From dltooley at speakeasy.org Fri May 3 09:55:48 1996 From: dltooley at speakeasy.org (Doug Tooley) Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 09:55:48 -0700 (PDT) Subject: PROTEST: Million Geek March on Washinton (fwd) Message-ID: Are we on the bus? ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 15:21:34 -0700 From: "--Todd Lappin-->" To: telstar at wired.com Subject: PROTEST: Million Geek March on Washinton Salutations! It's been a while since I last sent out a transmission from the CDA Information Network, but things have been relatively slow lately, so rather than jam your mailbox unnecessarily, I've maintained radio silence instead. Nevertheless, there is motion beneath the surface. As some of you may already know, a group of cyber-activists are now organizing a large-scale protest march in Washington D.C. to defend free speech in cyberspace. Formally called the "Electronic Freedom March," (EFM) the event is playfully known as "The Million Geek March." EFM is tentatively scheduled to take place in late September, but nothing is definite yet. In the meantime, the rally organizers are looking for support from Net users at-large. Details follow in the interview with organizer Keith Glass below, and on the EFM Web page at http://march.tico.com/. I'll keep you posted on the progress of the EFM during the weeks ahead, and as always... Work the Network! --Todd Lappin--> Section Editor WIRED Magazine =========================================================== [This is an article from the May 1996 issue of the Web zine "Cause for Alarm." http://www.teleport.com/~richieb/cause. It may be redistributed electronically with this header included.] I contacted Keith Glass about an interview shortly after finding out that he had taken over as head of the Electronic Freedom March. The March, an attempt to influence Washington with a critical mass of geeks, was originally scheduled for June. In his response to my email, Keith said that the March was being rescheduled for late September and that he would make a public announcement soon. His subsequent press release said that, "With the current state of the case against the CDA, ACLU vs. Reno, and several organizational factors, it's been concluded that it would be far more effective to focus the political power of the citizens of the Net closer to the November elections." Keith joined me at Club Wired, after a hard day at work. --- CFA: Thanks for coming, Keith :) Keith G: And thus ends another thrilling day, standing for Truth, Justice, and/or the American Way CFA: Heh. Keith G: Hey, a day at the Pentagon is like... a day in hell, only the cooking is worse. CFA: What do you do there BTW? If it's not classified? ;) Keith G: Nope: I work Pollution Preventions and Standardization issues for the Secretary of the Air Force. I'm a contractor, better known as one of the legendary "Beltway Bandits", although **I** prefer the term "Parkway Patriot"...;-) CFA: :) So, let's talk about the March. The new date is Sept. 29, tentatively? Keith G: Tentatively. I'm checking with the Park Service and the Majority Leaders' office in the next few days, to insure we can get a place... CFA: Where will the speakers be at, if you know? I mean human speakers :) Keith G: That depends on where we can locate. Since I'm trying to combine it with some congressional lobbying, I'd LIKE it to be on the west stairs of the Capitol. But the Ellipse, which we had reserved for the original date, would put us in shouting distance of the White House... CFA: *nod* Keith G: Of course, this thing has grown beyond JUST the CDA. In my opinion, it'll be wastepaper by mid-June. . . but we have to fight for crypto rights, and the ill-informed types who foisted the CDA on us will be back next year. This isn't just one battle... this is the start of a whole new political front. CFA: You're going to involve crypto issues? Keith G: Free speech is free speech. If they ban crypto, then they'd better make damned sure that envelopes are banned, too. Encrypted or clear, free speech is an absolute. CFA: *nod* Keith G: We also need to let the Congress know a few things about the Net: according to a pal of mine at CDT, your average Net user makes over $40K, and votes SIGNIFICANTLY more than not-Net-users. We have money, we have votes... it's time to turn that into power. CFA: So, you're in charge of the whole shebang now? Keith G: Yep. John Wash, who started this, got way too bogged down in work, realized it, and handed it off to me last Monday, April 15th... CFA: For those who missed your announcement, why the new date? Keith G: Well, to be honest, when I looked at what we had set up, AND what the Park Service required of us (i.e. portatpotties, medics, security), I saw we needed a LOT more money and organization than was possible for a bunch of part-time activists to get in the time remaining. Secondly, the CDA trial is going FAR faster than anything we had expected: the verdict will be out by mid-June, and from all reports, the Feds have been unusually incompetent in their arguments. So, I thought we should move as close as we can to the election, to (1) maximize our power, politically, (2) get a MUCH better organization in place, and (3) get out of the summer DC sun. This place is AWFUL in the summer... ;) CFA: :) Keith G: We need to let the Congress know that the Net is NOT all porno fiends, militia types exchanging bomb recipes, and all the other net.myths that seem to abound on Capitol Hill. Also, I'd like to work towards a declaration by Congresscritters that Email will be taken just as seriously as snailmail. Right now, most of the time your Congressional Email gets answered by a Bot... and that's the end of it. My friends on the Hill tell me they read email when all else is done... CFA: What about folks who can't make it to DC? Are you encouraging local events? Keith G: Locally, we'd LIKE to get all the people who CAN'T make it, visit their local Congressman and Senators offices' on the Friday before, or Monday after. And lobby, in person... CFA: Right. Keith G: I've gotten word today of a possible parallel EFM in Seattle. If we can get simultaneous marches in several cities, that'd be great. CFA: What can people do to help? It sounds like there's a lot of work to be done. Keith G: What do we need?? I've got webmasters, organizers, publicity types: I need a financial type, and some fund-raisers. We also need sponsors. We have NONE. We've been given a lot of "Sure we'll support you," but when we ask for $$, all of a sudden it gets real quiet. CFA: *nod* Have you had any reports of folks raising funds on the local level? Keith G: Not as yet. We're attempting to formalize a relationship with an existing non-profit, to use as a tax-deductible funding vehicle. We're also looking at selling T-shirts, and I've been approached with several business offers... CFA: Would you encourage local fund-raising for the March? Keith G: Absolutely. CFA: How did you get involved in net.activism? Keith G: How?? I went to the February 10th protest in Lafayette Park (behind the White House) that Tom Edwards put on. My first protest. The rest, well, it just sort of happened... CFA: :) The Feb. 10 protest was about the CDA? Keith G: Yep. Clinton signed it on Black Thursday, the 8th of February. Tom started the whole thing a few days earlier, and we got several hundred to turn out on fairly short notice. CFA: Are there other things that I, as an average net guy, can do to help? Keith G: Average net.guy... hmm... Well, when we get set up, buy a T-shirt, wear it to your Congresscritter's office. Also one or two particularly crafty ideas that I'm working on, but not ready to unveil yet (legal, non-violent, but potentially VERY politically effective...) CFA: Okay :) Keep us posted. Keith G: Oh, it will be on the web site... which I'm getting re-written... HTML 3.0, frames, Java, hot-and-cold running ASCII. CFA: What's the turnout projected for the March? Keith G: Honestly, I don't know. **MY** original projections for the June rally were between 1 and 10K: John Wash kept saying 20K. If we can set up an organization of college students during the summer and have them recruit aggressively when school starts, we could hit 20K. We're also organizing amongst other communities that are more heavily wired than most: my first appointments were a Gay/Lesbian/Bi coordinator... I hope to get some help from the Pagan community as well... I already have plenty of hookups in Fandom... CFA: Cool :) Getting the word out seems very important now, with the changes... Keith G: Exactly. The Web site is among the top 5% hit, I have done my best to get the word out without overly spamming USENET. I know I'm going to about 15 or so lists... CFA: Jon Lebkowsky said you're doing the Club Wired EF forum? May 30? Keith G: Yep. Jon and I finalized that yesterday. CFA: Great. Keith G: Now, to beat that darned cyber-stagefright CFA: :) What about multimedia stuff? Are there plans for video and/or audio from the March? Keith G: We're talking with NetRadio about a simulcast, one gent also is looking into a video feed, on the level of the Fish-cam. CFA: What about the roster of speakers? Any changes? Keith G: Not as yet.... but we're trying to get some bigger names. If anyone has an, ER, PIPELINE to Bill Gates or Mark Andreessen of Netscape, I'd be glad to chat. I'd like to get Barlow of EFF, maybe even Newt... CFA: Yes, a politician would be good. Maybe Leahy... Keith G: Leahy comes to mind. NOT Gore... unless we could boo him offstage... CFA: Heh. Keith G: I am NOT pleased with the two-facedness of the politicos over this whole thing... ESPECIALLY Clinton's, "It's unconstitutional but..." followed by his letter to Exon. Even if I WASN'T Republican, I couldn't vote for Clinton/Gore due to their utter fecklessness over the CDA CFA: The letter to Exon had me fuming, too. I'm getting tired of settling for the lesser evil... Keith G: Right: vote for the GREATER evil... dread Chthulu in 96 !!! CFA: :) Well, anything else you want to add before I let you get some rest? Keith G: Nothing I can think of... our website is http://www.efm.org, and I'll post announcements to alt.censorship, comp.org.eff.talk, alt.activism, alt.wired, at minimum. CFA: Okay. Thanks for coming to talk :) Keith G: Anytime... --- rich burroughs (april 26, 1996) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMYgTA4T0GKfZRA/9AQH8OwP+NjWJAuYHWRbMdDCVt6Wj6Nh3ZxJIj0lU DUXM8eJKEzI/CdOVGCUHYB7w3cQlCT6q1oNgiuiMGrWsd66WLR12Xmm/Zx1/pme4 egB5SB4Wuc96ZJ89q2qwuHG8V9FBzD2HJxFYLdHdadWMNpj5cM/DV1G1vCvFREz1 cSA5AsbCnuI= =SXzn -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ______________________________________________________________________ Rich Burroughs richieb at teleport.com http://www.teleport.com/~richieb See my Blue Ribbon Page at http://www.teleport.com/~richieb/blueribbon New EF zine "cause for alarm" - http://www.teleport.com/~richieb/cause ### +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+- This transmission was brought to you by.... THE CDA INFORMATION NETWORK The CDA Information Network is a moderated distribution list providing up-to-the-minute bulletins and background on efforts to overturn the Communications Decency Act. To subscribe, send email to with "subscribe cda-bulletin" in the message body. WARNING: This is not a test! WARNING: This is not a drill! +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+- * * * * * * * * * * * * * * From the Listowner * * * * * * * * * * * * . To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to: majordomo at scn.org In the body of the message, type: unsubscribe scn END From comnets at u.washington.edu Fri May 10 14:19:57 1996 From: comnets at u.washington.edu (Douglas Schuler) Date: Fri, 10 May 96 14:19:57 -0700 Subject: Doug in the AOL "Auditorium" - Sunday at 7:00 PST Message-ID: <9605102119.AA03956@saul6.u.washington.edu> Just wanted you AOL subscribers out to know that I'll be talking about my book in the "auditorium" at 10:00 EST on Sunday. You might find it interesting. I might too! Reminds me I better log in and see if I can find my way there... Thanks! -- Doug * * * * * * * * * * * * * * From the Listowner * * * * * * * * * * * * . To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to: majordomo at scn.org In the body of the message, type: unsubscribe scn END From dltooley at speakeasy.org Mon May 27 12:49:28 1996 From: dltooley at speakeasy.org (Doug Tooley) Date: Mon, 27 May 1996 12:49:28 -0700 (PDT) Subject: Viva Internet! Message-ID: FYI: Peruvians Climb Onto the Web (PC Optional) By CALVIN SIMS LIMA, Peru -- Jessy Contreras, 23, a cosmetology student, had long dreamed of logging on to the Internet to view the latest fashion and beauty trends from Paris that she hoped to use in a start-up salon. But in a poor country like Peru, where the average income is less than $300 a month and few people have a telephone -- let alone a computer with a modem -- Ms. Contreras figured she could not afford access to the information superhighway. That was until Ms. Contreras joined the Peruvian Scientific Network, a not-for-profit cooperative. For $15 a month the organization provides public access not only to the Internet but also to a bank of computers and classes on how to navigate the network. "I can't believe that on this little screen I can see all the new beauty products from Europe and how to make up different faces and hair," she said, using one of the public computers at the group's headquarters in Lima. "It allows me to get a head start on the competition because the latest styles arrive very late here in Peru." Ms. Contreras is part of a quiet, little-known, technological revolution sweeping this Andean country of 24 million people that is undergoing a social and economic revival after years of terrorism and runaway inflation. Peruvians, half of whom live below the nation's official poverty line, are signing on to the Internet in great numbers, thanks to the Peruvian Scientific Network, which aims to bring the benefits of the information age to poor and disadvantaged people. But operators of the network say they have been hampered from expanding the cooperative to other parts of Peru because the country's recently privatized telephone company has refused to install the necessary telephone circuits. The telephone company, Telefonica de Peru, which plans to offer a competing Internet service, denies those charges, and says any delays are simply the result of technical problems. Peruvian Scientific Network, known in Peru as RCP, began five years ago with $7,000 in seed money from the U.N. Development Fund and 40 subscribers. Today, the network has about 22,000 subscribers and $4 million in equipment and claims to have the world's fourth-fastest growing Internet network, after Brazil, Mexico and Chile. Organizers of the network say it will reach 60,000 subscribers within the next year. While South American countries like Brazil, Argentina and Chile are far more developed and have more Internet users than Peru, the RCP is the only network in Latin America that is an independent cooperative not financed by the government and that offers public use of computers. "The Peruvian network is the first to capture the true spirit of the Internet and cyberspace because it provides access to everyone even if you don't have a computer," said Francisco Sagasti, a Peruvian political analyst who has written extensively on the impact of technology on society. "It answers that troubling question about access to new technology and whether the average person will be left out of the technological revolution." The network, which was the first provider of Internet service in Peru, is financed by its members, including universities, hospitals, nongovernmental organizations, associations and private citizens. All profits are reinvested into maintaining and expanding the network. For $40 a month, individual users with their own PCs can gain access to the Internet and various other Peruvian and international information services by calling the RCP's local number. About 5 percent of the Peruvian population, mainly upper-class people, have personal computers -- and only 4 percent of the total population have telephones. For those who do not have access to a computer, there are 35 work stations available for public use at the network's headquarters in Lima, at a cost of $15 a month or $5 an hour. Many tourists and traveling businessmen also use the service. And in the late afternoon, demand for the public-access computers has become so strong that network officials have had to limit usage to three hours a week during those peak hours. "Peruvians understand that the Internet is a valuable tool that they need to master if they are to improve their economic situation," said Jose Soriano, the founder and director of the Peruvian network. "The concept of the RCP is to minimize the gap between the information haves and the information have-nots." Soriano said the network planned to open public Internet centers throughout the country to make computers and classes available to millions of Peruvians, even those who live in remote areas. There are also plans to connect every school to the network by the year 2000. But Soriano said the expansion was being severely hampered by Telefonica de Peru, which he said had refused to provide telephone lines and support to open the new Internet centers. Soriano said that the network had secured the office space and computer hardware to open 14 new Internet centers with public computers but that the network had been waiting for more than six months for Telefonica to install the telephone circuits. He suggested that Telefonica was delaying installation so that it could start its own Internet access service called Infovia, which will be used as a gateway for other Internet-access providers. "We think that the introduction of other Internet services will be good for Peru and will expand usage here," Soriano said, "but it's unfair when a company that has a monopoly refuses to provide basic service." Soriano said the RCP is considering several actions against Telefonica, including public protests, a lawsuit or seeking some way to bypass the company. Tomas D'Ornellas Radziwill, a Telefonica spokesman, denied that his company was deliberately delaying installation of new circuits for the RCP and said that the company had gone out of its way to respond to the RCP's needs. In some cases, however, D'Ornellas said there were technical difficulties that might cause delays of up to three months. D'Ornellas said that while Telefonica did not plan to offer Internet access directly to individuals, the company had received requests from 40 companies wishing to use Telefonica's Infovia service as the basis for their own Internet-access businesses. It is unclear how much these new, commercial services will cost, compared with the RCP offerings. The Telefonica network will be open to all providers, including RCP, according to D'Ornellas, who said that the telephone company had reached agreement with computer makers to allow Peruvians to purchase modems for about $40 as a way of promoting the service. But because Infovia will not offer public Internet computers, D'Ornellas said he did not consider his company to be in competition with the nonprofit cooperative. But Telefonica does stand to increase its revenues by convincing Internet providers to use Infovia. "This is a case of David vs. Goliath," said Sagasti, the political analyst. "Except David doesn't even have a slingshot, and if someone doesn't do something to protect the RCP it will get swallowed up -- and that could severely limit the open access that Peruvians now have to the net." So far, though, several hundred additional Peruvians are signing up with the RCP each week. Manuel Molla Madueno, 57, a psychologist, started using the public Internet computers in January because his Intel 286 computer at home was too old to connect to the Internet. (In Peru, doctors and psychologists often make as little as $400 or $500 a month, so buying a new PC is a major expenditure.) "I use the Internet to read psychology magazines and articles and notes that are posted on the psychology bulletin board," Molla said. "The only problem is that I've become obsessed with what I can do on the Internet and I'm spending all my free time here." Two schoolteachers, Teresa de Jesus Izquierdo, 50, and Dora Hedalgo Roca, 51, recently learned to sign on and surf the Internet at the public center. "We decided that we had to learn about computers because our children are using them and we have no idea what they doing," Mrs. Hedalgo said. After browsing through several Web pages, the teachers said they were most interested in monitoring Spanish culture around the world. "What we like best is looking at the artwork in the Prado Museum," Mrs. Izquierdo said, "and sending messages to other Peruvians who are living overseas and want to know what's going on here at home." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * From the Listowner * * * * * * * * * * * * . To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to: majordomo at scn.org In the body of the message, type: unsubscribe scn END