From anitra at speakeasy.org Sun Mar 1 00:41:44 1998 From: anitra at speakeasy.org (Anitra Freeman) Date: Sun, 1 Mar 1998 00:41:44 -0800 (PST) Subject: Plans for Women's Day at the Seattle Center? Message-ID: I am planning to have a computer/internet setup at the WHEEL (homeless women's group) table during the Women's Day event at Seattle Center. I will be running a "Street Tour of the Web", demonstrating how homeless people are using the Internet, both for networking and resources. I'll be showing the WHEEL, SHARE, StreetWrites and StreetLife Gallery sites, and SCN sites too, like the PeaceHeathen's crisis resource directory, and the Activist directory. And many others. I will also be helping any homeless folks who come our way to get set up on the internet. I can give them access info and help them get Hotmail accounts. Would anyone from SCN registration be able and willing to come set up SCN accounts? Is anyone from SCN planning anything else at Seattle Center on Women's Day? Write On! -- Anitra hhtp://www.scn.org "Effective Activism on the Internet" -- help in designing and promoting your website and survival in the electron tunnels of email lists * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 steve at accessone.com Mon Mar 2 00:06:21 1998 From: steve at accessone.com (Steve Hoffman) Date: Mon, 2 Mar 1998 00:06:21 -0800 Subject: Libraries and first amendment Message-ID: <199803020806.AAA08455@accessone.com> Virginia Library Lawsuit Seen As Litmus Test for Internet Freedom NY Times 3/2/98 When patrons of the Loudoun County, Va., public library try to view sexually explicit material on any of nine computers newly connected to the Internet, a software program responds with an unambiguous message: "Violation!! Violation!! Violation!! Access to this site has been blocked. Please click on your bookmark or go to some other Web site." The library's board had the filtering program installed in November and if the software had zapped only obscene material it probably would not have provoked debate. The software program chosen by the county for its six library branches, X-Stop, purports to purify the Internet. But library users complain that X-Stop, produced by the Log-On Data Corp. of Anaheim, Calif., is imperfect at best. Library users complain that they have been denied access to information on sex education, breast cancer and gay and lesbian rights, among other things, because the software cannot discriminate between obscene materials and other information about sexual topics. Patrons say they have even been barred from a Quaker site on the World Wide Web and from the home page of Yale University's biology department. At the same time, they say, graphic sexual images sometimes manage to evade the software. Charging that the library's policy is an unconstitutional form of government censorship, a group of citizens has filed a lawsuit. The case is expected to serve as a litmus test of a library's First Amendment obligation to its patrons in an age when its collection is no longer limited by budgets or shelf space. The case is being closely watched as public libraries across the nation add cyberspace to their collections and confront its contradictions. As a tool, the Internet would seem to embody the traditional library's commitment to the free flow of ideas. But the Internet also strips libraries of their role as information arbiters. With more than three-quarters of the nation's public libraries connected to the Internet, up from fewer than half in 1996, many Americans now count libraries as their sole source of Internet access. "The library is a place where you should be able to get all different views," said Jeri McGiverin, a retired school teacher and president of Mainstream Loudoun, a local civil liberties organization involved in the lawsuit. "Some software company in California should not be making the decisions about what we can and cannot see." Still, many Loudoun County residents agree with the library's board that the occasional blackout of a worthwhile site is an acceptable price to pay to maintain the library's traditional community values. Under the policy, patrons have the option of submitting a written request that the library staff consider unblocking a particular Web site. A handful of petitions have succeeded. "I'm not going to be forced by some perceived new right to display pornography in our library," said John J. Nicholas Jr., 49, the chairman of the library board. "We never have, and we're not going to start now." Last week a Federal District Court judge in Alexandria, Leonie M. Brinkema, heard arguments on a motion by the library board to dismiss the case. The American Civil Liberties Union has joined the suit on behalf of several nonprofit groups and a newspaper columnist whose Internet material was rendered inaccessible by the software. The case comes at a time when lawmakers are seeking new ways to regulate on-line sexual content. Last year, in a victory for the ACLU, the Supreme Court overturned the Communications Decency Act, a federal law that would have made it illegal to transmit indecent material to minors on line. Holding that the potential harm to constitutionally protected adult speech outweighed the government's interest in protecting children from inappropriate material, the Court compared the Web to "a vast library including millions of readily available and indexed publications." How those publications are packaged is at issue in the Loudoun case. Because there is no direct precedent, legal experts say that a decision may hinge largely on what real-world metaphor for the electronic library the court accepts. The library board likens clicking on a link to a Web site to a book request via inter-library loan, which a library is under no First Amendment obligation to satisfy. The plaintiffs argue that cordoning off certain parts of the Internet is like purchasing an encyclopedia and cutting out the articles that do not meet with a librarian's approval. "It does raise novel issues," said Ken Bass, a lawyer representing the library's board of trustees. "The Internet makes available at no increased marginal cost a realm of information once you have the technology to acquire part of it. But that still does not mean you can require the library to be a transmission mechanism for that information." ACLU lawyers contend that the Supreme Court's concern for the hypothetical harm to adult speech in overturning the Communications Decency Act should serve as a guide in the Loudoun library case. "All of those rights that were safeguarded by the Court's decision are in jeopardy again," said Ann Beeson, an ACLU lawyer who led opponents of the Communications Decency Act. "The democratic nature of the medium could be completely destroyed if only the 'haves' have access to the medium. That's why we feel it is very important to preserve full public access at libraries." But proponents of the library policy say that the federal government's failure to come up with a law to regulate indecency in cyberspace makes it all the more crucial for local governments to adopt their own safeguards. And they note that no law has ever required a library to purchase a particular book or subscription that it did not want. Whichever way the legal dispute is resolved, the case reflects the Internet's remarkable capacity to animate ordinary Americans around a discussion of fundamental values. In Loudoun County, where the Constitution was temporarily housed during the War of 1812 -- exactly where is a matter of some dispute -- the collision of technology and traditional institutions is not taken lightly. "I believe in discipline," said Jerome Smith, 46, a high school football coach who is one of the eight plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the library board. "I believe in setting parameters. But I have a daughter who is an honors student, and I also believe she should be able to get access to anything she needs in the library." But the library board, which approved the policy on a vote of 5 to 4, clearly has its supporters. Richard H. Black, the board member who wrote the policy, won a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates in a special election earlier this month after a campaign that made the policy a centerpiece. "I don't want my tax dollars paying for my kids to see pornography in the library," said Pamela L. Grizzle, 32, a lawyer in Leesburg, where the Loudoun County library is located. Similar disputes are taking place in communities from Austin, Texas -- where all 52 computers use software filters -- to rural Kern County, Calif., which under threat of a lawsuit by the ACLU recently agreed to provide two computers in each branch, one with a filter program activated and one without. Several libraries have emulated the Boston Public Library, which after public outcry installed filter programs only on computers in children's rooms. Last summer, the American Library Association adopted a resolution condemning the use of filter programs to block constitutionally protected speech. "I would like to see a precedent set so that library boards and others who are considering filtering will be able to see the big picture," said Steven Herb, chairman of the association's Intellectual Freedom Committee. That precedent may well be set in Loudoun County, where library users logged more than 1,000 hours on the Internet in the first two months that it was available, library statistics show. None of those hours were logged by Henry Taylor, a professor of creative writing at American University who grew up in Loudoun County and later won a Pulitzer Prize for his poetry. Mistrustful of the library's computers, Taylor saves his searches -- a recent one, drawn from a line of poetry, was for "hotheaded naked ice borers," -- for the days he travels 60 miles to his campus office. "Over the long haul," Taylor said, "I owe that library a lot. And it feels bad to think that its policies are being guided by people who would have been less help to me when I was a kid." That is why, he said, he interrupted his own poetry reading at the library branch in Lovettsville last fall. "I am sorry to report that this next poem is being prevented from reaching you by software over which you have no control," Taylor told his audience. "So we will have a few minutes of silence." Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 jj at scn.org Thu Mar 5 10:26:07 1998 From: jj at scn.org (John Johnson) Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 10:26:07 -0800 (PST) Subject: SCN modem progess In-Reply-To: Message-ID: The reason the modems are not yet 'fixed' is that we are doing tests and trying out different configurations. And as one of the things we have learned is that some of the half-dozen distinct problems that occur with our modems don't develop until after several days, we can't simply make a change, "see if it works", then try another change. The "see if it works" part takes several days, for each change. (And as there may be inter- actions between some of the changes, we have to try _combinations_ of changes.) And about once a week we have to go on-site and power-cycle all of the modems that won't reset. The reason there has been a greater level of problems with the modems in the past month is because 1) we moved the 33.6 kbps modems to the head of the hunt-group (so the 33's are used before the 14.4 modems), and they have more problems, and 2) we're messing with them! But this needs to be done (painful though it may be) in order to determine the problems. If we can demonstrate that the modems themselves are defective, we will replace them. But if the problems result from configuration, or from how we use the modems, then we need to correct that, instead. Please be patient. We ARE working on the problem, and are making some progress. But it is going to be a little while longer to resolve. === JJ ================================================================= * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 steve at accessone.com Thu Mar 5 21:45:19 1998 From: steve at accessone.com (Steve Hoffman) Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 21:45:19 -0800 Subject: Children & first amendment Message-ID: <199803060545.VAA14180@accessone.com> Children's First Amendment Rights Lost in the Filtering Debate Carl S. Kaplan NY Times 3/6/98 Senator John McCain's bill seeking to require that schools and libraries filter Internet smut as a condition for obtaining new Federal telecommunications subsidies dramatizes the stepped-up government efforts to separate children from indecent material in cyberspace. The extensive library filtering policy of Loudoun County, Va., now being challenged in a cutting-edge lawsuit by some local library patrons and the American Civil Liberties Union, is another example of the trend. But lurking behind these controversies and public debates is a simple question with no clear answer: Do children have a First Amendment right to obtain indecent materials? The question is an important one, legal experts say, because the stronger the rights of children to the broad category of indecent materials, the harder it is to justify government filtering schemes in places where children gather, like schools and children's terminals in libraries. It's crystal clear that adults have a constitutional right to books, magazines and Web sites that are indecent - material that is sexually explicit but not so extreme that it falls under the legal definition of obscenity. The Supreme Court said so in the landmark Internet case of Reno v. ACLU. There the court struck down certain provisions of the Communications Decency Act because, in part, the law aimed at protecting children from cyberporn spilled over to violate the rights of adults to indecent materials. In the Reno case, the ACLU argued that the CDA also stepped on the rights of children to obtain indecent materials. The court, pointedly, said it neither accepted nor rejected this argument, although the one Justice to grapple with the issue, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in her concurring opinion, wrote that she believed an indecency ban did not substantially interfere with children's rights. At least one leading constitutional scholar believes children have diminished rights to indecent material. "It's a nice question [whether children have a right to indecent material], and the general answer would appear to be "no,'" William W. Van Alstyne, a professor at Duke University School of Law and the author of a leading textbook on the First Amendment, said in a recent wide-ranging telephone interview. He defined indecent speech as "sexually graphic or explicit" material that is "offensive to ordinary sensibilities." Unlike obscenity, such material may have redeeming social value. "Children don't have the same First Amendment rights as adults, though they do have some First Amendment rights," Van Alstyne explained. Children's speech rights "are diminished in direct proportion to youth -- the younger the child, the greater degree of permissible regulation of what they may have access to," he said. The rule of thumb stems from the same common sense reasoning that would hold that children should have limited access to cars or matches, depending on their maturity, said Van Alstyne. "There isn't any doubt that at some age it is preposterous that a child has a right to go to a store and buy matches," he said. "At that point, [the child] has neither the experience nor gray matter to act in his own best interests." Van Alstyne added that he believed an exception to the rule would apply to indecent material in a junior or senior high school setting, where the material is germane to a course or a class. "Young people have a claim to learning latitude," he said. "A book can flunk the indecency test" but have serious pedagogic use. Offering, gratis, what he called a "compromise" filtering plan, Van Alstyne said a legally permissible course for libraries intent upon filtering the Internet would be to have two types of Internet terminals: unfiltered ones for adults, filtered ones for children. In addition, a child could use the adult terminal if she were accompanied by a parent. Such a plan accomplishes several goals, he said. Adult rights to indecent materials are respected. Children are shielded from pornography. And any possible harm to a child's rights of access to protected or valuable information stemming from the "unavoidable overbreadth" of filtering software, which is so crude as to snag non-objectionable sites, would be cured by allowing her to tap into an adult terminal with parental permission. Such an arrangement would be "almost certain to win judicial acceptance by the courts," he predicted. By coincidence, the Van Alstyne plan is almost exactly the proposal offered by some library patrons in Loudoun County and ultimately rejected by the library board, which opted for a stricter measure: filtering on all terminals. Not everyone agrees with the view that children have limited rights to indecent material. Chris Hansen, a senior lawyer with the ACLU who specializes in Internet matters, thinks that children have strong rights to obtain valuable material, such as AIDS information and art of nudes - even if it might be sexually explicit and offensive to some people. He added that all filtering programs inadvertently block material that is not indecent and constitutionally protected. "So if you force kids onto machines that are filtered, the odds are high that you will be depriving them of access to information that everybody would agree they should see," he said. Hansen declined to predict whether Van Alstyne's "compromise" plan would pass constitutional muster. "I'm not going to make a prediction because I don't know the answer and I'm not going to put myself in the position of giving libraries or censors a blueprint," he said. He said as a policy the plan is flawed, however. Suppose, for example, a 16-year-old boy is struggling with his sexual identity. "He may not want to say to his Mom, 'I want to look up gay sites,'" Hansen said. Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 anitra at speakeasy.org Thu Mar 5 22:37:31 1998 From: anitra at speakeasy.org (Anitra Freeman) Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 22:37:31 -0800 (PST) Subject: Setting up a remote connection Message-ID: Can anyone give me instructions on how to set up a remote connection? As I mentioned before, I plan to have a display at Seattle Center this coming Sunday, Women's Day, and it begins to look like I might have to do the setup myself. Q: How many programmers does it take to change a lightbulb? A: I don't know. That's a hardware problem. In spite of the fact that I am more software-oriented, I am not totally helpless with hardware. I know which end of a modem to plug into. But it would help a lot if I could talk with someone who has done remote setups, especially at Seattle Center, and could tell me who to talk to, what I need besides a modem, etc. Write On! -- Anitra http://www.scn.org/~alf1701/ "Effective Activism on the Internet" -- help in designing and promoting your website and survival in the electron tunnels of email lists * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 most at wolfenet.com Fri Mar 6 07:35:50 1998 From: most at wolfenet.com (Phil Klein) Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 07:35:50 -0800 Subject: report on universal email Message-ID: <007201bd4915$8d83ae00$358342cf@most.wolfenet.com> The article below struck me as relevant for us all (--if you look past their self-promotion). --phil klein -----Original Message----- From: Steven Clift To: COMMUNET at LIST.UVM.EDU Date: Wednesday, March 04, 1998 2:37 PM Subject: Report - Social Venture Capital for Universal Electronic > E-MAIL FOR ALL - http://www.iaginteractive.com/emfa >_______________________________________________________ > > Social Venture Capital for Universal Electronic > Communications - A Conference Report > > *Now Available Online* > Executive Summary Enclosed > >Participants in a recent conference sponsored by the Markle >Foundation in association with the Aspen Institute brought >a wealth of insights to strategies for creating universal >access to e-mail and leveraging universal electronic >communications for broader social benefit. > >The conference, "Social Venture Capital for Universal >Electronic Communications," explored electronic >communication and the potential consequences, both positive >and negative, of new information technologies becoming more >and more integrated into the fabric of the economy and >society. > >Conference participants included senior corporate and >public policy leaders such as Reed Hunt, former chairman of >the FCC, Ira Magaziner, senior advisor to the President, >W. Bowman Cutter, managing director, E.M. Warburg, Pincus >and Company, Inc, Al Sikes, president, Hearst New Media and >Technology, and Louis Rosetto, CEO, Wired. > >Copies of this report are now available either >electronically or in print; please call Jennifer Bertsch >(212/268-1443) or send e-mail to jenbertsch at aol.com for >print copies. > >The report is available online from: > > http://www.iaginteractive.com/emfa > >The E-MAIL FOR ALL outreach campaign is an integral part of >the Markle Foundation's work to encourage the use of new >communications technologies for socially beneficial >purposes. > > >Enclosed is the Executive Summary: > > Social Venture Capital > for Universal Electronic > Communications > > Executive Summary > >At a time of fierce competition in telecommunications and computers, >new technologies are being introduced at breakneck speed and market >forces are popularizing the use of digital communications in >unprecedented ways. In this turbulent, market-driven environment, the >meaning of the "public interest" in media has become more complex. >This has promoted many foundations to consider anew the roles they can >best play in their grants, contracts, and program-related investments. > > >To help assess this challenge, The John and Mary R. Markle Foundation >engaged the Aspen Institute's Communications and Society Program to >convene twenty-five leaders and experts from the worlds of >telecommunications, television, computer technology, government, >journalism, economics, and the social sciences at a conference at Rye >Brook, New York, on April 24-25, 1997. A key goal was to identify >constructive projects and strategic directions that the Markle >Foundation might pursue as part of its ongoing work to leverage social >benefits from the new telecommunications media. > >The Value Of Universal E-Mail > >A central topic of discussion was whether the Markle Foundation should >play a more aggressive role in fostering universal access to e-mail. >In the early 1990s, the Markle Foundation commissioned the RAND >organization to explore the advantages, disadvantages, and feasibility >of universal e-mail. RAND's 1995 report, Universal Access to E-Mail: >Feasibility and Societal Implications, by Robert H. Anderson et al., >found that e-mail is quite attractive, especially compared to other >interactive technologies, because it is fairly inexpensive and easy to >use, its benefits are fairly easy to discern, and it is highly >accessible to new users. > >But given the rapid proliferation of e-mail without the help of >government policy or foundations, why should anything be done to >foster universal access to e-mail? Three important answers, according >to RAND researchers, are: > >1. In spite of the growth of these e-mail systems, the majority of > U.S. residents probably will continue to lack access to e-mail > well into the next century without societal intervention; > >2. Many citizens do not participate in the dialogue that forms the > basis for the U.S. democratic process; and > >3. Some citizens, such as inner-city minorities and the rural poor, > are relatively disenfranchised and constitute groups that will be > the last to be reached by commercial e-mail systems. > >Social Goals And The Marketplace > >Much of the impetus for universal access to electronic communications, >whether it is e-mail or something greater, is fueled by the hope that >new technologies could help reduce growing socio-economic divisions in >American society. Many participants questioned this assumption, >suggesting that the new media are not going to become "the solution" >to social problems that have much larger, more complex origins. > >Other suggested that the current "have nots" would simply become "have >laters". As prices decline, more Americans will be able to afford >access to the Internet and its many applications, and thus public >policy should not intervene to help assure wider access. But this >viewpoint was challenged by some participants as unfounded. Internet >usage, however rapid at the moment, is not penetrating to the "have >nots." Given the rapid pace of technological innovation, a whole class >of Americans may be permanently "left behind," unable to use the >technologies for personal or occupational gain. > >The Dilemmas Of Universal Access > >The most difficult problem may lie not in the principle of universal >access to e-mail, but in how to craft policies that will be effective >at reducing social inequities while not distorting competitive >markets. There was general agreement among participants that >cross-subsidies are not the most appropriate way to foster universal >access. > >"Access" may not be the core challenge, in any case, since many of the >people who would be targeted by an access initiative cannot read or >write, or cannot do so very well. This raises interesting issues of >whether literacy education should precede any access initiatives, and >be utterly independent of them, or whether e-mail and other Internet >practices can help develop the "habits of the mind" that contribute to >literacy. > >Access, as historically understood in the context of telephony and >broadcast regulation, may itself be the wrong concept. After all, what >medium, device, or services are you going to subsidize? For what >purposes? And what are the most efficient ways to provide that >subsidy, given the pace of technological change? The very concept of >"access" may be too narrow a way of talking about the promise of >universal service. A more important concept may be the process by >which people learn how to use the technology and become part of an >online community. The real access issue, according to one participant, >is not access to the bits, which will be cheaper, faster, and better >as time goes on. Rather, it will be access to the modes of >organization by which you can be part of something, whether it is >groups of doctors or people in a poor community. > >Developing New Strategies > >FCC chairman Reed Hundt delivered a luncheon address, "Toward a Grand >Unified Theory of the Public Interest in the Networked Society," in >which he conceded that "the public interest," both as a legal >obligation and a moral expectation, was in a period of considerable >transition. While a "grand unified theory" is not currently possible, >he said, there remains a need to define the public interest in some >fashion because there are larger values that the marketplace alone >cannot or will not meet. > >With regard to the future of telephony, Hundt said the overarching >goal should be to provide basic affordable service for all Americans. >As far as commercial television, Hundt disputed the claim by >broadcasters that the public interest is served simply by the >existence of a viable broadcasting business. Public interest >obligations are broader, he argued, citing a list of eight goals that >included children's educational programming, public service >announcements, public television, new means of program delivery and >media de-concentration. > >With respect to the Internet, Hundt said that educators consider the >FCC's initiative in providing some $2.25 billion to help connect >classrooms and libraries to the Internet "the most important >government education initiative since the G.I. Bill." > >Hundt enumerated several specific projects that foundations should >entertain and which many foundations, including the Markle Foundation, >already have: the funding of independent policy analysis, training >cyber-policy analysts; assisting advocacy groups representing Internet >users; exploring the need for non-commercial content; funding >clearinghouses on policy, such as universal service; and exploring >ways to wire the unwired (e.g., e-mail through libraries). > >There was a broad consensus among conference participants that >competitive markets will popularize new computer networking >technologies and stimulate new uses. If true, the most important tasks >may be to identify market failures and help develop the "social goods" >in the new digital culture that the marketplace is not likely to >provide. Participants put forward a number of additional ideas for how >the Markle Foundation could play a constructive role in improving the >digital culture: > >1. Bridge the gap between the social benefit of a new technology and > its popular appeal. > >2. Give rural health care clinics access to medical specialists. > >3. Support the "human infrastructure" to help people get and stay > online. > >4. Subsidize technology in public places. > >5. Facilitate corporate initiatives with public interest benefits. > >6. Develop new ways to assess market failure. > >7. Get beyond market research and conduct more diagnostic, > longitudinal research. > >8. Help organize new consumer constituencies to assert their > interests in public policy. > >Conclusion > >While no clear consensus resulted about future strategies for social >venture capital, the discussions did underscore the increasing >importance of "social capital" in the use of new electronic >technologies. It is hoped that future sessions can develop a better >understanding of how technology, social practices, and public policy >interrelate in the dynamic, fast-changing marketplace. > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > Steven Clift - Public Strategies for the Online World > 3454 Fremont Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55408 USA > T: +1.612.822.8667(NEW) E: clift at publicus.net > > Democracies Online - http://www.e-democracy.org/do > Universal E-mail - http://www.iaginteractive.com/emfa > Consulting and Home Page - http://www.publicus.net > ------------------------------------------------------- > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 anitra at speakeasy.org Fri Mar 6 16:28:14 1998 From: anitra at speakeasy.org (Anitra Again) Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 16:28:14 -0800 (PST) Subject: Wireless dialup? Loan? Message-ID: I've found out that even if I had arranged two weeks ago for a phone jack for Internet connection at the Seattle Center, we would have had to pay for it ourselves -- and that is beyond WHEEL's budget. If I have to, I'll demonstrate the sites from hard disk, not "live". But there is one possible option left, if someone out there has the right equipment and is willing to loan it to us for an afternoon. Last year another group had a laptop computer hooked up with a wireless modem connection. I've seen other similar setups in use here and there. Does anyone know someone with a wireless modem who would be willing to let a homeless women's grassroots organizing group borrow it for five hours Sunday afternoon? ___________________ WRITE ON! -- Anitra Save America's Vanishing Frompers! http://members.tripod.com/~AmusedMuse/ "Effective Activism on the Internet" http://www.scn.org/~alf1701/ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 will at scn.org Sat Mar 7 08:59:11 1998 From: will at scn.org (Will Hafer) Date: Sat, 7 Mar 1998 08:59:11 -0800 (PST) Subject: Bulk Email Breakthrough! (fwd) Message-ID: Did anyone else get this? Would it be poor form to call these folks and tell them what I think of their product? Will Hafer will at scn.org 206-233-8443 POB 31476 Seattle WA 98103-1476 USA ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 6 Mar 1998 15:46:29 -0800 (PST) Subject: Bulk Email Breakthrough! Look at the Headers in this Message. If you like what you see read on. This message was sent to you courtesy of the amazing new technology of the "Rapid Fire Mail Server" (RFMS). RFMS transforms your computer into a personal mail server. With no additional hardware, RFMS software will give you complete control of your mailings, because the mail you send will originate from your computer and be delivered directly into the mailbox of your recipient. Since the mail originates from your computer, it is no longer necessary to use your Internet Service Provider's mail server. When you use the previous generation stealth or cloaking type programs, they work by uploading your mail to your provider's mail server. They can also be programmed to send mail through other providers mail servers without authorization (this is considered theft of service). The problem is, the previous generation stealth type programs upload the messages faster than these mail servers can process them. Many times this causes a provider's mail server to bog down and crash. Obviously, this will make providers furious with you. Furthermore, you may think that you are sending hundreds of thousands of messages, unfortunately, most of it simply gets filtered and deleted by the mail server. You are lucky to get 10%-20% of that mail delivered. With Rapid Fire Mail Server software YOUR computer emulates a mail server and YOU actually control and watch all your mail being delivered piece by piece. There is a 100% delivery rate with this program anywhere on the internet. We did say 100% delivery rate to any internet email addresses. A bold claim but it is true. This is the latest technical advance in bulk email since the advent of the stealth type programs. This program verifies domains and validity of email addresses before sending mail. This dramatically reduces your bounced back undeliverables. Bounced back undeliverables can really bog down a server. You can also control where you want any bounced back mail to go. It can go to any email address you want with Rapid Fire Mail Server. Rapid Fire Mail Server can work with ANY dial up internet account, an ISDN line or a T-1 or T-3. It runs on Windows 95 or NT. We have not heard of any person losing a dial up account with this software. One reason bulk email is so frowned upon with numerous ISP's is that people try to send as much mail as they can, as quick as they can and crash the mail server of the ISP. This won't happen with Rapid Fire Mail Server software since you don't use the mail server of the ISP to send your mail. The program actually sends the mail directly from your computer, which is now a bona fide mail server, to the recipients mail server avoiding any potential blocks that would prevent you from reaching those on your mailing list. You do not have to "forge" headers or randomize anything to have 100% of your mail delivered, although the program does allow for randomization and customizing of headers. You can send mail omitting the "to" "from" and "reply to" portions of your headers. Want to send out your messages in color? Not a problem with Rapid Fire Mail Server. Just select a font color with your mouse, and then click on a background color as well. Want to make your font bold or put it into italics? Just point and click. Want your message centered or shifted left or right? Once again just point and click. Rapid Fire Mail Server works with any Windows 95 or NT computer. It requires no additional hardware or software. The Rapid Fire Mail Server sends at speeds up to 80,000 messages per hour DELIVERED using a modest pentium and a 28.8 modem. Rates will *dramatically* increase with an ISDN or cable modem and of course with a T-1 they will be even faster. If you want to take advantage of this breakthrough in Bulk EMail Technology give us a call on our Toll-Free 888 number. Oh, if you were wondering the program costs $695.00. Call us at 1-888-365-0000 Ext: 1253 for more info, and a FREE Fully-Functional DEMO. So give us a call today. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 jj at scn.org Sat Mar 7 09:34:47 1998 From: jj at scn.org (John Johnson) Date: Sat, 7 Mar 1998 09:34:47 -0800 (PST) Subject: Bulk Email Breakthrough! (fwd) In-Reply-To: Message-ID: As the message says--"look at the headers". If you are using Pine, use 'h' from the index to turn on 'full headers'. (Using mr, you have save the message to a file.) Then _forward_ the message to me. If the spammers have new tricks I would like to see it. But we can't do anything without examining the headers. Always send the headers!!! === JJ ================================================================= * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 steve at accessone.com Sat Mar 7 14:56:59 1998 From: steve at accessone.com (Steve Hoffman) Date: Sat, 7 Mar 1998 14:56:59 -0800 Subject: FAIR mailing list Message-ID: <199803072256.OAA04407@accessone.com> "promote strong, non-profit, alternative sources of information" - right up our alley.... ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- From: Daniel Glasner FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting) is the national media watch group that offers well-documented criticism of media bias and censorship. FAIR seeks to invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity in the press. FAIR scrutinizes media practices that marginalize public interest, minority, and dissenting viewpoints. Ultimately, FAIR believes that structural reform is needed to break up the dominant media conglomerates, establish independent public broadcasting and promote strong, non-profit, alternative sources of information. Visit our web page at: http://www.fair.org This is purely a mailing list to put out FAIR material (at a rate of one or two messages a week) -- others will not be able to send to the mailing list. Our postings also appear on misc.activism.progressive newsgroup. To subscribe to FAIR-L send the command subscribe FAIR-L your full name in the BODY of mail to LISTSERV at AMERICAN.EDU . The subscriber list is kept confidential, so no need to worry about spammers. Owner: Daniel Glasner fair-l-request at american.edu * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 ANamioka at activevoice.com Fri Mar 13 10:24:05 1998 From: ANamioka at activevoice.com (Aki Namioka) Date: Fri, 13 Mar 1998 10:24:05 -0800 Subject: Please forward Message-ID: <3F8442FB250CD111957300A024C65C69AE7D30@EXCHANGE2.activevoice.com> Here is the Department of Neighborhoods talk announcement for Ed Schwartz. "How to Revitalize Neighborhoods and Expand Citizen Participation with the use of Computers" A discussion with author Ed Schwartz (Net Activism: How Citizens Use the Internet), former Philadelphia City Council member and President of the Institute for Study of Civic Values . Monday, March 23 Key Tower Building 700 5th Avenue 40th Floor Room 4070 4:00 - 6:00 PM Sponsored by the City's Department of Neighborhoods. For further information: Jan Kumasaka, 684-0372. Aki Helen Namioka Software Engineering Manager, Voice Server Products Active Voice Corporation anamioka at activevoice.com 1+206-441-4700 X210 Fax:1+206-505-0210 http://www.activevoice.com * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 kv9x at scn.org Fri Mar 13 18:10:37 1998 From: kv9x at scn.org (Brian High) Date: Fri, 13 Mar 1998 18:10:37 -0800 (PST) Subject: Next Mentor Orientation Message-ID: SCNA volunteers ... and those wanting to be one ... The next Mentor orientation has been scheduled to take place near GreenLake on Sat, March 28 in the late afternoon. If you have attended a volunteer orientation and would like to attend this Mentor Orientation, please write to kv9x at scn.org to register for this event. Mentors are SCNA volunteers who help Information Providers (Community Groups) put information on the web, get "email lists", and other internet services via SCN. ===== Our training of Mentors consists of an Orientation and a workshop. You will need to attend both to become an SCNA Mentor. The workshop will scheduled for early April. ===== --Brian High * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 nancyk at scn.org Tue Mar 17 10:19:09 1998 From: nancyk at scn.org (NancyK) Date: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 10:19:09 -0800 (PST) Subject: KCLS position: Re Computer Skills Trainer] (fwd) Message-ID: ================= Begin forwarded message ================= From: brucscha at kcls.org (Bruce Schauer) To: kcls-netmasters at scn.org (KCLS-Netmasters) Subject: Re Computer Skills Trainer Date: Mon, 16 Mar Hi Everyone on 3/16/98: The King County Library System has a 20 hour position open for a Computer Skills Training Associate. The job # is 98-026 and all applications need to be in by 5PM on 3/27 to the King County Library System, Human Resources Department, 300 8th Ave. North, Seattle, WA 98109. You can call 206-684-6601 for a position description and a job application. The job was just posted on 3/13 so it is not on our web site yet but you can check http://www.kcls-org under employment and then other positions in a day or so. Applications can also be picked up at our local libraries but they probably won't have the posting description until Tuesday. Finally, note that this position is responsible for training in the following libraries: Fairwood, Covingtion, North Bend, Maple Valley, Skyway, Tukwila, Muckleshoot and Black Diamond. Bruce Schauer 425-226-0522 Managing Librarian fax 206-296-8115 Fairwood Library brucscha at kcls.org 17009 140th SE Renton, WA 98058 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 douglas Tue Mar 17 18:40:17 1998 From: douglas (Doug Schuler) Date: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 18:40:17 -0800 (PST) Subject: Americans Discuss Social Security Message-ID: <199803180240.SAA16150@scn.org> Here is a press release from an organization called "Americans Discuss Social Security." They're trying to start a "nation-wide conversation" on this issue and Seattle is going to be one of the sites for a follow on event. From what I understand, there is a chance that SCN would be able to be a partner of sorts on this effort. -- Doug According to a recent national survey, 4/5 of all Americans describe Social Security as "important to them personally." This figure comes from an unprecedented study of 2,000 American families across two generations - talking about growing older, retiring, their links with one another and the role of Social Security in their lives. To engage the American public in a nation-wide conversation about the future of Social Security, Americans Discuss Social Security (http://www.americansdiscuss.org) will hold a ten-city teleconference across the country on Saturday March 21st. This e-mail is an invitation to all who read it to come to participate in one of the ten cities or come watch, listen, and chat on-line live at http://www.americansdiscuss.org. The interactive teleconference will link groups of no more than 120 people in Albuquerque, Boise, Boston, Denver, Detroit, Lexington, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Tallahassee and Winston-Salem. Those wishing to participate on-line from 12:00-4:00 pm EST will be able to watch and listen via Real Audio and Video and ask questions and interactive with the live national conference at htpp://www.americansdiscuss.org. This is NOT a lecture or panel discussion. There is no "audience," there are only PARTICIPANTS, real people talking about what Social Security means to them: a tax from their paycheck, their source of income, a government entitlement, or any other way it affects our lives. WHAT KIND OF AMERICA DO WE WANT WHEN WE, AND THOSE WE KNOW, RETIRE? The participants in the teleconference, representing all ages and walks-of-life, will help to answer this question based on their own opinions and experiences. SUSAN ROOK, former moderator of CNN's Talk Back Live, will moderate the national debate in Washington D.C. Local "Donahue-style" moderators will stimulate the discussion in each city and on-line, to help create an open, enthusiastic and organized discussion reflecting their values and their personal stake in the future of Social Security. PRESIDENT CLINTON will be participating in the teleconference from Washington, DC. His role will be one of LISTENING and ASKING questions. This will NOT be a political soapbox, but a chance for the leaders of our nation to hear what the people have to say -- DIRECTLY, not through impersonal poll results or media reports. MAJOR PRINT AND BROADCAST MEDIA has been contacted and is expected to provide significant coverage for this important national event at each site and on-line. FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER in your city, please call 1-888-560-ADSS, or visit http://www.americansdiscuss.org. PLEASE FORWARD this e-mail to anyone who may be interested. Americans Discuss Social Security is a non-profit effort funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Our mission is to engage Americans form all walks of life in a country-wide debate about the future of Social Security, and to provide a framework within which these citizens can help America's policymakers to resolve this issue. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 jj at scn.org Thu Mar 19 23:21:25 1998 From: jj at scn.org (John Johnson) Date: Thu, 19 Mar 1998 23:21:25 -0800 (PST) Subject: What we've done... Message-ID: == What we've done so far regarding the dialup problems. == There are various problems affecting the dialup lines, not necessarily 'modem' problems. These problems became significantly more noticeable about a month ago because many of them are associated with the 33.6 kbps USR Sportster modems, and we moved those modems to the head of the hunt group at that time. This increased the incidence of some of the problems, but was necessary in order to diagnose the problems. These problems have been difficult to diagnose because: 1) They are not cases of individual modems going 'bad', but transient problems. 2) There are a great many subtle variables, not all of which are known, and it is necessary to look at combinations of variables. 3) Some of the problems have a time or usage dependent factor, so several days are necessary to test a change. 4) The modems do not have any kind of debugging or monitor mode. Nonetheless, progress is being made. To-date we have: -- Replaced a flakey terminal server (dialup hub). -- Upgraded the firmware on all of the terminal servers. -- Arranged the modems to provide better monitoring. -- Modified the modems to provide better cooling. -- Determined that the 33.6 modems behave differently than the 14.4's. -- Modified settings on the 33.6 modems to avoid certain problems. -- Developed a software tool to do reliable, unattended modem configuration changes and monitoring. -- Developed other tools to monitor the state of the dialup connections. -- Eliminated modem configuration inconsistencies. -- Isolated and fixed the 'scrolling login' problem. -- Added protection against problems caused by incorrectly configured user modems. -- Identified (and had fixed) a problem caused by US West. These are the results of several hundred hours of research, experimenting, monitoring, and otherwise trying to pin down the problems, and a good many other hours trying to devise scenarios of what is happening. The results of these efforts are not always apparent because some of the problems are not clearly distinguished. E.g., 'ring/no-answer' can be caused in several ways, and fixing one cause would reduce the problem, but not eliminate it. And the perception of various problems is highly variable, being dependent on specific circumstances. (Amazingly, a few users don't know what we are talking about because they have never noticed these problems! We should all be so lucky.) The most serious dial-up problem currently is the "ring/no-answer" problem, which we continue to work on. This involves modems going non-responsive, and generally requires a trip on-site to power cycle the recalcitrant device. This may possibly be a defect with the 33.6 kbps modems, and we are starting to consider replacement options. While a large ISP like AOL might 'simply' replace suspect equipment at the first sign of trouble, we are constrained by the cost (estimated to be $2,000 to $6,000+). Please note that the problems in February affecting telnet connections (and other TCP/IP services), and thus dialup connections via SPL and KCLS, were due to an error at the library, and were entirely unconnected with our dialup problems. === JJ ================================================================= * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 kv9x at scn.org Sat Mar 28 12:21:17 1998 From: kv9x at scn.org (Brian High) Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 12:21:17 -0800 (PST) Subject: Mentor Orientation and Workshop Message-ID: Hello SCNA volunteers and SCN users, Today's Mentor Workshop at the Greenlake Library meeting room still has many spots available. So, please come if you are interested in becoming an SCNA "mentor" ... helping community groups put information on the internet. Time: 3:30-5:00pm Date: Sat., Mar. 28th. (free) Will will discuss the Information Provider Program, the IP Menus, creating web pages on SCN, and shell access for Information Providers and Mentors. It's not too late! Workshop Announcement: This Wednesday!, April 1st. (no foolin') The next Mentor "hands-on" workshop will be on April 1st in the evening. The time will be 7:30-8:45 and will take place in downtown Seattle. We will be covering HTML, Unix, and SCN's IP Menus, among other things. Many spots are available. Write to kv9x at scn.org for registration and location details. (free) --Brian High * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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 kv9x at scn.org Sat Mar 28 12:21:17 1998 From: kv9x at scn.org (Brian High) Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 12:21:17 -0800 (PST) Subject: Mentor Orientation and Workshop Message-ID: Hello SCNA volunteers and SCN users, Today's Mentor Workshop at the Greenlake Library meeting room still has many spots available. So, please come if you are interested in becoming an SCNA "mentor" ... helping community groups put information on the internet. Time: 3:30-5:00pm Date: Sat., Mar. 28th. (free) Will will discuss the Information Provider Program, the IP Menus, creating web pages on SCN, and shell access for Information Providers and Mentors. It's not too late! Workshop Announcement: This Wednesday!, April 1st. (no foolin') The next Mentor "hands-on" workshop will be on April 1st in the evening. The time will be 7:30-8:45 and will take place in downtown Seattle. We will be covering HTML, Unix, and SCN's IP Menus, among other things. Many spots are available. Write to kv9x at scn.org for registration and location details. (free) --Brian High * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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