textfiles/magazines/NETCOMMUNITY/net_com.017

NETWORKS AND COMMUNITY : March  1st, 1994
Networks and Community is devoted to encouraging
LOCAL resource creation & GLOBAL resource sharing.
The 11th report of 1994 is the 17th weekly survey.
-------------------------------------------------
coverage in this issue included :
ASSISTANCE NEEDED   DISCUSSIONS    EVENTS   FUNDRAISING
LEGISLATION    NEW SERVICES        TRENDS
---------------------------------------------------

MY FAVOURITE QUOTE FROM THE PAST TWO WEEKS OF POSTINGS.
"  The large commercial networks, while providing for access to
global resources, defeat the uniqueness of each local
community as they concentrate their efforts on broadening their
markets and increasing subscriptions.  The vision of Community
Computing is to defend our regional distinctions and create a new
resource for information and services ..."

Jim Burns ,Chair, Victoria Community FreeNet Development Committee
Victoria, Tx <h9305@vicvx1.vic.uh.edu>

ASSISTANCE NEEDED
=================

SOME NZ GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS NEED CONVINCING..!
 Here in New Zealand I have found that "A Government Official
Who Is Not UP On Something, Is DOWN On Something".
* After outlining (to a few key Government Officials) the
features and benefits of basic e. mail services via the
Internet, (e. mail from Government Officials at a National,
Regional and Local Levels) among themselves, to other Government
Departments and Ministries, to their clients, non profit
organisations and the general public they want further "PROOF".
* They want information (ie reports, studies and research etc.on
the North American experience), on the "ADVANTAGES" and
"DISADVANTAGES" for Government Officials to:
- Have e. mail facilities for use among themselves.
- Have e. mail facilities for their clients.
- Have e. mail facilities available for non profit organisations
and general public.
Would you please:
- Forward to me any e. mail publications that you may have,
that would assist me in helping these Government Officials to
make up their minds about e. mail.
- Advise me of any information that I can retrieve via e. mail
(and the address to retrieve it).

It's no use me, telling some Government Officials that you have "E.
Mail" in North America and giving them good general information
(which I have done), they want evidence that this is the way
to go. Regards Roger Mackenzie    rogerm@nzonline.ac.nz
          -------------------------------------

"I WORK FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN HALIFAX, NS,
and perform Secretariat functions for a "One-Stop" Information and
Service Centre Initiative now ongoing. (i.e. project logistics,
management, scheduling...) The Initiative strives to use technology
to its greatest advantage to deliver government (fed, prov, mun)
information and services in (initially) 5 locations is Nova Scotia.
The centres are to open in June with a basic level of service --
adding to those services as the years progress. Services include
information, advisory, program applications and transactions.
I would be interested in communicating with anyone who has a unique
or novel service delivery  method [either using the internet or
some other electronic medium], or discussing any issue which we may
want to consider when setting up the centres."
Contact CJ Carruthers cjcarr@industry1.ditt.ns.ca
          -------------------------------------

" We are two MLS graduate students who are doing an independent
study which involves HELPING BUILD A LOCAL COMMUNITY NETWORK. We
are hoping that you will be able to provide us with samples of your
promotional literature (brochures, etc.).  One of the requirements
for our study is the creation of a sample brochure for the Onondaga
County CommunityNet committee."

Send your materials to Sally Murray (sdmurray@mailbox.syr.edu) and

DISCUSSIONS
===========

TWO STEPS BACKWARDS
-------------------

1 - SCHOOLS WITH OUT ACCESS TO "SCHOOLNETS"
Re. TCI/BA and PacBell educational announcements:
One thing that seems conspicuously absent is explicit mention of
Internet connectivity.  To my mind wiring up schools en masse, to
a proprietary closed network, is NOT a desirable activity - rather
its a market capture technique.  I'm waiting to see an announcement
that says "we're going to give every school in <xxx> a T1 (or even
64kb) connection to the Internet.
Miles R. Fidelman mfidelman@civicnet.org
Executive Director The Center for Civic Networking

2 - THE PROVINCE CLAIMING NET LEADERSHIP COMMITS HIWAY ROBBERY
New Brunswick recently provided SLIP/PPP Internet access via NBNet,
a subsidiary of NBTel. I believe that we were in the process of
establishing a nice little community until February 1 came
along...the day that NBNet began charging. The first post to the
local support group, "Where did everybody go?"
NBNet's one-time set-up charge is $17.50; after that, all charges
relate to connection time. Unfortunately, NBNet has opted to charge
$10.00 per hour to a maximum of $400.00 per month, probably because
they are the only game in town (for now). In New Brunswick, we call
this the Information Highway Robbery. *faint smile*
IMHO, NBNet should have attempted to secure a broad base of users
at a nominal charge. As it is, individuals must limit their Net use
to a bit of email to keep monthly charges under $50.00. If you want
to telnet, gopher, etc. be prepared for $100-200 per month.
Corporate use only is not in the spirit of the Net.
Bruce. newmanb@nbnet.nb.ca

FLAME WAR OF THE WEEK

Several listservs carried complaints about press coverage. NPTN
discussed how Freenets can work successfully with the press and
Com-priv saw an assault on the quality of press coverage of
Internet events. A poster suggested offering all your local media
e-mail access to their Editor or New Room. Other proposed
prewritten articles as well as press releases.

One the negative side, anger over poor coverage lead to verbal
attacks on a number of journalists. One specific target was Philip
Elmer-Dewitt, Time Magazine's primary writer on high tech. He did
Time's pieces on the Internet and Video Games. I have always liked
the way he lead Time in its current effort to appeal to a TV
oriented audience with a mental age of 12. Long before Time
reformatted to look more like at news show; Dewitt was displaying
disdain for his readers by delivering such info-gems as "America's
Founding Fathers did not have computers or cable TV." That was from
"Dial D for Democracy" in the June 8,1992 issue. His internet
delivery is just as incisive.

The potential advantages and disadvantages of civic owned utilities
and local co-ops for cities and rural areas were explored. The
number of municipal internet utility efforts is growing. On the
down side, 1 respondent wrote " who needs the clipper chip" if the
government already owns the wire.

ONET - the ontario canada based network - was attacked as a barrier
to rural networking. On writer praised co-ops and suggested that
a "cheap net at $10/yr you could actually get on was much better
that an freenet you couldn't even start.

A good discussion of the significance for community computing of
the crop of Telco offers to wire the nation's schools occurred.
The very real possibility that schools which took up the telco
offerings would end up a few years from now with big bills and no
internet connections was pointed out.

NPTN agreed to create an electron archive of free-net development
documents. Unfortunately, in order to defend the growth of
organization and provide a significant membership benefit, it
decided to make the archive private. A few posters protested that
such a position went against the "spirit" of the freenet movement.

Another interesting NPTN discussion focused on creating freenets
that had no phone access - only internet connections. While most
posters opposed the idea; its easy to understand the frustration
that leads to it. Just try raising the funds to pay for the endless
demand for phone lines. [ see the item in fundraising for some
ideas of reducing phone line costs ]

Also touched on were the relationships between libraries and civic
nets, non- profits and civic nets, and some good ideas around
fundraising and proposal writing. One free-net described an
interesting internal structure were all board members were
activists in the development of the net.

EVENTS
======

MAY CONFERENCE ON COMMUNITY NETWORKS

[This is a tremendous opportunity to meet many of the pioneers of
the movement at a subsidized conference. And the BAY AREA is never
more beautiful than in May. In addition, if you can stay a few days
more - you're just hours away from the spectacular Big Sur coast
& Yosemity National Park. Both are world class natural areas -ed]

" Because of the growing interest in community networks in Canada,
the United States, Japan, New Zealand, Finland, and other
countries, we believe it is time to convene this conference to take
a hard look at the challenges and opportunities for individuals and
groups involved in community networking.  The meetings are aimed
at the organizers, system operators, librarians, educators, users,
software suppliers, funding organizations, and information
providers for new and existing community systems. It will be an
excellent forum for legislators, policy analysts, public utilities
commission regulators, and city planners to learn more about these
networks.

Conference Specifics
Date: Wednesday, May 4 to Friday, May 6, 1994
Place: Apple Computer Conference Center, 4 Infinite Loop,
Cupertino, California 95014
Cost: $25 U.S.  includes meals Wednesday evening through Friday
noon.
Pre-register.
Sponsors: Apple Library of Tomorrow, Cupertino, California
The Morino Foundation, Great Falls, Virginia
Estimated Number of attendees: 250 maximum. We reserve the right
to limit the number of attendees from any one organization.
Conference Schedule: (subject to additions)
Wednesday: May 4, 1994
5:00-6:00 p.m. Registration
6:00-7:00 p.m. Welcome Dinner
7:00 p.m. -Ken Phillips, Director, Marion Salem Information
Services, Salem, Oregon and founder of Santa Monica Public
Electronic Network. Then and Now: A look at Santa Monica PEN and
community networks 8:00 -8:30 p.m.  Organize Ad Hoc meetings for
Thursday after lunch Thursday: May 5, 1994
8:00-8:45 a.m..  Breakfast 9:00
-Tom Grundner, President, National Public Telecomputing Network:
The State of Free-Nets
10:00-noon
Track 1
Urban Systems
-Helen Moeller, Director, Leon County Public Library System:
User Support Issues for Tallahassee Free-Net
-Richard Naylor, Manager, Information Technology, Wellington City
Net Community Networking in New Zealand
-Miles Fidelman, Executive Director, Center for Civic Networking
Sustainable Development Information Network Cambridge and Cape Cod,
Massachusetts
Track 2
Rural Systems
-Richard Lowenberg, Director, Telluride (Colorado) InfoZone
Status report on the InfoZone
-Jean Armour Polly, NYSERNet, Liverpool, New York
Project GAIN: Rural libraries in upstate New York
-Patrick Finn, President, La Plaza TeleCommunity Foundation , Taos,
NM
Building partnerships to build a network
-Frank Odasz, Director, Big Sky Telegraph, Dillon, Montana
Big Sky Telegraph after six years online
Noon-3:00 p.m.  Lunch and free time for BOFs, Ad Hoc meetings, and
schmoozing.
1:00 - 2:00 p.m.  BOF: Public Outreach and training. Eric Theise,
Internet Domain Editor, Millennium Whole Earth Catalog.
3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
-Mario Morino, Director, The Morino Foundation
A Meta-View of Community Networks: the goals of the Morino
Foundation
4:00 to 5:30 p.m.  Indigenous Groups Online
-Keola Donaghy, Network Designer and Administrator, Hale Kuamo'o
and MauiLink, Hawaii : Breaking out of the ASCII barrier. Software
for other cultures.
-George Baldwin, INDIANnet Census Information and Network Center
Getting Indian Nations online
-Anne Fallis, System Operator, INDIANnet (South Dakota)
Setting up small systems for Indian users

Friday, May 6
8:00 - 9:00 a.m.. Breakfast
9:00 - noon.
Track 1
Policy and Funding
-Richard Civille, Center for Civic Networking, Washington, D.C..
Civic networking and local community and economic development
-Jim Warren, Columnist and Advocate, Nuts & Bolts getting state and
local public records online: real world experiences.
-Michael Strait, Project Director, Corporation for Public
Broadcasting, Washington, D.C.. Response to the CPB/CWEIS
Initiative: What are the types of partnerships emerging in the 90
communities that sent in proposals? -National Telecommunications
& Information Administration Representative (invited) Community
network grant program
-Open discussion of funding opportunities and challenges
Track 2
Regional Networks and technical issues
-Marty Tenenbaum, Enterprise Integration Technologies, Palo Alto,
CA
CommerceNet: a broadband project for the San Francisco Bay Area
-Peter Scott, Saskatoon FREE-NET, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Free-Nets in Canada
-Benay Dara-Abrams, Silicon Valley Public Access Link, Mountain
View, CA
Designing a distributed multi-hub community network
-Dewayne Hendricks, Tetherless Access Ltd, Fremont, California
Wireless community networks: examples and future plans.
Noon - 1 :00 p.m. Lunch
1:00-3:00 p.m. Short and Sweet:  Online and canned demos of
community networking software and systems. Show us your best in
fifteen minutes of fame. (Please sign up)
3:00 -5:00 p.m. Where are Community Networks headed?
-Jean Armour Polly, NYSERNet, Inc. Liverpool, New York
Declaration of Information Interdependence
-Frank Odasz, Big Sky Telegraph, Dillon, Montana
The Need for Rigorous and Quantitative Evaluation of Community
Systems
-Howard Rheingold, author, The Virtual Community.
Open mike
5:30 p.m. End of Conference

Registration Details
Please fill in the following information. It will be used for a
printed roster to be distributed to the other attendees at the
conference. Community Network Conference Registration
Name:
Title:
Organization
Address
City, State, Postal Code
Country
e-mail address:
telephone:
Please describe your interest or involvement in community networks
in a few words. This will help other attendees to locate
like-minded people for informal meetings and discussions.
Payment: $25 U.S. by check or money order, payable to "ALUG" One
check per attendee. This registration is non-refundable, but you
may transfer your registration to another person.  If we receive
your registration before April 8, you will receive a free
conference T-shirt.
What size? S  M   L  XL XXL
Do you need vegetarian meals?
Send the check and registration to: Community Network Conference,
Apple Library, 4 Infinite Loop MS 304-2A, Cupertino, CA 95014.
For more info e-mail SAC@apple.com

HINTS-6
--------
The sixth Hawaii Information Network and Technology Symposium
(HINTS) will focus on "Building Electronic Communities" - big ones
like the NII and the Internet, as well as community networks like
Hawaii FYI and Big Sky graph.  Representatives of the Clinton
administration, Congress, and the FCC have been invited to deliver
their perspectives on the Information Highway.  Joining them will
be community networkers such as Steve Cisler (Apple Computer) and
Frank Odasz (Big Sky), local telco and cable TV representatives,
the PUC, and Hawaii educators.  The focus is on benefits,
issues and applications; the audience is a mix of government,
business, and consumers; the result is very synergistic and
exciting.  Affordable general session fees from $25 for students
to $150.  Contact HAWAII INC:  +1 (808) 586-4636, fax +1 (808)
586-4625, e-mail johnp@pulua.hcc.hawaii.edu.

FUNDRAISING & COST REDUCTION
============================

Cincinnati Bell Directory Inc. (CBD) and the Greater Cincinnati
Consortium of Colleges and Universities have reached a tentative
agreement to transfer administration of TriState Online, a
community computer information system, from CBD to the Consortium.
          Cincinnati Bell created TriState Online in January 1990
to provide a community information and computer communications
services in Greater Cincinnati at no cost to users.  It has
approximately 12,000 registered users, who average 2,000 on-line
sessions per day.  CBD, a directory services subsidiary of
Cincinnati Bell Inc., administers the service.
     As part of the tentative agreement, Greater Cincinnati
Television Educational Foundation, which operates Channel 48, will
maintain educational programming support for TriState Online and,
on behalf of the Consortium, has applied to the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting for additional operating funding.
     .......Barbara Stonewater, Executive Director of the
Consortium, said the group is interested in TriState Online as a
tool for communicating and sharing resources among its 13 member
institutions in Southwestern Ohio and Northern Kentucky.  The
Consortium is attempting to raise additional operating funds
that would enable it to expand TriState Online's community-based
information services.
>From Mark Powers (powers@tso.uc.edu)
               -------------------------------------

I am personally pleased to announce that the Toronto Free-net has
just received several significant contributions.

1 - The North York Public library is contributing staff time to
support the integration of all the regional public library systems'
on-line catalogues into the Toronto Free-net's services.
2 - Sun has just donated 3 computer systems to the T-F.
3 - Rogers Shared Services, a division of Rogers Cable will
contribute about $500,000 of services, facilities and equipment
over the next 5 years.  This includes T-F's Internet connection for
the next 5 years.
4 - Ryerson University has agreed to provide extensive facilities
and services to the T-F as well. This includes the office space for
T-F.
5 - York University has donated an additional Sun computer to T-F.
6 - The campaign to get individual businesses to sponsor phone
lines has already found its first sponsors too.

The Toronto Free-net will open officially next month. My
congratulations and appreciation go to the Executive Director, both
of the fundraising committees and all the other volunteers.
          --------------------------------------

Ottawa area networks have come up with several ideas to reduce the
cost of phone lines.
1 - Using government tie lines after hours - when demand for
freenet is highest and the government use is minimal - cost is zero
accept for the connection arrangements.
2 - Getting your lines purchased by the municipal government. [
municipalities making bulk line purchases have much lower rates ]
- cost is reduced dramaticly and the government get to make a major
financial contribution at no cost to itself.
3 - connecting to the freenet through an existing Centrex system
[centrex line costs are also lower than ordinary business lines ]

The bottom line is - study you local tariffs - there may be value
cost reduction opportunities hidden there.

LEGISLATION
===========

CANADA GETS INTO THE BUSINESS OF ENDING FREEDOM OF COMMUNICATIONS
but there is no campaign to stop it. Isn't anyone interested in
legislation to control or prevent this happening in Canada?

 from  E-d-u-p-a-g-e 02-01-94 ]
HIGH-TECH SNOOP GADGET.  A super-secret branch of the Canadian
Security Intelligence Service has awarded three contracts to a
Montreal firm to make equipment that can quickly isolate key words
and phrases from millions of airborne phone, fax, radio signals and
other transmissions. The hardware has the "Orwellian potential to
sweep through ... and keep records of all conversations," said one
CSIS critic. (CTV National News, 01/31/94 11:00 pm).

ONTARIO PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND THE ELECTRONIC REGISTRY OF THE
ENVIRONMENTAL BILL OF RIGHTS

The Environmental Bill of Rights legislation is a priority of the
Ontario government and is the result of several years of
consultation and negotiation between business, environmental
interest groups, government and the legal profession.  The
Environmental Bill of Rights establishes new rights for the public
so they can participate in protecting the environment.
Using computer stations in almost 300 libraries, Ontarians will
soon have direct access to environmental information from Ontario
Government Ministries through the Electronic Registry of the
province's new Environmental Bill of Rights.

This is possible because public libraries can use the existing
electronic infrastructure of the Information Network For Ontario
(INFO) used for interlibrary loan and the sharing of library
resources. INFO libraries will take the lead in providing the
Electronic Registry to the public becoming an electronic doorway
to provincial government information related to the environment.

 Using the EBR Electronic Registry, the public will be able to get
 information from 14 Ontario  government ministries, including
Statements of Environmental Values, proposals for policies, acts,
regulations, instruments, instrument appeals and court actions.
The Electronic Registry is a computerized bulletin board. The
Registry will be accessible free of charge by modem from a home or
business computer as well as through public libraries.  Network
access using the Internet and ONET will also be possible.
Library access to the Electronic Registry is expected to be
available beginning May 15, 1994. For Information Contact:
 Gay Spiegel, Project Coodinator
 Libraries and Community Information Branch
 Ontario Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Recreation
 Internet: clubbb@gov.on.ca
          -----------------------------------

THE MINNESOTA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES LAUNCHED ITS GOPHER SERVER
in December of 1993:  gopher.revisor.leg.state.mn.us
The server provides:
- bills that have been introduced in regular session;
- long titles of bills introduced in the interim
(non-legislative session periods);
- house journal;
- summaries of bills from House Research;
- phone books for the House;
- biographical member information;
- New Laws book for 1993 session;
- the MN Statutes;
- civic oriented Mac programs based on MN statutes
legislative history, county names, and new laws.
For more information contact Representative Marc Asch,
rep@loon.house.leg.state.mn.us


NEW SERVICES
============

CANADIAN ELECTRONIC FRONTIER GROUP CONCERNED ABOUT NET CENSORSHIP
Electronic Frontier Canada (EFC) is concerned about the recent
censorship of five Usenet newsgroups at the University of Waterloo.
Usenet News is a distributed electronic bulletin board system
available to an estimated 15 million Internet users across Canada
and around the world.  Users can browse articles on any of the
several thousand available topics that may interest them.  The
choice of what to read is left to the reader.  Users may also
contribute their own articles and follow up on the articles of
authors.  EFC believes the open exchange of ideas and opinions on
Usenet has become an important part of a university education.
EFC was founded in January 1994 "to ensure that the principles
embodied in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms are
protected as new computing, communications, and information
technologies emerge".  EFC is concerned that, although in Canada
the right to free speech is not an absolute right, the censorship
recently imposed at the University of Waterloo sets a dangerous
precedent and has resulted in the banning of some forms of
expression that are protected. "No Canadian court has ever decided
that any message on any Usenet newsgroup is illegal," the
organization's co-founder, Professor Jeffrey
Shallit, said today.  "By this ban, the University is exercising
`prior restraint' on the rights of University of Waterloo faculty,
students, and staff to read and contribute freely to the
discussions on the banned newsgroups." Prof. Shallit noted there
was a "conspicuous absence of computer scientists and librarians"
on the committee that decides what people can read on computers.
He also said that the order did not take into account the
University's historical role as the guardian of free intellectual
inquiry.
Prof. Shallit noted that the University of Waterloo has been down
the path of censorship before.  Acting upon a complaint about a
single joke posted to the newsgroup in "rec.humor.funny", the
entire newsgroup was banned by the university administration in
1988.  Later, a dozen newsgroups devoted to discussions about sex
were banned.  The ban was reversed in May 1991 after a public
outcry.
In a Usenet news article, Professor David Jones of McGill
University, the other co-founder of EFC, commented that the UW
Ethics Committee seemed to "focus on the medium rather than the
message".  He asked if the sort of information now banned in
electronic form would soon be removed from the UW libraries.
Prof. Jones observed that the University of Waterloo Library
carries information that, at first blush, might seem controversial,
including Playboy_ magazine (available on microfilm), and a book
denying the Holocaust, _The Hoax of the Twentieth Century_.  "If
the University of Waterloo administration chooses to place limits
on what its students and faculty are allowed to read, these limits
should be consistently applied across various media," Jones said.
Dr. Jeffrey Shallit, University of Waterloo, Dept of Computer
Science E-mail: shallit@graceland.uwaterloo.ca
Dr. David Jones, McGill University, Dept of Electrical Engineering
E-mail:     djones@cim.mcgill.ca
Electronic Frontier Canada can be reached electronically by sending
e-mail to:  efc@graceland.uwaterloo.ca
Reference documents collected by EFC are accessible using the
Internet gopher file-search tool:  gopher -p "1/community/efc"
ee470.ee.mcgill.ca

[ if only this group and CPI were interested in what CSIS is up to
- see the item in LEGISLATION about CSIS
Non the less - canadian community networkers should consider
joining this group as its focus will definitely cover our interests
in providing uncensored information ]

A NATIONAL GOPHER SITE FOR CANADA
The National Library of Canada has opened its gopher site. This
site offers excellent access to almost every other canadian based
public Internet facility. It is well organized and will eventually
be available in French and English. Currently there is no
significant french language information. Three canadian e-
newsletters are being archived on the gopher.
Gopher ----->  gopher.nlc-bnc.ca

PROMOTE YOUR COMMUNITY NET
World-Wide WAIS-Searchable WWW Catalogues are now available for:
Community Network Projects - Companies
CS Departments - Government Agencies
Hardware - High Performance Computing
High Speed Networks - Research Centers
Software - Universities
Please add your institution's home page, or URL's for interesting
items in the categories, or for other categories you define. All
are accessible at:
http://www.cs.colorado.edu/homes/mcbryan/public_html/bb/summary.h
tml

Services like this with Wais searchable Web info are really
powerful examples of integrated net services.

TWO EXCELLENT NEW RESOURCES TO INCLUDE IN YOUR COMMUNITY NET

1 - The online equivalent of Great Books of World Civilizations.
This is a marvellous collection of classics in English. Everything
from Ancient Greek comedy to Hindu love literature to Sherlock
Holmes - nearly 1000 books, full text at one location. This is the
best I have found on the net.
Gopher:  gopher.vt.edu /eris files /information resources /books

2 - An archive of all the Internet FAQs.
FAQs - Frequently asked Questions are concentrated collections of
subject specific wisdom - voluntarily compiled by internet addicts.
This collection is complete and its classified.
Gopher: storm.stanford.edu /construction /consulting /FAQ archive


TRENDS
======

Transforming Government
------------------------
The first 2 requests for assistance and the legislative item from
Ontario about piggy backing public access on a existing library
net, show a growing recognition within government circles of the
potential of the internet. The importance of net based public
access to government is becoming more and more evident. The White
House has obtained tremendous benefits from its net connection. And
it has also found it initiatives being responded to far more
rapidly than those of any previous administration.
               -----------------------
Here is a brief outline of the principal first year achievements
of THE WHITE HOUSE ELECTRONIC PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT.

"In the six months since June 1st, we have received over
100,000 email messages to the President & Vice President.
1a. This is the first Administration to accept email from the
public.
1b. President Clinton is the first sitting President to send
email to citizens -- 5th graders in Oxford, Ohio spring 1993.
2. This is the first administration to establish internet
addresses for President & Vice President:
president@whitehouse.gov   vice-president@whitehouse.gov
3. Over 220,000 requests for information have been processed
electronically since September 1, 1993.
4. In 1993 1,600 public documents were published electronically.
4a. This is the first administration to establish an electronic
self-service public document library: publications@whitehouse.gov
The service opened experimentally in December 1993.
5. The first ever live online computer conference by a sitting
Vice President was done by VP Gore on 1/13/94.  The VP took 10
questions in a 45 minute forum.
6.  We initiated the first White House forums on commercial
networks: America Online, Compuserve, GEnie, MCI Mail
7. Americans Communicating Electronically, an all volunteer
organization, was started in Spring 1993.  ACE represents the NII
in action.  It aims to provide  government services
electronically and enable interactive communications between
government agencies and the public, especially those citizens
without modem equipped computers.
8. Starting in November, we became the first administration to
post audio files of the President's Saturday radio talks to the
internet.  This use of internet radio is our latest experiment .

We plan to continue to roll out new features and services during
1994: The budget on CD-ROM [made available Monday, February 7]
Multi-media CD-ROM of the first year's public documents
Mosaic "Welcome to The White House"
Improved email technology
Improved publications@whitehouse.gov technology
Additional commercial White House forums"
          ---------------------------

And from the public side, Jim Warren and fellow internauts have
opened up the California Legislature, while EFF & CPSR have used
the net to MOUNT  MAJOR CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE DISASTROUS "SECURITY"
INITIATIVES that the intelligence community is attempting to impose
on the public. If you haven't yet taken the time to support those
campaigns - please do so. Use the white house e-mail addresses
above to talk to the issues. This goes for non citizens as well.
Anything affecting the net, affects the planet.
          -------------------------------------------

SO - GET ACTIVE

On January 24, many of the nation's leading experts in cryptography
and computer security wrote President Clinton and asked him to
withdraw the Clipper proposal.  The public response to the letter
has been extremely favorable, including coverage in the New York
Times and numerous computer and security trade magazines.
Many people have expressed interest in adding their names to the
letter. In  response to these requests, CPSR is organizing an
Internet petition drive to oppose the Clipper proposal.  We will
deliver the signed petition to the White House, complete with the
names of all the people who oppose Clipper.  To sign on to the
letter, send a message to: Clipper.petition@cpsr.org
with the message "I oppose Clipper" (no quotes)
You will receive a return message confirming your vote.
Please distribute this announcement so that others may also express
their opposition to the Clipper proposal.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is also working to protect our
privacy. To help stop Clipper and eliminate export controls on
cryptography, support a bill introduced in the House of
Representatives, HR 3627.  To support the
bill, send email to <cantwell@eff.org>.  For details of EFF
membership, send mail to membership@eff.org .





==============================================
NETWORKS and COMMUNITY is a public service of FUTURE DATA; a
partnership of researchers and research system designers.
For commercial services contact Gwyneth Store - circa@io.org
Net facilities for the preparation of this newsletter are provided
by the DISTRIBUTED KNOWLEDGE PROJECT - York University - Canada
Back issues are archived through the kindness of the staff at

the WELL : gopher ----> well.sf.ca.us  ->networks -->community

"subscriptions" are available through the generosity of the
listowner for the RRE NEWS SERVICE: subscribe by sending e-mail to
rre-request@weber.ucsd.edu) with a SUBJECT LINE
reading  "subscribe <firstname> <lastname>".
Additional distribution is assisted by the managers and owners of
NET-HAPPENINGS, COMMUNET, & the CANADIAN FREENET listservs
This newsletter is in the PUBLIC DOMAIN and may be used as you
see fit. To contribute items or enquire about this newsletter
contact Sam Sternberg  <samsam@vm1.yorku.ca>

==============================================
NETWORKS and COMMUNITY is a public service of FUTURE DATA; a
a partnership of researchers and research system designers.
For commercial services contact Gwyneth Store - circa@io.org
Net facilities for the preparation of this newsletter are provided
by the DISTRIBUTED KNOWLEDGE PROJECT - York University - Canada.
Back issues are archived through the kindness of the staff at
the WELL : gopher ---->gopher.well.sf.ca.us  ->community  --> civic
nets... ---> networks & community
AND the National Library of Canada : gopher gopher.nlc-bnc.ca
"subscriptions" are available through the generosity of the
listowner for the RRE NEWS SERVICE: subscribe by sending e-mail to
rre-request@weber.ucsd.edu) with a SUBJECT LINE
reading  "subscribe <firstname> <lastname>".
Additional distribution is assisted by the managers and owners of
NET-HAPPENINGS, COMMUNET, & the CANADIAN FREENET listservs
This newsletter is in the PUBLIC DOMAIN and may be used as you
see fit. To contribute items or enquire about this newsletter
contact Sam Sternberg  <samsam@vm1.yorku.ca>
.