From femme2 at scn.scn.org  Thu Nov  1 08:58:08 2001
From: femme2 at scn.scn.org (Lorraine Pozzi)
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 08:58:08 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
In-Reply-To: <000201c162e0$e5e570e0$7152fea9@desktop>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.96.1011101085349.12950A-100000@scn>


Non-profit status is NOT the problem.  Being a non-profit does not prevent
SCN/SCNA from doing the things that Doug suggests.  Focussing on the 
non-problem would use up some of SCN's scarce resources. 

Lorraine
----------------------------------
On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, emailer1 wrote:

> I agree with Doug.
> 
> I would put two ideas first.  After those two things, the rest would become
> doable.
> 
> First thing:  Become a stable ISP (internet hookup entity).  That might
> require charging $5.00 per person per month but then we could give up the
> non-profit status and do some high-powered lobbying.
> 
> Our non-profit status blocks us completely from doing numbers number 5, and
> seriously cripples us from doing 1, 7, 8, and 9.
> 
> THEN, I would make sure that the SCNA e-mail was (a) as easy Outlook (could
> use Outlook) and (b) was HTML able.
> 
> After that, we would gather members like lawns gathering leaves in fall.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Doug Schuler <douglas at scn.org>
> To: <scn at scn.org>
> Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 3:42 PM
> Subject: SCN: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
> 
> 
> > Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
> >
> > SCNites,
> >
> > I've compiled a quick note which I think (HOPE!) may help us now and in
> > the future.
> >
> > The first part of the note is a brief list of all of the possible roles
> > for SCN I could think of this morning over my second cup of coffee.
> >
> > After this list I make a simple suggestion that I think could (help)
> > guide further development on SCN.  I'd love to know what you think.
> >
> >
> >  ------------------ possible roles for SCN --
> > (PS.  there are many others -- let me know what they are and I'll add
> them)
> 
> > [Note, I added numbers to Doug's list.]
> 
> > 1.    Assume a place at the table for developing city / regional / state
> (and
> > other?) ICT initiatives and policy.  (ICT = "information and
> > communication technology)
> >
> > 2.    Provide low / no cost ICT services (email, listservs, web pages,
> etc.)
> >
> > 3.    Provide useful civic and community content on our web site (and
> other
> > places?)
> >
> > 4.    Provide portal to Seattle community / civic information,
> applications
> > and services
> >
> > 5.    Agitate for socially responsible ICT policy locally, regionally, and
> > beyond
> >
> > 6.    Perform training and other pubic education
> >
> > 7.    Help define and develop future community / civic information,
> > applications and services
> >
> > 8.    Work with community / civic groups to develop relevant ICT
> applications
> > and services
> >
> > 9.    Take part in regional, national, and international coalitions to
> > advance community / civic ICT goals.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > If we asked everybody in SCN to prioritize these possible roles
> > I'm assuming that we'd have some champions for each and every one of
> > these roles.
> >
> > So which of these roles should we as SCN volunteers address?
> >
> > ALL OF THEM.
> >
> > But, people will say, we don't have the resources to do ALL OF THEM.
> > That's right!  We don't have the resources AT THE MOMENT to do all of
> > them.  So, at this point in time let's not do ALL of them.  In fact, at
> > any given point in time, let's just focus on the ones in which we have
> > volunteers who are willing to do the work.
> >
> > We have to realize that ALL of these issues are important and that they
> > together form a coherent body of work that SCN stands for.
> >
> > We have, in fact, worked on all of them, at one time or another.
> >
> > I'm not against setting priorities.  We have to do that!  But that
> > shouldn't be used as an excuse to rule out a relevant piece of work.
> >
> > Let's do the limited amount of work that we can do.  The way I see it,
> > however, there is no reason to ban certain activities.  The situation
> > is dynamic -- we need to be dynamic as well!
> >
> > 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
> > ==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the web at: ====
> > * * * * * * *     http://www.scn.org/volunteers/scn-l/     * * * * * * *
> >
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
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> Only $9.95 per month!
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From clariun at yahoo.com  Thu Nov  1 09:30:07 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 09:30:07 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.3.96.1011101085349.12950A-100000@scn>
Message-ID: <20011101173007.11935.qmail@web13201.mail.yahoo.com>

If doing such things were not allowed, legally, then that would
probably fall under interpretting the letter of the law.

However, there is nothing to prevent volunteers from being
"motivated."

I certainly have a certain focus when it comes to profiling sites of
the month: I would not go out of my way to profile an organization
that is rolling in money. I'm more likely to profile a
site/organization that contributes to the community and has scarce
resources and can't spend a lot of time and money to bring attention
to iself. Like BikeWorks, which is hosted on SCN. 

But this is more of a tendency, but it is a certain focus.

And ICT (Information and Communication Technology): This is what SCN
and the digital community is all about.

As for: 5.    Agitate for socially responsible ICT policy locally,
regionally, and beyond. SCN does this indirectly, as any
non-commercial site would do.

Patrick



--- Lorraine Pozzi <femme2 at scn.scn.org> wrote:
> 
> Non-profit status is NOT the problem.  Being a non-profit does not
> prevent
> SCN/SCNA from doing the things that Doug suggests.  Focussing on
> the 
> non-problem would use up some of SCN's scarce resources. 
> 
> Lorraine
> ----------------------------------
> On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, emailer1 wrote:
> 
> > I agree with Doug.
> > 
> > I would put two ideas first.  After those two things, the rest
> would become
> > doable.
> > 
> > First thing:  Become a stable ISP (internet hookup entity).  That
> might
> > require charging $5.00 per person per month but then we could
> give up the
> > non-profit status and do some high-powered lobbying.
> > 
> > Our non-profit status blocks us completely from doing numbers
> number 5, and
> > seriously cripples us from doing 1, 7, 8, and 9.
> > 
> > THEN, I would make sure that the SCNA e-mail was (a) as easy
> Outlook (could
> > use Outlook) and (b) was HTML able.
> > 
> > After that, we would gather members like lawns gathering leaves
> in fall.
> > 
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Doug Schuler <douglas at scn.org>
> > To: <scn at scn.org>
> > Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 3:42 PM
> > Subject: SCN: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about
> it...
> > 
> > 
> > > Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
> > >
> > > SCNites,
> > >
> > > I've compiled a quick note which I think (HOPE!) may help us
> now and in
> > > the future.
> > >
> > > The first part of the note is a brief list of all of the
> possible roles
> > > for SCN I could think of this morning over my second cup of
> coffee.
> > >
> > > After this list I make a simple suggestion that I think could
> (help)
> > > guide further development on SCN.  I'd love to know what you
> think.
> > >
> > >
> > >  ------------------ possible roles for SCN --
> > > (PS.  there are many others -- let me know what they are and
> I'll add
> > them)
> > 
> > > [Note, I added numbers to Doug's list.]
> > 
> > > 1.    Assume a place at the table for developing city /
> regional / state
> > (and
> > > other?) ICT initiatives and policy.  (ICT = "information and
> > > communication technology)
> > >
> > > 2.    Provide low / no cost ICT services (email, listservs, web
> pages,
> > etc.)
> > >
> > > 3.    Provide useful civic and community content on our web
> site (and
> > other
> > > places?)
> > >
> > > 4.    Provide portal to Seattle community / civic information,
> > applications
> > > and services
> > >
> > > 5.    Agitate for socially responsible ICT policy locally,
> regionally, and
> > > beyond
> > >
> > > 6.    Perform training and other pubic education
> > >
> > > 7.    Help define and develop future community / civic
> information,
> > > applications and services
> > >
> > > 8.    Work with community / civic groups to develop relevant
> ICT
> > applications
> > > and services
> > >
> > > 9.    Take part in regional, national, and international
> coalitions to
> > > advance community / civic ICT goals.
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > >
> > > If we asked everybody in SCN to prioritize these possible roles
> > > I'm assuming that we'd have some champions for each and every
> one of
> > > these roles.
> > >
> > > So which of these roles should we as SCN volunteers address?
> > >
> > > ALL OF THEM.
> > >
> > > But, people will say, we don't have the resources to do ALL OF
> THEM.
> > > That's right!  We don't have the resources AT THE MOMENT to do
> all of
> > > them.  So, at this point in time let's not do ALL of them.  In
> fact, at
> > > any given point in time, let's just focus on the ones in which
> we have
> > > volunteers who are willing to do the work.
> > >
> > > We have to realize that ALL of these issues are important and
> that they
> > > together form a coherent body of work that SCN stands for.
> > >
> > > We have, in fact, worked on all of them, at one time or
> another.
> > >
> > > I'm not against setting priorities.  We have to do that!  But
> that
> > > shouldn't be used as an excuse to rule out a relevant piece of
> work.
> > >
> > > Let's do the limited amount of work that we can do.  The way I
> see it,
> > > however, there is no reason to ban certain activities.  The
> situation
> > > is dynamic -- we need to be dynamic as well!
> > >
> > > 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
> > > ==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the web
> at: ====
> > > * * * * * * *     http://www.scn.org/volunteers/scn-l/     * *
> * * * * *
> > >
> > 
> > ----------------------------------------------------
> > Sign Up for NetZero Platinum Today
> > Only $9.95 per month!
> > http://my.netzero.net/s/signup?r=platinum&refcd=PT97
> > * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  From the Listowner  * * * * * * * *
> * * * *
> > .	To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to:
> > majordomo at scn.org		In the body of the message, type:
> > unsubscribe scn
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> at: ====
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> * * * *
> > 
> 
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  From the Listowner  * * * * * * * * *
> * * *
> .	To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to:
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From douglas at scn.scn.org  Thu Nov  1 09:40:47 2001
From: douglas at scn.scn.org (Doug Schuler)
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 09:40:47 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
In-Reply-To: <000201c162e0$e5e570e0$7152fea9@desktop>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.4.20.0111010932440.12225-100000@scn.scn.org>


Two quick things --

I wanted to add the idea of computer recycling to the list
(thanks, Joe!).

I also want to second Lorraine's comments about SCN's non-profit
status.  There are, of course, some restrictions on what we
can do as a non-profit but they basically don't apply at 
all to my suggestions.  One of the most important of the
non-profit restrictions is that we can't spend over a certain
percentage of our resources in lobbying efforts.  This means
lobbying for *specific* pieces of legislation or candidates.
It doesn't have an impact the ISSUE based educational effort
that I was talking about it.  

There *are* some issues that arise with providing free
ISP services I gather.  The Oregon Public Network (if I'm
not mistaken) just concluded a multi-year hassle with the
IRS over some of these issues.  There was a sort of
compromise I hear but I do not understand the issues.
If and when we move further in this direction -- and I'd
support it -- there are some issues that we'd have to
face.  I don't think it necessarily implies getting
rid of our status, however.

-- Doug

   ******************************************************************
   *     SHAPING THE NETWORK SOCIETY                                *
   *          Patterns for Participation,Action, and Change         *
   *                  http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02        *
   * Tomorrow's information and communication infrastructure        *
   *   is being shaped today.                                       *
   *                              But by whom and to what ends?     *
   ******************************************************************


On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, emailer1 wrote:

> I agree with Doug.
> 
> I would put two ideas first.  After those two things, the rest would become
> doable.
> 
> First thing:  Become a stable ISP (internet hookup entity).  That might
> require charging $5.00 per person per month but then we could give up the
> non-profit status and do some high-powered lobbying.
> 
> Our non-profit status blocks us completely from doing numbers number 5, and
> seriously cripples us from doing 1, 7, 8, and 9.
> 
> THEN, I would make sure that the SCNA e-mail was (a) as easy Outlook (could
> use Outlook) and (b) was HTML able.
> 
> After that, we would gather members like lawns gathering leaves in fall.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Doug Schuler <douglas at scn.org>
> To: <scn at scn.org>
> Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 3:42 PM
> Subject: SCN: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
> 
> 
> > Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
> >
> > SCNites,
> >
> > I've compiled a quick note which I think (HOPE!) may help us now and in
> > the future.
> >
> > The first part of the note is a brief list of all of the possible roles
> > for SCN I could think of this morning over my second cup of coffee.
> >
> > After this list I make a simple suggestion that I think could (help)
> > guide further development on SCN.  I'd love to know what you think.
> >
> >
> >  ------------------ possible roles for SCN --
> > (PS.  there are many others -- let me know what they are and I'll add
> them)
> 
> > [Note, I added numbers to Doug's list.]
> 
> > 1.    Assume a place at the table for developing city / regional / state
> (and
> > other?) ICT initiatives and policy.  (ICT = "information and
> > communication technology)
> >
> > 2.    Provide low / no cost ICT services (email, listservs, web pages,
> etc.)
> >
> > 3.    Provide useful civic and community content on our web site (and
> other
> > places?)
> >
> > 4.    Provide portal to Seattle community / civic information,
> applications
> > and services
> >
> > 5.    Agitate for socially responsible ICT policy locally, regionally, and
> > beyond
> >
> > 6.    Perform training and other pubic education
> >
> > 7.    Help define and develop future community / civic information,
> > applications and services
> >
> > 8.    Work with community / civic groups to develop relevant ICT
> applications
> > and services
> >
> > 9.    Take part in regional, national, and international coalitions to
> > advance community / civic ICT goals.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > If we asked everybody in SCN to prioritize these possible roles
> > I'm assuming that we'd have some champions for each and every one of
> > these roles.
> >
> > So which of these roles should we as SCN volunteers address?
> >
> > ALL OF THEM.
> >
> > But, people will say, we don't have the resources to do ALL OF THEM.
> > That's right!  We don't have the resources AT THE MOMENT to do all of
> > them.  So, at this point in time let's not do ALL of them.  In fact, at
> > any given point in time, let's just focus on the ones in which we have
> > volunteers who are willing to do the work.
> >
> > We have to realize that ALL of these issues are important and that they
> > together form a coherent body of work that SCN stands for.
> >
> > We have, in fact, worked on all of them, at one time or another.
> >
> > I'm not against setting priorities.  We have to do that!  But that
> > shouldn't be used as an excuse to rule out a relevant piece of work.
> >
> > Let's do the limited amount of work that we can do.  The way I see it,
> > however, there is no reason to ban certain activities.  The situation
> > is dynamic -- we need to be dynamic as well!
> >
> > 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
> > ==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the web at: ====
> > * * * * * * *     http://www.scn.org/volunteers/scn-l/     * * * * * * *
> >
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Sign Up for NetZero Platinum Today
> Only $9.95 per month!
> http://my.netzero.net/s/signup?r=platinum&refcd=PT97
> 

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From douglas at scn.scn.org  Thu Nov  1 09:46:10 2001
From: douglas at scn.scn.org (Doug Schuler)
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 09:46:10 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about
 it...
In-Reply-To: <20011101173007.11935.qmail@web13201.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.4.20.0111010942370.12225-100000@scn.scn.org>


Patrick,

The point is that as a non-profit educational institution we CAN
(and SHOULD) be involved in public educational efforts DIRECTLY.

That is one of the reasons we started the project.

Of course, this effort, like the others, requires volunteer
energy and this ebbs and flows over time.  

One of the initiatives in this area is the conference below.
I'm going to send out a note on this soon.  I hope there
are lots of good SCN connections...

-- Doug

   ******************************************************************
   *     SHAPING THE NETWORK SOCIETY                                *
   *          Patterns for Participation,Action, and Change         *
   *                  http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02        *
   * Tomorrow's information and communication infrastructure        *
   *   is being shaped today.                                       *
   *                              But by whom and to what ends?     *
   ******************************************************************


On Thu, 1 Nov 2001, patrick wrote:

> If doing such things were not allowed, legally, then that would
> probably fall under interpretting the letter of the law.
> 
> However, there is nothing to prevent volunteers from being
> "motivated."
> 
> I certainly have a certain focus when it comes to profiling sites of
> the month: I would not go out of my way to profile an organization
> that is rolling in money. I'm more likely to profile a
> site/organization that contributes to the community and has scarce
> resources and can't spend a lot of time and money to bring attention
> to iself. Like BikeWorks, which is hosted on SCN. 
> 
> But this is more of a tendency, but it is a certain focus.
> 
> And ICT (Information and Communication Technology): This is what SCN
> and the digital community is all about.
> 
> As for: 5.    Agitate for socially responsible ICT policy locally,
> regionally, and beyond. SCN does this indirectly, as any
> non-commercial site would do.
> 
> Patrick
> 
> 
> 
> --- Lorraine Pozzi <femme2 at scn.scn.org> wrote:
> > 
> > Non-profit status is NOT the problem.  Being a non-profit does not
> > prevent
> > SCN/SCNA from doing the things that Doug suggests.  Focussing on
> > the 
> > non-problem would use up some of SCN's scarce resources. 
> > 
> > Lorraine
> > ----------------------------------
> > On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, emailer1 wrote:
> > 
> > > I agree with Doug.
> > > 
> > > I would put two ideas first.  After those two things, the rest
> > would become
> > > doable.
> > > 
> > > First thing:  Become a stable ISP (internet hookup entity).  That
> > might
> > > require charging $5.00 per person per month but then we could
> > give up the
> > > non-profit status and do some high-powered lobbying.
> > > 
> > > Our non-profit status blocks us completely from doing numbers
> > number 5, and
> > > seriously cripples us from doing 1, 7, 8, and 9.
> > > 
> > > THEN, I would make sure that the SCNA e-mail was (a) as easy
> > Outlook (could
> > > use Outlook) and (b) was HTML able.
> > > 
> > > After that, we would gather members like lawns gathering leaves
> > in fall.
> > > 
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: Doug Schuler <douglas at scn.org>
> > > To: <scn at scn.org>
> > > Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 3:42 PM
> > > Subject: SCN: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about
> > it...
> > > 
> > > 
> > > > Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
> > > >
> > > > SCNites,
> > > >
> > > > I've compiled a quick note which I think (HOPE!) may help us
> > now and in
> > > > the future.
> > > >
> > > > The first part of the note is a brief list of all of the
> > possible roles
> > > > for SCN I could think of this morning over my second cup of
> > coffee.
> > > >
> > > > After this list I make a simple suggestion that I think could
> > (help)
> > > > guide further development on SCN.  I'd love to know what you
> > think.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >  ------------------ possible roles for SCN --
> > > > (PS.  there are many others -- let me know what they are and
> > I'll add
> > > them)
> > > 
> > > > [Note, I added numbers to Doug's list.]
> > > 
> > > > 1.    Assume a place at the table for developing city /
> > regional / state
> > > (and
> > > > other?) ICT initiatives and policy.  (ICT = "information and
> > > > communication technology)
> > > >
> > > > 2.    Provide low / no cost ICT services (email, listservs, web
> > pages,
> > > etc.)
> > > >
> > > > 3.    Provide useful civic and community content on our web
> > site (and
> > > other
> > > > places?)
> > > >
> > > > 4.    Provide portal to Seattle community / civic information,
> > > applications
> > > > and services
> > > >
> > > > 5.    Agitate for socially responsible ICT policy locally,
> > regionally, and
> > > > beyond
> > > >
> > > > 6.    Perform training and other pubic education
> > > >
> > > > 7.    Help define and develop future community / civic
> > information,
> > > > applications and services
> > > >
> > > > 8.    Work with community / civic groups to develop relevant
> > ICT
> > > applications
> > > > and services
> > > >
> > > > 9.    Take part in regional, national, and international
> > coalitions to
> > > > advance community / civic ICT goals.
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > If we asked everybody in SCN to prioritize these possible roles
> > > > I'm assuming that we'd have some champions for each and every
> > one of
> > > > these roles.
> > > >
> > > > So which of these roles should we as SCN volunteers address?
> > > >
> > > > ALL OF THEM.
> > > >
> > > > But, people will say, we don't have the resources to do ALL OF
> > THEM.
> > > > That's right!  We don't have the resources AT THE MOMENT to do
> > all of
> > > > them.  So, at this point in time let's not do ALL of them.  In
> > fact, at
> > > > any given point in time, let's just focus on the ones in which
> > we have
> > > > volunteers who are willing to do the work.
> > > >
> > > > We have to realize that ALL of these issues are important and
> > that they
> > > > together form a coherent body of work that SCN stands for.
> > > >
> > > > We have, in fact, worked on all of them, at one time or
> > another.
> > > >
> > > > I'm not against setting priorities.  We have to do that!  But
> > that
> > > > shouldn't be used as an excuse to rule out a relevant piece of
> > work.
> > > >
> > > > Let's do the limited amount of work that we can do.  The way I
> > see it,
> > > > however, there is no reason to ban certain activities.  The
> > situation
> > > > is dynamic -- we need to be dynamic as well!
> > > >
> > > > 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
> > > > ==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the web
> > at: ====
> > > > * * * * * * *     http://www.scn.org/volunteers/scn-l/     * *
> > * * * * *
> > > >
> > > 
> > > ----------------------------------------------------
> > > Sign Up for NetZero Platinum Today
> > > Only $9.95 per month!
> > > http://my.netzero.net/s/signup?r=platinum&refcd=PT97
> > > * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  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
> > > ==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the web
> > at: ====
> > > * * * * * * *     http://www.scn.org/volunteers/scn-l/     * * *
> > * * * *
> > > 
> > 
> > * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  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
> > ==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the web at:
> > ====
> > * * * * * * *     http://www.scn.org/volunteers/scn-l/     * * * *
> > * * *
> 
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals.
> http://personals.yahoo.com
> 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  From the Listowner  * * * * * * * * * * * *
.	To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to:
majordomo at scn.org		In the body of the message, type:
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From clariun at yahoo.com  Thu Nov  1 09:53:44 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 09:53:44 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.4.20.0111010932440.12225-100000@scn.scn.org>
Message-ID: <20011101175344.66478.qmail@web13204.mail.yahoo.com>

Doug,

I'll put your conference information on my Yahoo calendar and put it
up on the homepage in February.

Patrick


--- Doug Schuler <douglas at scn.scn.org> wrote:
> 
> Two quick things --
> 
> I wanted to add the idea of computer recycling to the list
> (thanks, Joe!).
> 
> I also want to second Lorraine's comments about SCN's non-profit
> status.  There are, of course, some restrictions on what we
> can do as a non-profit but they basically don't apply at 
> all to my suggestions.  One of the most important of the
> non-profit restrictions is that we can't spend over a certain
> percentage of our resources in lobbying efforts.  This means
> lobbying for *specific* pieces of legislation or candidates.
> It doesn't have an impact the ISSUE based educational effort
> that I was talking about it.  
> 
> There *are* some issues that arise with providing free
> ISP services I gather.  The Oregon Public Network (if I'm
> not mistaken) just concluded a multi-year hassle with the
> IRS over some of these issues.  There was a sort of
> compromise I hear but I do not understand the issues.
> If and when we move further in this direction -- and I'd
> support it -- there are some issues that we'd have to
> face.  I don't think it necessarily implies getting
> rid of our status, however.
> 
> -- Doug
> 
>   
> ******************************************************************
>    *     SHAPING THE NETWORK SOCIETY                               
> *
>    *          Patterns for Participation,Action, and Change        
> *
>    *                  http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02       
> *
>    * Tomorrow's information and communication infrastructure       
> *
>    *   is being shaped today.                                      
> *
>    *                              But by whom and to what ends?    
> *
>   
> ******************************************************************
> 
> 
> On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, emailer1 wrote:
> 
> > I agree with Doug.
> > 
> > I would put two ideas first.  After those two things, the rest
> would become
> > doable.
> > 
> > First thing:  Become a stable ISP (internet hookup entity).  That
> might
> > require charging $5.00 per person per month but then we could
> give up the
> > non-profit status and do some high-powered lobbying.
> > 
> > Our non-profit status blocks us completely from doing numbers
> number 5, and
> > seriously cripples us from doing 1, 7, 8, and 9.
> > 
> > THEN, I would make sure that the SCNA e-mail was (a) as easy
> Outlook (could
> > use Outlook) and (b) was HTML able.
> > 
> > After that, we would gather members like lawns gathering leaves
> in fall.
> > 
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Doug Schuler <douglas at scn.org>
> > To: <scn at scn.org>
> > Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 3:42 PM
> > Subject: SCN: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about
> it...
> > 
> > 
> > > Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
> > >
> > > SCNites,
> > >
> > > I've compiled a quick note which I think (HOPE!) may help us
> now and in
> > > the future.
> > >
> > > The first part of the note is a brief list of all of the
> possible roles
> > > for SCN I could think of this morning over my second cup of
> coffee.
> > >
> > > After this list I make a simple suggestion that I think could
> (help)
> > > guide further development on SCN.  I'd love to know what you
> think.
> > >
> > >
> > >  ------------------ possible roles for SCN --
> > > (PS.  there are many others -- let me know what they are and
> I'll add
> > them)
> > 
> > > [Note, I added numbers to Doug's list.]
> > 
> > > 1.    Assume a place at the table for developing city /
> regional / state
> > (and
> > > other?) ICT initiatives and policy.  (ICT = "information and
> > > communication technology)
> > >
> > > 2.    Provide low / no cost ICT services (email, listservs, web
> pages,
> > etc.)
> > >
> > > 3.    Provide useful civic and community content on our web
> site (and
> > other
> > > places?)
> > >
> > > 4.    Provide portal to Seattle community / civic information,
> > applications
> > > and services
> > >
> > > 5.    Agitate for socially responsible ICT policy locally,
> regionally, and
> > > beyond
> > >
> > > 6.    Perform training and other pubic education
> > >
> > > 7.    Help define and develop future community / civic
> information,
> > > applications and services
> > >
> > > 8.    Work with community / civic groups to develop relevant
> ICT
> > applications
> > > and services
> > >
> > > 9.    Take part in regional, national, and international
> coalitions to
> > > advance community / civic ICT goals.
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > >
> > > If we asked everybody in SCN to prioritize these possible roles
> > > I'm assuming that we'd have some champions for each and every
> one of
> > > these roles.
> > >
> > > So which of these roles should we as SCN volunteers address?
> > >
> > > ALL OF THEM.
> > >
> > > But, people will say, we don't have the resources to do ALL OF
> THEM.
> > > That's right!  We don't have the resources AT THE MOMENT to do
> all of
> > > them.  So, at this point in time let's not do ALL of them.  In
> fact, at
> > > any given point in time, let's just focus on the ones in which
> we have
> > > volunteers who are willing to do the work.
> > >
> > > We have to realize that ALL of these issues are important and
> that they
> > > together form a coherent body of work that SCN stands for.
> > >
> > > We have, in fact, worked on all of them, at one time or
> another.
> > >
> > > I'm not against setting priorities.  We have to do that!  But
> that
> > > shouldn't be used as an excuse to rule out a relevant piece of
> work.
> > >
> > > Let's do the limited amount of work that we can do.  The way I
> see it,
> > > however, there is no reason to ban certain activities.  The
> situation
> > > is dynamic -- we need to be dynamic as well!
> > >
> > > 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
> > > ==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the web
> at: ====
> > > * * * * * * *     http://www.scn.org/volunteers/scn-l/     * *
> * * * * *
> > >
> > 
> > ----------------------------------------------------
> > Sign Up for NetZero Platinum Today
> > Only $9.95 per month!
> > http://my.netzero.net/s/signup?r=platinum&refcd=PT97
> > 
> 
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  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
> ==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the web at:
> ====
> * * * * * * *     http://www.scn.org/volunteers/scn-l/     * * * *
> * * *


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals.
http://personals.yahoo.com
* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  From the Listowner  * * * * * * * * * * * *
.	To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to:
majordomo at scn.org		In the body of the message, type:
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==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the web at: ====
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From clariun at yahoo.com  Thu Nov  1 09:56:16 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 09:56:16 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
In-Reply-To: <20011101175344.66478.qmail@web13204.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <20011101175616.15634.qmail@web13201.mail.yahoo.com>

That should be the beginning of May. Not February.

Patrick


--- patrick <clariun at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Doug,
> 
> I'll put your conference information on my Yahoo calendar and put
> it
> up on the homepage in February.
> 
> Patrick
> 
> 
> --- Doug Schuler <douglas at scn.scn.org> wrote:
> > 
> > Two quick things --
> > 
> > I wanted to add the idea of computer recycling to the list
> > (thanks, Joe!).
> > 
> > I also want to second Lorraine's comments about SCN's non-profit
> > status.  There are, of course, some restrictions on what we
> > can do as a non-profit but they basically don't apply at 
> > all to my suggestions.  One of the most important of the
> > non-profit restrictions is that we can't spend over a certain
> > percentage of our resources in lobbying efforts.  This means
> > lobbying for *specific* pieces of legislation or candidates.
> > It doesn't have an impact the ISSUE based educational effort
> > that I was talking about it.  
> > 
> > There *are* some issues that arise with providing free
> > ISP services I gather.  The Oregon Public Network (if I'm
> > not mistaken) just concluded a multi-year hassle with the
> > IRS over some of these issues.  There was a sort of
> > compromise I hear but I do not understand the issues.
> > If and when we move further in this direction -- and I'd
> > support it -- there are some issues that we'd have to
> > face.  I don't think it necessarily implies getting
> > rid of our status, however.
> > 
> > -- Doug
> > 
> >   
> >
> ******************************************************************
> >    *     SHAPING THE NETWORK SOCIETY                             
>  
> > *
> >    *          Patterns for Participation,Action, and Change      
>  
> > *
> >    *                  http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02     
>  
> > *
> >    * Tomorrow's information and communication infrastructure     
>  
> > *
> >    *   is being shaped today.                                    
>  
> > *
> >    *                              But by whom and to what ends?  
>  
> > *
> >   
> >
> ******************************************************************
> > 
> > 
> > On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, emailer1 wrote:
> > 
> > > I agree with Doug.
> > > 
> > > I would put two ideas first.  After those two things, the rest
> > would become
> > > doable.
> > > 
> > > First thing:  Become a stable ISP (internet hookup entity). 
> That
> > might
> > > require charging $5.00 per person per month but then we could
> > give up the
> > > non-profit status and do some high-powered lobbying.
> > > 
> > > Our non-profit status blocks us completely from doing numbers
> > number 5, and
> > > seriously cripples us from doing 1, 7, 8, and 9.
> > > 
> > > THEN, I would make sure that the SCNA e-mail was (a) as easy
> > Outlook (could
> > > use Outlook) and (b) was HTML able.
> > > 
> > > After that, we would gather members like lawns gathering leaves
> > in fall.
> > > 
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: Doug Schuler <douglas at scn.org>
> > > To: <scn at scn.org>
> > > Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 3:42 PM
> > > Subject: SCN: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do
> about
> > it...
> > > 
> > > 
> > > > Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
> > > >
> > > > SCNites,
> > > >
> > > > I've compiled a quick note which I think (HOPE!) may help us
> > now and in
> > > > the future.
> > > >
> > > > The first part of the note is a brief list of all of the
> > possible roles
> > > > for SCN I could think of this morning over my second cup of
> > coffee.
> > > >
> > > > After this list I make a simple suggestion that I think could
> > (help)
> > > > guide further development on SCN.  I'd love to know what you
> > think.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >  ------------------ possible roles for SCN --
> > > > (PS.  there are many others -- let me know what they are and
> > I'll add
> > > them)
> > > 
> > > > [Note, I added numbers to Doug's list.]
> > > 
> > > > 1.    Assume a place at the table for developing city /
> > regional / state
> > > (and
> > > > other?) ICT initiatives and policy.  (ICT = "information and
> > > > communication technology)
> > > >
> > > > 2.    Provide low / no cost ICT services (email, listservs,
> web
> > pages,
> > > etc.)
> > > >
> > > > 3.    Provide useful civic and community content on our web
> > site (and
> > > other
> > > > places?)
> > > >
> > > > 4.    Provide portal to Seattle community / civic
> information,
> > > applications
> > > > and services
> > > >
> > > > 5.    Agitate for socially responsible ICT policy locally,
> > regionally, and
> > > > beyond
> > > >
> > > > 6.    Perform training and other pubic education
> > > >
> > > > 7.    Help define and develop future community / civic
> > information,
> > > > applications and services
> > > >
> > > > 8.    Work with community / civic groups to develop relevant
> > ICT
> > > applications
> > > > and services
> > > >
> > > > 9.    Take part in regional, national, and international
> > coalitions to
> > > > advance community / civic ICT goals.
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > If we asked everybody in SCN to prioritize these possible
> roles
> > > > I'm assuming that we'd have some champions for each and every
> > one of
> > > > these roles.
> > > >
> > > > So which of these roles should we as SCN volunteers address?
> > > >
> > > > ALL OF THEM.
> > > >
> > > > But, people will say, we don't have the resources to do ALL
> OF
> > THEM.
> > > > That's right!  We don't have the resources AT THE MOMENT to
> do
> > all of
> > > > them.  So, at this point in time let's not do ALL of them. 
> In
> > fact, at
> > > > any given point in time, let's just focus on the ones in
> which
> > we have
> > > > volunteers who are willing to do the work.
> > > >
> > > > We have to realize that ALL of these issues are important and
> > that they
> > > > together form a coherent body of work that SCN stands for.
> > > >
> > > > We have, in fact, worked on all of them, at one time or
> > another.
> > > >
> > > > I'm not against setting priorities.  We have to do that!  But
> > that
> > > > shouldn't be used as an excuse to rule out a relevant piece
> of
> > work.
> > > >
> > > > Let's do the limited amount of work that we can do.  The way
> I
> > see it,
> > > > however, there is no reason to ban certain activities.  The
> > situation
> > > > is dynamic -- we need to be dynamic as well!
> > > >
> > > > 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
> > > > ==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the
> web
> > at: ====
> > > > * * * * * * *     http://www.scn.org/volunteers/scn-l/     *
> *
> > * * * * *
> > > >
> > > 
> > > ----------------------------------------------------
> > > Sign Up for NetZero Platinum Today
> > > Only $9.95 per month!
> > > http://my.netzero.net/s/signup?r=platinum&refcd=PT97
> > > 
> > 
> > * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  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
> > ==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the web
> at:
> > ====
> > * * * * * * *     http://www.scn.org/volunteers/scn-l/     * * *
> *
> > * * *
> 
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals.
> http://personals.yahoo.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
> ==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the web at:
> ====
> * * * * * * *     http://www.scn.org/volunteers/scn-l/     * * * *
> * * *


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals.
http://personals.yahoo.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
==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the web at: ====
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From clariun at yahoo.com  Thu Nov  1 10:01:04 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 10:01:04 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Dedicated section Re: SCN: Re: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
In-Reply-To: <20011101175616.15634.qmail@web13201.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <20011101180104.30712.qmail@web13203.mail.yahoo.com>

Doug,

We can set up a dedicated area on SCN to this topic. If you have some
suggestions...I know your site covers a lot, but I think it may be a
good idea to set up a section on how SCN applies this philosophy.

Patrick


--- patrick <clariun at yahoo.com> wrote:
> That should be the beginning of May. Not February.
> 
> Patrick
> 
> 
> --- patrick <clariun at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Doug,
> > 
> > I'll put your conference information on my Yahoo calendar and put
> > it
> > up on the homepage in February.
> > 
> > Patrick
> > 
> > 
> > --- Doug Schuler <douglas at scn.scn.org> wrote:
> > > 
> > > Two quick things --
> > > 
> > > I wanted to add the idea of computer recycling to the list
> > > (thanks, Joe!).
> > > 
> > > I also want to second Lorraine's comments about SCN's
> non-profit
> > > status.  There are, of course, some restrictions on what we
> > > can do as a non-profit but they basically don't apply at 
> > > all to my suggestions.  One of the most important of the
> > > non-profit restrictions is that we can't spend over a certain
> > > percentage of our resources in lobbying efforts.  This means
> > > lobbying for *specific* pieces of legislation or candidates.
> > > It doesn't have an impact the ISSUE based educational effort
> > > that I was talking about it.  
> > > 
> > > There *are* some issues that arise with providing free
> > > ISP services I gather.  The Oregon Public Network (if I'm
> > > not mistaken) just concluded a multi-year hassle with the
> > > IRS over some of these issues.  There was a sort of
> > > compromise I hear but I do not understand the issues.
> > > If and when we move further in this direction -- and I'd
> > > support it -- there are some issues that we'd have to
> > > face.  I don't think it necessarily implies getting
> > > rid of our status, however.
> > > 
> > > -- Doug
> > > 
> > >   
> > >
> >
> ******************************************************************
> > >    *     SHAPING THE NETWORK SOCIETY                           
>  
> >  
> > > *
> > >    *          Patterns for Participation,Action, and Change    
>  
> >  
> > > *
> > >    *                  http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02   
>  
> >  
> > > *
> > >    * Tomorrow's information and communication infrastructure   
>  
> >  
> > > *
> > >    *   is being shaped today.                                  
>  
> >  
> > > *
> > >    *                              But by whom and to what ends?
>  
> >  
> > > *
> > >   
> > >
> >
> ******************************************************************
> > > 
> > > 
> > > On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, emailer1 wrote:
> > > 
> > > > I agree with Doug.
> > > > 
> > > > I would put two ideas first.  After those two things, the
> rest
> > > would become
> > > > doable.
> > > > 
> > > > First thing:  Become a stable ISP (internet hookup entity). 
> > That
> > > might
> > > > require charging $5.00 per person per month but then we could
> > > give up the
> > > > non-profit status and do some high-powered lobbying.
> > > > 
> > > > Our non-profit status blocks us completely from doing numbers
> > > number 5, and
> > > > seriously cripples us from doing 1, 7, 8, and 9.
> > > > 
> > > > THEN, I would make sure that the SCNA e-mail was (a) as easy
> > > Outlook (could
> > > > use Outlook) and (b) was HTML able.
> > > > 
> > > > After that, we would gather members like lawns gathering
> leaves
> > > in fall.
> > > > 
> > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > From: Doug Schuler <douglas at scn.org>
> > > > To: <scn at scn.org>
> > > > Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 3:42 PM
> > > > Subject: SCN: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do
> > about
> > > it...
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > > Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
> > > > >
> > > > > SCNites,
> > > > >
> > > > > I've compiled a quick note which I think (HOPE!) may help
> us
> > > now and in
> > > > > the future.
> > > > >
> > > > > The first part of the note is a brief list of all of the
> > > possible roles
> > > > > for SCN I could think of this morning over my second cup of
> > > coffee.
> > > > >
> > > > > After this list I make a simple suggestion that I think
> could
> > > (help)
> > > > > guide further development on SCN.  I'd love to know what
> you
> > > think.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > >  ------------------ possible roles for SCN --
> > > > > (PS.  there are many others -- let me know what they are
> and
> > > I'll add
> > > > them)
> > > > 
> > > > > [Note, I added numbers to Doug's list.]
> > > > 
> > > > > 1.    Assume a place at the table for developing city /
> > > regional / state
> > > > (and
> > > > > other?) ICT initiatives and policy.  (ICT = "information
> and
> > > > > communication technology)
> > > > >
> > > > > 2.    Provide low / no cost ICT services (email, listservs,
> > web
> > > pages,
> > > > etc.)
> > > > >
> > > > > 3.    Provide useful civic and community content on our web
> > > site (and
> > > > other
> > > > > places?)
> > > > >
> > > > > 4.    Provide portal to Seattle community / civic
> > information,
> > > > applications
> > > > > and services
> > > > >
> > > > > 5.    Agitate for socially responsible ICT policy locally,
> > > regionally, and
> > > > > beyond
> > > > >
> > > > > 6.    Perform training and other pubic education
> > > > >
> > > > > 7.    Help define and develop future community / civic
> > > information,
> > > > > applications and services
> > > > >
> > > > > 8.    Work with community / civic groups to develop
> relevant
> > > ICT
> > > > applications
> > > > > and services
> > > > >
> > > > > 9.    Take part in regional, national, and international
> > > coalitions to
> > > > > advance community / civic ICT goals.
> > > > >
> > > > > ------------------------------------------------
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > If we asked everybody in SCN to prioritize these possible
> > roles
> > > > > I'm assuming that we'd have some champions for each and
> every
> > > one of
> > > > > these roles.
> > > > >
> > > > > So which of these roles should we as SCN volunteers
> address?
> > > > >
> > > > > ALL OF THEM.
> > > > >
> > > > > But, people will say, we don't have the resources to do ALL
> > OF
> > > THEM.
> > > > > That's right!  We don't have the resources AT THE MOMENT to
> > do
> > > all of
> > > > > them.  So, at this point in time let's not do ALL of them. 
> > In
> > > fact, at
> > > > > any given point in time, let's just focus on the ones in
> > which
> > > we have
> > > > > volunteers who are willing to do the work.
> > > > >
> > > > > We have to realize that ALL of these issues are important
> and
> > > that they
> > > > > together form a coherent body of work that SCN stands for.
> > > > >
> > > > > We have, in fact, worked on all of them, at one time or
> > > another.
> > > > >
> > > > > I'm not against setting priorities.  We have to do that! 
> But
> > > that
> > > > > shouldn't be used as an excuse to rule out a relevant piece
> > of
> > > work.
> > > > >
> > > > > Let's do the limited amount of work that we can do.  The
> way
> > I
> > > see it,
> > > > > however, there is no reason to ban certain activities.  The
> > > situation
> > > > > is dynamic -- we need to be dynamic as well!
> > > > >
> > > > > 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
> > > > > ==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the
> > web
> > > at: ====
> > > > > * * * * * * *     http://www.scn.org/volunteers/scn-l/    
> *
> > *
> > > * * * * *
> > > > >
> > > > 
> > > > ----------------------------------------------------
> > > > Sign Up for NetZero Platinum Today
> > > > Only $9.95 per month!
> > > > http://my.netzero.net/s/signup?r=platinum&refcd=PT97
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  From the Listowner  * * * * * * *
> *
> > *
> > > * * *
> > > .	To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to:
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> > at:
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> *
> > *
> > > * * *
> > 
> > 
> > __________________________________________________
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> > Make a great connection at Yahoo! Personals.
> > http://personals.yahoo.com
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> 
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From clariun at yahoo.com  Thu Nov  1 16:44:44 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 16:44:44 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: html,ccs
Message-ID: <20011102004444.64127.qmail@web13201.mail.yahoo.com>

It would be a heck of a lot better to start to implement CCS now. I
will put it into the new site.

It's such a pain to go and type all those typefaces with raw HTML. If
they were in one little CCS tag, like would be a heck of a lot
easier.

Patrick

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From jj at scn.scn.org  Thu Nov  1 21:52:09 2001
From: jj at scn.scn.org (J. Johnson)
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 21:52:09 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.3.96.1011101085349.12950A-100000@scn>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.96.1011101212624.16517C-100000@scn>

> On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, emailer1 wrote:
> 
> First thing:  Become a stable ISP (internet hookup entity).  That might
> require charging $5.00 per person per month but then we could give up the
> non-profit status and do some high-powered lobbying.

_Might_ require charging _$5_ a month?  HAH!!!!  

Consider that if we give up non-profit status we _will_ have to start
paying for Internet access, rent, taxes, etc. As well as wages.  And
consider that of the many ISPs that have entered the market (many of them
low-overhead "mom-and-pop" operations you never noticed) NONE have been
able to stay afloat charging less than $20 a month.  (Or selling
advertising.)

=== JJ =============================================================

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From clariun at yahoo.com  Fri Nov  2 08:14:58 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 08:14:58 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.3.96.1011101212624.16517C-100000@scn>
Message-ID: <20011102161458.84516.qmail@web13208.mail.yahoo.com>

Eskimo.com is afloat and doing well, charging $156 a year for basic
56K access.

But, yes, Bob at Eskimo has been doing this for a long time and does
much of the work himself, so he understands the market and money. 

Many places just sprang up to be a business, pouring in cash, opening
the doors and waiting for the customers to come. They didn't handle
things too well. Of course, many of them, I am sure, sold out to
bigger companies like Earthstink.

Patrick


--- "J. Johnson" <jj at scn.scn.org> wrote:
> > On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, emailer1 wrote:
> > 
> > First thing:  Become a stable ISP (internet hookup entity).  That
> might
> > require charging $5.00 per person per month but then we could
> give up the
> > non-profit status and do some high-powered lobbying.
> 
> _Might_ require charging _$5_ a month?  HAH!!!!  
> 
> Consider that if we give up non-profit status we _will_ have to
> start
> paying for Internet access, rent, taxes, etc. As well as wages. 
> And
> consider that of the many ISPs that have entered the market (many
> of them
> low-overhead "mom-and-pop" operations you never noticed) NONE have
> been
> able to stay afloat charging less than $20 a month.  (Or selling
> advertising.)
> 
> === JJ
> =============================================================
> 
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  From the Listowner  * * * * * * * * *
> * * *
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=====
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Webmaster
http://www.scn.org
Seattle Community Network
"Powering Our Communities with Technology"

__________________________________________________
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From jw4 at scn.org  Fri Nov  2 08:28:55 2001
From: jw4 at scn.org (Joel Ware IV)
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 08:28:55 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: USA Patriot Act, was: WAISP Legislative Update 11/1/01 (fwd)
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.96.1011102082732.215A-100000@scn>

For your info -- update on Federal law  "USA Patriot Act"

Joel Ware, IV           jw4 at scn.org
Volunteer Coordinator Emeritus, Member of Governance, HR, Ops, Board

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 11:26:49 -0800
From: Gary Gardner--Executive Director <exec-director at waisp.org>
To: announcements at waisp.org
Subject: WAISP Legislative Update 11/1/01

President Bush has signed into law bill HR 3162, the "Uniting
and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools
Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001" (USA
PATRIOT Act). On octboer 26, 2001, this legislation became
Public Law 107-56.  It is broad bill that covers immigration,
money laundering, relief for victims of terrorism, and foreign
intelligence.

The new law includes a number of provisions that directly affect
surveillance of Internet communications.

You can obtain a copy of the bill  from the Library of Congress Thomas site at
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:H.R.3162.ENR:.

The following is a summary of the provisions that affect
Internet Service Providers:

** Section 216 expands law enforcement authority for pen
   registers and trap and trace devices (the technologies
   used to determine what phone numbers are called, and to
   trace the callers).  This section expands these technologies
   to include routing and other information to identify
   Internet communications.  This provides the legal authority
   for use of the FBI's Carnivore, and allows such technology
   to be used nationwide with a single warrant.

** Section 202 adds computer fraud and abuse to the list of
   crimes for which wiretap orders may be issued.

** Section 209 allows the seizure of voice mail messages if a
   warrant has been issued.

** Section 210 expand the scope of information that may be
   obtained from an ISP under subpoena to include  "name",
   "address", "local and long distance telephone connection
   records, or records of session times and durations", "length
   of service (including start date) and types of service
   utilized", "telephone or instrument number or other subscriber
   number or identity, including any temporarily assigned network
   address" and the "means and source of payment for such service
   (including any credit card or bank account number)".

** Section 211 specifies that cable Internet or cable telephony
   operators are also subject to these laws, though it continues
   the exemption from revealing records of which selection of video
   programming is viewed.

** Section 217 dramatically expands the ability of law enforcement
   to intercept communications to or from a "protected computer"
   -- which also includes any server on the Internet -- in the event
   of an illegal trespass.

** Section 222  requires that service providers who
   provide facilities and technical assistance to law enforcement
   be fairly compensated.

There is a four-year sunset to the expanded law enforcement
rights.  The sunset applies to sections 209 (voice mail), 210
(scope of subpoenas for electronic communications service
providers), and 217 (computer trespasser information), but does
not apply to Sections 216 (expansion of pen register and trap and
trace authority), 211 (cable services) and 222 (no technology
mandates).




* * * * * * * * * * * * * *  From the Listowner  * * * * * * * * * * * *
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From clariun at yahoo.com  Fri Nov  2 13:42:05 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 13:42:05 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: USA Patriot Act, was: WAISP Legislative Update 11/1/01 (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.3.96.1011102082732.215A-100000@scn>
Message-ID: <20011102214205.95905.qmail@web13207.mail.yahoo.com>

All I have to say is what B. Franklin said a long, long time ago:

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.



--- Joel Ware IV <jw4 at scn.org> wrote:
> For your info -- update on Federal law  "USA Patriot Act"
> 
> Joel Ware, IV           jw4 at scn.org
> Volunteer Coordinator Emeritus, Member of Governance, HR, Ops,
> Board
> 
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001 11:26:49 -0800
> From: Gary Gardner--Executive Director <exec-director at waisp.org>
> To: announcements at waisp.org
> Subject: WAISP Legislative Update 11/1/01
> 
> President Bush has signed into law bill HR 3162, the "Uniting
> and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools
> Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001" (USA
> PATRIOT Act). On octboer 26, 2001, this legislation became
> Public Law 107-56.  It is broad bill that covers immigration,
> money laundering, relief for victims of terrorism, and foreign
> intelligence.
> 
> The new law includes a number of provisions that directly affect
> surveillance of Internet communications.
> 
> You can obtain a copy of the bill  from the Library of Congress
> Thomas site at
> http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:H.R.3162.ENR:.
> 
> The following is a summary of the provisions that affect
> Internet Service Providers:
> 
> ** Section 216 expands law enforcement authority for pen
>    registers and trap and trace devices (the technologies
>    used to determine what phone numbers are called, and to
>    trace the callers).  This section expands these technologies
>    to include routing and other information to identify
>    Internet communications.  This provides the legal authority
>    for use of the FBI's Carnivore, and allows such technology
>    to be used nationwide with a single warrant.
> 
> ** Section 202 adds computer fraud and abuse to the list of
>    crimes for which wiretap orders may be issued.
> 
> ** Section 209 allows the seizure of voice mail messages if a
>    warrant has been issued.
> 
> ** Section 210 expand the scope of information that may be
>    obtained from an ISP under subpoena to include  "name",
>    "address", "local and long distance telephone connection
>    records, or records of session times and durations", "length
>    of service (including start date) and types of service
>    utilized", "telephone or instrument number or other subscriber
>    number or identity, including any temporarily assigned network
>    address" and the "means and source of payment for such service
>    (including any credit card or bank account number)".
> 
> ** Section 211 specifies that cable Internet or cable telephony
>    operators are also subject to these laws, though it continues
>    the exemption from revealing records of which selection of video
>    programming is viewed.
> 
> ** Section 217 dramatically expands the ability of law enforcement
>    to intercept communications to or from a "protected computer"
>    -- which also includes any server on the Internet -- in the
> event
>    of an illegal trespass.
> 
> ** Section 222  requires that service providers who
>    provide facilities and technical assistance to law enforcement
>    be fairly compensated.
> 
> There is a four-year sunset to the expanded law enforcement
> rights.  The sunset applies to sections 209 (voice mail), 210
> (scope of subpoenas for electronic communications service
> providers), and 217 (computer trespasser information), but does
> not apply to Sections 216 (expansion of pen register and trap and
> trace authority), 211 (cable services) and 222 (no technology
> mandates).
> 
> 
> 
> 
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  From the Listowner  * * * * * * * * *
> * * *
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=====
Patrick Fisher
Webmaster
http://www.scn.org
Seattle Community Network
"Powering Our Communities with Technology"

__________________________________________________
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From jmabel at speakeasy.org  Fri Nov  2 15:51:30 2001
From: jmabel at speakeasy.org (Joe Mabel)
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 15:51:30 -0800 (PST)
Subject: FTP(was Re: SCN: Homestead - no more free websites)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.3.96.1011031050930.14329A-100000@scn>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.33L2.0111021542230.18464-100000@grace.speakeasy.net>

JJ,
When you say ftp would be 'insecure', what exactly do you mean? Obviously, ftp
is insecure in the sense that the content of what is ftp'd can be intercepted.
ftp without some secure protocol under it is not the way to move around (say)
credit card information or a password file , but as far as I know, no one is
proposing handling information of that sort via ftp.


ftp'ing the content of one's web site is pretty normal. It's how I put up the
content for the Crisis Resource Directory. As far as I know, SCN isn't opening
any ugly security holes by letting me do that. 'Put' access should be available
only to people with write access to the relevant directory, right? Given that,
I'm not sure in what sense you are saying ftp is insecure. Are you saying that
giving someone ftp access in some way endangers the integrity of the system or
of other user's sites? Or are you saying something else? Whatever you are
saying, I don't feel I've yet understood your concern, so clarification would be
greatly appreciated.

I certainly would not try to maintain the Crisis
Resource Directory on SCN if I had to do all of my editing by logging in or
telnet'ing in to SCN to do so. Besides everything else, I consider my data a lot better backed up when I keep
my staging environment on a different computer from my live environment. If we
want lots of sites on SCN, we pretty much have to give them ftp or something
equally easy to use, allowing them to edit in whatever environment they are most
comfortable with and then post to SCN.

--------------------
Joe Mabel

On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, Rod Clark wrote:

> > Currently _any_ general ftp service would be insecure.  It has nothing do
> > with "SCN hosting", but with technical issues that need addressing.
>
> JJ,
>
>    Every ISP in the world has an FTP service. If they didn't,
> they wouldn't have any customers.
>
>    Not having "customers" is our basic problem with this.
>
>    The other basic problem, as epitomized in your note above, is
> how to transfer the necessary knowledge to SCN's technical
> volunteers, that a good ISP understands, about how to do
> services such as this, so that we too can have customers,
> instead of not having them.
>
> Rod Clark
>
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From jmabel at speakeasy.org  Fri Nov  2 15:56:47 2001
From: jmabel at speakeasy.org (Joe Mabel)
Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 15:56:47 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about
 it...
In-Reply-To: <000201c162e0$e5e570e0$7152fea9@desktop>
Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.33L2.0111021555580.18464-100000@grace.speakeasy.net>

Maybe I'm confused, but why would charging a small fee for a service mean giving
up non-profit status?

--------------------
Joe Mabel

On Wed, 31 Oct 2001, emailer1 wrote:

> I agree with Doug.
>
> I would put two ideas first.  After those two things, the rest would become
> doable.
>
> First thing:  Become a stable ISP (internet hookup entity).  That might
> require charging $5.00 per person per month but then we could give up the
> non-profit status and do some high-powered lobbying.
>
> Our non-profit status blocks us completely from doing numbers number 5, and
> seriously cripples us from doing 1, 7, 8, and 9.
>
> THEN, I would make sure that the SCNA e-mail was (a) as easy Outlook (could
> use Outlook) and (b) was HTML able.
>
> After that, we would gather members like lawns gathering leaves in fall.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Doug Schuler <douglas at scn.org>
> To: <scn at scn.org>
> Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 3:42 PM
> Subject: SCN: Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
>
>
> > Possible Roles for SCN -- and what we can do about it...
> >
> > SCNites,
> >
> > I've compiled a quick note which I think (HOPE!) may help us now and in
> > the future.
> >
> > The first part of the note is a brief list of all of the possible roles
> > for SCN I could think of this morning over my second cup of coffee.
> >
> > After this list I make a simple suggestion that I think could (help)
> > guide further development on SCN.  I'd love to know what you think.
> >
> >
> >  ------------------ possible roles for SCN --
> > (PS.  there are many others -- let me know what they are and I'll add
> them)
>
> > [Note, I added numbers to Doug's list.]
>
> > 1.    Assume a place at the table for developing city / regional / state
> (and
> > other?) ICT initiatives and policy.  (ICT = "information and
> > communication technology)
> >
> > 2.    Provide low / no cost ICT services (email, listservs, web pages,
> etc.)
> >
> > 3.    Provide useful civic and community content on our web site (and
> other
> > places?)
> >
> > 4.    Provide portal to Seattle community / civic information,
> applications
> > and services
> >
> > 5.    Agitate for socially responsible ICT policy locally, regionally, and
> > beyond
> >
> > 6.    Perform training and other pubic education
> >
> > 7.    Help define and develop future community / civic information,
> > applications and services
> >
> > 8.    Work with community / civic groups to develop relevant ICT
> applications
> > and services
> >
> > 9.    Take part in regional, national, and international coalitions to
> > advance community / civic ICT goals.
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> > If we asked everybody in SCN to prioritize these possible roles
> > I'm assuming that we'd have some champions for each and every one of
> > these roles.
> >
> > So which of these roles should we as SCN volunteers address?
> >
> > ALL OF THEM.
> >
> > But, people will say, we don't have the resources to do ALL OF THEM.
> > That's right!  We don't have the resources AT THE MOMENT to do all of
> > them.  So, at this point in time let's not do ALL of them.  In fact, at
> > any given point in time, let's just focus on the ones in which we have
> > volunteers who are willing to do the work.
> >
> > We have to realize that ALL of these issues are important and that they
> > together form a coherent body of work that SCN stands for.
> >
> > We have, in fact, worked on all of them, at one time or another.
> >
> > I'm not against setting priorities.  We have to do that!  But that
> > shouldn't be used as an excuse to rule out a relevant piece of work.
> >
> > Let's do the limited amount of work that we can do.  The way I see it,
> > however, there is no reason to ban certain activities.  The situation
> > is dynamic -- we need to be dynamic as well!
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > -- Doug
> >
> >
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> >
>
> ----------------------------------------------------
> Sign Up for NetZero Platinum Today
> Only $9.95 per month!
> http://my.netzero.net/s/signup?r=platinum&refcd=PT97
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From donlogs at cablespeed.com  Sat Nov  3 10:39:31 2001
From: donlogs at cablespeed.com (Don Logsdon)
Date: Sat, 3 Nov 2001 10:39:31 -0800
Subject: FTP(was Re: SCN: Homestead - no more free websites)
References: <Pine.LNX.4.33L2.0111021542230.18464-100000@grace.speakeasy.net>
Message-ID: <001301c16496$e1443460$f3ccff40@cablespeed.com>


You wrote (in part)
........
ftp'ing the content of one's web site is pretty normal. It's how I put up
the
content for the Crisis Resource Directory. As far as I know, SCN isn't
opening
any ugly security holes by letting me do that. 'Put' access should be
available
only to people with write access to the relevant directory, right? Given
that,
I'm not sure in what sense you are saying ftp is insecure.
..........

a reply:
-----
For the benefit of the non techical amoungst us ...
FTP is file transfer protocol.  It is two way - upload and dowload -
HTTP (the web browsing protocol)  only shares files as download,
although the file requests are uploaded.
A server is a program that is running on a computer --
an FTP server is a program that listens for requests to connect for
transfering.  To connect you must have the correct username
and password.
-------

The usual way to handle FTP access is by  limiting the user to the
home direcory, and to any subdirectories below it.  Not just for put,
but all access.  This then allows any one with the correct  username
and password to make modifications to the files as they please..
It gives them absolute control over their files, but no access at all
(including read only) to anyone elses files.

Certain users may  log on to the root dirctory which gives them
access to the entire file tree, but as you pointed out above
they are still restricted by the file permmissions, which governs what
actions are permitted.

FTP is one of the oldest protocols on the internet.  It predates the Web,
and is used in countless business every day.  The only way I can see that
an FTP server could be classed as insecure would be to have one that
allows users to have "roaming" privlidges.

If SCN is running a *non secure*  FTP server they should get a secure
server. I would imagine that there are any number free, or open source,
programs available that will run on a UNIX  based operating system.


Don


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From sharma at blarg.net  Sun Nov  4 15:15:07 2001
From: sharma at blarg.net (sharma at blarg.net)
Date: Sun, 04 Nov 2001 15:15:07 -0800
Subject: SCN: [Fwd: [vanguard-disc] The Leonids are coming! The Leonids are coming!]
Message-ID: <3BE5CBFB.4D8C826B@blarg.net>


This is a forward from another list, complete with permission to re-forward it, so
here goes. I am not sure I will be joining a group for the viewing, but would love to
if I can get it together. I am sorry to anyone who thinks this is not an appropriate
post, but this is the chance of your lifetime to see mega amounts of meteors. So many
of the lists I post to are political and don'tcha think we need a little wonder in
our lives right now?

I have removed the address of the poster as I am reposting this rather widely. If 
you think you want to join the group of SF people this was originally posted to,
write me and I will probably put you in touch with them.

This will be seen all over the world, so we can join all the other little human
animals being amazed by the shooting stars....

-sharma


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


What are you doing November 18th? Personally I am planning on freezing my
butt off. Wanna come along?

According to the various reports it is looking like this year's Leonid
meteor shower will be the best in since 1966, and maybe the best for the
next 98 years. We are talking truly spectacular meteor viewing folks!
Because of the new moon and other factors some estimates are more than 4000
meteors an hour at the peak. Read more about it on Wired:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,48016,00.html

The 18th is a Sunday and viewing will be best between 4:00 and 6:00 in the
morning. (Yeah, I know, some of you have to work for a living. So call in
sick! Do I have to think of everything?) At meteor viewings I usually spend
the entire night next to a fire, drinking coffee (or whatever) and sleeping
the next day. In the process I have noted that the more people along doing
this, the more fun it is. Note: I can bring a large telescope for anyone who
cares to look through it during the earlier hours.

The only real problem is the weather. If the weather report in Western
Washington is good I would suggest meeting somewhere in a rural area,
perhaps Skagit county, far from the Seattle city lights. Also, by taking it
north the Bellinghamsters can more easily participate. However chances of
clear skies around here during November are not good, so we need a fallback
plan. My suggestion is Eastern WA, probably around Ellensburg (an hour and
half drive from Seattle). Too far to go? No way! Not for the best meteor
viewing of the century!

Anyway, if there is sufficient interest I will arrange for a place to watch
the meteors and find a near-by cheap motel for those who don't want to drive
home afterwards. I will also help to arrange ride sharing and will
co-ordinate food/drinks, firewood and so on. Please let me know right away
if you would like to take part and if you have transportation. I will send
organizing email to interested parties only.

Also note: This is an *official* KampKon function! In fact this will be
KampKon v0.2 (some of you may know that KampKon v0.1 occurred at VikingCon
this year).

Feel free to forward this email to anyone who might be interested.

Jack William Bell
Supreme Khan of the KampKonKrew
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From douglas at scn.org  Mon Nov  5 12:39:51 2001
From: douglas at scn.org (Doug Schuler)
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 12:39:51 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: Candidates' record on Seattle's environment and historic
 preservation
In-Reply-To: <MFEJJGMHGKNLGNNBIBOCMEDDCBAA.aarts@speakeasy.net>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.4.20.0111051238480.5747-100000@scn.scn.org>


fyi...

On Mon, 5 Nov 2001, Allied Arts wrote:

> Dear Allied Arts Members,
> 
> Two organizations that Allied Arts has worked closely with, Historic Seattle
> and Yes For Seattle, have compiled information about the candidates in
> tomorrow's elections.  Since the election will result in significant changes
> within local governments, we are passing on their research to our members so
> you can have more information when making your voting decisions.
> 
> Please remember to vote tomorrow Tuesday November 6th.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Beth Sanders
> 
> 
> Historic Seattle distributed a questionnaire to City Council candidates and
> organized a mayoral candidates forum on October 2. The responses to their
> questionnaire appear on Historic Seattle's  website along with background
> information about the questions asked.  The site also has the full
> transcript of the October 2 forum.   <http://www.historicseattle.org>.
> 
> The second organization is Yes For Seattle which created a chart on the
> mayoral candidates' environmental record to easily contrast the two
> candidates' positions. If you cannot read the following chart, please see:
> http://www.yesforseattle.org/nickels.html
> 
>       The Issues
>      Greg Nickels
>      Mark Sidran
> 
>       Water Conservation for the Environment
> 
>       Position on Initiative 63 -- to increase water conservation, retrofit
> low-income housing for conservation, and devote conserved water to the
> environment.  Passed by City Council in substitute form.  �   Strongly
> endorsed I-63.
> 
>       �   Believes voters should choose whether conserved water goes to the
> environment.
>      �   Opposed I-63
> 
>       �   Filed lawsuit to prevent Initiative from reaching ballot.
> 
>       Urban Habitat
>       Position on "daylighting" (restoring) Thornton Creek and other salmon
> bearing creeks in Seattle.
>      �   Has pledged to daylight Thornton Creek.
> 
>       �   Argues that citizen efforts to daylight Seattle and King County
> should be supported.
>      �   Used position as City Attorney to oppose citizen efforts to
> daylight Thornton Creek.
> 
>       �   Wants developers to be able to build over salmon-bearing creeks
> without environmental review.
> 
>       Solving our Traffic Problems
> 
>       Position on light rail and monorail.  �   Supported both monorail
> initiatives.
> 
>       �   Supports light rail to leverage regional and federal dollars and
> to create jobs for economy.
>      �   As City Attorney, attempted to stop the monorail in court - twice.
> 
>       �   Opposes light rail.
> 
> 
> Information provided by Yes for Seattle, proponents of I-63, Smith & Lowney,
> attorneys for Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund and the I-41 and I-53
> (monorail) campaigns.
> 
> 
> We need to make sure that people consider our environment when choosing
> Seattle's next mayor.  Greg Nickels is by far the strongest candidate on
> urban environmental issues.  That's why Greg Nickels has the endorsement of
> Washington Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club.
> 
> Yes for Seattle. 2021 3rd Ave. Seattle, WA 98121. www.yesforseattleorg
> 
> 

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From clariun at yahoo.com  Mon Nov  5 13:04:21 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 13:04:21 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: interesting web statistic - average screen resolutions
Message-ID: <20011105210421.16036.qmail@web13205.mail.yahoo.com>

I thought everyone, or most everyone, would be interested in this
factoid about computer screens and the internet:


   QUICK STAT
   Average screen
   resolutions:
   640x480: 7%
   800x600: 53%
   1024x768: 31%
   1152x864: 2.5%
   1280x1024: 2.5%
   other: 4%

=====
Patrick Fisher
Web Team Coordinator
http://www.scn.org
Seattle Community Network
"Powering Our Communities with Technology"
Energy and persistence conquer all thing. -- Benjamin Franklin

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Find a job, post your resume.
http://careers.yahoo.com
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From douglas  Mon Nov  5 13:33:40 2001
From: douglas (Doug Schuler)
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 13:33:40 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Patterns for Participation, Action, and Change
Message-ID: <200111052133.NAA24303@scn.org>

Reminder!   Please forward to any colleagues who are interested in the
continuing development of information and communication systems -- of
ALL types -- that address human needs.  The power of this project will
be realized only through its diversity.   Thanks!

          SHAPING THE NETWORK SOCIETY 
          Patterns for Participation, Action, and Change 

DIAC-02 Symposium; Seattle, Washington  USA.  May 16-19, 2002
http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02


Researchers, community workers, social activists, educators and
students, journalists, artists, policy-makers, and citizens are all
concerned about the shape that the new information and communication
infrastructure will take.

     Will it meet the needs of all people?
     Will it help people address current and future issues?
     Will it promote democracy, social justice, sustainability? 
     Will the appropriate research be conducted?
     Will equitable policies be enacted? 

The Shaping the Network Society symposium -- sponsored by the Public
Sphere Project of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility and
the National Communication Association Task Force on the Digital Divide
-- will provide a forum and a platform for these critical issues. And
through the exploration of "patterns" we hope that this symposium will
help spur the evolution of an information and communication
infrastructure that truly meets today's urgent needs.

Please join us in Seattle in May 2002 for this exceptional event! 

To promote bridge-building between theory and practice, across
economic, cultural, geographical, and disciplinary chasms, we are
soliciting "patterns," instead of abstracts, and accepted patterns will
be developed into full papers for this symposium.

Based on the insights of Christopher Alexander and his colleagues, a
"pattern" is a careful description of a solution or suggestion for
remedying an identified problem in a given context that can be used to
help develop and harness communication and information technology in
ways that affirm human values.

The information contained in patterns is similar to that in traditional
abstracts or papers, but it is arranged in a common structure in order
to inspire scholars and practitioners to think about their work in
terms of social implications and actual social engagement and to build
networks that include research, practice, and advocacy.  The most
important outcome may be allowing people to see their patterns in a
large yet coherent network of patterns, a "pattern language."

  + Patterns are SOLUTIONS to PROBLEMS in a given CONTEXT
  + Patterns can be observable actions, empirical findings, 
      hypotheses, theories, or "best practices" 
  + Patterns exist at all levels; they can be "global" as well as 
      "local;" theoretical as well as practical. 
  + Patterns are the springboard for discussion, research, and 
      activism 

Patterns can be submitted for consideration for presentation at the
symposium and/or published on the web site as a contribution to the
evolving pattern language. (The submitted patterns will be made public
in early 2002.)  Patterns accepted for presentation will be developed
into full papers and will appear in the Conference Proceedings. The
best papers will be selected for an edited book.  A pattern language
book / web site is also planned.

We believe that the "pattern" orientation will be useful and inspiring
for all participants. If you're tempted to submit a pattern (or
multiple patterns!) we encourage you to do so. Although this approach
may require slightly different thinking we believe that it will be
worth the extra effort.  Remember: you can submit patterns whether
or not you come to the symposium.

Complete details on pattern submission, including example patterns, are
available at the web site: http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02/.

The preferred way to submit patterns is through the pattern intake site
(http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02/pattern.cgi). If you cannot
access the site, please send your pattern(s) as email text (no
attachments) to docrod99 at hotmail.com. If you lack email access, you may
submit your pattern(s) via surface mail to be received by December 1,
2001 to: Rod Carveth, School of Mass Communications, Texas Tech
University, P.O. Box 43082, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA.

Please see the patterns page for more explanation about patterns
(including examples) and the author's advice page to assist potential
contributors.

Important Dates 

   August 1, 2001   Patterns can be entered via web page 
November 15, 2001   Web registration available 
 December 1, 2001   Patterns due for conference consideration 
 January 15, 2002   Feedback to conference pattern submitters 
                      (accept/reject decision) 
   March 15, 2002   Full papers (based on accepted patterns) due 
   April 15, 2002   Last day to submit pattern abstracts for database 
                      inclusion only 
May 16 - 19, 2002   Shaping the Network Society Symposium; Seattle, 
                      Washington US 

Program Committee

Abdul Alkalimet (US), Alain Ambrosi (Canada), Ann Bishop (US), Kwasi
Boakye-Akyeampong (Ghana), Rod Carveth (US), Andrew Clement (Canada),
Fiorella de Cindio (Italy), Peter Day (UK), Susana Finquelievich
(Argentina), Mike Gurstein (Canada), Harry Hochheiser (US), Toru Ishida
(Japan), Susan Kretchmer (US), Brian Loader (UK), Geert Lovink
(Netherlands, Australia), Richard Lowenberg (US), Peter Mambrey
(Germany), Peter Miller (US), Kenneth Pigg (US), Scott Robinson
(Mexico), Partha Pratim Sarker (Bangladesh), Doug Schuler (US), David
Silver (US), Sergei Stafeev (Russia), Erik Stolterman (Sweden) and
Peter Van den Besselaar (Netherlands).

Other invaluable assistance 

Christopher Alexander (inspiration and advice), Steve Berczuk
(patterns), Susan Kretchmer and Rod Carveth (NCA Task Force on the
Digital Divide liaisons), Noriko Okazaki (graphics), Robin Oppenheimer
(advisor), Lorraine Pozzi (communications), Scott Rose (web
technology). Nancy White (advisor).

For more information please contact symposium coordinator 
Doug Schuler, douglas at scn.org.

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From douglas  Mon Nov  5 16:10:19 2001
From: douglas (Doug Schuler)
Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2001 16:10:19 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Shaping the Network Society
Message-ID: <200111060010.QAA28737@scn.org>

Hello!

Sorry for the intrusion into your mailbox ...  AGAIN.

By now you've all seen the basic "call for patterns" (and the reminder)
for the "Shaping the Network Society" symposium we are planning for May
16-19, 2002 in Seattle (http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02).

We're now looking for VOLUNTEERS.  IF you're definitely (or, even,
possibly) interested in helping with this symposium (our 8th!) please
get back to me.  Let me know what types of assignments you'd be interested
in working on.  We're looking for (among others): volunteering at
symposium, audio-visual, UW liason, local arrangements, web site work,
volunteer coordination, publicity, fundraising, outreach, proceedings,
media, etc. etc.

Let me know!   Thanks!

-- Doug

   ******************************************************************
   *     SHAPING THE NETWORK SOCIETY                                *
   *          Patterns for Participation,Action, and Change         *
   *                  http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02        *
   * Tomorrow's information and communication infrastructure        *
   *   is being shaped today.                                       *
   *                              But by whom and to what ends?     *
   ******************************************************************

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From bn890 at scn.org  Tue Nov  6 09:17:49 2001
From: bn890 at scn.org (Irene Mogol)
Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2001 09:17:49 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Shaping the Network Society
In-Reply-To: <200111060010.QAA28737@scn.org>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.96.1011106091638.11313A-100000@scn>

Hi Doug,
I might be interested, although right now not exactly sure in what
capacity, but certainly in etc., etc., ..............
Irene



On Mon, 5 Nov 2001, Doug Schuler wrote:

> Hello!
> 
> Sorry for the intrusion into your mailbox ...  AGAIN.
> 
> By now you've all seen the basic "call for patterns" (and the reminder)
> for the "Shaping the Network Society" symposium we are planning for May
> 16-19, 2002 in Seattle (http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02).
> 
> We're now looking for VOLUNTEERS.  IF you're definitely (or, even,
> possibly) interested in helping with this symposium (our 8th!) please
> get back to me.  Let me know what types of assignments you'd be interested
> in working on.  We're looking for (among others): volunteering at
> symposium, audio-visual, UW liason, local arrangements, web site work,
> volunteer coordination, publicity, fundraising, outreach, proceedings,
> media, etc. etc.
> 
> Let me know!   Thanks!
> 
> -- Doug
> 
>    ******************************************************************
>    *     SHAPING THE NETWORK SOCIETY                                *
>    *          Patterns for Participation,Action, and Change         *
>    *                  http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02        *
>    * Tomorrow's information and communication infrastructure        *
>    *   is being shaped today.                                       *
>    *                              But by whom and to what ends?     *
>    ******************************************************************
> 
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  From the Listowner  * * * * * * * * * * * *
> .	To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to:
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> 

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From douglas at scn.org  Tue Nov  6 10:37:13 2001
From: douglas at scn.org (Doug Schuler)
Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2001 10:37:13 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Shaping the Network Society
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SUN.3.96.1011106091638.11313A-100000@scn>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.4.20.0111061036420.22840-100000@scn.scn.org>


Great!   Thanks, Irene.   Others??

-- Doug

   ******************************************************************
   *     SHAPING THE NETWORK SOCIETY                                *
   *          Patterns for Participation,Action, and Change         *
   *                  http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02        *
   * Tomorrow's information and communication infrastructure        *
   *   is being shaped today.                                       *
   *                              But by whom and to what ends?     *
   ******************************************************************


On Tue, 6 Nov 2001, Irene Mogol wrote:

> Hi Doug,
> I might be interested, although right now not exactly sure in what
> capacity, but certainly in etc., etc., ..............
> Irene
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, 5 Nov 2001, Doug Schuler wrote:
> 
> > Hello!
> > 
> > Sorry for the intrusion into your mailbox ...  AGAIN.
> > 
> > By now you've all seen the basic "call for patterns" (and the reminder)
> > for the "Shaping the Network Society" symposium we are planning for May
> > 16-19, 2002 in Seattle (http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02).
> > 
> > We're now looking for VOLUNTEERS.  IF you're definitely (or, even,
> > possibly) interested in helping with this symposium (our 8th!) please
> > get back to me.  Let me know what types of assignments you'd be interested
> > in working on.  We're looking for (among others): volunteering at
> > symposium, audio-visual, UW liason, local arrangements, web site work,
> > volunteer coordination, publicity, fundraising, outreach, proceedings,
> > media, etc. etc.
> > 
> > Let me know!   Thanks!
> > 
> > -- Doug
> > 
> >    ******************************************************************
> >    *     SHAPING THE NETWORK SOCIETY                                *
> >    *          Patterns for Participation,Action, and Change         *
> >    *                  http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02        *
> >    * Tomorrow's information and communication infrastructure        *
> >    *   is being shaped today.                                       *
> >    *                              But by whom and to what ends?     *
> >    ******************************************************************
> > 
> > * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  From the Listowner  * * * * * * * * * * * *
> > .	To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to:
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> > * * * * * * *     http://www.scn.org/volunteers/scn-l/     * * * * * * *
> > 
> 
> 

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From hr at linkableservices.com  Wed Nov  7 05:39:07 2001
From: hr at linkableservices.com (hr at linkableservices.com)
Date: Wed, 07 Nov 2001 17:39:07 +0400
Subject: SCN: Access our online Human Resource and Risk Management Center
Message-ID: <200111071741533.SM00245@216.118.152.250>

An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.scn.org/pipermail/scn/attachments/20011107/811bf873/attachment.html>

From jj at scn.org  Thu Nov  8 00:24:45 2001
From: jj at scn.org (J. Johnson)
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 00:24:45 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: New webserver coming.
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.96.1011108001920.12737D-100000@scn>

A brief note (with my "System Coordinator" hat on) to let everyone know of
some pending developments. A new webserver is being prepared, which will
enable us to bring up other services such as the Imp mail reader. 
However, there will undoubtably be some bumps when we switch over, which
is currently expected around the end of the month. 

A message is going out shortly to those who have files in the web area
about testing.  Hopefully we can work out most of the bumps before
switching over. 

=== JJ =============================================================

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From steve at advocate.net  Thu Nov  8 08:13:46 2001
From: steve at advocate.net (Steve)
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 08:13:46 -0800
Subject: SCN: "The Future of Ideas"
Message-ID: <3BEA3EBA.12591.3E361A6@localhost>

x-no-archive: yes

=====================


by Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information 
Center and co-editor of "Technology and Privacy: The New 
Landscape"  

(Salon)---A generation ago, a communications scholar named Ithiel 
de Sola Pool wrote "Technologies of Freedom: On Free Speech in 
an Electronic Age." Pool's book, which quickly became required 
reading in graduate seminars, predicted a future of interconnected 
computers. Pool imagined a world where government would no 
longer license carriage, as it did with the telephone companies, or 
content, as it did with the broadcasters. The world of networked 
computers would become the platform for new forms of commerce 
and new types of publication.  

Pool also predicted that established players would resist this 
change. They would turn to market power, existing laws and new 
theories of copyright to protect their vested interests. Government 
officials, even with the best of intentions, would also gum up the 
works with outdated policies and an inability to understand 
change. The future would be delayed, Pool warned, if the 
regulators and the regulated had their way.  

Lawrence Lessig, a Stanford law professor, picks up this story of 
the present resisting the future in "The Future of Ideas: The Fate 
of the Commons in a Connected World," a highly readable and 
deeply engaging sequel to his "Code and Other Laws of 
Cyberspace." In "The Future of Ideas," Lessig, who is perhaps 
most famous for his brief tenure as a court-appointed "special 
master" in the Microsoft antitrust trial, also sees dominant players 
exercising control through the law, technical standards and political 
might to resist the change that might otherwise take place.  

But unlike de Sola Pool, Lessig has seen a better future, which 
turns out also to be our recent past. He urges the Internet 
generation not to forget what made the last 10 years exciting: an 
open platform that did not discriminate among applications or 
content, an environment for creativity and innovation, a public 
commons for an information age. In a word: the Internet. And 
instead of calling for the removal of regulation to encourage 
freedom, he recommends that there is a place for some regulation, 
if we want to preserve liberty.  

In "The Future of Ideas" Lessig argues that future prosperity is 
impossible without the freedom to innovate -- but that freedom is 
under attack by vested interests. Lessig's effort to bind innovation 
to prosperity is as big an idea, perhaps, as Adam Smith's rebuke to 
the mercantilists in "The Wealth of Nations." Although free-market 
capitalists look to Smith as their intellectual fountainhead, Smith 
was not battling the yet-to-be-born Karl Marx in the latter part of 
the 18th century. He took aim at those who believed that a nation's 
prosperity could be measured by the gold it acquired. Prosperity, 
Smith reasoned, was an ongoing process.  

Lessig offers a similar insight about the information economy at the 
turn of the 21st century. Prosperity requires progress and progress 
requires innovation. But while some intellectual property theorists 
and the shareholders of Disney may favor the extension of 
intellectual property rights into the infinite future, the long-term 
impact of an economic system that piles high property rights, while 
burying the intellectual commons that makes progress possible, 
could be that all new forms of production grind to a halt.  

Which may actually be the aim of the major media companies. 
Copyright law, for example, has become the silly putty of media 
attorneys and Washington lobbyists, stretched in space and time 
to protect all manner of activity, including business techniques and 
technological protocols that were probably not the kinds of things 
initially envisioned by the framers of copyright law. The original 
purpose of copyright law, to promote publication, has apparently 
been lost in the rush to the courthouse, or to Geneva, where the 
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) continues to 
extend property claims to ever more forms of innovations.  

Of course, copyright isn't the only domain in which the networking 
giants of today seek control. They also seek mastery of the pipes 
through which digital information flows. Unlike the common carriers 
-- railways, telephone companies and others -- who took all comers 
on a nondiscriminatory basis, the providers of new communications 
services may be less inclined to connect you to the Web sites of 
their competitors, or sell you their products. Or maybe their own 
Web pages will simply be easier to find.  

Lessig's discussion of levels of control in the information ecology 
follows from the work of NYU communications scholar Yochai 
Benkler. Benkler described the Internet as a multitiered 
environment consisting of an underlying physical layer (the wires), 
a logical layer (the protocols) and the content (the Web pages you 
view, the cable programming you receive). At each level, Lessig 
notes how the balance is tilting increasingly from freedom to 
control. And while control is necessary to create incentive, 
establish markets and encourage investment, too much control 
squashes innovation.  

Lessig tells well the story of how the recording industry set out to 
stop both MP3 and Napster. Reading the daily papers one might 
think that these companies were high-tech pirates raiding the 
vaults of the music industry. But MP3 is nothing more than a file-
compression technique, a way to move audio data across a 
communication channel where bandwidth is limited. And Napster, 
which propelled the 19-year-old Shawn Fawning to the cover of 
BusinessWeek, is based on a popular form of network architecture 
known as "peer-to-peer." The huge threat posed by file-
compression techniques and networking standards to a multibillion-
dollar industry may say more about the fragility of certain business 
models than it does about the dangers of new technology.  

Lessig's argument is compelling at many levels. It is as good a 
history of the development of Internet architecture as one is likely 
to find in a book without pictures. It is also an extraordinarily skillful 
interweaving of technical characterization and legal argument. And 
it is a story well told, with a fair balance of clever aside and clear 
purpose. Lessig wants to engage the reader in a conversation 
about the future of the Internet. 

This is not an argument that succeeds with diatribe. It is an 
argument that is undertaken in half-steps and appropriate 
acknowledgement of competing claims. Lessig works overtime to 
assure the reader that his argument for a public commons 
incorporates the concerns of conservative jurists and free-market 
theorists. Lessig is even reluctant to criticize directly the software 
giants and the architects of the controlled future, noting that they 
have obligations to stockholders.  

In "Technologies of Freedom," de Sola Pool, writing after the 
extensive FCC rulings of the 1970s, concluded that future 
networks would best be preserved by avoiding government 
regulation, and turned instead to a First Amendment view of 
publication associated with the print media that kept government 
on the sidelines. It was Pool's famous taxonomy of media that was 
in the minds of civil liberties groups when they argued to the 
Supreme Court that the Internet should be given the same 
protection as print publications. "Print plus," as one of the judges 
described the emerging world of the Internet, captured the model 
that those who favored an unfettered Internet sought.  

Lessig, writing in a period when private actors increasingly make 
the rules, concludes that there is a role for government in 
safeguarding the future. But this is not an argument for regulation 
per se. Lessig frequently turns to hybrid models that recognize a 
role for both markets and public commons, and that encourage 
experimentation. Spectrum, for example, could host both large 
broadcasters and low-power radio. Markets work well, Lessig tells 
us, when the uses are known. But where technology undergoes 
rapid change, then the assignment of a property interest may be 
premature. The wisdom of the early designers of the Internet, 
Lessig says, was in being humble enough to understand that the 
future of the network was still unknown. By keeping the platform 
open and allowing innovation at the endpoints, the future was not 
constrained.  

Lessig is particularly skeptical of property regimes that allow rights 
holders to sit on rights, such as the endlessly extended copyright 
limits that bear little relationship today to their Constitutional 
origins. He adopts the recommendation of intellectual property 
scholar Jessica Litman that copyright terms be significantly 
shortened and that rights holders be required to obtain renewals. 
This proposal should appeal to both those who favor a robust 
public domain in the abstract and the efficient allocation of 
resources in the short-term. And if anyone still cares, it is probably 
closer to the intent of the copyright clause in the Constitution.  

Many of Lessig's other proposals -- limiting imposed contracts, 
promoting a public domain, removing barriers to innovation -- 
follow sensibly from his analysis. 

One could imagine a Congress prepared to preserve innovation in 
the emerging electronic environment beyond the reach of special-
interest lobbyists and the financial pressures of modern politics. 
But that Congress is not the one that has repeatedly told the public 
the Internet "can't be regulated" to protect public interests, such as 
privacy or consumer interests, while simultaneously uncovering 
ever more creative regulation to preserve private interest. 

The No Electronic Theft Act, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 
the Copyright Term Extension Act and the Uniform Computer 
Information Transaction Act are just a few of the clever ways that 
legislators have found to regulate that which cannot be regulated. 
Lessig is well aware of this history, but rightly argues that it 
remains the responsibility of public officials and public agencies to 
consider how best to protect the interests of the, well, public.  

The timing of Lessig's book could hardly be more auspicious. It 
appeared the week that Microsoft announced the release of 
Windows XP, the new operating system, and the Department of 
Justice and the world's largest software manufacturer reached a 
tentative agreement on their long-running antitrust litigation. If the 
debate over the future of Microsoft moves out of the courts, then it 
will fall back to Congress and the states to consider what to make 
of a world where a small number of very large companies 
determine what the rest of us may do in the new electronic 
environment.  

Though I lodged a serious complaint, in an article for the Stanford 
Law Review, about Lessig's treatment of privacy issues in his 
earlier "Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace," I have few quibbles 
here. I continue to suspect that the rapid growth of identification 
systems, such as Microsoft's Passport, will enable the type of 
extended control over the intellectual commons that Lessig fears. 

The protection of privacy, or, more precisely, resistance to the 
compelled disclosure of identity to read books, listen to music or 
watch video in the digital world, still offers the public a critical 
counterbalance to the ever growing architecture of control. But 
there is nothing in Lessig's argument here that discounts that 
possibility. It is simply not addressed.  

More generally, it might be said of Lessig's worldview that it is so 
Internet-centric that one forgets a very similar enthusiasm for 
innovation that characterized the rise of personal computers in the 
late 1970s and the early 1980s. The pioneers in those days, like 
the heroes of Lessig's Internet history, wrote code freely, swapped 
software and made cool stuff. They operated BBSs (Bulletin Board 
Systems), created shareware and freeware and sent e-mail across 
old-fashioned telephone wires using acoustic couplers and 
computers with names like Apple II, Kaypro 10 and TRS-80. A law 
professor who needed a program to add footnotes to his word 
processor simply wrote it. The old view that production required 
capital and factories gave way to a new belief that innovation could 
take place in a garage or on a kitchen table.  

In time, companies such as Microsoft either acquired or drove out 
many of the smaller players. But while the software industry 
shakedown moved forward, the public was transfixed by the rapid 
emergence of the Internet and a new era of creativity. It could be 
that in the steady march today toward the cable companies' 
"walled garden" and the software giant's ".NET platform," there are 
the early indicators of a new revolution, what the business folks 
sometimes call "disruptive technologies."  

But there is also reason to believe that the cycle of innovation and 
consolidation may not continue endlessly. As more of the commons 
-- as more of the intellectual material of innovation -- is controlled, 
the opportunity for new forms of production is diminished. The 
monopolies of today sweep more broadly than the monopolies of 
the past. Mr. Ford may have controlled the auto industry, but he 
did not control the nation's roads. This is the warning in Lessig's 
masterly exploration of the history of the Internet and the future of 
innovation.  


Copyright 2001 Salon.com





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From douglas  Thu Nov  8 13:32:36 2001
From: douglas (Doug Schuler)
Date: Thu, 8 Nov 2001 13:32:36 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: "anti terrorism" bill
Message-ID: <200111082132.NAA20106@scn.org>


FYI...


"Understanding the Anti Terrorism Bill: How to protect yourself"

The Arab American Community Coalition and the ACLU like to invite you to a
special educational forum to discuss issues related to the Anti Terrorism
Bill just passed by Congress.

Time: 6:30 - 8:30 P.M.

Date: Thursday November 8th

Place: University Friends Meeting Hall 4001 9th Ave NE, Seattle
(University District on the corner of NE 40th St and 9th Ave NE)

Representative from the American Civil liberties Union will discuss: 

>> Understanding the Anti Terrorism Act

      - Search and Seige provision 
      - Rights on travelers 
      - Wire Tappings 
      - E-mail monitoring

>> What you can do to protect yourself
>> Questions and Answer session

If you have questions or would like further info about this event,

Send email to theaacc at yahoo.com


Sincerely,

Arab American Community Coalition


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From steve at advocate.net  Fri Nov  9 07:31:54 2001
From: steve at advocate.net (Steve)
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 07:31:54 -0800
Subject: SCN: Microsoft
Message-ID: <3BEB866A.29400.8E39AD9@localhost>

x-no-archive: yes

========================


(Lawrence Lessig, NY Times)---Four years almost to the day after 
the government first sued Microsoft for violating the terms of its 
antitrust settlement, the United States ended its prosecution of 
Microsoft with another proposed settlement. This consent decree 
is weaker than the one Microsoft had apparently agreed to before 
a United States Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed the finding 
of liability against the company last summer. Some may wonder 
how you get a better deal after being found guilty than you did 
before.  

But the test of this agreement is not whether it is stronger or 
weaker than the last. The test is whether it will work. And while the 
core idea of this agreement is a good one, the execution plainly is 
not.  

A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments about the 
settlement early next year. Nine states, including California and 
Massachusetts, have refused to support the consent decree, while 
nine others, including New York, agreed to it only after demanding -
and receiving - revisions.  

The idea behind the deal is to use the market to police Microsoft's 
monopoly. It does this by assuring that computer manufacturers 
and software vendors remain free to offer and support non-
Microsoft software without fear of punishment by Microsoft. Dell or 
Compaq has the right to "bundle" browsers from Netscape or 
media players from Apple into its computers regardless of the mix 
of programs that Microsoft has built into its Windows operating 
system. Autonomy from Microsoft is thus the essence of the plan.  

If this plan could be made to work, it would be the ideal remedy to 
this four-year struggle. Government regulators can't know what 
should or should not be in an operating system; the market should 
make that choice. By guaranteeing competitors the freedom to 
choose which software is built into the operating system, the 
decree would allow the market to choose how computer 
technology should evolve.  

The problem with the deal, however, is in the execution. Bill Gates, 
Microsoft's chairman, said last week that his company now 
understands the "concerns" the government had, and four years 
after those concerns were first raised, it has now agreed to resolve 
them.  

Four years is an eternity in the technology world. Thus one might 
have expected the government to be very careful to assure that 
this decree allows for the quick resolution of disputes without 
launching another four-year war. But it does not. In fact, the 
government has no effective way to assure compliance without 
launching a federal case.  

For example, Microsoft is not permitted to "retaliate" against 
software or hardware vendors that are "developing, using, 
distributing, promoting or supporting any software that competes 
with Microsoft." This requirement presumably leaves open 
Microsoft's right to retaliate against developers or vendors who are 
not competitors. Perhaps they make software that the company 
specifically does not want in the Windows operating system, for 
example. 

And if a software vendor complains that Microsoft has wrongfully 
retaliated against it, how is that claim to be resolved? If Microsoft 
includes a feature in a new version of Windows that matches a 
feature another software maker had already designed to work with 
Windows, is that improper retaliation - or simply competition?  

The decree establishes a "technical committee" composed of three 
"experts in software design and programming" who will work at 
Microsoft's offices and have complete access to Microsoft's 
records. But computer experts have no special ability to interpret 
whether Microsoft has wrongfully "retaliated." That requires an 
interpretation of the decree. Nor would they have any power to 
remedy a wrongful retaliation. At most, they could complain to the 
Justice Department and get it to bring another case against 
Microsoft.  

The decree thus does nothing to establish a more efficient or direct 
way to hold Microsoft to its promises. It instead relies upon the 
company's good faith in living up to the letter and the spirit of the 
agreement - and of the law. 

But Microsoft took four years to understand the "concerns" that led 
the government to bring this case in the first place. It has 
demonstrated that it will fight to the end to be free of the law, even 
after a unanimous Court of Appeals concluded that the company's 
view of the law is wrong. And even then, Microsoft has not yet 
acknowledged the principle behind the Court of Appeals decision. 
To read its press releases, you would think it won the case.  

This case should not conclude until there is a better plan to assure 
that it won't come back. "Trust us" is not a better plan.  


Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company





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From clariun at yahoo.com  Fri Nov  9 09:57:24 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 09:57:24 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Webteam meeting report - SCN update
Message-ID: <20011109175724.70520.qmail@web13206.mail.yahoo.com>

Last night, the SCN webteam had a meeting at the lovely Taco Del Mar
in Greenwood. 

In attendence was Lisa Nardi, the new Seazine editor; Lois Beetle,
the topic editor for the Spirituality page (and who claims to know
something about HTML - that was a joke); and myself.

First, I want to apologize for not making the invitation open to all.
I invited those with whom I have regular email contact. I assumed
they would be interested in showing up to discuss SCN - past,
present, and future.

I'd plan on having the meetings every month, preferably at the
beginning of the month on either a Wednesday or Thursday evening.
Say, like, in the second week of each month?

The meeting was an opportunity to share information about SCN and to
get to know the unfamiliar faces behind the email addresses.

There was no agenda, no minutes. However, here is a synopsis of what
has been going on at SCN:

Seazine is on schedule to be published in December. And pushing for
an edition to be publish monthly.

There is a new webserver. This will allow SCN to run better. And it
is getting better. For details on the new web server, please ask
Steve (steve at groupworks.org) or JJ (jj at scn.org). I am sure they will
appreciate their mailboxes getting slammed.

The old server is being picked apart and deciphered: Undoing the sins
of the past, of volunteers adding things to the servers and following
the assumed policy of not documenting what they did. Everything is
fine, it's just that the servers are being cleaned up so they will
run more efficiently.

A new mail program is being tested. It is called IMP and that is an
acronym for Imap Mail Program. It will have a lot of nice features.

A new logo is in the works by a graphics artist who has an impressive
portfolio. She is located in Boston and she is working on the edits
that have been sent to her.

A new web design is in the works by a local graphics and web guy. He
is also working on the architecture of the site as well and he has
interns helping him.

Rod Clark and I have begun cleaning up SCN webpages. The featured
sites archive page  has been tidied up a bit.

The homepage navigation bar has been cleaned up and reorganized and
it is easier to find what you are looking for. The nav bar will be
going through some changes as we add new things to the menu and
tighten the site architecture.

Featured Sites on the homepage has been a small success. I have been
putting the word out to get recommendations for sites to be featured
on the homepage. I'm amazed that it's tough to get people to accept
free advertising. They must underestimate the exposure their site
would get if they were featured on SCN's homepage.

The process documentation for the topic editors has been sent to the
volunteer coordinator. The documentation outlines the tasks that the
topic editors do to perform their 'job.'

A CGI created by Discusware is in consideration for implementation on
SCN. This will allow viewers to give automatic feedback to SCN in a
bulletin board-like format. 

A message from the president feature will be going up. Also, if I
haven't said so already, a what's new page will be going up to share
what is going on behind the scenes at SCN. Something similar to the
information bulletin. Also, an SCN volunteer page is going up to
recognize the SCN volunteers.

There is now a link to helping.com on the homepage, so you can donate
money quickly and rather painlessly via the web. The link will take
you right to the SCN giving page on that site. Very handy for lazy
people like me who find every opportunity to automate their lives.

I think that is enough for now. There is more going on, but I don't
want anyone nodding off and injuring themselves.

Patrick


=====
Patrick Fisher
Webmaster
http://www.scn.org
Seattle Community Network
"Powering Our Communities with Technology"
Energy and persistence conquer all thing. -- Benjamin Franklin

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From steve at advocate.net  Fri Nov  9 14:11:11 2001
From: steve at advocate.net (Steve)
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 14:11:11 -0800
Subject: SCN: Govt and the web
Message-ID: <3BEBE3FF.4273.A5134F7@localhost>

x-no-archive: yes  

====================  


(Rebecca Fairley Raney, Online Journalism Review)---The growth 
of the Internet and World Wide Web promised greater access to 
government at all levels. Journalists and the public could roam files 
at will - monitoring policy, tracking bills, checking voting records 
and even querying officials. Citizens could take out licenses and 
order birth certificates. E-government in the late '90s emerged with 
great expectations.  

Without question, government leaders have largely embraced the 
Internet. But they have encountered obstacles in recent years to 
building good government Web sites. Programmers, during the dot-
com boom, were too expensive to hire. High-profile hackings 
terrified the custodians of sensitive databases. Legislatures didn't 
want to pay for Web sites.  

Now, even though programmers are cheaper and security is better, 
in many cases, government policymakers still do not want to pay, 
or are no longer capable of paying to provide information and 
services online. A great source of information and data may soon 
become inaccessible, either by being too expensive for frequent 
use or walled off entirely.  

E-Government: The High Cost of Convenience  

On the California state Web site, the curious and the civic-minded 
only need to send an e-mail message to receive free electronic 
updates on the progress of any bill in the Legislature. But to 
receive the same service in Indiana, residents need a subscription 
that costs $49.50 per month.  

On Minnesota's state Web site, residents can read, at no charge, 
all opinions issued by the attorney general since 1993. But those 
who want to read opinions from the Kansas attorney general online 
must pay an initial subscription fee of $75, which can be renewed 
for $60 per year.  

Without question, the notion of price tags on links to public 
information was not part of the vision for the early proponents of e-
government. But because of the bad economy, such practices 
could become more common.  

At a moment when state, federal and local government agencies 
stand to offer better information online than ever, the prospect of 
budget deficits could compel more agencies to put public 
information on the Web for fees or not at all.  

Experts said those practices could defeat the vision for e-
government, which was to produce better self-government by 
creating easy access to government information.  

Darrell West, director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy at 
Brown University, which conducts annual studies of government 
Web sites, said the practice is "risky from the user standpoint."  

"There's always the risk that if citizens think they're going to pay 
more online than at the office, they're going to be reluctant to use 
the service," he said.  

Even so, the National Information Consortium, a company that 
specializes in subsidizing government portals through fees, is 
receiving a record number of inquiries about its model. Chris Neff, 
senior marketing director for NIC, said that if the practice were too 
controversial, the company's business model would not have 
survived for 10 years.  

In some respects, government agencies are in a better position 
now to create dynamic Web sites than ever. For the first time in 
years, the salaries of Web designers and programmers have fallen 
to a level that government agencies can afford. Also, as more 
Americans have incorporated online searching and shopping into 
their routines, they have begun to request that services such as 
paying taxes and renewing driver's licenses be made available 
online.  

Brown University's most recent study of state and federal Web 
sites, which was released in September, showed tremendous 
improvement in the amount of information presented on sites in just 
a year. In an analysis of 1,680 Web sites in summer of 2001, 
researchers found that 93 percent offered access to publications, 
which was up from 54 percent of the sites they analyzed the 
summer before.  

Eighty-four percent of the sites offered a way for individuals to 
contact officials by e-mail, which was a strong increase from 68 
percent of sites that offered e-mail links in 2000. Ten percent of 
the sites accepted credit cards for transactions, up from 3 percent 
in 2000.  

But the prospect of government budget deficits could do more than 
stall the improvement of public information online.  

"This is coming at a very bad time for e-government, because e-
government was on the brink of expanding. It's going to lead to bad 
choices," West said, choices that could include placing advertising 
on government sites and adding fees for information.  

In his study, West found that the states of Kansas and Indiana had 
the highest percentage of Web sites - 12 percent each - to charge 
fees. Both states contract with NIC.  

In fact, of the 10 states in the study that have the highest 
percentages of Web sites to charge fees, seven of them contract 
with NIC for Web services. Those states, in addition to Kansas and 
Indiana, are Maine, Nebraska, Georgia, Montana and Idaho.  

NIC, based in Overland Park, Kansas, offers to build Web portals 
for states at no cost to taxpayers. The company makes money, in 
many cases, by sharing the fees charged for information on the 
sites.  

As the economy has stalled, the demand for NIC's fee-based 
portals has increased.  

"We developed a business model 10 years ago that's right for the 
times now," said Neff, senior marketing director for the company. 
"Our business development group has never been more busy" with 
inquiries about the fee-based model, Neff said.  

He said he does not believe fees deter individuals from using 
government services. In fact, he compared the practice to 
newspapers charging fees for extracting articles from archives 
online. Because the articles would be free to look up in the library, 
the users, by extracting them online, are deciding to pay for 
convenience.  

"Charging a transaction fee for an online service is not like a 
generic tax," Neff said. "There is still an offline version if people 
don't want to pay the fee."  

However, in many cases, he said, after state officials start offering 
services online like tax payments and driver's license renewals, 
they find that visits to their offices decrease and they save money. 
In those cases, he said, the states stop charging fees online.  

On Virginia's state Web site, for example, the fees are equal in cost 
or cheaper than they would be for people who seek the services at 
state offices, Neff said, because state officials factor their savings 
into the budget for the Web site.  

The Minnesota Legislature recently voted to allow the state's 
Department of Public Safety to charge fees for extracting criminal 
conviction records online. Officials persuaded legislators that they 
could not afford to provide the service otherwise.  

"My approach to that is, that's not a great idea," said state Senator 
Steve Kelley, the majority whip. "Hopefully we'll be able to make 
that free later on."  

His concern, he said, was that residents of the Twin Cities have 
access to systems that allow them to look up the records for free, 
so the fees could fall disproportionately onto the state's rural 
residents.  

"For the most part," Kelley said, "we tend to take the view that 
information should be free."  

Steven Clift, editor of the nonprofit Democracies Online newsletter, 
said fee-based services were "significantly anti-democratic."  

"If a transaction already costs money, and you can save money by 
putting it online, don't charge extra money," said Clift, who was 
project coordinator Minnesota's North Star government portal until 
1997. "If it costs more to provide it online, then you're doing it 
wrong."  

Clift, who also served as a senior planner on Minnesota's 
Government Information Access Council, said that in the mid-
1990s, "the Legislature basically junked the Kansas model," which 
involved charging fees.  

Of course, officials in many states do not share the view that Web 
services should reflect savings from fewer over-the-counter 
transactions. Clift is troubled by the trend.  

"If a government cannot serve its people, what legitimacy does it 
have?" he said. "If the legislature decides it's not a priority to do 
this, then just shut it down."  

FirstGov: A Gift Horse for the Federal Government  

In March of 2000, Eric Brewer, a computer scientist who was 
grateful for a federal grant he had received early in his career, 
decided to give the government a gift: a search engine that would 
comb millions of government Web sites.  

The Clinton Administration accepted his offer. Within three months, 
former President Clinton announced that the federal government 
would have its own portal running in 90 days - a feat that the 
government itself had failed to accomplish in three years of trying.  

Brewer made good on his offer, and within 90 days, the FirstGov 
portal was up and running. Now, the portal comprises 49 million 
government Web pages. It served 1.3 million individual visitors 
during the month of September. Though the search engine cost 
the government nothing, the portal runs at a cost of $2 million per 
year, according to the General Services Administration, which runs 
the site.  

The search engine works well. For example, on a search for a 
recent press release on Govnet, using only the word "Govnet," the 
Google search engine produced the document three pages into a 
list of dozens of search results. FirstGov, by comparison, kicked 
out the press release on the first link.  

FirstGov's creators built it to serve as a model for e-government. 
But inevitably, critics of the Clinton Administration's deal appeared 
at the first Congressional hearing on FirstGov just a few days after 
it launched. Their questions have continued.  

The chief problem: Brewer created the search engine through a 
nonprofit organization called the Federal Search Foundation, 
which is backed by Inktomi and Sun Microsystems. For technical 
work on the search engine, the foundation contracted with Inktomi -
a company that was founded by Brewer. Also, a lobbying group, 
the Software & Information Industry Association, whose 1,000 
members include Lexis-Nexis and AOL Time Warner, objected to 
the exclusive contract for the foundation and the restrictions 
imposed upon companies that want to link to the search engine: 
They cannot display advertising, and they cannot track the 
movements of individual visitors.  

Though the contract with the Federal Search Foundation is 
scheduled to expire in 2003, critics question whether Inktomi, 
which built the search engine with its proprietary software, stands 
to gain an unfair advantage when the contract goes out to bid.  

"It's a gift horse that government should have looked more closely 
in the mouth," said Patrice McDermott, an information policy 
analyst for the nonprofit group OMB Watch.  

David Binetti, president and chief executive of the Federal Search 
Foundation, said that within the terms of the deal, Inktomi would be 
on an equal footing with any company that wanted to bid for the 
contract.  

In August 2003, at the end of the current contract, the foundation 
will donate to the government the hardware that runs the search 
engine as well as an instruction manual on how to create the 
search engine.  

"That instruction manual can be given to anybody," Binetti said. 
"Any software provider should be able to get up and running in two 
weeks or sooner."  

The Software & Information Industry Association objected to the 
restrictions imposed upon companies that want to provide access 
to the search engine, which includes the bans on advertising and 
tracking individuals' activities.  

Internet companies "don't want to be limited on how they can 
provide it," said David LeDuc, director of public policy for the 
association.  

Though the association has argued that such measures run 
counter to freedom of access to government information, Deborah 
Diaz, deputy associate administrator for FirstGov at the GSA, said 
that setting standards was important so that users would be 
assured of their privacy when they search for government 
information.  

Diaz said the outlook for future funding of the portal is good, and 
that "the role of FirstGov has only been strengthened through the 
policy of the Administration."  

In fact, officials are planning to offer more ways for citizens to 
conduct business with government through the portal. Right now, 
they can buy stamps, shop at the Smithsonian and register for 
Selective Service. Diaz said officials are planning to create a 
system in which individuals could create a file with information 
about themselves and use it every time they return to the site to 
conduct transactions with government agencies.  

She said the agency has not determined whether government 
agencies or a private company would store the information about 
individuals.  

Of course, that step could attract even more scrutiny from groups 
who worry about the potential for government agencies to abuse 
information they collect from individuals.  

McDermott of OMB Watch said that the collection of personal 
information should be left to individual government agencies if the 
agencies are technically prepared to handle the task.  

"The proper approach for FirstGov to take is not to even collect 
that information on their site," she said. "They open themselves up 
to all sorts of complications. They'll draw all sorts of attention from 
privacy organizations."  

Govnet: Recreating the Internet?  

A few weeks ago, the U.S. General Services Administration sent 
out a request for companies to report how they would build a 
private network, separate from the Internet, where federal 
agencies could do their work.  

The proposed network, called Govnet, "must be able to perform its 
functions with no risk of penetration or disruption from users on 
other networks, including the Internet," according to the press 
release on the proposal.  

Of course, no sooner had the request gone public than the 
contentious community of network security experts started poking 
holes in it. Specialists in that field tend to operate from the 
assumption that every system can be broken, and many experts 
submit that calling a system impenetrable promotes a false sense 
of security.  

"The idea that you can build an enclave that is secure and totally 
isolated from the Internet is ludicrous," said Peter Neumann, 
principal scientist for SRI International's Computer Science Lab, 
author of "Computer-Related Risks" and a regular adviser to 
Congressional committees. "The idea of building something that is 
large and secure is oxymoronic."  

Elias Levy, chief technical officer for SecurityFocus, a company 
that provides intelligence on network security to corporations, said 
that any system running through the same fiber optic cables as the 
Internet would crash if the Internet crashed. But to run a system 
through a separate infrastructure would be exorbitantly expensive, 
he said. "You're re-creating the Internet," he said.  

Aside from technical issues, building a closed system has the 
potential to discourage agencies from putting information on public 
systems, Levy said.  

"This may result in pulling information that should be publicly 
available," he said. "Some agencies may feel they don't have 
resources to run two systems, so they pull Internet information."  

A federal official familiar with the Govnet project said that creating 
the most secure network possible is a worthwhile project.  

"Our point of view is, you simply have to address known 
vulnerabilities," said the official, who declined to be identified.  

Federal officials will review proposals from telecommunications 
companies and decide whether to pursue the project next year.  


Copyright 2001 Online Journalism Review   





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From clariun at yahoo.com  Fri Nov  9 19:25:05 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 19:25:05 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Web Team Meeting - December 13th
Message-ID: <20011110032505.81265.qmail@web13202.mail.yahoo.com>

I've tentatively set the SCN Web Team meeting for December 13th at
6:00 PM at Gorditos. It's located at 85th and Greenwood, just west of
Greenwood Avenue.

Everyone is invited to attend. I'd like to hold the meetings on the
second Thursday of each month so I can fill everyone in on the Excomm
meetings and have something to present to the following Excomm
meetings.

This will be an opportunity to moan and grip and share ideas and get
to know the faces behind the email messages.

If location or time are a concern, please let me know and we and tune
those locations and times.

I think that, tentatively, we can have the meetings hosted on SCN's
dime at quarterly intervals. But that depends on the availability of
funds and turnout numbers.

The last meeting, last night, was fun and I learned a lot.

I look forward to sharing information and getting input from
volunteers.

Also, now that I think of it, I think we need to rename the volunteer
list from  xx031 at scn.org  to volunteers at scn.org, or something to that
effect. Why do we need alien terminology to describe a list?

Thanks,
Patrick

=====
Patrick Fisher
Webmaster
http://www.scn.org
Seattle Community Network
"Powering Our Communities with Technology"
Energy and persistence conquer all thing. -- Benjamin Franklin

__________________________________________________
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From clariun at yahoo.com  Fri Nov  9 19:35:20 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 19:35:20 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Top Priority - Topic Editors
Message-ID: <20011110033520.43804.qmail@web13204.mail.yahoo.com>

I wanted to make this opportunity to let everyone know that topic
editors are in great need. If you can take on a topic editor task or
if you want an additional one (Ken? Lois?), then please let me know.

As far as I know, there are only two topic editors for all of the
community pages. Ken is managing the Science/Tech community page and
Lois is managing the Spirituality page. 

Please speak up if you have a community you are taking care of.
Otherwise, as far as I know, the other pages are not being managed.

Management takes little time. Its checking new sites that have been
added to SCN's hosting services and seeing that they comply by being
Lynx-compatible and surfing the web and looking for new links that
can be added to SCN's site. Also, checking to see that current links
work (apparently, there is software that will do this for you, Mac or
PC).

Also, I think it would be neat if we could get topic editors to get
other sites hosted on SCN.

The key is to make SCN centric to the Seattle community.

To go off on a broader scope, the key is to work on getting SCN's
nucleus formulated and implemented, then working from there.

Thanks,
Patrick

=====
Patrick Fisher
Webmaster
http://www.scn.org
Seattle Community Network
"Powering Our Communities with Technology"
Energy and persistence conquer all thing. -- Benjamin Franklin

__________________________________________________
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From clariun at yahoo.com  Fri Nov  9 19:39:35 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 19:39:35 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Web Team Meeting - Reminder 
Message-ID: <20011110033935.80538.qmail@web13208.mail.yahoo.com>

I wanted to mention that the SCN web team reminder will be going out
at the beginning of next month.

Also, the SCN general meetings have been postponed until January.

And, I will be setting up a page (does one exist???) about upcoming
SCN meetings. I will try to get that done this weekend.

Thanks,
Patrick

=====
Patrick Fisher
Webmaster
http://www.scn.org
Seattle Community Network
"Powering Our Communities with Technology"
Energy and persistence conquer all thing. -- Benjamin Franklin

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From clariun at yahoo.com  Fri Nov  9 19:44:22 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 19:44:22 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Calendar program
Message-ID: <20011110034422.54525.qmail@web13207.mail.yahoo.com>

Now that I've sent out a ton of messages, I'm thinking that SCN needs
a calendar program. Other community networks have these and I feel
that this is one thing that SCN should put on it's list.

Admittedly, I'm lazy and want to look at a picture (i.e. calendar),
so how hard would it be to implement such a tool?

Patrick

=====
Patrick Fisher
Webmaster
http://www.scn.org
Seattle Community Network
"Powering Our Communities with Technology"
Energy and persistence conquer all thing. -- Benjamin Franklin

__________________________________________________
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From bb615 at scn.org  Fri Nov  9 21:41:34 2001
From: bb615 at scn.org (Rod Clark)
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 21:41:34 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: Web Team Meeting - Reminder 
In-Reply-To: <20011110033935.80538.qmail@web13208.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.96.1011109212958.8445A-100000@scn>

> And, I will be setting up a page (does one exist???) about upcoming
> SCN meetings. I will try to get that done this weekend.

Patrick, 

   http://www.scn.org/vol/calendar

   No one has done it consistently since Nancy died. It would be
good to see someone take that on again. You can either change
the pages by hand or use the calendar software there. To use the
calendar program, just follow the existing format in editing the
cal.txt file. Then type "./testcal" at the shell prompt and look
at www.scn.org./vol/calendar/test. When it looks OK, type
"./newcal" to publish it at the URL above. If you need more of
an explanation, I can give you a quick intro. 

Rod Clark

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From er-chan at scn.org  Sat Nov 10 00:50:22 2001
From: er-chan at scn.org (er-chan)
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 00:50:22 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: WEB: Top Priority - Topic Editors
In-Reply-To: <20011110033520.43804.qmail@web13204.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.4.20.0111100036400.27929-100000@scn.scn.org>

Hello owner-webmasters at scn.org  (On 11/09/01,7:35pm,you wrote Re: WEB: Top...

p> I wanted to make this opportunity to let everyone know that topic
p> editors are in great need. If you can take on a topic editor task or
p> if you want an additional one (Ken? Lois?), then please let me know.
p> 
p> As far as I know, there are only two topic editors for all of the
p> community pages. Ken is managing the Science/Tech community page and
p> Lois is managing the Spirituality page. 
p> 
p> Please speak up if you have a community you are taking care of.
p> Otherwise, as far as I know, the other pages are not being managed.
p> 
p> Management takes little time. Its checking new sites that have been
p> added to SCN's hosting services and seeing that they comply by being
p> Lynx-compatible and surfing the web and looking for new links that
p> can be added to SCN's site. Also, checking to see that current links
p> work (apparently, there is software that will do this for you, Mac or
p> PC).
p> 
p> Also, I think it would be neat if we could get topic editors to get
p> other sites hosted on SCN.
p> 
p> The key is to make SCN centric to the Seattle community.
p> 
p> To go off on a broader scope, the key is to work on getting SCN's
p> nucleus formulated and implemented, then working from there.
p> 
p> Thanks,
p> Patrick
p> 
p> =====
p> Patrick Fisher
p> Webmaster
p> http://www.scn.org
p> Seattle Community Network
p> "Powering Our Communities with Technology"
p> Energy and persistence conquer all thing. -- Benjamin Franklin
  
 I would like to be topic editor of Health menu
I have done it before, know HTML and it looks good on my resume.
I tend to collect lots and lots of links, for which it might be
good to have a method to sort them or search them, which I could
program or script.
        er-chan at scn.org
p> 
p> __________________________________________________
p> Do You Yahoo!?
p> Find a job, post your resume.
p> http://careers.yahoo.com
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p> .	To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to:
p> majordomo at scn.org		In the body of the message, type:
p> unsubscribe webmasters
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p> http://www.scn.org/volunteers/webmasters/webmasters-l/
p> 

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From davidb at scn.org  Sun Nov 11 18:50:18 2001
From: davidb at scn.org (David Barts)
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 18:50:18 -0800
Subject: SCN: Re: [Fwd: Kyoto Pact to Prompt Big Changes (without the US)
In-Reply-To: <3BEEC621.A62BAA9D@circlesys.com>; from getmelissa@circlesys.com on Sun, Nov 11, 2001 at 10:40:33AM -0800
References: <3BEEC621.A62BAA9D@circlesys.com>
Message-ID: <20011111185018.B2394@scn.scn.org>

melissa roberts <getmelissa at circlesys.com> writes:

> [snip!]
> That means old houses should have their electrical wiring redone, their
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Um, no it doesn't.  The resistive loss from a length of No. 14 copper
wire manufactured in 1901 is exactly the same as the loss from the same
length of No. 14 wire manufactured in 2001.

There may be safety issues for having old wiring upgraded (these often
tend to be exaggerated, however -- there's plenty of buildings out
there whose wires are entering their second century of trouble-free
use).  Capacity is more often the driving factor -- in the early days
of electric service, light bulbs were essentially the only things
powered; now there's all these other appliances people have.

Of course, adding more capacity facilitates the consumption of more
electricity -- just the opposite of the goal being promoted by this
article!  It might be a good incentive for conservation to NOT upgrade
and to learn to scale back one's use so those fuses don't blow.

[Guess that clause brought out my inner physics teacher.  I'll return
to lurking now.]

-- 
         David W. Barts (davidb at scn.org) / http://www.scn.org/~davidb
      "Rats and roaches live by competition under the laws of supply and
     demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of
                     justice and mercy." -- Wendell Berry
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From clariun at yahoo.com  Sun Nov 11 18:51:29 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 18:51:29 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: SCN calendar updated
Message-ID: <20011112025129.15242.qmail@web13204.mail.yahoo.com>

I've updated the scn calendar at http:www.scn.org/vol/calendar for
December. I will update it as needed.

(And a thanks to Rod for explaining how to do it.)

Patrick

=====
Patrick Fisher
Webmaster
http://www.scn.org
Seattle Community Network
"Powering Our Communities with Technology"
Energy and persistence conquer all thing. -- Benjamin Franklin

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Find a job, post your resume.
http://careers.yahoo.com
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From clariun at yahoo.com  Sun Nov 11 22:00:35 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2001 22:00:35 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: SCN featured sites updated
Message-ID: <20011112060035.59454.qmail@web13201.mail.yahoo.com>

The SCN homepage has been updated with new featured sites for the
month of November.

The sites were chosen from one submission and me pulling up the
http://www.scn.org/community/sites.html page that lists SCN-hosted
sites.

I've contacted Northwest Harvest, Food Lifeline, and another group,
but have only received one response saying that they would get back
with me.

Also, a link to the homepage navigation bar has been added. It is for
the SCN volunteer calendar (which has been updated and is now current
with the information that I do have at my disposal). It was difficult
to decide where to list the calendar in the nav bar, however it was
put where I best thought it should be.

Patrick



=====
Patrick Fisher
Webmaster
http://www.scn.org
Seattle Community Network
"Powering Our Communities with Technology"
Energy and persistence conquer all thing. -- Benjamin Franklin

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Find a job, post your resume.
http://careers.yahoo.com
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From rockybay at scn.org  Mon Nov 12 22:07:17 2001
From: rockybay at scn.org (Malcolm Taran)
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 22:07:17 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: Re: Fwd: Kyoto Pact to Prompt Big Changes (without the US)
In-Reply-To: <20011111185018.B2394@scn.scn.org>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.96.1011111191611.9240A-100000@scn>

Thank you.
We really need to help each other catch the unintended
assumptions, and consequences.  The world is complex
enough.  Whatever professionals, physicists, and
craftsmen, for example, each need rely on each other to 
contribute their insight.

On Sun, 11 Nov 2001, David Barts wrote:
> melissa roberts <getmelissa at circlesys.com> writes:
> 
> > [snip!]
> > That means old houses should have their electrical wiring redone, their
>   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> 
> Um, no it doesn't.  The resistive loss from a length of No. 14 copper
> wire manufactured in 1901 is exactly the same as the loss from the same
> length of No. 14 wire manufactured in 2001.
> 
> There may be safety issues for having old wiring upgraded (these often
> tend to be exaggerated, however -- there's plenty of buildings out
> there whose wires are entering their second century of trouble-free
> use). [...]
> 
* New doesn't necessarily mean better, 
* old doesn't necessarily mean in the way.
* The quality of many an old building -- or house -- cannot be replaced
for less than a greater fortune in love and money.

> Of course, adding more capacity facilitates the consumption of more
> electricity -- just the opposite of the goal being promoted by this
> article!  It might be a good incentive for conservation to NOT upgrade
> and to learn to scale back one's use so those fuses don't blow.
> [snip]

melissa roberts <getmelissa at circlesys.com> writes
> As a result, mountain ridges and coastlines are likely to sprout
> plantations of steel windmills.

* The Pacific Northwest coastline or Cascade mountains, anyone?
* (Or anywhere else still even a little wild or untamed?)
* Driven by consumption of ever more electricity, 
this would hardly be a desireable alternative.

Malcolm Taran

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From rockybay  Tue Nov 13 20:03:18 2001
From: rockybay (SCN User)
Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 20:03:18 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: temp.html
Message-ID: <200111140403.UAA25687@scn.org>


                        You have reached the List Page
                                       
Lynx Version 2.7.2

   References in
   file://localhost/usr/local/lib/lynx/lynx_help/lynx_help_main.html
   
     * [1]file://localhost/usr/local/lib/lynx/lynx_help/Lynx_users_guide.
       html
     * [2]file://localhost/usr/local/lib/lynx/lynx_help/keystroke_command
       s/keystroke_help.html
     * [3]file://localhost/usr/local/lib/lynx/lynx_help/keystroke_command
       s/edit_help.html
     * [4]file://localhost/usr/local/lib/lynx/lynx_help/lynx_url_support.
       html
     * [5]http://www.w3.org/Addressing/Addressing.html
     * [6]http://leb.net/blinux/blynx/
     * [7]http://lynx.browser.org/
     * [8]http://www.crl.com/~subir/lynx.html
     * [9]http://www.slcc.edu/lynx/faq.html
     * [10]file://localhost/usr/local/lib/lynx/about_lynx/about_lynx.html
     * [11]file://localhost/usr/local/lib/lynx/about_lynx/about_lynx-dev.
       html
     * [12]http://www.access.digex.net/~asgilman/lynx/FAQ/
     * [13]http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html-spec/html-spec_toc.html
     * [14]http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html3/Contents.html
     * [15]http://www.alis.com:8085/ietf/html/
     * [16]http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/
     * [17]http://www.w3.org/TR/PR-html40/
     * [18]http://www.stonehand.com/doc/
     * [19]http://www.stonehand.com/doc/comments.html
     * [20]http://ugweb.cs.ualberta.ca/~gerald/validate/
     * [21]http://www.webtechs.com/html-val-svc/
     * [22]http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html
     * [23]http://kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/lynx_help/HTML_quick.html
     * [24]http://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc1945.txt
     * [25]http://www.w3.org/Protocols/
     * [26]http://www.w3.org/TheProject.html
     * [27]http://www.altavista.digital.com/
     * [28]http://www.yahoo.com/
     * [29]http://guaraldi.cs.colostate.edu:2000/
     * [30]http://www.webcrawler.com/
     * [31]http://guide.Infoseek.com/
     * [32]http://www.lycos.com/
     * [33]http://www.excite.com/
     * [34]http://www.metacrawler.com/

References

   1. file://localhost/usr/local/lib/lynx/lynx_help/Lynx_users_guide.html
   2. file://localhost/usr/local/lib/lynx/lynx_help/keystroke_commands/keystroke_help.html
   3. file://localhost/usr/local/lib/lynx/lynx_help/keystroke_commands/edit_help.html
   4. file://localhost/usr/local/lib/lynx/lynx_help/lynx_url_support.html
   5. http://www.w3.org/Addressing/Addressing.html
   6. http://leb.net/blinux/blynx/
   7. http://lynx.browser.org/
   8. http://www.crl.com/~subir/lynx.html
   9. http://www.slcc.edu/lynx/faq.html
  10. file://localhost/usr/local/lib/lynx/about_lynx/about_lynx.html
  11. file://localhost/usr/local/lib/lynx/about_lynx/about_lynx-dev.html
  12. http://www.access.digex.net/~asgilman/lynx/FAQ/
  13. http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html-spec/html-spec_toc.html
  14. http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/html3/Contents.html
  15. http://www.alis.com:8085/ietf/html/
  16. http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/
  17. http://www.w3.org/TR/PR-html40/
  18. http://www.stonehand.com/doc/
  19. http://www.stonehand.com/doc/comments.html
  20. http://ugweb.cs.ualberta.ca/~gerald/validate/
  21. http://www.webtechs.com/html-val-svc/
  22. http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html
  23. http://kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/lynx_help/HTML_quick.html
  24. http://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc1945.txt
  25. http://www.w3.org/Protocols/
  26. http://www.w3.org/TheProject.html
  27. http://www.altavista.digital.com/
  28. http://www.yahoo.com/
  29. http://guaraldi.cs.colostate.edu:2000/
  30. http://www.webcrawler.com/
  31. http://guide.Infoseek.com/
  32. http://www.lycos.com/
  33. http://www.excite.com/
  34. http://www.metacrawler.com/
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From bn890 at scn.org  Wed Nov 14 13:42:44 2001
From: bn890 at scn.org (Irene Mogol)
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 13:42:44 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Webteam meeting report - SCN update
In-Reply-To: <20011109175724.70520.qmail@web13206.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.96.1011114133714.26213F-100000@scn>

Hi Patrick,

If I would have known about the meeting, and if I hadn't been in New York
City at Ground Zero, I would have been there.  I'd like to meet more of
the mysterious people.  
  
Since I am currently not working (translate unemployed), and since there
are no longer classes to teach at the libraries, I might have some more
time for a bit of volunteering.  (But not on Wednesday evenings)

See ya, Irene
PS - if anyone is interested in hearing about New York/Ground Zero, let me
know.
 



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From clariun at yahoo.com  Wed Nov 14 18:46:17 2001
From: clariun at yahoo.com (patrick)
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2001 18:46:17 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: Seattle Community Network
In-Reply-To: <002801c16b40$719f2a60$250291d8@larrypo>
Message-ID: <20011115024617.38660.qmail@web13205.mail.yahoo.com>

Larry,

That's great. Glad things were resolved.

Patrick

--- Larry Powelson <larrypo at exmsft.com> wrote:
> Re:  featuring the Arboretum Park Preservation Coalition web site.
> 
> Thanks, but actually, we are shutting down this web site.  I have
> requested that the
> appc and arboretum accounts be terminated (but I'm not sure if it
> is being handled, as I
> don't really know who to make this request to).  The issue for
> which this web site was
> created has been resolved, the APPC has disbanded, and the web site
> is extremely stale.
> 
> But I do appreciate the thought!
> 
> larry
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "patrick" <clariun at yahoo.com>
> To: <appc at scn.org>
> Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2001 9:54 PM
> Subject: Seattle Community Network
> 
> 
> > Hi there,
> >
> > I'm the webmaster for the Seattle Community Network and I've put
> your
> > site up as a featured site for November 2001 on SCN's homepage.
> >
> > SCN gets approximately 8,000 hits a week and this will provide
> your
> > organization with greater exposure.
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Patrick
> >
> > =====
> > Patrick Fisher
> > Webmaster
> > http://www.scn.org
> > Seattle Community Network
> > "Powering Our Communities with Technology"
> > Energy and persistence conquer all thing. -- Benjamin Franklin
> >
> > __________________________________________________
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Find a job, post your resume.
> > http://careers.yahoo.com
> >
> 


=====
Patrick Fisher
Webmaster
http://www.scn.org
Seattle Community Network
"Powering Our Communities with Technology"
Energy and persistence conquer all thing. -- Benjamin Franklin

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals
http://personals.yahoo.com
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From douglas at scn.org  Thu Nov 15 13:05:36 2001
From: douglas at scn.org (Doug Schuler)
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2001 13:05:36 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: ACM's Lawler Award - Please circulate (fwd)
In-Reply-To: <Pine.OSF.4.21.0110241545100.17514-100000@orion.neiu.edu>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.4.20.0111151304520.24707-100000@scn.scn.org>


FYI...

   ******************************************************************
   *     SHAPING THE NETWORK SOCIETY                                *
   *          Patterns for Participation,Action, and Change         *
   *                  http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/diac02        *
   * Tomorrow's information and communication infrastructure        *
   *   is being shaped today.                                       *
   *                              But by whom and to what ends?     *
   ******************************************************************


On Wed, 24 Oct 2001, Netiva Caftori wrote:

> Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2001 12:18:25 -0700
> From: Barbara Simons <simons at acm.org>
> To: cpsr-activists at cpsr.org
> Subject: ACM's Lawler Award - Please circulate
> 
> PLEASE CIRCULATE - DEADLINE EXTENSION
> 
> Dear friends,
> 
> We are extending the submission deadline to Nov. 30, 2001 for the
> second ACM Lawler Award for Humanitarian Contributions within
> Computer Science and Informatics. This award will be given to a
> person or group at the ACM Awards banquet in 2002.
> 
> This award recognizes an individual or a group who has made a
> significant humanitarian contribution through the use of computing
> technology.  Some examples of the types of contributions that
> this award recognizes are:
> 
>   - application of computer technology to aid the disabled;
>   - making an educational contribution using computers or Computer
> Science in inner city schools;
>   - creative research concerning intellectual property issues;
>   - expansion of educational opportunities in Computer Science for
>     women and underrepresented minorities;
>   - application of computers or computing techniques to problems
> of developing countries.
> 
> The professional credentials of the recipient(s) are not important.
> The recipient(s) need never to have earned a degree or published
> a paper, or even be considered to be a computer professional.
> What matters is the significance of the work itself, within the
> prescribed areas of technology for humanitarian contributions in
> the field of computing.  The award is $5,000, plus travel expenses
> to the banquet.
> 
> As far as we know, this is the only award of its type.
> 
> The award celebrates the memory of Gene Lawler, a professor at UC
> Berkeley.  The description of the ACM Lawler Award for
> Humanitarian Contributions was derived from email that Gene had
> sent when asked what kind of award he would like to have
> established in his memory.  Gene was very moved when we told
> him that we would be working to establish the kind of award he
> had requested.  We share Gene's vision that people who make
> such contributions should be recognized, and further work encouraged.
> 
> We are now seeking nominations for the award. If you have a candidate
> in mind, please send mail to the Lawler Award Committee chair,
> Barbara Simons, simons at acm.org.
> 
> Additional information about the award can be found at
> <http://www.acm.org/awards/lawlaward.html>.
> Details about submitting a nomination are at
> <http://www.acm.org/awards/award_nominations.html>.
> 
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> To unsubscribe, e-mail: wg-education-core-unsubscribe at cpsr.org
> For additional commands, e-mail: wg-education-core-help at cpsr.org
> 
> 

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From sharma at blarg.net  Sat Nov 24 02:27:06 2001
From: sharma at blarg.net (sharma at blarg.net)
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 02:27:06 -0800
Subject: SCN: [Fwd: GMO Labelling Illegal Under Fast Track*]
Message-ID: <3BFF75FA.2F39349D@blarg.net>

If you would like to know if the food you eat contains gmo's, or if you are concerned
about "fast track' trade legislation, please read this and act...

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: GMO Labelling Illegal Under Fast Track*
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 01:35:55 EST
From: EATORGANIC at aol.com
To: CedarTreeNymph at aol.com

>FAST TRACK BILL WILL MAKE LABELING GENETICALLY ENGINEERED
>FOODS ILLEGAL!
>
>Why Should You Take Action NOW?
>
>Bill HR 3005, "Trade Promotion Authority," is currently
>being considered in the US House of Representatives. It
>is also known as Fast Track.
>A VOTE IN THE CONGRESS IS LIKELY WITHIN
>THE NEXT TWO WEEKS!
>
>Pro-GMO legislators have put in language in
>HR 3005 that would make GMO labeling ILLEGAL as well as
>eliminating the precautionary principle for
>GMO regulation. (The Democratic "alternative" to this
>bill, though better in some aspects, has the EXACT SAME
>LANGUAGE regarding GMOs.) If either bill passes, then the
>US would be able to force European countries to accept
>unlabeled US GMO products!
>
>Fast Track would also allow the President to
>negotiate trade pacts like the Free Trade Area of the
>Americas without any input from Congress. Consequently,
>Congress would waive the right to criticize
>the absence of labor, human rights or environmental
>provisions in the final pact! But if Fast Track fails, we
>have a good chance of stopping the FTAA!
>
>What can you do?
>Use the AFL-CIO toll-free number to call Congress
>1-800-393-1082. You will have to enter a zip code in order
>to reach representatives from your area.
>
>Tell them you are a constituent (if you are) or that you
>live in their area. Tell them you oppose Fast Track and
>you want to know if they do too.
>
>You can also send an email message to
>Congress NOW by visiting:
>http://action.citizen.org/pc/issues/alert/?alertid=57813&type=CO&
>enter your zip code in the Take Action Now field.
>
>For more information on Fast Track see:
>http://www.citizen.org/hot_issues/issue.cfm?ID=138
>
>For more information on the FTAA see:
>http://www.purefood.org/corp/ftaaresources.cfm or contact
>OCA at ftaa at purefood.org
>
>If you would like to subscribe or unsubscibe to any Greenpeace e-mail list,
>you can do so at:
>http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/sc
>
>For more information on current fair trade issues, visit www.tradewatch.org
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
>In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
>distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior 
> interest in receiving such information for research and 
> educational purposes.
>
>Margrete Strand Rangnes
>Field Director
>Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch
>215 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Washington DC, 20003 USA
>mstrand at citizen.org & www.tradewatch.org
>Ph: + 202-454-5106, Fax: + 202-547 7392
>
>To subscribe to our MAI Mailing List, send an e-mail to
>mstrand at citizen.org,
>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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From er-chan at scn.org  Sat Nov 24 12:00:04 2001
From: er-chan at scn.org (er-chan)
Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2001 12:00:04 -0800 (PST)
Subject: SCN: Re: WEB: Top Priority - Topic Editors
In-Reply-To: <20011121004621.55563.qmail@web13202.mail.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.4.20.0111241145480.6795-100000@scn.scn.org>

My original messsage was that I had been the Health menu
Topic editor for many years(since the beginning of SCN webpages).
If the roles and responsibilities of the topic editor have changed
(I doubt it) let me know the details. 
                      My last message was requesting
information about where and when the orientation is.  I probablby
won't find out where it is until it's too late.  But I'm still
interested , even though I won't be at the latest orientation
I have been to so many of them over the years. 
    The permissions to edit that page have to be set so that I
can access it.  Whenever that happens, do let me know and I can
resume my duties to the community of health seekers.
 
       Sincerely, Dr.E. Chan
Hello patrick  (On 11/20/01,4:46pm,you wrote Re: Re: WEB: Top Priority -...

p> Elaine,
p> 
p> Communications sometimes is not as good as it should be, much to my
p> irritation.
p> 
p> If you are interested, then I would go to the orientation. I don't
p> know anything about it.
p> 
p> If you want to talk about the roles and responsibilities of being a
p> topic editor for the health pages, please let me know. Or let Julia
p> know.
p> 
p> Patrick
p> SCN Webteam Coordinator
p> 
p> --- er-chan <er-chan at scn.org> wrote:
p> > 
p> > It's been five days since I sent the message and I haven't heard 
p> > anything back from either of you.  Why was the original message
p> > sent?
p> > Am I the Health Topic Editor or not?  Answer!
p> >  
p> > Hello er-chan  (On 11/16/01,3:56pm,you wrote Re: Re: WEB: Top
p> > Priority -...
p> > 
p> > e> Hello Julia Hahn Gillgren  (On 11/15/01,5:31pm,you wrote Re: Re:
p> > WEB: Top...
p> > e> 
p> > e> JHG> If any person volunteers to you directly, they need to
p> > process through me as
p> > e> JHG> well, please let me know if anyone has expressed interest. 
p> > We are
p> > e> JHG> scheduling a general orientation for Nov. 26th.
p> > e> 
p> > e> I have been a volunteer with SCN for about five years.  Who is
p> > the
p> > e> 
p> > e> orientation for? How long does it take, what & who is involved, 
p> > e> 
p> > e> etc. where is it, etc etc.
p> > e> 
p> > e>  P.S.  I have been to orientation before.
p> > e> JHG> 
p> > e> JHG> Thanks for all you do to keep SCN going!
p> > e> JHG> 
p> > e> JHG> -- 
p> > e> JHG> Julia Hahn Gillgren
p> > e> JHG> SCN Volunteer Program Coordinator
p> > e> JHG> vpc at scn.org
p> > e> JHG> juliahg at mindspring.com
p> > e> JHG> 206-528-4735
p> > e> JHG> 
p> > e> JHG> 
p> > e> JHG> 
p> > e> JHG> > From: er-chan <er-chan at scn.org>
p> > e> JHG> > Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001 00:50:22 -0800 (PST)
p> > e> JHG> > To: patrick <clariun at yahoo.com>
p> > e> JHG> > Cc: scn at scn.org, webeditors at scn.org, webmasters at scn.org,
p> > xx031 at scn.org
p> > e> JHG> > Subject: Re: WEB: Top Priority - Topic Editors
p> > e> JHG> > 
p> > e> JHG> > Hello owner-webmasters at scn.org  (On 11/09/01,7:35pm,you
p> > wrote Re: WEB: Top...
p> > e> JHG> > 
p> > e> JHG> > p> I wanted to make this opportunity to let everyone know
p> > that topic
p> > e> JHG> > p> editors are in great need. If you can take on a topic
p> > editor task or
p> > e> JHG> > p> if you want an additional one (Ken? Lois?), then
p> > please let me know.
p> > e> JHG> > p> 
p> > e> JHG> > p> As far as I know, there are only two topic editors for
p> > all of the
p> > e> JHG> > p> community pages. Ken is managing the Science/Tech
p> > community page and
p> > e> JHG> > p> Lois is managing the Spirituality page.
p> > e> JHG> > p> 
p> > e> JHG> > p> Please speak up if you have a community you are taking
p> > care of.
p> > e> JHG> > p> Otherwise, as far as I know, the other pages are not
p> > being managed.
p> > e> JHG> > p> 
p> > e> JHG> > p> Management takes little time. Its checking new sites
p> > that have been
p> > e> JHG> > p> added to SCN's hosting services and seeing that they
p> > comply by being
p> > e> JHG> > p> Lynx-compatible and surfing the web and looking for
p> > new links that
p> > e> JHG> > p> can be added to SCN's site. Also, checking to see that
p> > current links
p> > e> JHG> > p> work (apparently, there is software that will do this
p> > for you, Mac or
p> > e> JHG> > p> PC).
p> > e> JHG> > p> 
p> > e> JHG> > p> Also, I think it would be neat if we could get topic
p> > editors to get
p> > e> JHG> > p> other sites hosted on SCN.
p> > e> JHG> > p> 
p> > e> JHG> > p> The key is to make SCN centric to the Seattle
p> > community.
p> > e> JHG> > p> 
p> > e> JHG> > p> To go off on a broader scope, the key is to work on
p> > getting SCN's
p> > e> JHG> > p> nucleus formulated and implemented, then working from
p> > there.
p> > e> JHG> > p> 
p> > e> JHG> > p> Thanks,
p> > e> JHG> > p> Patrick
p> > e> JHG> > p> 
p> > e> JHG> > p> =====
p> > e> JHG> > p> Patrick Fisher
p> > e> JHG> > p> Webmaster
p> > e> JHG> > p> http://www.scn.org
p> > e> JHG> > p> Seattle Community Network
p> > e> JHG> > p> "Powering Our Communities with Technology"
p> > e> JHG> > p> Energy and persistence conquer all thing. -- Benjamin
p> > Franklin
p> > e> JHG> > 
p> > e> JHG> > I would like to be topic editor of Health menu
p> > e> JHG> > I have done it before, know HTML and it looks good on my
p> > resume.
p> > e> JHG> > I tend to collect lots and lots of links, for which it
p> > might be
p> > e> JHG> > good to have a method to sort them or search them, which
p> > I could
p> > e> JHG> > program or script.
p> > e> JHG> > er-chan at scn.org
p> > e> JHG> > p> 
p> > e> JHG> > p> __________________________________________________
p> > e> JHG> > p> Do You Yahoo!?
p> > e> JHG> > p> Find a job, post your resume.
p> > e> JHG> > p> http://careers.yahoo.com
p> > e> JHG> > p> * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  From the Listowner  * * *
p> > * * * * * * * * *
p> > e> JHG> > p> . To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to:
p> > e> JHG> > p> majordomo at scn.org  In the body of the message, type:
p> > e> JHG> > p> unsubscribe webmasters
p> > e> JHG> > p> Messages posted on this list are available on the Web
p> > at:
p> > e> JHG> > p> http://www.scn.org/volunteers/webmasters/webmasters-l/
p> > e> JHG> > p> 
p> > e> JHG> > 
p> > e> JHG> > _,--------,                                 .-.       \ o
p> > /
p> > e> JHG> > elaineRchan (-  at gmx.net   \ /           ((_))        |
p> > _|
p> > e> JHG> > `----\--\'    _-_          |         hotmail.com    / \ 
p> > \o
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p> > e> JHG> > 
p> > e> JHG> 
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p> > e> 
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p> > e> 	                                
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p> > \
p> > 	                                
p> > 					 
p> > 
p> 
p> 
p> __________________________________________________
p> Do You Yahoo!?
p> Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just $8.95/month.
p> http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1
p> 

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From steve at advocate.net  Tue Nov 27 22:46:21 2001
From: steve at advocate.net (Steve)
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2001 22:46:21 -0800
Subject: SCN: Fencing off the commons
Message-ID: <3C0417BD.32091.5F5FC2D@localhost>

x-no-archive: yes  

===================  


(Lawrence Lessig, Foreign Policy)---The Internet revolution has 
ended just as surprisingly as it began. None expected the 
explosion of creativity that the network produced; few expected 
that explosion to collapse as quickly and profoundly as it has. The 
phenomenon has the feel of a shooting star, flaring unannounced 
across the night sky, then disappearing just as unexpectedly. 
Under the guise of protecting private property, a series of new 
laws and regulations are dismantling the very architecture that 
made the Internet a framework for global innovation.   

Neither the appearance nor disappearance of this revolution is 
difficult to understand. The difficulty is in accepting the lessons of 
the Internet's evolution. The Internet was born in the United States, 
but its success grew out of notions that seem far from the modern 
American ideals of property and the market. Americans are 
captivated by the idea, as explained by Yale Law School professor 
Carol Rose, that the world is best managed "when divided among 
private owners" and when the market perfectly regulates those 
divided resources. But the Internet took off precisely because core 
resources were not "divided among private owners." Instead, the 
core resources of the Internet were left in a "commons." It was this 
commons that engendered the extraordinary innovation that the 
Internet has seen. It is the enclosure of this commons that will bring 
about the Internet's demise.   

This commons was built into the very architecture of the original 
network. Its design secured a right of decentralized innovation. It 
was this "innovation commons" that produced the diversity of 
creativity that the network has seen within the United States and, 
even more dramatically, abroad. Many of the Internet innovations 
we now take for granted (not the least of which is the World Wide 
Web) were the creations of "outsiders" - foreign inventors who 
freely roamed the commons. Policymakers need to understand the 
importance of this architectural design to the innovation and 
creativity of the original network. The potential of the Internet has 
just begun to be realized, especially in the developing world, where 
many "real space" alternatives for commerce and innovation are 
neither free nor open.   

Yet old ways of thinking are reasserting themselves within the 
United States to modify this design. Changes to the Internet's 
original core will in turn threaten the network's potential 
everywhere - staunching the opportunity for innovation and 
creativity. Thus, at the moment this transformation could have a 
meaningful effect, a counterrevolution is succeeding in 
undermining the potential of this network.   

The motivation for this counterrevolution is as old as revolutions 
themselves. As Niccolò Machiavelli described long before the 
Internet, "Innovation makes enemies of all those who prospered 
under the old regime, and only lukewarm support is forthcoming 
from those who would prosper under the new." And so it is today 
with us. Those who prospered under the old regime are threatened 
by the Internet. Those who would prosper under the new regime 
have not risen to defend it against the old; whether they will is still 
a question. So far, it appears they will not.   

The Neutral Zone   

A "commons" is a resource to which everyone within a relevant 
community has equal access. It is a resource that is not, in an 
important sense, "controlled." Private or state-owned property is a 
controlled resource; only as the owner specifies may that property 
be used. But a commons is not subject to this sort of control. 
Neutral or equal restrictions may apply to it (an entrance fee to a 
park, for example) but not the restrictions of an owner. A commons, 
in this sense, leaves its resources "free."   

Commons are features of all cultures. They have been especially 
important to cultures outside the United States - from communal 
tenure systems in Switzerland and Japan to irrigation communities 
within the Philippines. But within American intellectual culture, 
commons are treated as imperfect resources. They are the object 
of "tragedy," as ecologist Garrett Hardin famously described. 
Wherever a commons exists, the aim is to enclose it. In the 
American psyche, commons are unnecessary vestiges from times 
past and best removed, if possible.   

For most resources, for most of the time, the bias against 
commons makes good sense. When resources are left in common, 
individuals may be driven to overconsume, and therefore deplete, 
them. But for some resources, the bias against commons is 
blinding. Some resources are not subject to the "tragedy of the 
commons" because some resources cannot be "depleted." (No 
matter how much we use Einstein's theories of relativity or copy 
Robert Frost's poem "New Hampshire," those resources will 
survive.) For these resources, the challenge is to induce provision, 
not to avoid depletion. The problems of provision are very different 
from the problems of depletion - confusing the two only leads to 
misguided policies.   

This confusion is particularly acute when considering the Internet. 
At the core of the Internet is a design (chosen without a clear 
sense of its consequences) that was new among large-scale 
computer and communications networks. Named the "end-to-end 
argument" by network theorists Jerome Saltzer, David Clark, and 
David Reed in 1984, this design influences where "intelligence" in 
the network is placed. Traditional computer-communications 
systems located intelligence, and hence control, within the network 
itself. Networks were "smart"; they were designed by people who 
believed they knew exactly what the network would be used for.   

But the Internet was born at a time when a different philosophy 
was taking shape within computer science. This philosophy ranked 
humility above omniscience and anticipated that network designers 
would have no clear idea about all the ways the network could be 
used. It therefore counseled a design that built little into the 
network itself, leaving the network free to develop as the ends (the 
applications) wanted.   

The motivation for this new design was flexibility. The 
consequence was innovation. Because innovators needed no 
permission from the network owner before different applications or 
content got served across the network, innovators were freer to 
develop new modes of connection. Technically, the network 
achieved this design simply by focusing on the delivery of packets 
of data, oblivious to either the contents of the packets or their 
owners. Nor does the network concern itself that all the packets 
make their way to the other side. The network is "best efforts"; 
anything more is provided by the applications at both ends. Like an 
efficient post office (imagine!), the system simply forwards the data 
along.   

Since the network was not optimized for any single application or 
service, the Internet remained open to new innovation. The World 
Wide Web is perhaps the best example. The Web was the creation 
of computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee at the European 
Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) laboratory in Geneva 
in late 1990. Berners-Lee wanted to enable users on a network to 
have easy access to documents located elsewhere on the 
network. He therefore developed a set of protocols to enable 
hypertext links among documents located across the network. 
Because of end-to-end, these protocols could be layered on top of 
the initial protocols of the Internet. This meant the Internet could 
grow to embrace the Web. Had the network compromised its 
commitment to end-to-end - had its design been optimized to favor 
telephony, for example, as many in the 1980s wanted - then the 
Web would not have been possible.   

This end-to-end design is the "core" of the Internet. If we can think 
of the network as built in layers, then the end-to-end design was 
created by a set of protocols implemented at the middle layer - 
what we might call the logical, or code layer, of the Internet. Below 
the code layer is a physical layer (computers and the wires that 
link them). Above the code layer is a content layer (material that 
gets served across the network). Not all these layers were 
organized as commons. The computers at the physical layer are 
private property, not "free" in the sense of a commons. Much of the 
content served across the network is protected by copyright. It, 
too, is not "free."   

At the code layer, however, the Internet is a commons. By design, 
no one controls the resources for innovation that get served across 
this layer. Individuals control the physical layer, deciding whether a 
machine or network gets connected to the Internet. But once 
connected, at least under the Internet's original design, the 
innovation resources for the network remained free.   

No other large scale network left the code layer free in this way. 
For most of the history of telephone monopolies worldwide, 
permission to innovate on the telephone platform was vigorously 
controlled. In the United States in 1956, AT&T successfully 
persuaded the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to block 
the use of a plastic cup on a telephone receiver, designed to block 
noise from the telephone microphone, on the theory that AT&T 
alone had the right to innovation on the telephone network.   

The Internet might have remained an obscure tool of government-
backed researchers if the telephone company had maintained this 
control. The Internet would never have taken off if ordinary 
individuals had been unable to connect to the network by way of 
Internet service providers (ISPs) through already existing 
telephone lines. Yet this right to connect was not preordained. It is 
here that an accident in regulatory history played an important role. 
Just at the moment the Internet was emerging, the telephone 
monopoly was being moved to a different regulatory paradigm. 
Previously, the telephone monopoly was essentially free to control 
its wires as it wished. Beginning in the late 1960s, and then more 
vigorously throughout the 1980s, the government began to require 
that the telephone industry behave neutrally - first by insisting that 
telephone companies permit customer premises equipment (such 
as modems) to be connected to the network, and then by requiring 
that telephone companies allow others to have access to their 
wires.   

This kind of regulation was rare among telecommunications 
monopolies worldwide. In Europe and throughout the world, 
telecommunications monopolies were permitted to control the uses 
of their networks. No requirement of access operated to enable 
competition. Thus no system of competition grew up around these 
other monopolies. But when the United States broke up AT&T in 
1984, the resulting companies no longer had the freedom to 
discriminate against other uses of their lines. And when ISPs 
sought access to the local Bell lines to enable customers to 
connect to the Internet, the local Bells were required to grant 
access equally. This enabled a vigorous competition in Internet 
access, and this competition meant that the network could not 
behave strategically against this new technology. In effect, through 
a competitive market, an end-to-end design was created at the 
physical layer of the telephone network, which meant that an end-
to-end design could be layered on top of that.   

This innovation commons was thus layered onto a physical 
infrastructure that, through regulation, had important commons-like 
features. Common-carrier regulation of the telephone system 
assured that the system could not discriminate against an 
emerging competitor, the Internet. And the Internet itself was 
created, through its end-to-end design, to assure that no particular 
application or use could discriminate against any other 
innovations. Neutrality existed at the physical and code layer of the 
Internet.   

An important neutrality also existed at the content layer of the 
Internet. This layer includes all the content streamed across the 
network - Web pages, MP3s, e-mail, streaming video - as well as 
application programs that run on, or feed, the network. These 
programs are distinct from the protocols at the code layer, 
collectively referred to as TCP/IP (including the protocols of the 
World Wide Web). TCP/IP is dedicated to the public domain.   

But the code above these protocols is not in the public domain. It 
is, instead, of two sorts: proprietary and nonproprietary. The 
proprietary includes the familiar Microsoft operating systems and 
Web servers, as well as programs from other software companies. 
The nonproprietary includes open source and free software, 
especially the Linux (or GNU/Linux) operating system, the Apache 
server, as well as a host of other plumbing-oriented code that 
makes the Net run.   

Nonproprietary code creates a commons at the content layer. The 
commons here is not just the resource that a particular program 
might provide - for example, the functionality of an operating 
system or Web server. The commons also includes the source 
code of software that can be drawn upon and modified by others. 
Open source and free software ("open code" for short) must be 
distributed with the source code. The source code must be free for 
others to take and modify. This commons at the content layer 
means that others can take and build upon open source and free 
software. It also means that open code can't be captured and tilted 
against any particular competitor. Open code can always be 
modified by subsequent adopters. It, therefore, is licensed to 
remain neutral among subsequent uses. There is no "owner" of an 
open code project.   

In this way, and again, parallel to the end-to-end principle at the 
code layer, open code decentralizes innovation. It keeps a platform 
neutral. This neutrality in turn inspires innovators to build for that 
platform because they need not fear the platform will turn against 
them. Open code builds a commons for innovation at the content 
layer. Like the commons at the code layer, open code preserves 
the opportunity for innovation and protects innovation against the 
strategic behavior of competitors. Free resources induce 
innovation.   

An Engine of Innovation   

The original Internet, as it was extended to society generally, 
mixed controlled and free resources at each layer of the network. 
At the core code layer, the network was free. The end-to-end 
design assured that no network owner could exercise control over 
the network. At the physical layer, the resources were essentially 
controlled, but even here, important aspects were free. One had 
the right to connect a machine to the network or not, but telephone 
companies didn't have the right to discriminate against this 
particular use of their network. And finally, at the content layer, 
many of the resources served across the Internet were controlled. 
But a crucial range of software building essential services on the 
Internet remained free. Whether through an open source or free 
software license, these resources could not be controlled.   

This balance of control and freedom produced an unprecedented 
explosion in innovation. The power, and hence the right, to 
innovate was essentially decentralized. The Internet might have 
been an American invention, but creators from around the world 
could build upon this network platform. Significantly, some of the 
most important innovations for the Internet came from these 
"outsiders."   

As noted, the most important technology for accessing and 
browsing the Internet (the World Wide Web) was not invented by 
companies specializing in network access. It wasn't America Online 
(AOL) or Compuserve. The Web was developed by a researcher in 
a Swiss laboratory who first saw its potential and then fought to 
bring it to fruition. Likewise, it wasn't existing e-mail providers who 
came up with the idea of Web-based e-mail. That was co-created 
by an immigrant to the United States from India, Sabeer Bhatia, 
and it gave birth to one of the fastest growing communities in 
history - Hotmail.   

And it wasn't traditional network providers or telephone companies 
that invented the applications that enabled online chatting to take 
off. The original community-based chatting service (ICQ) was the 
invention of an Israeli, far from the trenches of network design. His 
service could explode (and then be purchased by AOL for $400 
million) only because the network was left open for this type of 
innovation.   

Similarly, the revolution in bookselling initiated by Amazon.com 
(through the use of technologies that "match preferences" of 
customers) was invented far from the traditional organs of 
publishers. By gathering a broad range of data about purchases by 
customers, Amazon - drawing upon technology first developed at 
MIT and the University of Minnesota to filter Usenet news - can 
predict what a customer is likely to want. These recommendations 
drive sales, but without the high cost of advertising or promotion. 
Consequently, booksellers such as Amazon can outcompete 
traditional marketers of books, which may account for the rapid 
expansion of Amazon into Asia and Europe.   

These innovations are at the level of Internet services. Far more 
profound have been innovations at the level of content. The 
Internet has not only inspired invention, it has also inspired 
publication in a way that would never have been produced by the 
world of existing publishers. The creation of online archives of 
lyrics and chord sequences and of collaborative databases 
collecting information about compact discs and movies 
demonstrates the kind of creativity that was possible because the 
right to create was not controlled.   

Again, the innovations have not been limited to the United States. 
OpenDemocracy.org, for example, is a London-based, Web-
centered forum for debate and exchange about democracy and 
governance throughout the world. Such a forum is possible only 
because no coordination among international actors is needed. 
And it thrives because it can engender debate at a low cost.   

This history should be a lesson. Every significant innovation on the 
Internet has emerged outside of traditional providers. The new 
grows away from the old. This trend teaches the value of leaving 
the platform open for innovation. Unfortunately, that platform is 
now under siege. Every technological disruption creates winners 
and losers. The losers have an interest in avoiding that disruption 
if they can. This was the lesson Machiavelli taught, and it is the 
experience with every important technological change over time. It 
is also what we are now seeing with the Internet. The innovation 
commons of the Internet threatens important and powerful pre-
Internet interests. During the past five years, those interests have 
mobilized to launch a counterrevolution that is now having a global 
impact.   

This movement is fueled by pressure at both the physical and 
content layers of the network. These changes, in turn, put 
pressure on the freedom of the code layer. These changes will 
have an effect on the opportunity for growth and innovation that 
the Internet presents. Policymakers keen to protect that growth 
should be skeptical of changes that will threaten it. Broad-based 
innovation may threaten the profits of some existing interests, but 
the social gains from this unpredictable growth will far outstrip the 
private losses, especially in nations just beginning to connect.   

Fencing Off the Commons   

The Internet took off on telephone lines. Narrowband service 
across acoustic modems enabled millions of computers to connect 
through thousands of ISPs. Local telephone service providers had 
to provide ISPs with access to local wires; they were not permitted 
to discriminate against Internet service. Thus the physical platform 
on which the Internet was born was regulated to remain neutral. 
This regulation had an important effect. A nascent industry could 
be born on the telephone wires, regardless of the desires of 
telephone companies.   

But as the Internet moves from narrowband to broadband, the 
regulatory environment is changing. The dominant broadband 
technology in the United States is currently cable. Cable lives 
under a different regulatory regime. Cable providers in general 
have no obligation to grant access to their facilities. And cable has 
asserted the right to discriminate in the Internet service it provides.  
 
Consequently, cable has begun to push for a different set of 
principles at the code layer of the network. Cable companies have 
deployed technologies to enable them to engage in a form of 
discrimination in the service they provide. Cisco, for example, 
developed "policy-based routers" that enable cable companies to 
choose which content flows quickly and which flows slowly. With 
these, and other technologies, cable companies will be in a 
position to exercise power over the content and applications that 
operate on their networks.   

This control has already begun in the United States. ISPs running 
cable services have exercised their power to ban certain kinds of 
applications (specifically, those that enable peer-to-peer service). 
They have blocked particular content (advertising from 
competitors, for example) when that content was not consistent 
with their business model. The model for these providers is the 
model of cable television generally - controlling access and content 
to the cable providers' end.   

The environment of innovation on the original network will change 
according to the extent that cable becomes the primary mode of 
access to the Internet. Rather than a network that vests 
intelligence in the ends, the cable-dominated network will vest an 
increasing degree of intelligence within the network itself. And to 
the extent it does this, the network will increase the opportunity for 
strategic behavior in favor of some technologies and against 
others. An essential feature of neutrality at the code layer will have 
been compromised, reducing the opportunity for innovation 
worldwide.   

Far more dramatic, however, has been the pressure from the 
content layer on the code layer. This pressure has come in two 
forms. First, and most directly related to the content described 
above, there has been an explosion of patent regulation in the 
context of software. Second, copyright holders have exercised 
increasing control over new technologies for distribution.   

The changes in patent regulation are more difficult to explain, 
though the consequence is not hard to track. Two decades ago, 
the U.S. Patent Office began granting patents for software-like 
inventions. In the late 1990s, the court overseeing these patents 
finally approved the practice and approved their extension to 
"business methods." The European Union (EU), meanwhile, 
initially adopted a more skeptical attitude toward software patents. 
But pressure from the United States will eventually bring the EU 
into alignment with American policy.   

In principle, these patents are designed to spur innovation. But 
with sequential and complementary innovation, little evidence 
exists that suggests such patents will do any good, and there is 
increasing evidence that they will do harm. Like any regulation, 
patents tax the innovative process generally. As with any tax, some 
firms - large rather than small, U.S. rather than foreign - are better 
able to bear that tax than others. Open code projects, in particular, 
are threatened by this trend, as they are least able to negotiate 
appropriate patent licenses.   

The most dramatic restrictions on innovation, however, have come 
at the hands of copyright holders. Copyright is designed to ensure 
that artists control their "writings" for a limited time. The aim is to 
secure to copyright holders a sufficient interest to produce new 
work. But copyright laws were crafted in an era long before the 
Internet. And their effect on the Internet has been to transfer 
control over innovation in distribution from many innovators to a 
concentrated few.   

The clearest example of this effect is online music. Before the 
Internet, the production and distribution of music had become 
extraordinarily concentrated. In 2000, for example, five companies 
controlled 84 percent of music distribution in the world. The 
reasons for this concentration are many - including the high costs 
of promotion - but the effect of concentration on artist development 
is profound. Very few artists make any money from their work, and 
the few that do are able to do so because of mass marketing from 
record labels. The Internet had the potential to change this reality. 
Both because the costs of distribution were so low, and because 
the network also had the potential to significantly lower the costs of 
promotion, the cost of music could fall, and revenues to artists 
could rise.   

Five years ago, this market took off. A large number of online 
music providers began competing for new ways to distribute music. 
Some distributed MP3s for money (eMusic.com). Some built 
technology for giving owners of music easier access to their music 
(mp3.com). And some made it much easier for ordinary users to 
"share" their music with other users (Napster). But as quickly as 
these companies took off, lawyers representing old media 
succeeded in shutting them down. These lawyers argued that 
copyright law gave the holders (some say hoarders) of these 
copyrights the exclusive right to control how they get used. 
American courts agreed.   

To keep this dispute in context, we should think about the last 
example of a technological change that facilitated a much different 
model for distributing content: cable TV, which has been 
accurately hailed as the first great Napster. Owners of cable 
television systems essentially set up antenna and "stole" over-the-
air broadcasts and then sold that "stolen property" to their 
customers. But when U.S. courts were asked to stop this "theft," 
they refused. Twice the U.S. Supreme Court held that this use of 
someone else's copyrighted material was not inconsistent with 
copyright law.   

When the U.S. Congress finally got around to changing the law, it 
struck an importantly illustrative balance. Congress granted 
copyright owners the right to compensation from the use of their 
material on cable broadcasts, but cable companies were given the 
right to broadcast the copyrighted material. The reason for this 
balance is not hard to see. Copyright owners certainly are entitled 
to compensation for their work. But the right to compensation 
shouldn't translate into the power to control innovation. Rather 
than giving copyright holders the right to veto a particular new use 
of their work (in this case, because it would compete with over-the-
air broadcasting), Congress assured copyright owners would get 
paid without having the power to control - compensation without 
control.   

The same deal could have been struck by Congress in the context 
of online music. But this time, the courts did not hesitate to extend 
control to the copyright holders. So the concentrated holders of 
these copyrights were able to stop the deployment of competing 
distributors. And Congress was not motivated to respond by 
granting an equivalent compulsory right. The aim of the recording 
company's strategy was plain enough: shut down these new and 
competing models of distribution and replace them with a model for 
distributing music online more consistent with the traditional model. 
 
This trend has been supported by the actions of Congress. In 
1998, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act 
(DMCA), which (in)famously banned technologies designed to 
circumvent copyright protection technologies and also created 
strong incentives for ISPs to remove from their sites any material 
claimed to be a violation of copyright.   

On the surface both changes seem sensible enough. Copyright 
protection technologies are analogous to locks. What right does 
anyone have to pick a lock? And ISPs are in the best position to 
assure that copyright violations don't occur on their Web sites. 
Why not create incentives for them to remove infringing 
copyrighted material?   

But intuitions here mislead. A copyright protection technology is 
just code that controls access to copyrighted material. But that 
code can restrict access more effectively (and certainly less subtly) 
than copyright law does. Often the desire to crack protection 
systems is nothing more than a desire to exercise what is 
sometimes called a fair-use right over the copyrighted material. Yet 
the DMCA bans that technology, regardless of its ultimate effect.   

More troubling, however, is that the DMCA effectively bans this 
technology on a worldwide basis. Russian programmer Dimitry 
Sklyarov, for example, wrote code to crack Adobe's eBook 
technology in order to enable users to move eBooks from one 
machine to another and to give blind consumers the ability to 
"read" out loud the books they purchased. The code Sklyarov 
wrote was legal where it was written, but when it was sold by his 
company in the United States, it became illegal. When he came to 
the United States in July 2001 to talk about that code, the FBI 
arrested him. Today Sklyarov faces a sentence of 25 years for 
writing code that could be used for fair-use purposes, as well as to 
violate copyright laws.   

Similar trouble has arisen with the provision that gives ISPs the 
incentive to take down infringing copyrighted material. When an 
ISP is notified that material on its site violates copyright, it can 
avoid liability if it removes the material. As it doesn't have any 
incentive to expose itself to liability, the ordinary result of such 
notification is for the ISP to remove the material. Increasingly, 
companies trying to protect themselves from criticism have used 
this provision to silence critics. In August 2001, for example, a 
British pharmaceutical company invoked the DMCA in order to 
force an ISP to shut down an animal rights site that criticized the 
British company. Said the ISP, "It's very clear [the British company] 
just wants to shut them up," but ISPs have no incentive to resist 
the claims.   

In all these cases, there is a common pattern. In the push to give 
copyright owners control over their content, copyright holders also 
receive the ability to protect themselves against innovations that 
might threaten existing business models. The law becomes a tool 
to assure that new innovations don't displace old ones - when 
instead, the aim of copyright and patent law should be, as the U.S. 
Constitution requires, to "promote the progress of science and 
useful arts."   

These regulations will not only affect Americans. The expanding 
jurisdiction that American courts claim, combined with the push by 
the World Intellectual Property Organization to enact similar 
legislation elsewhere, means that the impact of this sort of control 
will be felt worldwide. There is no "local" when it comes to 
corruption of the Internet's basic principles. As these changes 
weaken the open source and free software movements, countries 
with the most to gain from a free and open platform lose. Those 
affected will include nations in the developing world and nations 
that do not want to cede control to a single private corporation. 
And as content becomes more controlled, nations that could 
otherwise benefit from vigorous competition in the delivery and 
production of content will also lose. An explosion of innovation to 
deliver MP3s would directly translate into innovation to deliver 
telephone calls and video content. Lowering the cost of this 
medium would dramatically benefit nations that still suffer from 
weak technical infrastructures.   

Policymakers around the world must recognize that the interests 
most strongly protected by the Internet counterrevolution are not 
their own. They should be skeptical of legal mechanisms that 
enable those most threatened by the innovation commons to resist 
it. The Internet promised the world - particularly the weakest in the 
world - the fastest and most dramatic change to existing barriers to 
growth. That promise depends on the network remaining open to 
innovation. That openness depends upon policy that better 
understands the Internet's past.   


Copyright 2001 Foreign Policy
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From steve at advocate.net  Wed Nov 28 09:29:49 2001
From: steve at advocate.net (Steve)
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2001 09:29:49 -0800
Subject: SCN: SSSCA
Message-ID: <3C04AE8D.6007.23CDCC7@localhost>

x-no-archive: yes

===================


(Ed Foster, InfoWorld)---During the past few months, a number of 
readers have importuned me to write about something called the 
Security Systems Standards and Certification Act (SSSCA). The 
proposed law, they said, would further extend the powers of 
copyright holders already bloated by the Digital Millennium 
Copyright Act (DMCA) by requiring all future interactive digital 
devices to ship with built-in anti-piracy technology.  

"You have got to write about the SSSCA law," wrote one reader. 
"In essence, it provides that all electronic devices sold in the 
United States must contain copyright protection software. Can you 
imagine what will happen if this gets passed? Linux would literally 
be illegal. In fact, doing anything on one's computer that doesn't 
benefit huge media conglomerates would be prohibited."  

Judging by the posted drafts of the SSSCA, the fears of such 
readers certainly seem justified. The law's sweeping requirements 
for standardized "certified security technologies" in all manner of 
devices would stifle the development of innovative products, 
eliminate the fair-use rights of consumers, criminalize open-source 
software, restrict research in improved computer security, add 
significant costs to many types of products, and in general wound 
American competitiveness in world markets. All this for the sake of 
preventing infringement of the rights of a few movie studios and 
music publishers. Or, should I say, for the sake of trying to prevent 
infringement, because it's always a safe bet with anti-piracy 
technology that the real pirates will quickly defeat it.  

In fact, the SSSCA is such an unrelieved nightmare that I've had 
trouble taking it seriously. Surely after all the publicity generated 
by the Dmitry Sklyarov affair (the Russian programmer whose 
activities offended Adobe) and other abuses of the DMCA, 
Congress won't actually consider this hard-wired version. The 
public backers seem limited to Disney and a few other media 
giants. Even groups representing the high-tech industry have 
criticized the SSSCA concept. As we all know, the Microsofts and 
Intels and other giants don't like being told what to put in their 
products by the government.  

There is also the fact that the SSSCA still doesn't really exist. 
Although purported author Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., was said to 
be scheduling hearings for it last month in the Senate Commerce 
Committee he chairs, the hearings have yet to materialize. As of 
press time the SSSCA has still not been formally introduced as a 
bill, and observers say it is highly unlikely now that Congress will 
take action this year.  

Is the SSSCA much ado about nothing? My original theory was 
that it's little more than a red herring introduced by the media 
moguls to distract DMCA opponents away from attempts to reform 
that law. But some of the voices raised against the SSSCA have 
persuaded me otherwise.  

Among organizations that have taken SSSCA seriously enough to 
express their concerns to Hollings are the Association of 
Computing Machinery and the Electronic Frontier Foundation 
(EFF). "I think that this represents a desire to control new 
technology and restrict open platforms," says Fred von Lohmann, 
intellectual property attorney with the EFF. "They may not even 
need SSSCA. If you look at the litigation track, it's interesting that 
no one is suing the end-users (who are doing the infringing), just 
technology companies like Napster or MusicCity. It already seems 
you're not allowed to release new technology if it might be used to 
infringe copyright."  

The SSSCA has recently been condemned by several industry 
officials not for what it would do but because of who would create 
the standard. Their argument is that the SSSCA shows Congress 
wants security standards, and the industry had better set those 
standards itself or the government will. Of course what the 
government means by "security" in the wake of Sept. 11 and what 
copyright holders mean when asking for anti-piracy standards are 
really two very different things. And its very name suggests that the 
SSSCA is an attempt to take advantage of that semantic 
confusion.  

In other words, high-tech companies can point to the threat of 
government intervention in the form of the SSSCA as a reason to 
put their own digital rights management technology in their 
products. Naturally, they'll use that technology to protect their own 
digital rights first. If that sounds familiar, perhaps it's because 
there's no difference between this concept and the remote 
disabling mechanisms endorsed by the Uniform Computer 
Information Transactions Act (UCITA).  

Evidence that at least one high-tech company may be thinking this 
way came to light a few weeks ago. While pondering the SSSCA, 
columnist Dan Gillmor at The Mercury News, in San Jose, Calif., 
noted a very interesting passage in the license agreement for the 
latest version of Microsoft's Media Player. The license reads in 
part: "You agree that in order to protect the integrity of content and 
software protected by digital rights management ('Secure 
Content'), Microsoft may provide security-related updates to the 
OS Components that will be automatically downloaded onto your 
computer."  

Pretty scary. Here we're wondering if the SSSCA is ever going to 
really exist, whereas Microsoft seems to have entered the SSSCA 
era already. No congressional action required, thank you very 
much.  

What is the SSSCA? Not quite a red herring, I think. It's more of a 
stalking horse. And like any good stalking horse, you're not 
supposed to know who or what is coming behind it until it's too 
late. Perhaps it already is.  


Copyright 2001 InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.  







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From fortune at 12ji.com  Thu Nov 29 22:22:14 2001
From: fortune at 12ji.com (Anne Collins)
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 15:22:14 +0900
Subject: SCN: Your fortune of the week
Message-ID: <2569349-220011153062214630@12ji.com>


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