Night Owl 6/Night Owl's Shareware - PDSI-006 - Night Owl Corp (1990).iso/033a/gvtvsbbs.zip/ELECTRON.FRN

Text File | 1990-11-24 | 21KB | 412 lines

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Date:     Tue, 24 Jul 90 13:48:52 EDT
From:     Sue Muuss (VLD/ASB) <[e-mail]>
To:       [e-mail]
Subject:  Digital Civil Liberties.
Message-ID:  <[e-mail]>

The appended e-mail came across my mailbox today, and I decided to send it
out to the readership.  Anyone interested in participating in the
Electronic Frontiers Foundation should contact the addresses listed at the
end of the message, not this lists.

                Enjoy,

                    Sue Muuss, J.D.

-----------------------------

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Cathy Cook [phone]

NEW FOUNDATION ESTABLISHED TO ENCOURAGE COMPUTER-            BASED
COMMUNICATIONS
POLICIES

Washington, D.C., July 10, 1990 -- Mitchell D. Kapor, founder of Lotus
Development Corporation and ON Technology, today announced that he, along
with colleague John Perry Barlow, has established a foundation to address
social and legal issues arising from the impact on society of the
increasingly pervasive use of computers as a means of communication and
information distribution.  The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will
support and engage in public education on current and future developments
in computer-based and telecommunications media.  In addition, it will
support litigation in the public interest to preserve, protect and extend
First Amendment rights within the realm of computing and telecommunications
technology.

Initial funding for the Foundation comes from private contributions by
Kapor and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer, Inc.  The Foundation
expects to actively raise contributions from a wide constituency.

As an initial step to foster public education on these issues, the
Foundation today awarded a grant to the Palo Alto, California-based public
advocacy group Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR).
The grant will be used by CPSR to expand the scope of its on-going
Computing and Civil Liberties Project (see attached).

Because its mission is to not only increase public awareness about civil
liberties issues arising in the area of computer-based communications, but
also to support litigation in the public interest, the  Foundation has
recently intervened on behalf of two legal cases.

The first case concerns Steve Jackson, an Austin-based game manufacturer
who was the target of the Secret Service's Operation Sun Devil.  The EFF
has pressed for a full disclosure by the government regarding the seizure
of his company's computer equipment.  In the second action, the Foundation
intends to seek amicus curiae  (friend of the court) status in the
government's case against Craig Neidorf, a 20-year-old University of
Missouri student who is the editor of the electronic newsletter Phrack
World News (see attached).

"It is becoming increasingly obvious that the rate of technology
advancement in communications is far outpacing the establishment of
appropriate cultural, legal and political frameworks to handle the issues
that are arising," said Kapor. "And the Steve Jackson and Neidorf cases
dramatically point to the timeliness of the Foundation's mission. We intend
to be instrumental in helping shape a new framework that embraces these
powerful new technologies for the public good."

The use of new digital media -- in the form of on-line information and
interactive conferencing services, computer networks and electronic
bulletin boards -- is becoming widespread in businesses and homes. However,
the electronic society created by these new forms of digital communications
does not fit neatly into existing, conventional legal and social
structures.

The question of how electronic communications should be accorded the same
political freedoms as newspapers, books, journals and other modes of
discourse is currently the subject of discussion among this country's
lawmakers and members of the computer industry.  The EFF will take an
active role in these discussions through its continued funding of various
educational projects and forums.

An important facet of the Foundation's mission is to help both the public
and policy-makers see and understand the opportunities as well as the
challenges posed by developments in computing and telecommunications.
Also, the EFF will encourage and support the development of new software to
enable non-technical users to more easily use their computers to access the
growing number of digital communications services available.

The Foundation is located in Cambridge, Mass.  Requests for information
should be sent to Electronic Frontier Foundation, One Cambridge Center,
Suite 300, Cambridge, MA 02142, 617/577-1385, fax [phone]; or it can
be reached at the Internet mail address [e-mail].

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

ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION

MISSION STATEMENT

A new world is arising in the vast web of digital, electronic media which
connect us.  Computer-based communication media like electronic mail and
computer conferencing are becoming the basis of new forms of community.
These communities without a single, fixed geographical location comprise
the first settlements on an electronic frontier.

While well-established legal principles and cultural norms give structure
and coherence to uses of conventional media like newspapers, books, and
telephones, the new digital media do not so easily fit into existing
frameworks.  Conflicts come about as the law struggles to define its
application in a context where fundamental notions of speech, property, and
place take profoundly new forms. People sense both the promise and the
threat inherent in new computer and communications technologies, even as
they struggle to master or simply cope with them in the workplace and the
home.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been established to help civilize
the electronic frontier; to make it truly useful and beneficial not just to
a technical elite, but to everyone; and to do this in a way which is in
keeping with our society's highest traditions of the free and open flow of
information and communication.

To that end, the Electronic Frontier Foundation will:

1.      Engage in and support educational activities which increase popular
understanding of the opportunities and challenges posed by developments in
computing and telecommunications.

2.      Develop among policy-makers a better understanding of the issues
underlying free and open telecommunications, and support the creation of
legal and structural approaches which will ease the assimilation of these
new technologies by society.

3.      Raise public awareness about civil liberties issues arising from
the rapid advancement in the area of new computer-based communications
media.  Support litigation in the public interest to preserve, protect, and
extend First Amendment rights within the realm of computing and
telecommunications technology.

4.      Encourage and support the development of new tools which will endow
non-technical users with full and easy access to computer-based
telecommunications.

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

ACROSS THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER

by
John Perry Barlow and Mitchell Kapor
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Washington, DC
July 10,1990

Over the last 50 years, the people of the developed world have begun to
cross into a landscape unlike any which humanity has experienced before.
It is a region without physical shape or form. It exists, like a standing
wave, in the vast web of our electronic communication systems. It consists
of electron states, microwaves, magnetic fields, light pulses and thought
itself.

It is familiar to most people as the "place" in which a long-distance
telephone conversation takes place. But it is also the repository for all
digital or electronically transferred information, and, as such, it is the
venue for most of what is now commerce, industry, and broad-scale human
interaction. William Gibson called this Platonic realm "Cyberspace," a name
which has some currency among its present inhabitants.

Whatever it is eventually called, it is the homeland of the Information
Age, the place where the future is destined to dwell.

In its present condition, Cyberspace is a frontier region, populated by the
few hardy technologists who can tolerate the austerity of its savage
computer interfaces, incompatible communications protocols, proprietary
barricades, cultural and legal ambiguities, and general lack of useful maps
or metaphors.

Certainly, the old concepts of property, expression, identity, movement,
and context, based as they are on physical manifestion, do not apply
succinctly in a world where there can be none.

Sovereignty over this new world is also not well defined. Large
institutions already lay claim to large fiefdoms, but most of the actual
natives are solitary and independent, sometimes to the point of sociopathy.
It is, therefore, a perfect breeding ground for both outlaws and
vigilantes.

Most of society has chosen to ignore the existence of this arising domain.
Every day millions of people use ATM's and credit cards, place telephone
calls, make travel reservations, and access information of limitless
variety...all without any perception of the digital machinations behind
these transactions.

Our financial, legal, and even physical lives are increasingly dependent on
realities of which we have only dimmest awareness. We have entrusted the
basic functions of modern existence to institutions we cannot name, using
tools we've never heard of and could not operate if we had.

As communications and data technology continues to change and develop at a
pace many times that of society, the inevitable conflicts have begun to
occur on the border between Cyberspace and the physical world.

These are taking a wide variety of forms, including (but hardly limited to)
the following:

I.    Legal and Constitutional Questions

What is free speech and what is merely data? What is a free press without
paper and ink? What is a "place" in a world without tangible dimensions?
How does one protect property which has no physical form and can be
infinitely and easily reproduced? Can the history of one's personal
business affairs properly belong to someone else? Can anyone morally  claim
to own knowledge itself?

These are just a few of the questions for which neither law nor custom can
provide concrete answers. In their absence, law enforcement agencies like
the Secret Service and FBI, acting at the disposal of large information
corporations, are seeking to create legal precedents which would radically
limit Constitutional application to digital media.

The excesses of Operation Sun Devil are only the beginning of what
threatens to become a long, difficult, and philosophically obscure struggle
between institutional control and individual liberty.

II.    Future Shock

Information workers, forced to keep pace with rapidly changing technology,
are stuck on "the learning curve of Sisyphus." Increasingly, they find
their hard-acquired skills to be obsolete even before they've been fully
mastered. To a lesser extent, the same applies to ordinary citizens who
correctly feel a lack of control over their own lives and identities.

One result of this is a neo-Luddite resentment of digital technology from
which little good can come. Another is a decrease in worker productivity
ironically coupled to tools designed to enhance it. Finally, there is a
spreading sense of alienation, dislocation, and helplessness in the general
presence of which no society can expect to remain healthy.

III.   The "Knows" and the "Know-Nots"

Modern economies are increasingly divided between those who are comfortable
and proficient with digital technology and those who neither understand nor
trust it. In essence, this development disenfranchises the latter group,
denying them any possibility of citizenship in Cyberspace and, thus,
participation in the future.

Furthermore, as policy-makers and elected officials remain relatively
ignorant of computers and their uses, they unknowingly abdicate most of
their authority to corporate technocrats whose jobs do not include general
social responsibility. Elected government is thus replaced by institutions
with little real interest beyond their own quarterly profits.

We are founding the Electronic Frontier Foundation to deal with these and
related challenges. While our agenda is ambitious to the point of audacity,
we don't see much that these issues are being given the broad social
attention they deserve. We were forced to ask, "If not us, then whom?"

In fact, our original objectives were more modest. When we first heard
about Operation Sun Devil and other official adventures into the digital
realm, we thought that remedy could be derived by simply unleashing a few
highly competent Constitutional lawyers upon the Government. In essence, we
were prepared to fight a few civil libertarian brush fires and go on about
our private work.

However, examination of the issues surrounding these government actions
revealed that we were dealing with the symptoms of a much larger malady,
the collision between Society and Cyberspace.

We have concluded that a cure can lie only in bringing civilization to
Cyberspace. Unless a successful effort is made to render that harsh and
mysterious terrain suitable for ordinary inhabits, friction between the two
worlds will worsen. Constitutional protections, indeed the perceived
legitimacy of representative government itself, might gradually disappear.

We could not allow this to happen unchallenged, and so arises the
Electronic Frontier Foundation. In addition to our legal interventions on
behalf of those whose rights are threatened, we will:

* Engage in and support efforts to educate both the general public and
  policy- makers about the opportunities and challenges posed by
  developments in computing and telecommunications.

* Encourage communication between the developers of technology, government
  and corporate officials, and the general public in which we might define
  the appropriate metaphors and legal concepts for life in Cyberspace.

* And, finally, foster the development of new tools which will endow non-
  technical users with full and easy access to computer-based
  telecommunications.

One of us, Mitch Kapor, had already been a vocal advocate of more
accessible software design and had given considerable thought to some of
the challenges we now intend to meet.

The other, John Perry Barlow, is a relative newcomer to the world of
computing (though not to the world of politics) and is therefore well-
equipped to act as an emissary between the magicians of technology and the
wary populace who must incorporate this magic into their daily lives.

While we expect the Electronic Frontier Foundation to be a creation of some
longevity, we hope to avoid the sclerosis which organizations usually
develop in their efforts to exist over time. For this reason we will
endeavor to remain light and flexible, marshalling intellectual and
financial resources to meet specific purposes rather than finding purposes
to match our resources. As is appropriate, we will communicate between
ourselves and with our constituents largely over the electronic Net,
trusting self- distribution and self-organization to a much greater extent
than would be possible for a more traditional organization.

We readily admit that we have our work cut out for us. However, we are
greatly encouraged by the overwhelming and positive response which we  have
received so far. We hope the Electronic Frontier Foundation can  function
as a focal point for the many people of good will who wish to settle in a
future as abundant and free as the present.

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 Contact: Marc Rotenberg [phone]

 CPSR TO UNDERTAKE EXPANDED CIVIL LIBERTIES PROGRAM

Washington, D.C., July 10, 1990 -- Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility (CPSR), a national computing organization, announced today
that it would receive a two-year grant in the amount of $275,000 for its
Computing and Civil Liberties Project.  The Electronic Frontier Foundation
(EFF),founded by Mitchell Kapor,  made the grant to expand ongoing CPSR
work on civil liberties protections for computer users.

At a press conference in Washington today, Mr. Kapor praised CPSR's work,
"CPSR plays an important role in the computer community.  For the last
several years, it has sought to extend civil liberties protections to new
information technologies.  Now we want to help CPSR expand that work."

Marc Rotenberg, director of the CPSR Washington Office said, "We are
obviously very happy about the grant from the EFF.  There is a lot of work
that needs to be done to ensure that our civil liberties protections are
not lost amidst policy confusion about the use of new computer
technologies."

CPSR said that it will host a series of policy round tables in Washington,
DC, during the next two years with lawmakers, computer users, including
(hackers), the FBI, industry representatives, and members of the computer
security community.  Mr. Rotenberg said that the purpose of the meetings
will be to "begin a dialogue about the new uses of electronic media and the
protection of the public interest."

CPSR also plans to develop policy papers on computers and civil liberties,
to oversee the Government's handling of computer crime investigations, and
to act as an information resource for organizations and individuals
interested in civil liberties issues.

The CPSR Computing and Civil Liberties project began in 1985 after
President Reagan attempted to restrict access to government computer
systems through the creation of new classification authority.  In 1988,
CPSR prepared a report on the proposed expansion of the FBI's computer
system, the National Crime Information Center.  The report found serious
threats to privacy and civil liberties.  Shortly after the report was
issued, the FBI announced that it would drop a proposed computer feature to
track the movements of people across the country who had not been charged
with any crime.

"We need to build bridges between the technical community and the policy
community," said Dr. Eric Roberts, CPSR president and a research scientist
at Digital Equipment Corporation in Palo Alto, California. "There is simply
too much misinformation about how computer networks operate.  This could
produce terribly misguided public policy."

CPSR representatives have testified several times before Congressional
committees on matters involving civil liberties and computer policy. Last
year CPSR urged a House Committee to avoid poorly conceived computer
activity.  "In the rush to criminalize the malicious acts of the few we may
discourage the beneficial acts of the many,"  warned CPSR.  A House
subcommittee recently followed CPSR's recommendations on computer crime
amendments.

Dr. Ronni Rosenberg, an expert on the role of computer scientists and
public policy, praised the new initiative.  She said, "It's clear that
there is an information gap that needs to be filled.  This is an important
opportunity for computer scientists to help fill the gap."

CPSR is a national membership organization of computer professionals, based
in Palo Alto, California.  CPSR has over 20,000  members and 21 chapters
across the country. In addition to the civil liberties project, CPSR
conducts research, advises policy makers and educates the public about
computers in the workplace, computer risk and reliability, and
international security.

 For more information contact:

 Marc Rotenberg
 CPSR Washington Office
 1025 Connecticut Avenue, NW
 Suite 1015
 Washington, DC 20036 202/775-1588

 Gary Chapman
 CPSR National Office
 P.O. Box 717
 Palo Alto, CA 94302
 415/322-3778

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