Internet Info 1997 December/Internet_Info_CD-ROM_Walnut_Creek_December_1997.iso/isoc/pub/isoc_news/1-1/n-1-1-060.10.Z/n-1-1-060.10

Text File | 1994-03-26 | 4KB | 69 lines

060.10 The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
by Gerard Van der Leun <[e-mail]>

Since the inception of the EFF in April of 1990, we have become an organization
dedicated to the protection and promotion of the emerging electronic
environments of the information age.  We believe that computer-based
communications should be useful, affordable and accessible to all citizens, and
that all systems should be created and managed in keeping with our societies
highest traditions of the free and open flow of information and communication.

To accomplish this, we have taken on the complimentary roles of watchdog and
advocate; the former to make sure that the constitutional rights and privileges
of other media are extended to this new realm, the latter to ensure that this
new realm is settled in a way that benefits as wide an array of citizens as
possible.

During the first phase of our existence, we were instrumental in reducing,
through numerous public appearances, press conferences, and other means, the
wave of "hacker hysteria" which was prevalent throughout 1990 and much of 1991.
When warranted, we have defended people unjustly accused of computer "crimes"
and lobbied successfully against faulty legislation on the federal and state
level.  We believe that much of the apprehension of the public and law
enforcement about computer networks stems not from ill-will, but from ignorance
of the technology and the networked culture that the technology creates.  We
are continuing in our efforts to inform and enlighten individuals and groups
throughout the country through a program of presentations, speeches and
symposiums.

At the same time, it is not enough to simply defend and explain.  To create the
kind of National Public Network that this nation needs requires that we be
pro-active in the political arena.  Political and legislative decisions made
now and in the next few years will shape the electronic environments of this
nation and the world well into the next century.  The central position of the
EFF is that any nationally deployed telecommunications infrastructure should
be, in all senses of the term, an open platform.  Only a National *Public*
Network open to all information providers, large or small, and accessible to
all citizens in an affordable manner, can satisfy the needs of the nation.

Currently, we are developing a proposal for Congress calling for the early
deployment of such a system through the use of existing ISDN technology.  We
believe that the use of this technology will be a means of jump-starting the
National Public Network if it is guided by an overarching vision of openness,
competitiveness, and affordability.  While we agree that fiber-optic technology
will ultimately be used, we see no reason to lose a generation of experience
and usefulness waiting for the highly expensive and time-consuming re-wiring of
America.

In concert with this, and because we believe that the current Internet will
become an important part of the National Public Network, we have been working
closely with the Commercial Internet Exchange and the ANS to develop policies
in line with the public interest.

In order to give citizens with networking experience a voice in the ongoing
national debate over telecommunications policy,  we have now established a
Washington office to compliment EFF headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The EFF is a non-profit, membership organization. You can find out more about
us by sending requests for information to [e-mail].  You can retrieve
information about the EFF and its projects via anonymous FTP via ftp.eff.org.
Our mission statement and back issues of our online newsletter, EFFector
Online, are held in the EFF directory.

We maintain two Usenet groups on the Internet, comp.org.eff.talk and
comp.org.eff.news.

THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION 155 SECOND STREETCAMBRIDGE, MA 02141
Phone:[phone]FAX: [phone]
Director of Communications at the Electronic Frontier Foundation