========================================================================= ________________ _______________ _______________ /_______________/\ /_______________\ /\______________\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/ ||||||||||||||||| / //////////////// \\\\\________/\ |||||________\ / /////______\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\/____ |||||||||||||| / ///////////// \\\\\___________/\ ||||| / //// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/ ||||| \//// ========================================================================= EFFector Online Volume 08 No. 15 Sept. 9, 1995 editors@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 IN THIS ISSUE: EFF Relocation Update Alert Update: Internet Censorship Legislation EFFector Changes Upcoming Events Quote of the Day What YOU Can Do Administrivia * See http://www.eff.org/Alerts/ or ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/ for more information on current EFF activities and online activism alerts! * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: EFF Relocation Update ------------------------------ EFF has relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area, in California. Contact information: Electronic Frontier Foundation PO Box 170190 San Francisco CA 94117 USA [*Postal mail only* Contact us via phone for an address to use for FedEx and UPS shipping.] +1 415 668 7171 (voice, general office; Calif.) +1 415 668 7007 (fax, general office; Calif.) +1 510 548 3290 (voice, Mike Godwin, Staff Counsel; Calif.) +1 301 375 8856 (voice, Shari Steele, Staff Counsel; DC/VA/MD area.) We apologize for any downtime or net troubles users of our sites may have experienced, and for delays in turn-around time on information requests and membership applications. We're working on catching up with the several weeks worth of backlog incurred during our transition time. Though we are now back up and running full-time and full-on, we do not yet have permanent office space. When this last piece of the puzzle is resolved, we'll inform everyone of the change again. Nothing serious appears to have occurred during our downtime (Congress being in recess probably had a lot to do with that...) Thanks to our members and the online community for your continued support and action! ------------------------------ Subject: Alert Update: Internet Censorship Legislation ------------------------------------------------------ CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE EXON/COATS COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT (SEE THE LIST OF CAMPAIGN COALITION MEMBERS AT THE END) Update: -Latest News: House/Senate Conference committee considering several pieces of legislation related to restricting the Internet -What You Can Do Now: Put your business or bulletin board on record as supporting free speech and opposing censorship for cyberspace! CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT August 26, 1995 PLEASE WIDELY REDISTRIBUTE THIS DOCUMENT WITH THIS BANNER INTACT REDISTRIBUTE ONLY UNTIL September 25, 1995 REPRODUCE THIS ALERT ONLY IN RELEVANT FORUMS Distributed by the Voters Telecommunications Watch (vtw@vtw.org) ________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS The Latest News What You Can Do Now Letter for electronic businesses and bulletin boards Letter for professional organizations and non-profits Chronology of the CDA For More Information List Of Participating Organizations ________________________________________________________________________ THE LATEST NEWS The House and Senate have passed a total of four different pieces of legislation aimed at dealing with children's access to information on the Internet. Each of the four was profiled in BillWatch #13 which you can retrieve from URL:http://www.vtw.org/billwatch/issue.13.html. Here are the four pieces of legislation and a short summary of each of them. HR1978: "Internet Freedom and Family Empowerment Act" (Cox/Wyden) This bill takes the approach of encouraging industry to provide parents with tools to restrict their childrens' access to the net. It contains no new criminal provisions. This approach was affirmed by the House 421-4 on August 4, 1995. (Yes, that's a landslide) S314: "The Communications Decency Act" (Exon/Coats) This bill makes many types of constitutionally-protected speech (including lewd, lascivious, and indecent speech) criminal when used through a telecommunications device. This provision was affirmed by the Senate 84-16 on June 14, 1995. House amendment to HR1555: "Child Protection, User Empowerment, and Free Expression in Interactive Media Study Act" (Klink/Leahy) This bill directs the Department of Justice to study and see if there are places in current law where existing obscenity laws are unenforcible on computer networks. This approach was affirmed by a committee voice vote. House amendment to HR1555: This amendment was submitted at the last minute through the Manager's Mark, a collection of several amendments to HR1555 that were voted on as a block. This amendment takes constitutionally-protected speech and criminalizes it when it is expressed online. Most legislators had no idea that they voted on this last amendment; the summary of the Manager's Mark did not mention these new criminal provisions. There was no applicable House vote on *just this* provision. The House-Senate conference committee now has the task of deciding which of these are allowed into the final Telecommunications Deregulation bill for the last floor vote. ________________________________________________________________________ WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW 1. It's crucial that we tell Congress how their decision in the conference committee will affect businesses and bulletin boards in cyberspace. Read the electronic business and bulletin board letter below. You can also find it at: Gopher: gopher -p1/vtw/exon gopher.panix.com WWW URL: http://www.vtw.org/cdaletter/ Email : Send mail to files@vtw.org with "send cdaletter" in the subject line. 2. If you work for a business that uses bulletin boards or public networks, convince the owners to sign onto the letter. Companies that should sign this include Internet service providers, Web designers (big and small), Internet consultants and trainers, Internet restaurants and bars, software companies that develop Internet-related software, companies that advertise or publish through the Internet or bulletin boards, writers who publish through the Internet, and many others! If you belong to a bulletin board, ask the sysop if he or she will sign onto the letter. 3. Ask the BBS sysop or the business owner to mail in the following information to vtw@vtw.org: Business name Owner or officer name Address Email address Phone number Description of business and anything else relevant Here's an example: $ Mail vtw@vtw.org My business would like to signon to the business and bbs letter. We are: Ed's Xcellent Online Node (EXON) J.J. Exon, Owner 2323 Decency Road, Nebraska 10000-0000 (402) 555-1212 jj@exon.net Ed's Xcellent Online Node is based in Nebraska and provides Internet service to many thoughtful and free-speech loving Nebraskans. We provide Internet access to over 1,500 residents and 400 businesses. We employ 35 full time employees. -James ^D Mail sent! $ If you have questions about the BBS and business letter and are in the states of NY, OH, FL, TN, CA, NJ, OR, or NH, contact one of the people below. Each of them has volunteered to coordinate the letter for their state and they can answer your questions. You can also send your signon directly to them. (anything for their state sent to vtw@vtw.org will be forwarded to them directly) CA: jandrews@slip.net (John Andrews) FL: apresha@tds.org (Aubrey Presha) NH: dan@efnh.org (L. Daniel York) NJ: stc@vtw.org (Steven Cherry) NY: shabbir@vtw.org (Shabbir J. Safdar) OH: pstemari@erinet.com (Paul J. Ste. Marie) OR: mnasstro@ednet1.osl.or.gov (Mark C. Nasstrom) TN: mddallara@msuvx2.memphis.edu (Mark Dallara) 4. If you don't subscribe to a BBS or have an affiliation with a business that uses public networks, but belong to a professional organization or an advocacy group, consider sending Congress the ACLU letter included below with your local group's name on it. Simply replace the material in parentheses with your own information. 5. Relax! You can save the world only one step at a time. ________________________________________________________________________ LETTER FOR ELECTRONIC BUSINESSES AND BULLETIN BOARDS (Do not send this letter in. Simply follow the instructions at the top for signing your business or bulletin board onto it.) Dear member of Congress, Laws restricting Internet speech, such as S314, the Exon/Coats "Communications Decency Act" and the new Title 18 language in the Managers Amendment to HR1555, will not help parents control their children's access to objectionable material and will over-regulate electronic businesses out of this growing industry. These bills are currently in the Telecommunications Deregulation conference right now, and we urge you to provide your input to the conference committee to remove the criminal provisions mentioned above from the final bill. Recently the House addressed the issue of children accessing controversial material in cyberspace. By affirming HR 1978 (the Cox/Wyden Internet Freedom and Family Empowerment bill) they encouraged workable and successful solutions to helping parents control their children's access to the Internet while showing a concern for the First Amendment. Unfortunately Congress also passed two measures that do nothing to help parents control their childrens' access to controversial material on the Internet. S314, the Exon/Coats Communications Decency Act, and the new additions to Title 18 of the US Code were drafted without an understanding of the technology or the business that we engage in. This legislation imposes regulations on business so grave that many of us wonder if we will be able to stay in business. The great advantages of modern electronic communications--and the reason why we can stay in business delivering these communications--are speed and openness. In short, the new media allow millions of people to exchange information freely at speeds approaching that of light. The bills we object to will force many sites to screen every message that comes across, or to shut down access. We ourselves are at some risk of violating the law, simply because we cannot police every page that comes across our channels. Should the laws proposing new regulations pass, the National Information Infrastructure will be crippled, and many fewer organizations will be willing to purchase our services. Let it be understood that objectionable material is available to children right now on sites outside the United States and will continue to be available to children if these changes to the criminal code pass. Legislation that attempts to criminalize such information will do nothing to affect information that sits on foreign soil, far from the reach of US laws. What will help parents control their children's access to the Internet is "parental control" tools and features, such as those provided by several major online services and available as over-the-counter software. Unlike many other parental schemes, these solutions are here today. No one had to mandate them, they appeared because parent consumers asked for them. A list of them is attached for your information. Once again, we urge you to express your opinion to the conference committee. The Telecommunications Deregulation bill that comes back to the floor for a vote should contain HR1978 and exclude S314 and the new Title 18 language from the HR1555 Managers Amendment. Respectfully submitted, ______________________________________________________________________________ LETTER FOR PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND NON-PROFITS (If you want your organization to signon to this letter below, simply print it out and sign it. This letter is not being centrally coordinated.) Dear Member of Congress, The undersigned represent a diverse coalition of [state] organizations and associations based in [state] that are dedicated to free speech and privacy values. We write today to express our strong opposition to online censorship legislation. In addition to being unconstitutional, online censorship legislation will unnecessarily stifle a promising new communications medium -- cyberspace. We urge you to oppose any effort to censor online communications in violation of the First Amendment or to impose a federal regulatory scheme on online content. As you know, the House and Senate have now passed two different telecommunications deregulation bills (S 652 and HR 1555) that contain two different versions of online speech crimes legislation. Both versions pose a severe threat to the First Amendment and to online services because they impose significant criminal penalties for the online transmission of "indecency." Indecent speech, unlike obscenity, is fully protected by the First Amendment. The Senate version (Senator Exon's "Communications Decency Act") inserts new speech crimes into the communications section of the federal code and puts the FCC in charge of online content. The House version (passed as part of the larger Managers Amendment to HR 1555) amends the obscenity provisions of the criminal code to outlaw indecent speech over online networks. This fall, a conference committee will consider the differences between the two telecommunications bills. We urge you to provide your input to the conference committee to remove these speech crimes provisions from the final version of the telecommunications bill. We believe it is important to emphasize -- and to promote -- the remarkable capabilities of interactive technologies. Cyberspace is probably the richest source of creative, diverse, empowering, and democratizing communication ever to connect people statewide, nationwide, and globally. It is perhaps the world's first true "mass media" because it allows anyone with a few simple tools to communicate their ideas to thousands of persons at once. It inspires tolerance and promotes mutual understanding by connecting people of all ilk around the world. Its vast databases, created by the nation's finest universities, libraries, civic organizations and industries, provide an invaluable educational resource. It is a tool for community organizing and citizen involvement. [People from state] -- like other citizens around the globe -- are going online in record numbers, both at home and at work. Interactive communications have created a wealth of [state] business opportunities, for established businesses and for entrepreneurs. [State] libraries and universities continue to contribute valuable databases to the Internet, and to serve as log-in stations for people who don't have computers at home. The world-renowned [state] arts community is using online networks as a powerful new creative tool and as a new way to reach audiences outside of [state]. All the innovation and citizen empowerment inspired by online communications, in [state] and around the world, is threatened by online censorship legislation. To advance the truly amazing accomplishments of interactive technology, the undersigned organizations believe that any legislation that affects the emerging online environment must: EMPOWER USERS -- INCLUDING PARENTS -- TO MAKE PERSONAL DECISIONS ABOUT ONLINE CONTENT. The right to decide what children should see and hear is uniquely personal to the family -- government should have no role in dictating such personal and private matters. User-controlled screening programs provide alternative ways to protect access by children to certain material without infringing on the free speech rights of adults. PROTECT THE FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS OF ALL AMERICANS. Any effort to establish federal control over constitutionally protected speech must be opposed outright. It is especially inappropriate to restrict adult content in order to protect children when less restrictive methods are available. SAFEGUARD PRIVACY IN ONLINE COMMUNICATIONS. Neither private companies nor local law enforcement officials should be given carte blanche to read private e-mail or to create transactional records of the habits of online users. PRESERVE A DEMOCRATIC, DECENTRALIZED NET. The online industry has blossomed without government control over content. Allowing the FCC or any other government agency to determine appropriate content would stifle the diversity and flow of online speech and virtually destroy the promise of the Net. Conclusion We ask that you oppose any legislation that fails to adhere to the above principles. In the words of House Speaker Newt Gingrich who spoke out against the Communications Decency Act, "It is clearly a violation of free speech and it's a violation of the right of adults to communicate with each other." Online communications continue to empower [state] citizens and to stimulate [state] business. We hope you will support this progress by urging the conference committee to remove any online censorship provisions from the final version of the telecommunications bill. Sincerely, [list of organizations, with addresses] ________________________________________________________________________ CHRONOLOGY OF THE COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT Aug 4, '95 House passes HR1555 which goes into conference with S652. Aug 4, '95 House votes to attach Managers Amendment (which contains new criminal penalties for speech online) to Telecommunications Reform bill (HR1555). Aug 4, '95 House votes 421-4 to attach HR1978 to Telecommunications Reform bill (HR1555). Jun 30, '95 Cox and Wyden introduce the "Internet Freedom and Family Empowerment Act" (HR 1978) as an alternative to the CDA. Jun 21, '95 Several prominent House members publicly announce their opposition to the CDA, including Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Rep. Chris Cox (R-CA), and Rep. Ron Wyden (D-OR). Jun 14, '95 The Senate passes the CDA as attached to the Telecomm reform bill (S 652) by a vote of 84-16. The Leahy bill (S 714) is not passed. May 24, '95 The House Telecomm Reform bill (HR 1555) leaves committee in the House with the Leahy alternative attached to it, thanks to Rep. Ron Klink of (D-PA). The Communications Decency Act is not attached to it. Apr 7, '95 Sen. Leahy (D-VT) introduces S.714, an alternative to the Exon/Gorton bill, which commissions the Dept. of Justice to study the problem to see if additional legislation (such as the CDA) is necessary. Mar 23, '95 S314 amended and attached to the telecommunications reform bill by Sen. Gorton (R-WA). Language provides some provider protection, but continues to infringe upon email privacy and free speech. Feb 21, '95 HR1004 referred to the House Commerce and Judiciary committees Feb 21, '95 HR1004 introduced by Rep. Johnson (D-SD) Feb 1, '95 S314 referred to the Senate Commerce committee Feb 1, '95 S314 introduced by Sen. Exon (D-NE) and Gorton (R-WA). ________________________________________________________________________ FOR MORE INFORMATION Web Sites URL:http://www.vtw.org/exon/ URL:http://epic.org/ URL:http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/ URL:http://www.cdt.org/cda.html URL:http://outpost.callnet.com/outpost.html FTP Archives URL:ftp://ftp.cdt.org/pub/cdt/policy/freespeech/00-INDEX.FREESPEECH URL:ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/Alerts/ Gopher Archives: URL:gopher://gopher.panix.com/11/vtw/exon URL:gopher://gopher.eff.org/11/Alerts Email: vtw@vtw.org (put "send alert" in the subject line for the latest alert, or "send cdafaq" for the CDA FAQ) cda-info@cdt.org (General CDA information) cda-stat@cdt.org (Current status of the CDA) ________________________________________________________________________ LIST OF PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS In order to use the net more effectively, several organizations have joined forces on a single Congressional net campaign to stop the Communications Decency Act. American Communication Association * American Council for the Arts * Arts & Technology Society * Association of Alternative Newsweeklies * biancaTroll productions * Boston Coalition for Freedom of Expression * Californians Against Censorship Together * Center For Democracy And Technology * Centre for Democratic Communications * Center for Public Representation * Citizen's Voice - New Zealand * Cloud 9 Internet *Computer Communicators Association * Computel Network Services * Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility * Cross Connection * Cyber-Rights Campaign * CyberQueer Lounge * Dutch Digital Citizens' Movement * ECHO Communications Group, Inc. * Electronic Frontier Canada * Electronic Frontier Foundation * Electronic Frontier Foundation - Austin * Electronic Frontiers Australia * Electronic Frontiers Houston * Electronic Frontiers New Hampshire * Electronic Privacy Information Center * Feminists For Free Expression * First Amendment Teach-In * Florida Coalition Against Censorship * FranceCom, Inc. Web Advertising Services * Friendly Anti-Censorship Taskforce for Students * Hands Off! The Net * Human Rights Watch * Inland Book Company * Inner Circle Technologies, Inc. * Inst. for Global Communications * Internet On-Ramp, Inc. * Internet Users Consortium * Joint Artists' and Music Promotions Political Action Committee * The Libertarian Party * Marijuana Policy Project * Metropolitan Data Networks Ltd. * MindVox * MN Grassroots Party * National Bicycle Greenway * National Campaign for Freedom of Expression * National Coalition Against Censorship * National Gay and Lesbian Task Force * National Public Telecomputing Network * National Writers Union * Oregon Coast RISC * Panix Public Access Internet * People for the American Way * Republican Liberty Caucus * Rock Out Censorship * Society for Electronic Access * The Thing International BBS Network * The WELL * Voters Telecommunications Watch (Note: All 'Electronic Frontier' organizations are independent entities, not EFF chapters or divisions.) ________________________________________________________________________ End Alert ------------------------------ Subject: EFFector Changes ------------------------- Starting with this issue, the long calendar of events that might interest EFF members and EFFector readers is being replaced with a much shorter list of events more directly EFF-related. We hope this will help keep down the size of the newsletter. ------------------------------ Subject: Upcoming events ------------------------ This schedule lists events that are directly EFF-related. A much more detailed calendar of events likely to be of interest to our members and supporters is maintained at: ftp: ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/calendar.eff gopher: gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF, calendar.eff http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/calendar.eff Sep. 14- 15 * 2nd Ann. Business & Legal Aspects of the Internet & Online Services Seminar; Park Central Hotel, New York City, NY. Speakers include: Mike Godwin (EFF), Anne Branscomb (Harvard U.), Dan L. Burk (Seton Hall U.), Steward Baker (Steptoe & Johnson, ex-NSA), Jan Constantine (Delphi), Andrea Ireland (MCI), Joseph Lamport (_Law_ _Journal_EXTRA!_), Bennett Lincoff (ASCAP), Vance Opperman (West Pub.), David G. Post (Georgetown U., & EFF Policy Fellow), William Schneck (Prodigy), Margaret Seif (AT&T Interchange Network), Kent Stuckey (CompuServe), David Witus (Microsoft). Contact: 1 800 888 8300 ext. 611 (voice, US-only), +1 212 545 6111 (voice), +1 212 696 1517 (fax) Email: seminars@ljextra.com Sep. 19- 21 * Online Developers Conf. II: Blueprints for the Post-Web World; San Francisco, Calif. Speakers include: Robert Massey (CompuServe), Russell Siegelman (Microsoft Network), Ed Bennet (Prodigy), Ted Leonsis (AOL), Michael Kolowich (AT&T Interchange), Don Brazeal (_Digital_Ink_), Ellio Dahan (Compton's New Media), Richard Barth (Microsoft), James Gosling (Sun, chief architect of JAVA), Tim Gelinas (Spry/CIS-Seattle), E. David Ellington (NetNoir), Phil Monego (Yahoo), Charles Martin (_Interactive_Age_), Scott Kurnit (MCI), Andrew Anker (_Wired_, HotWired), Bruce Katz (the WELL), Tracy Erway (Intel), Patrick Ames (Adobe Pr.), Tony Christopher (Fujitsu), Dan Ambrosi (Silicon Graphics), Rob Glaser (EFF Board of Directors, Progressive Networks, RealAudio), Joe Dunn (Macromedia), Bruce Ravenel (TCI), and several others. Contact: 1 800 488 4345 (voice, US-only) or +1 212 780 6060 (voice) +1 212 780 6075 (fax) Email: jupiter@jup.com Sep. 20 * The Future of the Internet: Realizing Its Potential; Penn Club, New York City. Presentation by EFF Board Member David Farber. Admission free, reserve a spot via the phone number below. Contact: +1 212 403 6620 (voice) Sep. 21 * Pittsburgh Law School Second Century Conferenc; University of Pittsburgh. Speakers include EFF co-founder Mitch Kapor (presentation on "Regulation of Computing and Information Technology") Contact: Prof. Pamela Samuelson, +1 412 648 1389 (voice) Sep. 29 * Software Publishers Association 11th Annual Conference; Westin Hotel Copley Place, Boston, Mass. Speakers include EFF co-founder Mitch Kapor (presentation on "A Fresh Look at The Future of Intellectual Property in a Networked World") Contact: +1 202 452 1600 ext. 328 (voice) Oct. 10- 11 * US NII Advisory Council meeting; Pittsburgh, Penn. Open to the public; members of this civilian council include EFF board members Esther Dyson and David Johnson. Contact: +1 212 482 1835 (voice) Oct. 13 * Seminar on Forecasting the Technological Future in Information Systems; Annenberg School of Communication Public Policy Center, U. of Pennsylvania. Speakers include EFF co-founder Mitch Kapor. Contact: +1 215 898 7041 (voice; ask for Oscar Gandy) Oct. 19 * Library Fair 95: Information Access at the Smithsonian Institution Libraries; Smithsonian Ripley Center, Washington DC. Speakers include Shari Steele (EFF Staff Counsel) Email: libem011@sivm.si.edu Nov. 3- 4 * Innovation and the Information Environment Conf.; U. of Oregon School of Law, Eugene, Or. Speakers include Shari Steele (EFF Staff Counsel). Email: kaoki@law.uoregon.edu ------------------------------ Subject: Quote of the Day ------------------------- "Our problems are not new. We must not sign away our freedom and our reason to make things even easier for the [politicians]. The only cure for bad information is better information. You are in charge now; use your power wisely." - Jon Carroll, "I Have Met the Enemy. I Have Bad News", _San_Francisco_ _Chronicle_, June 29, 1995. 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? Join EFF! 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 ------------------------ * The Communications Decency Act & Other Censorship Legislation The Communications Decency Act and similar legislation pose serious threats to freedom of expression online, and to the livelihoods of system operators. The legislation also undermines several crucial privacy protections. Business/industry persons concerned should alert their corporate govt. affairs office and/or legal counsel. Everyone should write to their own Representatives and Senators, asking them to oppose Internet censorship legislation, and (when the list is available) everyone should write to the conference committee members to support the reasonable approaches of Leahy, Klink, Cox and Wyden, and to oppose the unconstitutional proposals of Exon, Gorton and others. For more information on what you can do to help stop this and other dangerous legislation, see: ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/ gopher.eff.org, 1/Alerts http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/ If you do not have full internet access, send your request for information to ask@eff.org. * The Anti-Electronic Racketeering Act This bill is unlikely to pass in any form, being very poorly drafted, and without much support. However, the CDA is just as bad and passed with flying colors [the jolly roger?] in the Senate. It's better to be safe than sorry. If you have a few moments to spare, writing to, faxing, or calling your Congresspersons to urge opposition to this bill is a good idea. If you only have time to do limited activism, please concentrate on the CDA instead. That legislation is far more imminent that the AERA. * 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. EFF has lists of the Senate and House with contact information, as well as lists of Congressional committees. (A House list is included in this issue of EFFector). These lists are available at: ftp.eff.org, /pub/Activism/Congress_cmtes/ gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Issues/Activism/Congress_cmtes http://www.eff.org/pub/Activism/Congress_cmtes/ The full Senate and House lists are senate.list and hr.list, respectively. Those not in the U.S. should seek out similar information about their own legislative bodies. EFF will be happy to archive any such information provided. If you are having difficulty determining who your Representatives are, try contacting your local League of Women Voters, who maintain a great deal of legislative information. * 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 Online is published by: The Electronic Frontier Foundation P.O. Box 170190 San Francisco CA 94117 USA +1 415 668 7171 (voice) +1 415 668 7007 (fax) Membership & donations: membership@eff.org Legal services: ssteele@eff.org Hardcopy publications: pubs@eff.org General EFF, legal, policy or online resources queries: ask@eff.org Editor: Stanton McCandlish, Online Services Mgr./Activist/Archivist (mech@eff.org) This newsletter 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. To subscribe to EFFector via email, send message body of "subscribe effector-online" (without the "quotes") to listserv@eff.org, which will add you to a subscription list for EFFector. Back issues are available at: ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/ gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/ To get the latest issue, send any message to effector-reflector@eff.org (or er@eff.org), and it will be mailed to you automagically. You can also get the file "current" from the EFFector directory at the above sites at any time for a copy of the current issue. HTML editions available at: http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/HTML/ at EFFweb. HTML editions of the current issue sometimes take a day or longer to prepare. ------------------------------ End of EFFector Online v08 #15 Digest ************************************* $$