BBS in a Box 2/BBS in a box - Trilogy II.iso/Files/MUG News/EFF/About-eff

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      General Information about the Electronic Frontier Foundation
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New communities are arising in the vast web of digital, electronic media
which connect us.  Computer-based communication media like electronic
mail and computer conferencing are enhancing and sometimes replacing
more traditional forms of communicating like telephones and letters.  We
are finding that these new technologies allow us to easily contact and
share and discuss ideas free from the usual limitations imposed by
geography and time.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is committed to ensuring that the
rules, regulations, and laws being applied to emerging communications
technologies are in keeping with our society's highest traditions of the
free and open flow of ideas and information while protecting personal
privacy.

            The Goals of the Electronic Frontier Foundation

1.  To engage in and support educational activities that increase the
    popular understanding of the opportunities and challenges posed by
    computing and telecommunications.

2.  To develop among policy-makers a clearer comprehension of the issues
    underlying free and open telecommunications.

3.  To support the creation of legal and structural approaches which
    will ease the assimilation of these new technologies by society.

4.  To raise public awareness about civil-liberties issues arising from
    rapid advances in computer-based communications media.

5.  To support litigation in the public interest to preserve, protect,
    and extend Constitutional rights to the realm of computing and
    telecommunications technology.

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

Since our founding in July, 1990, we have been busy.  As of this
writing, we have:

* Established fully staffed offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts and
  Washington, D.C.

* Become a membership organization with members throughout the world.

* Organized discussion groups on USENET (comp.org.eff.talk, which is
  read by 20,000 to 30,000 people a month), on the WELL (Whole Earth
  'Lectronic Link) whose membership is about 5,000, and a newly-opened
  forum on Compuserve.

* Spoken at and participated in conferences of various members of the
  judicial and law enforcement community such as the High Tech Criminal
  Investigation Association, the American Society of Criminologists, and
  the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

* Contributed articles and position papers to such publications as Quill
  and Scientific American.

* Routinely given advice and case citation to lawyers, online systems,
  system operators, the media, and individuals about the evolving case
  law in the area of computer-based communications.

* Filed suit against the Secret Service for the unlawful search and
  seizure of computers, BBS systems, books and manuscripts at Steve
  Jackson Games in Austin, Texas.

* Lobbied effectively at the state level to change legislation inimical
  to computer networking.

* Inspired and helped to organize and present the first Computers,
  Freedom and Privacy Conference.  CFP was a four day event that brought
  together, in search of knowledge and common ground, representatives
  from computer networking, law enforcement and privacy advocate groups.
  We are presently working on the Second Computers, Freedom and Privacy
  Conference which will be held in March of 1992 in Washington, D.C.

* Distributed the first 15 issues of our electronic newsletter, EFFector
  Online, throughout the Internet and connected systems, as well as to
  other services such as GEnie, CompuServe, America Online, BIX and
  Fidonet.

* Published the first two issues of our quarterly print newsletter, EFFector.

* Become a presence on the Internet as eff.org.

* Created an FTP archive on ftp.eff.org for documents on computer networking
  and privacy law.

* Hosted mailing lists for groups such as Computer Professionals for
  Social Responsibility and the Computers and Academic Freedom
  discussion lists.

* Spoken to numerous groups nationwide on the issues of civil liberties
  and computer networking.

* Developed a network of relationships with the local and national media
  that has affected the climate of opinion about computer networking and
  begun to reverse the slide into "hacker hysteria" that was beginning
  to grip the nation.

* Started work on the first complete guide to the Net for novices and
  experienced users alike for publication in mid-1992.

* Developed a series of pamphlets and white papers to address larger
  issues than can be covered in newsletters and journal articles.

* Worked with Senator Leahy's Privacy Task Force in Washington, D.C. in
  order to advance the concerns of the computer networking community in
  the formation of legislation in this critical area.

* Testified before the Federal Communications Commission concerning the
  public access and design needs of the National Research and Education
  network.

* Made grants in aid to Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
  as well as joining them in numerous policy projects and workshops
  around the nation.

* Launched the Open Road program in order to make sure that the needs of
  the public in the building of the National Public Network are
  addressed throughout all stages of the creation of the NPN.

* Helped define the issues of protecting nodes and carriers from
  unwarranted risks and liabilities in providing information services
  from the producer to the consumer.

* Scanner Legislation: In response to House passed legislation to make
  it a crime to scan cellular telephone signals, EFF has commitments
  from the Senate to either substitute or include a feasibility study of
  cellular encryption in the FCC appropriations bill along with the
  scanner penalties.

* Security Backdoor Resolution: We succeeded in getting the security
  backdoor resolution (S.266) permitting security agencies a backdoor to
  all voice, data, and other communications stripped from the crime
  bill.  We now have a commitment from Attorney General Barr to meet
  with concerned private groups, including EFF, before any further steps
  are taken on this initiative.

* NIST Encryption Standard: EFF continues to meet with an ad-hoc
  coalition of industry and public interest groups concerned about S266
  and a proposed public encryption standard proposed to replace RSA
  standard.

* Computer Crime: This fall, the Senate passed a crime bill which
  included amendments narrowing the scope of the computer fraud and
  abuse statute under which Morris was prosecuted.  In November, House
  and Senate Judiciary committee members held a conference to reconcile
  differences between House and Senate crime bills.  EFF lobbied the
  House successfully (Schumer and Edwards) to adopt Senate Computer
  crime bill.  Unfortunately, the crime bill did not pass because of a
  threat of a presidential veto on other matters.  If a crime bill
  passes next year, our computer crime amendments will be enacted.

* National Research and Education Network: EFF is credited by sponsors
  with having helped to enact the High Performance Computer Act of 1991,
  (the Gore Bill, enabling the NREN) which passed in November before
  Congress adjourned.  Next year, Gore plans to use the Kapor-Berman
  "Open Road" paper to focus debate on the implementation of NREN and
  will invite EFF to testify on NREN as a testbed for the national
  public network.

* Common Carrier Status of Enhanced Information Services: In November,
  EFF joined in a public interest letter to the House and Senate
  commerce committees urging them to ensure that phone companies carry
  all 900 number services without regard to content.  In the interests
  of stemming consumer fraud, carriers were barring charitable and
  political 900 numbers.  We believe fraud can be handled without making
  content distinctions which undermine common carrier status for
  enhanced information services.  The House Telecommunications
  Subcommittee will look into this next year.

* Copyright of Government Developed Software: EFF joined the ACLU,
  ADAPSO, IIA, and others to oppose HR 191 and similar legislation in
  the Senate to give the government a software exception under 105 of
  the copyright act which prohibits government copyright of public
  information.  The software would be the category developed under
  cooperative agreements with the private sector.  We raised the danger
  to the free flow of information in the electronic age.  As a
  consequence, the bills have been referred to the copyright
  subcommittees of the Senate and House Judiciary committees.  EFF will
  testify on this next year.  EFF is also working to prevent the
  Congress from passing Section 534 of the Maritime Act that would allow
  the Federal Maritime Commission to charge above cost for electronic
  data, thus exercising a quasi-copyright over government information.

* Electronic Freedom of Information Act: This year the Senate introduced
  legislation, S.1939, to establish an electronic freedom of information
  act to insure that public access to information applies to electronic
  public data.  EFF helped to develop the case for the legislation and
  to draft it.  EFF will be asked to testify on the legislation and
  assist the congress in fine tuning it for possible passage next year.

* Government Information Dissemination Policy: EFF will now become a
  central negotiator of legislation pending before the Congress to
  establish a positive obligation on the part of government agencies to
  disseminate information in electronic as well as paper formats.
  Compromise legislation satisfactory to the Administration, information
  industry, library groups, and public interest organizations is in the
  works.  These are known as amendments to the Paperwork Reduction Act
  of 1980.

                      The Open Platform Initiative

This fall, the Electronic Frontier Foundation initiated a research,
public education, and advocacy campaign to establish an Open
Telecommunications Platform as part of our nation's telecommunications
infrastructure.

On October 24, 1991, Mitchell Kapor, President of the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, testified before a subcommittee of the U.S. House
of Representatives on legislation that had been introduced in response
to the lifting of the information services restriction of the Bell
telephone companies.  Kapor presented an EFF proposal to end the
long-standing communications policy stalemate by establishing an open
platform for information services by speedily deploying a nation-wide,
affordable "Personal ISDN."  This new platform, in conjunction with
appropriate safeguards, would both create a level playing field for
competition in the information services market and stimulate the
development of new services beneficial to consumers.  Pointing to the
success of the personal computer as a platform for innovation over the
last decade and a half, Kapor argued that an analogous Personal ISDN, if
ubiquitously deployed and affordably priced, would offer a similar
critical mass of features that could spur innovation and competition in
information services of all kinds.

                            What can you do?

For starters, you can spread the word about EFF as widely as possible,
both on and off the Net.  Feel free, for example, to distribute any of
the materials included in this or other EFF mailings.

You can become a member of EFF and help us, through your donations, to
achieve our goals of civilizing the Electronic Frontier.

You can turn some of the immense processing horsepower of your
distributed Mind to the task of finding useful new metaphors for
community, expression, property, privacy and other realities of the
physical world which seem up for grabs in these less tangible regions.

You can try to communicate to technically unsophisticated friends the
extent to which their future freedoms and well-being may depend on
understanding the broad forms of digital communication, if not
necessarily the technical details.

Finally, you can keep in touch with us at any of the addresses listed
below.  Please pass on your thoughts, concerns, insights, contacts,
suggestions, and news. And we will return the favor.

                            Staying in Touch

Send requests to be added to or dropped from the eff-news mailing list
or other general correspondence to [e-mail].  We will
periodically mail updates on EFF-related activities to this list, as
well as mailing our biweekly online newsletter, EFFector Online.

If you receive any USENET newsgroups, your site may carry two newsgroups
in the INET distribution called comp.org.eff.news and comp.org.eff.talk.
The former is a moderated newsgroup of announcements, responses to
announcements, and selected discussion drawn from the unmoderated "talk"
group and the mailing list.

Mail [e-mail] to be added to a redistribution of
comp.org.eff.talk by mail; please note that it can be fairly high-volume
at times.

Everything that goes out over the EFF mailing list will also be posted
in comp.org.eff.news, so if you read the newsgroup you don't need to
subscribe to the mailing list.

Postings submitted to the moderated newsgroup may be reprinted by the
EFF.  To submit a posting, you may send mail to [e-mail].

There is an active EFF conference on the Well, as well as many other
related conferences of interest to EFF supporters.  As of August 1990,
access to the Well is $8/month plus $3/hour.  Outside the S.F. Bay area,
telecom access for $5/hr. is available through CPN.  Register online at
[phone].

Our forum on CompuServe has also opened recently.  GO EFFSIG to join.

A document library containing all of the EFF news releases, John
Barlow's "Crime and Puzzlement" and others is available via anonymous
FTP from ftp.eff.org.  Mail [e-mail] if you have questions, or
are unable to use FTP.

Our Address:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Inc.
155 Second Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
[phone]
[phone] FAX

            MEMBERSHIP IN THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION

In order to continue the work already begun and to expand our efforts
and activities into other realms of the electronic frontier, we need the
financial support of individuals and organizations.

If you support our goals and our work, you can show that support by
becoming a member now. Members receive our quarterly newsletter,
EFFECTOR, our bi-weekly electronic newsletter, EFFector Online (if you
have an electronic address that can be reached through the Net), and
special releases and other notices on our activities.  But because we
believe that support should be freely given, you can receive these
things even if you do not elect to become a member.

Your membership/donation is fully tax deductible.

Our memberships are $20.00 per year for students, $40.00 per year for
regular members.  You may, of course, donate more if you wish.

Our privacy policy: The Electronic Frontier Foundation will never, under
any circumstances, sell any part of its membership list.  We will, from
time to time, share this list with other non-profit organizations whose
work we determine to be in line with our goals.  But with us, member
privacy is the default. This means that you must actively grant us
permission to share your name with other groups. If you do not grant
explicit permission, we assume that you do not wish your membership
disclosed to any group for any reason.

---------------- [e-mail] MEMBERSHIP FORM ---------------<<<

Mail to: The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Inc.
         155 Second St. #AB
         Cambridge, MA 02141

I wish to become a member of the EFF  I enclose:$
            $20.00 (student or low income membership)
            $40.00 (regular membership)
           $100.00 (Corporate or organizational membership.
                    This allows any organization to
                    become a member of EFF.  It allows
                    such an organization, if it wishes
                    to designate up to five individuals
                    within the organization as members.)

    [  ] I enclose an additional donation of $

Name:
Organization:
Address:
City or Town:
State:       Zip:      Phone: (    )             (optional)
FAX: (    )              (optional)
Email address:

I enclose a check [  ].
Please charge my membership in the amount of $
to my Mastercard [  ]  Visa [  ]  American Express [  ]

Number:

Expiration date:

Signature: ________________________________________________

Date:

I hereby grant permission to the EFF to share my name with
other non-profit groups from time to time as it deems
appropriate   [ ].
                       Initials:___________________________

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                       Last Update:  6 March 1992