertising. I'm simply asking - if the adult groups abide by the Terms of Service, why don't you simply leave them alone?"

Mr. Hartbrook appeared to be squirming in his wheelchair, "It's not that simple!" he said, "We are a business, and like any business we have to think about our income. Our income comes from our advertisers..."

The interviewer cut in again, "So are the advertisers the ones who are......."

"Let me finish!"

"Do the advertisers dictate the Terms of Service?"

Mr. Hartbrook shook his finger at the interviewer, "I SAID let me finish!!" The interviewer merely nodded. He didn’t care what Hartbrook said - his goal was accomplished. He had Hartbrook frazzled. Frazzled people lie badly. Hartbrook continued. "Our income comes from our advertisers and the people in the groups support the advertisers," Hartbrook said quickly, "We have to listen to them or we might as well just close up shop! Why is that so difficult to understand?"

"Mr. Hartbrook," the interviewer said, obviously trying to be patient, "I'll ask you again. Do the advertisers dictate the Terms of Service to you?"

"No. We wrote our own Terms of Service and they're fairly standard."

"So do all these complaints come from the advertisers?"

Mr. Hartbrook squirmed again, "The complaints are widely varied among several groups of people."

"Well then," the interviewer leaned forward and looked Mr. Hartbrook right in the eye, "Why is it so difficult to answer my question? As long as the adult groups abide by the Terms of Service, why not leave them alone?"

"We have to respond to the complaints! They come from our customers!"

"How do you verify that the complaints are legitimate?"