Hacker 2/HACKER2.mdf/cud/cud504b.txt

Text File | 1995-01-03 | 11KB | 240 lines

Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1993 11:44:20 -0500
From: Christopher Davis <[e-mail]>
Subject: File 2--MAJOR CHANGES AT THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION

     MAJOR CHANGES AT THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION
               Cambridge, Massachusetts
                 [e-mail]
             Wednesday, January 13, 1993


The Electronic Frontier Foundation was founded in July, 1990 to assure
freedom of expression in digital media, with a particular emphasis on
applying the principles embodied in the Constitution and the Bill of
Rights to computer-based communication.

EFF has met many of those challenges. We have defended civil liberties
in court. We have shaped the policy debate on emerging communications
infrastructure and regulation. We have increased awareness both on the
Net and among those law enforcement officials, policy makers, and
corporations whose insufficient understanding of the digital
environment threatened the freedom of Cyberspace.

But we've found that Cyberspace is huge. It extends not only beyond
constitutional jurisdiction but to the very limits of imagination. To
explore and understand all the new social and legal phenomena that
computerized media make possible is a task which grows faster than it
can be done.

Maintaining an office in Cambridge and another in Washington DC, has
been expensive, logistically difficult, and politically painful. Many
functions were duplicated. The two offices began to diverge
philosophically and culturally. We had more good ideas than efficient
means for carrying them out. And an unreasonable share of leadership
and work fell on one of our founders, Mitch Kapor.

These kinds of problems are common among fast-growing technology
startups in their early years, but we recognize that we have not
always dealt with them gracefully. Further, we didn't respond
convincingly to those who began to believe that EFF had lost sight of
its founding vision.

Against that background, the EFF Board met in Cambridge on January 7,
8, and 9 to revisit EFF's mission, set priorities for the Foundation's
future activities, adopt a new structure and staff to carry them out,
and clarify its relationship to others outside the organization.


1. EFF'S CAMBRIDGE OFFICE WILL CLOSE.

We will be shutting down our original Cambridge office over the next
six months, and moving all of EFF's staff functions to our office in
Washington.


2. JERRY BERMAN HAS BEEN NAMED EFF'S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

In December, we announced that Mitch Kapor would be leaving the job of
Executive Director. He wanted to devote more time and energy to
specific EFF projects, such as The Open Platform Initiative, focusing
less on administrative details and more on EFF's strategic vision. We
also said that we would conduct a search for his replacement,
appointing Jerry Berman as our Interim Director. Jerry's appointment
is now permanent, and the search is terminated.

3. CLIFF FIGALLO WILL MAINTAIN EFF'S PRESENCE ON-LINE, AND WILL DIRECT
   THE TRANSITION PROCESS.

Cambridge Office Director Cliff Figallo will manage the EFF transition
process, working out of Cambridge. He is now considering a move to
Washington for organizational functions yet to be defined. In the
meantime, he will oversee our on-line presence and assure electronic
accessibility.


4. STAFF COUNSEL MIKE GODWIN'S ROLE TO BE DETERMINED

We recognize the enormous resource represented by Mike Godwin. He
probably knows more about the forming Law of Cyberspace than anyone,
but differences of style and agenda created an impasse which left us
little choice but to remove him from his current position. EFF is
committed to continuing the services he has provided. We will discuss
with him a new relationship which would make it possible for him to
continue providing them.


5. COMMUNICATIONS STAFFERS GERARD VAN DER LEUN AND RITA ROUVALIS WILL
   LEAVE EFF.

Despite the departure of the Cambridge communications staff, we expect
to continue publishing EFFector Online on schedule as well as
maintaining our usual presence online. Both functions will be under
the direction of Cliff Figallo, who will be assisted by members of the
Board and Washington staff.


6. JOHN PERRY BARLOW WILL ASSUME A GREATER LEADERSHIP ROLE.

John will replace Mitch Kapor as Chairman of EFF's Executive
Committee, which works closely with the Executive Director to manage
day to day operations. Mitch will remain as Board Chairman of EFF. All
of the directors have committed themselves to a more active role in
EFF so that decisions can be made responsively during this transition.


7. EFF WILL NOT SPONSOR LOCAL CHAPTERS, BUT WILL WORK CLOSELY WITH
   INDEPENDENT REGIONAL GROUPS.

We have labored mightily and long over the whole concept of chapters,
but, in the end, the Board has decided not to form EFF chapters.
Instead, EFF will encourage the development of independent local
organizations concerned with Electronic Frontier issues. Such groups
will be free to use the phrase "Electronic Frontier" in their names
(e.g., Omaha Electronic Frontier Outpost), with the understanding that
no obligation, formal or informal, is implied in either direction
between independent groups and EFF. While EFF and any local groups
that proliferate will remain organizationally independent and
autonomous, we hope to work closely with them in pursuit of shared
goals. The EFF Board still plans to meet with representatives of
regional groups in Atlanta next week to discuss ideas for future
cooperation.


8. WE CLARIFIED EFF'S MISSION AND ACTIVITIES

In undertaking these changes, the board is guided by the sense that
our mission is to understand the opportunities and challenges of
digital communications to foster openness, individual freedom, and
community.

We expect to carry out our mission through activities in the following
areas:

POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND ADVOCACY. EFF has been working to promote an
open architecture for telecommunications by various means, including
the Open Platform Initiative, the fight against the FBI's Digital
Telephony wiretap proposal, and efforts to free robust encryption from
NSA control.

FOSTERING COMMUNITY. Much of the work we have done in the Cambridge
office has been directed at fostering a sense of community in the
online world.  These efforts will continue. We have realized that we
know far less about the conditions conducive to the formation of
virtual communities than is necessary to be effective in creating
them. Therefore, we will devote a large portion of our R & D resources
to developing better understanding in this area.

LEGAL SERVICES. We were born to defend the rights of computer users
against over-zealous and uninformed law enforcement officials. This
will continue to be an important focus of EFF's work. We expect to
improve our legal archiving and dissemination while continuing to
provide legal information to individuals who request it, and support
for attorneys who are litigating. Both the board and staff will go on
writing and speaking about these issues. Our continuing suit on behalf
of Steve Jackson Games is unaffected by these changes.

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT. We have started many projects over the years
as their need became apparent. Going forward, EFF will allocate
resources to investigating and initiating new projects. To ensure that
our projects have the greatest impact and can reasonably be completed
with the resources available, EFF will sharpen its selection and
review process.


IN CONCLUSION...

We expect that the foregoing may not sit well with many on the Net. We
may be accused of having "sold out" our bohemian birthright for a mess
of Washingtonian pottage. It may be widely, and perhaps hotly,
asserted that the "suits" have won and that EFF is about to become
another handmaiden to the large corporate interests which support our
work on telecommunications policy.

However plausible, these conclusions are wrong. We made these choices
with many of the same misgivings our members will feel. We have toiled
for many months to restore harmony between our two offices. But in
some cases, personal animosities had grown bitter. It seems clear that
much of the difficulty was structural. We believe that our decisions
will go far to focus EFF's work and make it more effective. The
decision to locate our one office in Washington was unavoidable; our
policy work can only be done effectively there.

Given the choice to centralize in Washington, the decision to
permanently appoint Jerry Berman as our Executive Director was
natural. Jerry has, in a very short time, built an extremely effective
team there, so our confidence in his managerial abilities is high. But
we are also convinced of his commitment to and growing understanding
of the EFF programs which extend beyond the policy establishment in
Fortress Washington.

We recognize that inside the Beltway there lies a very powerful
reality distortion field, but we have a great deal of faith in the
ability of the online world to keep us honest. We know that we can't
succeed in insightful policy work without a deep and current
understanding of the networks as they evolve -- technically,
culturally, and personally.

To those who believe that we've become too corporate, we can only say
that we founded EFF because we didn't feel that large, formal
organizations could be trusted with the future of Cyberspace. We have
no intention of becoming one ourselves.

Some will read between these lines and draw the conclusion that Mitch
Kapor is withdrawing from EFF. That is absolutely not the case. Mitch
remains thoroughly committed to serving EFF's agenda. We believe
however, that his energies are better devoted to strategy and to
developing a compelling vision of future human communications than in
day to day management.

The difficult decision to reject direct chapter affiliation was based
on a belief that no organization which believes so strongly in
self-determination should be giving orders or taking them.
Nevertheless, we are eager to see the development of many outposts on
the Electronic Frontier, whether or not they agree with us or one
another on every particular. After all, EFF is about the preservation
of diversity.

This has been a hard passage. We have had to fire good friends, and
this is personally painful to us. We are deeply concerned that, in
moving to Washington, EFF is in peril for its soul. But we are also
convinced that we have made the best decisions possible under the
circumstances, and that EFF will be stronger as a result. Please cut
us some slack during the transition. And please tell us (either
collectively at [e-mail] or individually at the addresses below)
when we aren't meeting your expectations. In detail and with examples.
We don't promise to fix everything, but we are interested in listening
and working on the issues that affect us all.

The Board of Directors of the Electronic Frontier Foundation

Mitch Kapor, [e-mail]
John Perry Barlow, [e-mail]
John Gilmore, [e-mail]
Stewart Brand, [e-mail]
Esther Dyson, [e-mail]
Dave Farber, [e-mail]
Jerry Berman, [e-mail]
Cliff Figallo, [e-mail]

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