History of the Electronic Frontier Foundation 92
Well, no one submitted it (guess no one reads the LA Times), but from the Red Rock Eater list we have a link to Freedom Fighters of the Digital World, a laudatory history of the EFF. Read it, live it, remember it when you think "I can't make a difference".
Re:What difference is there in words... (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:What difference is there in PI...ousness (Score:1)
.
Re:"Offtopic" is a convenience (Score:1)
But the real reason you deserve praise is your name/sig - got to be the best I've ever seen on
Keep up the good work.
LA Time Magazine (Score:3, Informative)
Blast from the past. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Blast from the past. (Score:2, Funny)
For instance, just last week I changed my background to perriwinkle for the "Send the Webmaster Some Cash" cause, so the checks should start rolling in like hotcakes from all the awareness, right?
Re:Blast from the past. (Score:1)
More sympathetic to the cause? Oh that's what it was for. I thought that if enough sites changed color it would somehow be impossible for the CDA to pass into law. Silly me! :)
P.S.: That was sarscasm.P.P.S.: Yes, I know, pointing out my own sarscasm is pretty damn lame
Airport security.. (Score:4, Funny)
*sound of 50000 nerds filling in application forms for 'airport security manager'*
Re:Airport security.. (Score:1, Funny)
Print it out and make it your bible! (Score:5, Informative)
If most of us addicted to
Don't like the Rosens of this world? [MP|RI]AA got you down? Worried about Carnivore? Take this not just as a reminder of an important (and neglected/forgotten) part of the net's history, but as a battle call...
Seriously. Let's do something, instead of bitching. Don't post a comment unless you're going to write a congressman/woman or sign a petition today. I'm going right now...
Peace.
Re:Print it out and make it your bible! (Score:2, Insightful)
Most people don't differentiate between their desktop and the Internet. They don't know what an OS is. They have a hard time remembering a mildly complex password, or simply don't bother to even make the effort to remember their passwords. Email is a difficult thing for most people.
Those that don't take the time to understand or care about these (tech)issues will never be persuaded, and will resist discussion. Their eyes will glaze over, and their attention will turn to Survivor 4.
Re:Print it out and make it your bible! (Score:2)
Valid point. However -- these are NOT just tech issues, although that's where a lot of our 'steam' lies. These are fundamental issues of privacy, freedom, and the Constitution and Bill of Rights -- as well as all applicable laws and documents in countries other than the United States (YES, we are not the only country -- and NO, we are not the only ones entitled to privacy).
Our challenge is to do what geeks aren't naturally adept at: communicating (in person
I don't have all the answers on how to do this, but I'd love to see fellow readers respond and discuss this. In my opinion the best way to make a change is to support [eff.org] those who are already organizing and fighting (donate/join EFF for example). With combined resources we can do real lobbying, afford PR and marketing teams who might know how to pitch ideas, and get spokes-people who know how to talk rather than hide behind CRT's and LCD's.
Re:Print it out and make it your bible! (Score:1)
BTW, if anyone out there is in Georgia... check this out: link [hayesforgovernor.com].
My Congressman Sucks (Score:3, Interesting)
So, whadda I do? I've thought about writing him, but wouldn't this be a wasted effort? In contrast, the Congressman in the next district over is Rick Boucher who is extremely clued in. I could probably give boucher time or money, but what do I do about my own Representative?
Ditto: Re:My Congressman Sucks (Score:3, Interesting)
Could be worse, my sister and mother live in Mary Bono's (formerly Sonny's widow) district.
the process isn't working and hasn't been for a long time
Verio censoring John Gilmore's email (Score:2, Redundant)
From http://www.toad.com/gnu/verio-censorship.html [toad.com]:
The irony is that Verio now owns The Little Garden.
From http://www.toad.com/gnu [toad.com]:
From http://www.toad.com/gnu/verio-censorship.html [toad.com]:
-Don
Re:Verio censoring John Gilmore's email (Score:2)
ISP's are not common-carriers, and never will become common carriers, because they don't want the regulatory overhead that phone companies see.
Re:Verio censoring John Gilmore's email (Score:1)
I'd say it's an admirable policy, though I'm not sure I totally agree with it (my perfect ISP would provide random outages, bounced mail, and data corruption to Republicans).
Re:Verio censoring John Gilmore's email (Score:2)
Re:Verio censoring John Gilmore's email (Score:3)
He co-founded the internet service provider Little Garden, that he originally ran in his basement. The official policy of Little Garden was that they would not censor communications. Now that Verio owns it, they have reniged on that policy, and they are now blocking the email of Little Garden's original customers, including John Gilmore's.
Other achievements that distinguish him are that he started the "alt" newsgroup hierarchy, and founded EFF. He consistently fights against censorship, investing millions of his own dollars to support free speech and fight government oppression.
-Don
Re:Verio censoring John Gilmore's email (Score:2)
So apart from that, it seems that it's just like me or you complaining that we want to continue keeping an open relay, and whining that we're being censored when nobody, much less our ISP, wants to take our traffic.
Isn't he able to shop around to find a provider who would be prepared to carry his traffic? And if so, why doesn't he do so? Why is it censorship when a company makes a commercial decision about what kinds of traffic it will carry on its network?
Re:Verio censoring John Gilmore's email (Score:1, Troll)
-Don
Re:Verio censoring John Gilmore's email (Score:2)
But from my point of view it just looks like he is asking Verio should cave in and give him something they don't want to do--the right to run an open relay on their service. I wouldn't do that for any customer of mine, and I cannot see why Verio should be expected to do so. He argues that anti-spammers should adopt the principle that all valid email should get through, but in my opinion that is simply not a realistic objective.
Having said that, it probably isn't such a matter of principle for Verio as for John Gilmore, so I expect he'll prevail, one way or another, simply because Verio will blink first.
And possibly some good will come of this outside the question of John Gilmore's customers, if only because Verio and others are given the opportunity to (or forced to) justify their antispam policies. I think they probably already have it about right, but I'm open to persuasion.
Re:Verio censoring John Gilmore's email (Score:1)
By keeping an open relay, one of the most-used items for harassing or spamming other people. If open relays serve any other purpose anymore, I'd be curious to know what it is.
Analogous situation: I believe that every adult with a clean criminal record should be able to carry a knife, handgun, or bazooka concealed. However, I'm firmly opposed to handing out weapons in prisons or day care centers, or just leaving them lying around where any child or criminal can pick one up.
But Gilmore's open relay is 50% of why I no longer support the EFF. Brad Templeton's constant spam-apologetics on usenet (and here) are the other 50%. If the EFF is so concerned about privacy, then why can't they be concerned about my privacy?
Re:Verio censoring John Gilmore's email (Score:2)
-Don
I guess someone had to dig this one out: (Score:2)
"The Net treats censorship as damage and routes around it."
I was quoted in Time Magazine in about December, 1993 as saying something very close to this ("a defect" rather than "damage"). It's been reprinted hundreds or thousands of times since then, including the NY Times on January 15, 1996, Scientific American of October 2000, and CACM 39(7):13.
In its original form, it meant that the Usenet software (which moves messages around in newsgroups) was resistant to censorship because if a node drops certain messages because it doesn't like their subject, the messages find their way past that node anyway by some other route. This is also a reference to the packet-routing protocols that the Internet uses to direct packets around any broken wires or fiber connections or routers. (They don't redirect around selective censorship, but they do recover if an entire node is shut down to censor it.)
The meaning of the phrase has grown through the years. Internet users have proven it time after time, by publicly replicating information that is threatened with destruction or censorship. If you now consider the Net to be not only the wires and machines, but the people and their social structures who use the machines, it is more true than ever.
Re:Verio censoring John Gilmore's email (Score:1)
As for not sending spam - that's just wrong. Plenty of people received plenty of spam through the open relay at toad.com - examples have been posted.
Free speech is one thing, forcing others to pay for your speech is something else...
Opportunists (Score:4, Interesting)
The attacks themselves had limited effects on the economy and infrastructure of the U.S., but they empowered several monsters to wreak havoc. The consumer confidence boogey man came and went. And after the smoke cleared, Americans felt safer from physical danger because they thought they knew the score.
"If I don't get on an airplane or work in a skyscraper, I'll be OK," they tell themselves. "If I don't open suspicious envelopes and if I don't question the Patriot act, I'll be OK."
But the opportunists still run amok.
It is unfortunate that there are opportunists in Congress who present a greater "threat to freedom" than Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden presented them with the opportunity to seize power, and they grabbed it.
The ACLU [aclu.org] and EFF [eff.org] are the police and FBI that protect us from opportunists. Please familiarize yourself with their activities and support them.
Re:Opportunists (Score:2)
The destruction of the World Trade Center and surrounding buildings is resulting in a $5 billion tax shortfall annually for New York state alone.
Consider the econonomic impact of that. 50,000 people were once employed in those buildings. There was as much office space in the WTC as there is in most mid-size to large cities.
Americans feel safer because we are actively pursuing our enemies.
Re:Opportunists (Score:5, Insightful)
But does it have any effect? Do you really think what you do has any effect on their abilities? I seriously doubt it.
Also, just think about the numbers: Salon had an article about a twelve year-old kid who had his entire family killed. Now, the only thing he wants to do with his life is kill as many americans as he possibly can. One thing you've got to ask yourself: Do you blame him? You killed his family, do you blame him for wanting to kill you? There is a lot of wisdom in "If we hate them, we will become them."
While his ability to do so is small, there are thousands like him. If any of them can succeed in their life project, this is not the only time you're going to get hit. Yeah, and it doesn't really take that much to set off a nuclear bomb.
Actually, what I find most discomforting about this whole matter is how surprised everyone seems to be. That the US would be attacked with a Hollywood-style terrorist attack is hardly surprising, terrorists have always wanted to do things like that. There was a really good cartoon about that in Ernie [piranhaclub.com], I guess about 1993-1994, where terrorists wanted to buy Sid's vacuum cleaner to suck up NYC. That they would use planes to crash into buildings, well, novels have been written on the topic. That the US would move to attack somebody is not surprising at all, we all knew that would happen. I've been predicting for years that the US would eventually move to complete what the Russians didn't do in Afghanistan, namely insert the regime they wanted in Kabul. But I must admit that I am slightly surprised it went that fast.
Nor is it surprising to note that civil liberties are attacked, there are strong forces who always wanted that, and they only needed the public's attention.
Finally, the public opinion engineering that has been going on, wow, it's just like in Wag The Dog... What a prescient movie.
You know, most people haven't cared about cryptography at all, so policy has been a tradeoff between the wishes of the hawks and the rational arguments of cryptologists. Of course crypotologists knew perfectly well that crypto can be used by terrorists, but the argument remains: Crypto is making society stronger against attacks, not weaker.
Now, the hawks pretend that something fundamental changed, and so they are getting the public up against crypto. There are no new arguments, there has not been any surprises, it is just that the hawks has got the uninformed public behind them, whereas previously, the public didn't care.
Re:Opportunists (Score:2, Interesting)
It is unfortunate that there are opportunists in Congress who present a greater "threat to freedom" than Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden presented them with the opportunity to seize power, and they grabbed it.
If I didn't know any better I'd say you're talking about either Tom DeLay. Or maybe that's just me.
The biggest power grab has come from the Administration though, not from Congress. What with Ridge, Ashcroft, and the other right-wing crazies doing their best to toss out every Amendment that isn't the 2nd, it seems that they are trying to raise Bush up to the level of a Napoleon (without the brilliant military mind, of course.).
Probably just me, though. Anyone who has that much money is trustworthy. Free market, HOOOO!
"I can't make a difference". (Score:1, Funny)
I've heard that this is on a poster on the wall of an Afgan salted snack factory..
Re:"I can't make a difference". (Score:1)
Re:"I can't make a difference". (Score:1)
remember it when you think "I can't make a difference".
I've heard that this is on a poster on the wall of an Afgan salted snack factory..
----
To the darling moderator who modded that down:
Don't moderate it down because you don't get it!
(moderating it down cos it isn't funny is ok - but this was hilarious!)
from the article (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm hardly in a financial position to do so, but this has finally convinced me to join [eff.org] the EFF. With all the old cases, plus everything new the USA PATRIOT act put into place, they need all the help they can get....
Please consider doing so as well.
Access denied (Score:4, Interesting)
http://www.eff.org/ [eff.org]
My company's proxy blocks access to the EFF web site. They also block access to the ACLU's [aclu.org] site. I'm sure this says something. (Most likely that our IT department never bothered to change the default filter list from the vendor.)
Re:Access denied (Score:1)
Do you get any help using an anonymiser?/ Anonymisers/ [blibbleblobble.co.uk]
http://www.blibbleblobble.co.uk/Links/Dir/Privacy
Re:Access denied (Score:3)
Actually, I keep an SSH connection open to my home machine, using port forwarding to a Squid proxy running there. When I need access to a blacklisted site I just point my browser's proxy settings to the appropriate port and I'm free to go where I want. My sysadmin (who has no control over the company's firewall settings) is cool with this. I just keep telling her, "Be glad I'm one of the good guys!"
Out of curiosity (Score:1)
Kind of strange that they do that and not filter Slashdot.
Re:Access denied (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Access denied (Score:2, Interesting)
See, for example: http://www.websense.com/products/about/datasheets
Matching contributions (Score:3, Interesting)
Go ahead! Put your fortune 500 in a tight spot!
Read it, lived it, and I did make a difference! (Score:4, Interesting)
(even if my former colleague Michael Sims did later publicly proclaim he regretted nominating me, and my award probably didn't get any Slashdot coverage because of What Happened To The Censorware Project (censorware.org) [sethf.com])
It's possible to make a difference. Though it's a lot of work, sometimes a lot of risk, and it isn't easy. EFF has made a difference in my life, and in many other people's lives.
Re:Read it, lived it, and I did make a difference! (Score:1)
Re:Read it, lived it, and I did make a difference! (Score:2)
Last year, you amused yourself by spamming slashdot's comment forums with accusations against me with a handy perl script. Before that, you enjoyed yourself by accusing Mike Godwin, who had annoyed you, of sexual harassment. You've also harassed Declan McCullagh and Eric Grimm, two other pro-free-speech individuals who crossed your path. I've heard a nice account of the meeting between you, Godwin and Grimm at the CFP conference which pretty well cemented any doubt I might have had about lack of sanity.
Nut-Case.
It's a shame that people like you have keyboards. You've done far more harm than good to the free speech community, and it's a good thing that your reputation is finally preceding you, so that no one else will make the mistake of trying to work with you like I did.
Michael's right (Score:1)
But Seth really is an odious creature. Michael's description of his loopy behavior is perfectly fair. Seth also comes across as obsessive; once he finds an enemy, he sometimes makes a point of finding that person and fighting with him as often as possible. And when he's proven completely wrong, he doesn't acknowledge it, as someone arguing in good faith might. I've only seen a small glimpse of Seth's "handiwork" and he is someone I wouldn't want to meet, much less work together with.
Surely what Michael did with censorware.org was rash, and it makes him look bad to outsiders. And for all I know Michael is a complete asshole (I've never met him). But nobody should be held accountable for failing to get along with Seth. Seth is an intelligent man who has a strange attraction to using his wit to stir up shit. He has no scruples. I, too, would feel bad about helping him win an award from an otherwise honorable organization.
Police state on tour. (Score:2)
How long can a capitalist country remain a police state before is becomes a fascist state?
I wonder if the next Einstein has already fled the country? I wonder what "disruptive" science he will be/is master of?
EFF personel (Score:3, Informative)
Sharp question (Score:2, Insightful)
"...all those people, then numbering about 500, who have been rounded up in the terrorism investigation. Who are they? Why are they being held? Does anybody know anything? "Who's representing these people and trying to get them out?"
The panelists' silence leaves Gilmore exasperated."
It's interesting to see such a simple and straightforward question having that kind of effect, effectively stumping a respectable panel of experts.
To give credit where it's due, the question is probably only obvious with hindsight, and kudos to John Gilmore for asking it.
OT: LA Times (Score:1)
Well, let's see... most
How about addresing the cause, not the symptoms? (Score:3, Interesting)
access the links you find here [matrixcommunity.org] And the links you find at those links.
What you will find is that there was alot of reason for 9/11 to have happen and even the education and seeding needed for it to happen.
A great deal of everything from motive to do, to education on how to do it was supplied by the US.
These are FACTS, not my opinion, follow the links and see how deep that rabbit hole really goes.
I seem to preceive the EFF as having become a political legal manipulation machine that can easily become out of touch with the individual human party of us all that they are claiming to represent.
The ACLU ignores any case that doesn't present them with some self promotion mechanism. In fact they dismiss even simple request for simple legal referal with their mass produced post card stating they are not currently interested in the case. (which has nothing to do with responding to a simple legal referal request)
I suspect the EFF is following such a direction.
Sorry, I really wish I was wrong about this but I don't think I am.
Concider "To high-tech pros and policy wonks, the EFF is well-known for its opposition to the regulation of encryption. Hollywood and the publishing industry know it as the loyal opposition in battles over digital copy law, which the EFF believes is so restrictive that it frustrates innovation."
LOYAL OPPOSITION??? does this mean the EFF would fumble the ball intentionally under the right conditions?
A flag with stars of company logos? Like Time Warner?
What's real on the Electronic Frontier?
How about the fact that computer are all about automaion. The automaion of complexity that is made up of simpler things, so as to make reuse or use again easier for the party use it?
The software industry can automate anything, includng human ability to balance and move (the Segway), but what's the deal with it' apparent inability to automate programing even in fundamental ways that the user can apply?
If the Electronic Frontier Fondation is really about our freedoms in the electronic frontier, then where is the hardware and software components, the modularity and ease of use and creation (putting things together, automating) for the users, the consumer to apply as they see fit or need?
Instead you have a flag with company logos for stars.
Need to see more? try my journal here on slashdot as well as my recent posts here, or my web pages..
Don't be fooled as to what freedom is in this electronic frontier, by those who present themselves as representing you. Instead make them represent you correctly.
Get to the causes, stop treating the symptoms that will never go away untill to get to the cause.
John Barlow's Own Account (Score:3, Interesting)
In it you can read Barlow's firsthand account of his interview with that FBI agent which helped spark the creation of the EFF: He had been sent to find out if I might be a member of the NuPromtheus League, a dread band of info-terrorists (or maybe just a disaffected former Apple employee) who had stolen and wantonly distributed source code normally used in the Macintosh ROMs. Agent Baxter's errand was complicated by a fairly complete unfamiliarity with computer technology. I realized right away that before I could demonstrate my innocence, I would first have to explain to him what guilt might be.
The last two sentences still ring true for technologists today!
protecting "freedom" (Score:4, Insightful)
This little quote stuck with me. The wisest answer would have been not to turn that corner. But maybe growth comes from going through this kind of problem too.
I may be a troll in saying this, but I'm one of many chileans who left my home country through a coup organised for a different 11th of september, in part by the pentagon and the CIA, in part by lobbying organisations with lost interests in a left wing chile, and in part by chileans.
What "freedom" were those organisations protecting? To what extent did they go?
I don't have a problem with americans though. I think it's a nice, albeit twisted country, my life has taken me always closer to it, still trying to understand.I'd ask people who really believe in this "freedom" thing to read up a bit on history. Try latin american history for starters. The 70s, the "National Security Doctrine". Don't worry about chile. Try Guatemala and clinton's apology. Try argentina, cuba, panama. Then look up US interests in other parts of the world. Foreign Debt, the international criminal court and Bush's reasons for opposing it(monsanto?).
The US doesn't bother me. You bring together the dreams of so many peoples. This small mindedness, ignorance, is the same as that of the british of the past few centuries, or any "empires" before. We all share those traits. It's just the same problems as ever, but maybe, the US will be the place where we, humanity, will finally solve these problems.
As for sacrificing liberties, try cause and effect, or "do unto others" as the christian view of it is. It's a simple concept. Any power that lives in fear of the outside will not last.
Bottom line is, this kind of thing is up to people. Individuals. Not agencies or organisations. If America is really free, then the agencies and corporations will listen to those like the EFF who apply their knowledge and their wisdom for the good of everyone, and to those who silently support them with votes, ethical choices, expressed opinions, and dialogue.
Why this is so insidious (Score:1)
And this is a case I remember well, since it happened to a friend. Steve was a great guy, lending his computers and people when we had the Worldcon in NoLa and had to rewrite some dBase programs to get panel/author registration up, since the coders had not bothered testing it for large-scale use and it collapsed when we scaled up to the size of a Worldcon.
And then they took his computers when he wrote a GAME about hackers, broke them into bits (literally) and "returned" the broken parts to him. Tens of thousands of dollars of equipment, destroyed. For no reason.
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