The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998

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<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>EFFector 10.04</TITLE></HEAD><BODY><PRE> ________________ _______________ _______________ /_______________/\ /_______________\ /\______________\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/ ||||||||||||||||| / //////////////// \\\\\________/\ |||||________\ / /////______\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\/____ |||||||||||||| / ///////////// \\\\\___________/\ ||||| / //// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/ ||||| \//// e c t o r _________________________________________________________________________ EFFector Vol. 10, No. 04 Mar. 17, 1997 editor@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 IN THIS ISSUE: CDA Demonstration, Supreme Court Battle and Follow-up Live Chat Summary of eTRUST Market Survey Results Newsnybbles Internet Taxation Issue Heats Up: "No New Taxes"! Web Link Lawsuits Raise Serious Questions Upcoming Events Quote of the Day What YOU Can Do Administrivia * See http://www.eff.org/hot.html for more information on current EFF activities and online activism alerts! * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: CDA Demonstration, Supreme Court Battle and Follow-up Live Chat ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ____ ___ _____ ____ _ _ _ / ___|_ _| ____/ ___| / \ | | ___ _ __| |_ Join CIEC lead attorney | | | || _|| | / _ \ | |/ _ \ '__| __| Bruce Ennis LIVE ONLINE | |___ | || |__| |___ / ___ \| | __/ | | |_ after he argues the case \____|___|_____\____| /_/ \_\_|\___|_| \__| before the Supreme Court! ______________________________________________________________________________ The Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition -- http://www.ciec.org ______________________________________________________________________________ ** SPECIAL EVENT ANNOUNCEMNT ** JOIN BRUCE ENNIS - FRESH FROM FIGHTING THE CDA AT THE SUPREME COURT - LIVE ONLINE WEDNESDAY MARCH 19TH 1997 AT 6:00 PM EST (3:00 PM PACIFIC) March 17, 1997 Please distribute widely with this banner intact. Please post only in appropriate forums. Do not distribute after March 19, 1997 _______________________________________________________________________________ SPECIAL EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT On March 19th, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the legal challenge to the Communications Decency Act -- a law which imposes broad content regulations on the Internet. The outcome of this case will have a profound impact on the future of the Internet and the fate of the First Amendment in the Information Age. A decision is expected in June. Curious how the Supreme Court justices reacted to the arguments? Have questions abut the case and its implications? Join Bruce Ennis, lead attorney for the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition (CIEC), who will have just finished arguing the case before the Court on behalf of both the ACLU and CIEC plaintiffs, for a special online debriefing and discussion. DETAILS ON HOW TO PARTICIPATE: This special event is presented by the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition, HotWired, and Progressive Networks. It will combine a live interview with Bruce Ennis, cybercast via RealAudio, with a simultaneous interactive chat forum where participants can ask questions and discuss the case. DATE: Wednesday March 19, 1997 TIME: 6:00 pm Eastern time, 3:00 pm Pacific Audio feeds and links to the chat discussion will be available from the following sites: * Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition - http://www.ciec.org/ * HotWired - http://www.hotwired.com/ * Progressive Networks's WebActive - http://www.webactive.com/ You will need a RealAudio (available free at http://www.realaudio.com/), a Java enabled browser, or a telnet application on your computer in order to particpate. Please visit the URL's above for more details. BACKGROUND ON THE CDA AND THE LAW SUIT The Communications Decency Act was signed into law as part of the Telecommunications Reform Act on February 8th 1996. The law makes it a crime to "display" "indecent" or "patently offensive" material in a public forum on the Internet. Opponents argue that the law is overly restrictive and threatens to severely restrict the free flow of information on the Internet, and that individual users and parents, not the federal government, are the best judges of material is appropriate for themselves and their children. Two lawsuits were filed to challenge the constitutionality of the CDA in a Philadelphia federal court in February 1996. The cases have been brought, respectively, by The Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition (CIEC), comprised of the American Library Association. civil liberties groups, Internet Service Providers, Commercial Online Service Providers, Newspaper, Magazine and Book Publishers, and over 56,000 individual Internet users. The ACLU, along with a coalition of civil liberties groups, advocacy groups, online content providers, and others filed the initial case on the day the CDA was signed into law. The ACLU and CIEC cases will be argued together before the Supreme Court on March 19, 1997 by CIEC lead attorney Bruce Ennis. A decision is expected in June. Detailed information on the legal challenges, as well as information about the CDA, is available at the following web sites: * Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition - http://www.ciec.org/ * The ACLU - http://www.aclu.org/ The outcome of this legal battle will have far reaching implications. At stake is nothing less than the future of the First Amendment in the information age. ******************************************************** JOIN THE FIGHT FOR FREE SPEECH ONLINE WEDESDAY MARCH 19TH IN WASHINGTON DC As you know, the US Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the legal challenge to the Communications Decency Act on Wednesday March 19th at 10:00 am. The outcome of this case will have a profound impact on the future of the Internet and the fate of the First Amendment in the Information age. SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR FREE SPEECH ONLINE -- JOIN THE DEMONSTRATION ON THE STEPS Internet users and other interested citizens are organizing a demonstration against the CDA on the steps of the Supreme Court beginning at 8:30 am on Wednesday March 19th. If you are in the DC area and are concerned about protecting free expression on the Net, please join us. TIME: 8:30 am - 12:00 noon DATE: Wednesday, March 19th, 1997 LOCATION: The Steps of the US Supreme Court 1st & East Capitol Streets, NE, Washington, DC Signs will be available, just bring yourself and your friends. For more information on the case and events on the 19th, including a planed online interview with Bruce Ennis, CIEC lead attorney who will argue the case on behalf of both the CIEC and ACLU plaintiffs, please visit the Citizens Internet Empowerment Coalition (CIEC) web page at http://www.ciec.org. If you have questions or need additional information, please contact Jonah Seiger <jseiger@ciec.org>. ------------------------------ Subject: Summary of eTRUST Market Survey Results ------------------------------------------------ See http://www.etrust.org for more information. The information below is based on a PowerPoint interactive presentation, which may be available from the eTRUST site shortly. eTRUST INTERNET PRIVACY STUDY Summary of Market Survey Results March 12, 1997 prepared for eTRUST by The Boston Consulting Group Two Embarcadero Center San Francisco, California 94111 tel. 415-732-8000 PROLOGUE The following pages are a partial summary of the results of a project conducted by The Boston Consulting Group, Inc. on behalf of eTRUST û not-for-profit organization co-founded by CommerceNet and the Electronic Frontier Foundation The focus of the project was to investigate consumer and business attitudes regarding privacy of personal information online. A further objective was to develop a business model for a privacy assurance entity that would create and enforce guidelines for disclosure of privacy policies and the handling of personal information online The BCG project team consisted of: Michael Kleeman û Vice President Andy Blackburn û Manager Theanne Thomson û Consultant PRIVACY IS A MAJOR CONCERN ON THE INTERNET To a Greater Extent Than in the Physical World PRIVACY IS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF CONSUMER TRUST Trust Spans Issues of Privacy, Security and Authentication SCOPE OF eTRUST INTERNET PRIVACY STUDY SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS Consumer and Merchant Perspectives on Privacy Consumers express strong concerns regarding privacy over the Internet; interested in limiting and controlling spread of their information; see privacy and security as interrelated and overlapping issues; generally less willing to disclose more sensitive personal information to businesses they are not familiar with. Consumers also recognize that they have only crude control over dissemination of their personal information primarily through opting-out or disguising their identity; usually based on a subjective assessment of trust. Consumers indicate they would increase the depth and breadth of their Internet activity in response to a privacy disclosure and assurance program. Assurance of non-dissemination of personal information would have a significant impact, increasing consumer willingness to participate in e-commerce by a factor of 2 to 3. Disclosure of privacy practices alone would have a more limited impact, increasing consumer willingness to participate by approximately 50% The combined positive impact on e-commerce could reach $6B by 2000. Merchants also express interest in a privacy assurance program, however, they are less certain about specific benefits to their businesses. Smaller companies seeking trusted brand recognition see highest value. Larger companies want a proven, credible program before signing on. CONSUMERS PRIVACY CONCERNS ARE LIMITING INTERNET ACTIVITY AND THE GROWTH OF E-COMMERCE PRIVACY IS A CONSISTENT, SIGNIFICANT CONCERN FOR INTERNET CONSUMERS PRIVACY IS AN ISSUE ACROSS ALL AGES AND INCOMES A LARGE PROPORTION OF CONSUMERS SEE SECURITY AND PRIVACY AS OVERLAPPING ISSUES CONSUMERS INDICATE PRIVACY ASSURANCE HAS GREATER VALUE THAN DISCLOSURE ALONE Consumers were asked under what conditions they would be willing to disclose various types of information over the Internet: * would give today; * would give if privacy policies disclosed ù e.g., including if information is shared with third party; * would give if privacy policies disclosed and privacy was assured ù e.g., no information given to third party. With no privacy disclosure, consumers are less likely to disclose key financial information (credit card number, Social Security number, bank and stock information) than basic demographic or registration information over the Internet. CONSUMERS INDICATE PRIVACY ASSURANCE HAS GREATER VALUE THAN DISCLOSURE ALONE Privacy disclosure increases consumer willingness to give information. If a site discloses its privacy practices, up to 18% of respondents would give information that they otherwise wouldn'Æt discloes. Assurance of non-dissemination of personal information has a much more significant impact if a site assures non-dissemination of personal information; up to 45% of respondents would give more sensitive information they otherwise wouldn'Æ tdisclose. Reflects strong consumer desire to control the spread of their information. CONSUMER WILLINGNESS TO DISCLOSE VARIES WITH TYPE OF INFORMATION AND KIND OF BUSINESS CONSUMERS ARE LESS WILLING TO DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION TO UNFAMILIAR COMPANIES MOST WEB SITES TODAY REPRESENT SMALLER, LESS WELL KNOWN COMPANIES DISCLOSURE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES INCREASES CONSUMER COMFORT IN GIVING INFORMATION Levels the playing field for companies with low brand recognition. PRIVACY ASSURANCE IS LIKELY TO BOLSTER E-COMMERCE Consumers want to know that their information will be treated responsibly. PRIVACY ASSURANCE COULD HAVE UP TO A $6 BILLION IMPACT ON E-COMMERCE BY 2000 If privacy programs are adopted by commerce sites MERCHANTS SURVEYED EXPRESS INTEREST IN AN INTERNET PRIVACY ASSURANCE PROGRAM But level of interest varies with size of firm. Most merchants interviewed express interest in a privacy assurance program Small businesses seeking stronger brand recognition and credibility expressed higher interest (62%) than larger businesses with strong existing brands outside the Internet (47%). Majority of merchants perceive the primary benefit of privacy assurance to be promoting electronic commerce in general A subset believe privacy will have a direct economic impact on their businesses. Smaller businesses project higher impact than larger businesses (30% increase in customers versus 15% increase). Large businesses want proven credibility before signing on worry about diluting their brand. SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED COMPANIES HAVE THE GREATEST INTEREST IN PRIVACY ASSURANCE PRIVACY ASSURANCE PERCEIVED PRIMARILY AS OFFERING BROAD SOCIAL BENEFITS Businesses also foresee some direct economic benefits. SUMMARY Consumers are concerned about controlling the privacy of their personal information on the Internet. Privacy concerns generate multiple negative effects on e-commerce: * low rates of consumer participation; * falsification of personal information given online; * potential for government intervention. Consumers would welcome Internet privacy assurance, indicating that they would modify their behavior accordingly. Online businesses would also support a privacy assurance entity with varying levels of enthusiasm: * Promote the good of e-commerce; * Potential benefit to their business. An independent privacy assurance entity could generate significant benefits for e-commerce as well as for consumers and online businesses: * Increased consumer trust and confidence in online businesses; * Higher accuracy of consumer information provided online; * Increased consumer online activity, valued at up to $6 billion by 2000. ------------------------------ Subject: NewsNybbles -------------------- * Internet Taxation Issue Heats Up: "No New Taxes"! In the wake of White House Sr. Policy Advisor Ira Magaziner's global e-commerce report, positioning in the US Administration against the creation of new Internet taxes, 3 bills have been introduced to make such a policy the law of the land. The new action also comes on the heel of widespread opposition to imposition of special "access fee" tariffs on Internet service providers (to be paid to local phone companies). Of the new bills, first out of the gate on March 6 was the Tax-Free Internet Act (TFIA) of Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL). Weldon's legislation specifically exempts Internet and other online services from federal taxes, and even forbids the use of federal funds to develop Internet taxation proposals. The bill number is HR995. More recently, a bicameral bill, the Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1997 (ITFA) has been introduced in the House by Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA) and Rep. Rick White (R-WA), and in the Senate by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR). Though there is a Republic majority involved (not surprisings, given that this is a taxation issue), the effort is bi-partisan, and all three sponsors are members of Congressional Internet Caucus. ITFA, the bill number and full text of which is not available at e-press time, places a moratorium on state and local taxes on the Internet or interactive services (sales and user taxes still apply) establishes a task force made up of local, state and federal representatives that will issue a finding within 18 months after enactment of the legislation, directing the federal government on how to deal with the taxation issue; and prohibits the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) from setting rates for Internet services, according to a Press release from White's office. The summary is consistent with an short analysis of the legislation issued by Rep. Wyden's office. The bill also calls for the White House to seek agreements with other countries to keep the Net free from taxes and tariffs. All of these efforts are in marked contrast the majority of US state and local action regarding taxation and the Internet, which has to date been almost invariably aimed at imposing some kind of taxation. EFF has to agree with the sponsors of ITFA, noting that the existence of over 30,000 taxation jurisdictions within the US alone makes for an intractable problem if any and all such jurisdictions can impose taxes upon online transactions. More information on these bills can be found at: http://www.eff.org/pub/GII_NII/Taxation/ * Web Link Lawsuits Raise Serious Questions Comments of the Electronic Frontier Foundation on Web Content Linkage Lawsuits Mar. 17, 1996. In an action similar to a (settled) legal threat over "inlining" of copyrighted comic strip graphics in a third party web page, a host of publishing companies have filed suit in New York City federal district court against a company called TotalNews. TotalNews uses the experimental "frames" extension to Web code to point their site's visitors to various news sources around the Web. CNN, Washington Post, Dow Jones, Times Mirror and Reuters, who have filed the suit, allege that TotalNews' practice of displaying the content of the various companies' news sites within a "frame" with TotalNew's banner ads, is a violation of the companies' rights. It is not at all clear that such a practice is infringing in any way, under copyright law. The intermediary site, TotalNews, does not actually make any copy of content from CNN, et al, but rather simply instructs the user's Web browser to obtain the content direct from CNN, et al., and to display that content within an ad-bearing from provided by TotalNews. There is essentially a conflict between two theoretical approaches to copyright: one that says claims of infringement should be interpreted based on what *functionally* is occurring (that is, on whether it *functions* just like a traditional infringment) and another that says the issue of infringement turns on what is technically true about the facts -- e.g., whether an actual, unlicensed copy was made by the defendant. Each alternative is "reasonable" (in that they are both consistent with most prior cases), and yet "unreasonable" in that either may result in rulings that have negative consequence for Internet users. As with many other areas of the law, now probably is just not the time to settle these issues governmentally, as the technology is moving too rapidly for any branch of government to keep up. Because the law of course does not recognize any distinction between HTML code making use of Netscape & Microsoft proprietary "frames" capabilities, and that which does not, it will be very difficult for a judge to issue a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs that will not seriously harm the public interest by restricting much or all Web linkage. The plaintiffs allege more than simply copyright infringment in the TotalNews case, also claiming the practice infringes trademarks, constitutes misappropriation, and trademark dilution. Some of these claims may have merits, depending upon the facts discovered in this case. EFF does not address most of these claims. But, the underlying premise that because TotalNews is not providing its own content and is simply pointing to others' content, is untenable. Under such logic, any directory of pointers to other sources of information could be criminalized. There is of course no guarantee that the court will carry this case very far, much less fail to fully understand what is at stake and therefore issue harmful but precedent-setting rulings. The danger is there however, and is a grave one due to the very complicated nature of Web protocols, and due to how poorly these facts map onto aging copyright law. EFF calls on the participants in this dispute to please keep the interests of the public in mind. In particular, it is the position of EFF that: 1) There are technical and industry-standards methods, as well as legalistic means, of dealing with the problem of linkage of material in such a way as to obscure the original source. 2) Sites using such links in a deliberately misleading manner should be critized and exposed as plagiarists (and possibly trademark infringers in some cases). Whether there is any copyright issue here that can be defended without serious harm to the public interest is highly questionable. 3) Technical solutions can solve this problem in a far less dangerous manner than lawsuits, e.g. by working with the issuers of draft standards to ensure that they work better and hamper others' rights as little as possible if at all, and/or by protecting one's own content from random outside linkage by usage of visitor registrations or subscriptions using login IDs and passwords. 4) When dealing with new and rapidly-changing technology, disputes of this nature are best settled by carefully considered arbitration or bilateral compromise, in private, rather than in the judicial system, where decisions can have long-lasting precedence and disastrous fallout. 5) If any such case should proceed in the courts, all parties to the suit should go to great lengths to educate the court about the Internet and the Web, and how they operate, in sufficient technical detail that judge and jury understand the mechanism by which content is referenced and copied, from whom, to whom. EFF recognizes that intentionally plagiaristic abuse of inlining and frames within web pages is a valid issue of concern. However, this would not appear to be the modus operandi of TotalNews, which serves as an index of and jumping-off point to online news sources, much the way Yahoo or HotBot provide links to other sites. The only difference (barring actual trademark infringement of which we are unaware) would appear to be presentation. The presentation issues are principally an artifact of the technology, and it may be incumbent upon the WWW standards community to seek solutions to what must be viewed by intellectual property holders as a form of security hole, even if others find it to be a useful feature. EFF does not presume to offer a magic bullet solution to the problems. Perhaps frames are simply too troublesome and should be abandoned. Maybe content providers must yield and acknowledge others' right to build directories that frame the target content. The real answer probably lies in the middle, perhaps in the creation of a framing/inlining permissions protocol, or in the adoption of password protections by content providers. Incidentally, EFF would like to observe that this kind of dispute, which grows beyond its bounds and poses risks to the health of the Net and to the rights of all users, is a powerful argument against willy-nilly, widespread, public alpha-testing of experimental extensions to accepted standards. It may be that such extensions, like unstable software, should be tested and reviewed in more private, controlled circumstances. It may be a good idea to include in this process review by attorneys and policy analysts with an eye to ferreting out and fixing legal difficulties that may arise, before public release and implementation cause crises of this sort. It is incumbent upon the participants in this medium to create industry practices and new forms of netiquette that allow one to make full responsible use of new technologies while still repsecting copyright and tradmark holders. Courts cannot do this for us. ------------------------------ Subject: Upcoming Events ------------------------ This schedule lists EFF events, and those we feel might be of interest to our members. EFF events (those sponsored by us or featuring an EFF speaker) are marked with a "*" instead of a "-" after the date. Simlarly, government events (such as deadlines for comments on reports or testimony submission, or conferences at which government representatives are speaking) are marked with "!" in place of the "-" ("!?" means a govt. speaker may appear, but we don't know for certain yet.) And likewise, "+" in place of "-" indicates a non-USA event. If it's a foreign EFF event with govt. people, it'll be "*!+" instead of "-". You get the idea. To let us know about an event, please send details to Dennis Derryberry, dennis@eff.org, with a subject line containing "CALENDAR:" followed by the name of the event. The latest version of the full EFF calendar is available from: ftp: ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/calendar.eff gopher: gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF, calendar.eff http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/calendar.eff See also our new Now-Up-to-Date HTML calendar at: http://events.eff.org 1997 Mar. 24 ! Deadline for reply comments on FCC inquiry into technological hurdles for Net growth URL: http://www.fcc.gov/isp.html Apr. 1 + PARIS, FRANCE - 1st INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON COMPUTATIONAL SEMIOTICS; Paper submission deadline; conference to be held May 26-27, 1997; send four copies of an abstract (approximately 500 words) in english to: Irene Ludman - IWCS'97 Pele Universitaire Leonard de Vinci 92916 PARIS-LA DEFENSE-CEDEX, FRANCE Phone: (33) 01 41 16 73 05 Fax : (33) 01 41 16 73 35 Email : irene.ludmann@devinci.fr URL: http://www.devinci.fr/home/actua.htm Apr. 1- 2 - WASHINGTON, DC - Virtual Diplomacy: The Global Communications Revolution And International Conflict Management; Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert Street NW, Washington, D.C.; an international conference to explore how information and communication technologies are affecting the sovereignty of nations and shaping global affairs; conference registration ranges from $75 for students to $150 for on-site registration; URL: http://www.usip.org/virtual_dipl.html E-mail: virtual_diplomacy@usip.org Apr. 1- 3 *- SAN FRANCISCO - Spring '97 VON Conference: "Telecommunications and Streaming Media on the Net"; This conference has three major tracks: Net Broadcasting, Regulatory Issues and Internet Telephony; featured speakers include EFF Board Member David Farber and EFF Emeritus Board Member Rob Glaser; Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, CA URL: http://www.pulver.com/von97 Apr. 7- BONN, GERMANY - first Annual Conference of the G7 Project "A 9 + Global Marketplace for SMEs"; conference aims to raise the interest of SMEs in the fast growing market of electronic commerce and stimulate the debate in the industry and policy-making on electronic commerce. A series of major announcements, political as well as business related, are already projected for the event; for more information contact: Ms Sandra Herms D3 Group Oxfordstr. 2 53111 Bonn, Germany Tel: +49-228-9853888 Fax: +49-228-9853889 Email: g7@empirica.de URL: http://www.g7ec.de/ Apr. 8- 11 - FRACTAL 97: Fractals in the Natural & Applied Sciences 4th International Working Conference; Denver Colorado. Sponsored by IFIP; paper submissions due by Aug. 5, 1996. Contact: Miroslav Novak, +44 181 547 2000 (voice), +44 181 547 7562 or 7419 (fax) Email: novak@kingston.ac.uk Apr. 9- 10 - WASHINGTON, DC - Networking '97: Exploring the Continued Evolution of Internet Technology for Research and Education; sponsored by CNI, CRA, Educom, & FARNET; Sheraton City Centre, Washington, DC; registration cut-off date for both the conference and the hotel is March 7; register via the Internet: URL: http://www.educom.edu/web/nttf/net97.html If you would like to register by mail but have not received the brochure or if you need more information, contact Krystal Bullers by email <kbullers@educom.edu> or call 202-872-4200 Apr. 22- 24 - CHICAGO, IL - DCI Internet Expo; the world's largest Internet, Web and email conference and exposition; comprehensive program will cover Web-enabled marketing, best practices for e-commerce and application development; San Jose Convention Center; also will be held February 18-20 at the San Jose Convention Center; email: ExpoReg@dciexpo.com URL: http://www.dciexpo.com June 2- 4 - American Society for Information Science 1997 Mid-Year Conference; gathering will focus on privacy and security issues online; Scottsdale Arizona; paper submissions due Nov. 1, 1996. Contacts: Gregory B. Newby, Co-Chair GSLIS/UIUC Tel: (217) 244-7365; Email: gbnewby@uiuc.edu Mark H. Needleman, Co chair UCOP Tel: (510) 987-0530; Email: mhn@stubbs.ucop.edu Karla Petersen, Panel Sessions Tel: (312) 508-2657; Email: kpeter1@luc.edu Richard Hill, Executive Director, ASIS Tel: (301) 495-0900; Email: rhill@cni.org URL: http://www.asis.org June 14- 19 + CALGARY, CANADA ED-MEDIA/ED-TELECOM 97--World Conference on Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia and World Conference on Educational Telecommunications are jointly held international conferences, organized by the Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). These annual conferences serve as multi- disciplinary forums for the discussion and dissemination of information on the research, development, and applications on all topics related to multimedia/hypermedia and distance education. We invite you to attend ED-MEDIA/ED-TELECOM 97 and submit proposals for papers, panels, roundtables, tutorials, workshops, demonstrations/posters, and SIG discussions. Proposals may be submitted in either hard copy (send 5 copies or fax 1 copy) or in electronic form. Electronic proposals in the form of URL addresses or ASCII files (uncoded) are preferred. Submission Deadline: Oct. 25, 1996; Send to: Program Chairs ED-MEDIA 97/AACE P.O. Box 2966 Charlottesville, VA 22902, USA E-mail: AACE@virginia.edu; Phone: 804-973-3987; Fax: 804-978-7449 URL: http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia June 19- 20 - WASHINGTON, DC - CyberPayments '97 Conference will investigate issues of online commerce including electronic cash and checks, credit cards, encryption systems and security products; Sheraton Washington Hotel, Washington, DC For more information contact: email: vinceiaboni@msn.com tel: +1 216 464 2618 x228 +1 800 529 7375 June 20- 21 + GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - International Symposium on Technology and Society 1997 (ISTAS'97): Technology and Society at a Time of Sweeping Change; University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland ISTAS '97 aims to tackle questions of how advancements in technology are affecting the social and natural landscape; ISTAS '97 Secretariat Conference Services Department The Institution of Electrical Engineers Savoy Place London WC2R 0BL UK Tel: + 44(0)171 344 5469/8425 Fax: +44 (0)171 240 8830 E-mail: ISTAS@iee.org.uk URL: http://www.iee.org.uk/LSboard/Conf/call_for/istas97.htm June 22- 25 + TORONTO - GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE '97; given the vital role of knowledge in economic and social development, and the opportunities and challenges posed by new information and communication technologies, how can developing countries, and particularly the world's poor, access and harness knowledge for development, so as to promote empowerment, enable life-long learning, and reduce poverty? URL: http://www.bvx.ca/ict/gk97.htm Conference Secretariat The World Bank Economic Development Institute 1818 H Street, NW, M7-075 Washington, DC 20433 USA Tel: 202-473-6442 Fax: 202-676-0858 E-mail: GlobalKnowledge@worldbank.org Alain Brousseau Phone: (819) 997-6849 Fax: (819) 953-6356 E-mail: alain_brousseau@acdi-cida.gc.ca July 13- 17 - ACUTA 26th Annual Conference; Atlanta, Georgia. Contact: +1 606 278 3338 (voice) Aug. 24 + NAGOYA, JAPAN - IJCAI-97 Workshop on AI in Digital Libraries: Moving From Chaos to (More) Order; Nagoya Congress Center, Nagoya, Japan; URL: http://www.dlib.com/people/innes/aiindl/cfp.html Sep. 7 - 11 + LANCASTER, UK - ECSCW'97, the Fifth European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work; deadline for paper submissions is January 13, 1997; papers must contain an abstract of not more than 100 words and not exceed 16 pages in length; full formatting instructions are available from http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/ecscw97/papers/ queries: ecscw97-papers@comp.lancs.ac.uk for more information: snail mail: ECSCW'97 Conference Office Computing Department Lancaster University Lancaster LA1 4YR UK URL: http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/ecscw97/ email: ecscw97@comp.lancs.ac.uk Sep. 12- 14 SAN DIEGO - Association of Online Professionals Annual Conference; sysop trade association's yearly gathering to discuss issues of relevance to the industry URL: http://www.aop.org/confrnc.html Sep. 25- 27 + PRAGUE, CZECHOSLOVAKIA - RUFIS'97: Role of Universities in the Future Information Society; Czech Technical University, Prague, Czechoslovakia; to obtain a registration form, please, send an empty e-mail message to: rufis-call@mail.vc.cvut.cz Karel Kveton UNESCO International Centre for Scientific Computing Czech Technical University - Prague Computing Centre Zikova 4, 166 35 Prague 6 Phone: + 42 2 2431 0369, fax: + 42 2 311 7529 e-mail: kveton@vc.cvut.cz URL: http://www.cvut.cz/RUFIS97 Oct. 7- 10 + BEIJING, CHINA - '97 China Database: Electronic Publications & Software Exhibition; Beijing International Convention Center Contact: Mr. Cheng Bin and Ms. Hu Yongning Beijing Evertrust Exposition Co. Ltd. 15 Fuxing Road, Beijing, China Post code: 100038 Tel: +86-10-68514007 Fax: +86-10-68537092 URL: http: // www.sti.ac. cn/Exhibition/ invi.htm E-mail: expo@istic.sti.ac.cn Oct. 28- 31 - EDUCOM '97; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota. Contact: +1 202 872 4200 (voice) Email: conf@educom.edu Dec. 1 - Computer Security Day (started by Washington DC chapter of the Assoc. for Computing Machinery, to "draw attention to computer security during the holdiay season when it might otherwise become lax." 1998 ---- July 12- 16 - ACUTA 27th Annual Conference; San Diego, California. Contact: +1 606 278 3338 (voice) Oct. 13- 16 - EDUCOM '98; Orlando, Florida. Contact: +1 202 872 4200 (voice) Email: conf@educom.edu Dec. 1 - Computer Security Day (started by Washington DC chapter of the Assoc. for Computing Machinery, to "draw attention to computer security during the holdiay season when it might otherwise become lax." ------------------------------ Subject: Quote of the Day ------------------------- "All bad precedents begin with justifiable measures." - Julius Caesar Find yourself wondering if your privacy and freedom of speech are safe when bills to censor the Internet are swimming about in a sea of of surveillance legislation and anti-terrorism hysteria? Worried that in the rush to make us secure from ourselves that our government representatives may deprive us of our essential civil liberties? Concerned that legislative efforts nominally to "protect children" will actually censor all communications down to only content suitable for the playground? Alarmed by commercial and religious organizations abusing the judicial and legislative processes to stifle satire, dissent and criticism? Join EFF! http://www.eff.org/join (or send any message to info@eff.org). Even if you don't live in the U.S., the anti-Internet hysteria will soon be visiting a legislative body near you. If it hasn't already. ------------------------------ Subject: What YOU Can Do ------------------------ * Keep an eye on your local legislature/parliament! All kinds of wacky censorious legislation is turning up at the US state and non-US national levels. Don't let it sneak by you - or by the online activism community. Without locals on the look out, it's very difficult for the Net civil liberties community to keep track of what's happening locally as well as globally. * Inform your corporate government affairs person or staff counsel if you have one. Keep them up to speed on developments you learn of, and let your company's management know if you spot an issue that warrants your company's involvement. * Find out who your congresspersons are Writing letters to, faxing, and phoning your representatives in Congress is one very important strategy of activism, and an essential way of making sure YOUR voice is heard on vital issues. If you are having difficulty determining who your US legislators are, try contacting your local League of Women Voters, who maintain a great deal of legislator information, or consult the free ZIPPER service that matches Zip Codes to Congressional districts with about 85% accuracy at: http://www.stardot.com/~lukeseem/zip.html Computer Currents Interactive has provided Congress contact info, sorted by who voted for and against the Communications Decency Act: http://www.currents.net/congress.html (NB: Some of these folks have, fortunately, been voted out of office.) We are not presently aware of servers that provide contact info for non-US legislators. * Join EFF! You *know* privacy, freedom of speech and ability to make your voice heard in government are important. You have probably participated in our online campaigns and forums. Have you become a member of EFF yet? The best way to protect your online rights is to be fully informed and to make your opinions heard. EFF members are informed and are making a difference. Join EFF today! For EFF membership info, send queries to membership@eff.org, or send any message to info@eff.org for basic EFF info, and a membership form. ------------------------------ Administrivia ============= EFFector is published by: The Electronic Frontier Foundation 1550 Bryant St., Suite 725 San Francisco CA 94103 USA +1 415 436 9333 (voice) +1 415 436 9993 (fax) Membership & donations: membership@eff.org Legal services: ssteele@eff.org General EFF, legal, policy or online resources queries: ask@eff.org Editor: Stanton McCandlish, Program Director/Webmaster (mech@eff.org) This newsletter is printed on 100% recycled electrons. Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged. Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of EFF. To reproduce signed articles individually, please contact the authors for their express permission. Press releases and EFF announcements may be reproduced individ- ually at will. 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