From: Rich Burroughs <richieb@teleport.com>
Date: Thu, 2 May 1996 16:43:13 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: CFA: a million geeks?
Message-ID: <2.2.32.19960502025511.0069b388@mail.teleport.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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This is an interview I did with Keith Glass about the
changes with the Electronic Freedom March.  He mentions
making crypto an issue there.


Rich


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    [This is an article from the may96 issue of the web zine
    _cause for alarm_, http://www.teleport.com/~richieb/cause.
    It may be redistributed electronically with this header
    included.]
           

    I contacted Keith Glass about an interview shortly after
    finding out that he had taken over as head of the
    Electronic Freedom March. The March, an attempt to
    influence Washington with a critical mass of geeks, was
    originally scheduled for June. In his response to my
    email, Keith said that the March was being rescheduled
    for late September and that he would make a public
    announcement soon. His subsequent press release said
    that, "With the current state of the case against the
    CDA, ACLU vs. Reno, and several organizational factors,
    it's been concluded that it would be far more effective
    to focus the political power of the citizens of the Net
    closer to the November elections." Keith joined me at
    Club Wired, after a hard day at work.


    ---


    CFA: Thanks for coming, Keith :)

    Keith G: And thus ends another thrilling day, standing
    for Truth, Justice, and/or the American Way <g>

    CFA: Heh.

    Keith G: Hey, a day at the Pentagon is like... a day in
    hell, only the cooking is worse.

    CFA: What do you do there BTW? If it's not classified? ;)

    Keith G: Nope: I work Pollution Preventions and
    Standardization issues for the Secretary of the Air
    Force. I'm a contractor, better known as one of the
    legendary "Beltway Bandits", although **I** prefer the
    term "Parkway Patriot"...;-)

    CFA: :) So, let's talk about the March. The new date is
    Sept. 29, tentatively?

    Keith G: Tentatively. I'm checking with the Park Service
    and the Majority Leaders' office in the next few days,
    to insure we can get a place...

    CFA: Where will the speakers be at, if you know? I mean
    human speakers :)

    Keith G: That depends on where we can locate. Since I'm
    trying to combine it with some congressional lobbying,
    I'd LIKE it to be on the west stairs of the Capitol. But
    the Ellipse, which we had reserved for the original
    date, would put us in shouting distance of the White
    House...

    CFA: *nod*

    Keith G: Of course, this thing has grown beyond JUST the
    CDA. In my opinion, it'll be wastepaper by mid-June. . .
    but we have to fight for crypto rights, and the
    ill-informed types who foisted the CDA on us will be
    back next year. This isn't just one battle... this is
    the start of a whole new political front.

    CFA: You're going to involve crypto issues?

    Keith G: Free speech is free speech. If they ban crypto,
    then they'd better make damned sure that envelopes are
    banned, too. Encrypted or clear, free speech is an
    absolute.

    CFA: *nod*

    Keith G: We also need to let the Congress know a few
    things about the Net: according to a pal of mine at CDT,
    your average Net user makes over $40K, and votes
    SIGNIFICANTLY more than not-Net-users. We have money, we
    have votes... it's time to turn that into power.

    CFA: So, you're in charge of the whole shebang now?

    Keith G: Yep. John Wash, who started this, got way too
    bogged down in work, realized it, and handed it off to
    me last Monday, April 15th...

    CFA: For those who missed your announcement, why the new
    date?

    Keith G: Well, to be honest, when I looked at what we
    had set up, AND what the Park Service required of us
    (i.e. portatpotties, medics, security), I saw we needed
    a LOT more money and organization than was possible for
    a bunch of part-time activists to get in the time
    remaining. Secondly, the CDA trial is going FAR faster
    than anything we had expected: the verdict will be out
    by mid-June, and from all reports, the Feds have been
    unusually incompetent in their arguments. So, I thought
    we should move as close as we can to the election, to
    (1) maximize our power, politically, (2) get a MUCH
    better organization in place, and (3) get out of the
    summer DC sun. This place is AWFUL in the summer... ;)

    CFA: :)

    Keith G: We need to let the Congress know that the Net
    is NOT all porno fiends, militia types exchanging bomb
    recipes, and all the other net.myths that seem to abound
    on Capitol Hill. Also, I'd like to work towards a
    declaration by Congresscritters that Email will be taken
    just as seriously as snailmail. Right now, most of the
    time your Congressional Email gets answered by a Bot...
    and that's the end of it. My friends on the Hill tell me
    they read email when all else is done...

    CFA: What about folks who can't make it to DC? Are you
    encouraging local events?

    Keith G: Locally, we'd LIKE to get all the people who
    CAN'T make it, visit their local Congressman and
    Senators offices' on the Friday before, or Monday after.
    And lobby, in person...

    CFA: Right.

    Keith G: I've gotten word today of a possible parallel
    EFM in Seattle. If we can get simultaneous marches in
    several cities, that'd be great.

    CFA: What can people do to help? It sounds like there's
    a lot of work to be done.

    Keith G: What do we need?? I've got webmasters,
    organizers, publicity types: I need a financial type,
    and some fund-raisers. We also need sponsors. We have
    NONE. We've been given a lot of "Sure we'll support
    you," but when we ask for $$, all of a sudden it gets
    real quiet.

    CFA: *nod* Have you had any reports of folks raising
    funds on the local level?

    Keith G: Not as yet. We're attempting to formalize a
    relationship with an existing non-profit, to use as a
    tax-deductible funding vehicle. We're also looking at
    selling T-shirts, and I've been approached with several
    business offers...

    CFA: Would you encourage local fund-raising for the
    March? 

    Keith G: Absolutely. 

    CFA: How did you get involved in net.activism?

    Keith G: How?? I went to the February 10th protest in
    Lafayette Park (behind the White House) that Tom Edwards
    put on. My first protest. The rest, well, it just sort
    of happened...

    CFA: :) The Feb. 10 protest was about the CDA?

    Keith G: Yep. Clinton signed it on Black Thursday, the
    8th of February. Tom started the whole thing a few days
    earlier, and we got several hundred to turn out on
    fairly short notice.

    CFA: Are there other things that I, as an average net
    guy, can do to help?

    Keith G: Average net.guy... hmm... Well, when we get set
    up, buy a T-shirt, wear it to your Congresscritter's
    office. Also one or two particularly crafty ideas that
    I'm working on, but not ready to unveil yet (legal,
    non-violent, but potentially VERY politically
    effective...)

    CFA: Okay :) Keep us posted.

    Keith G: Oh, it will be on the web site... which I'm
    getting re-written... HTML 3.0, frames, Java,
    hot-and-cold running ASCII. <g>

    CFA: What's the turnout projected for the March?

    Keith G: Honestly, I don't know. **MY** original
    projections for the June rally were between 1 and 10K:
    John Wash kept saying 20K. If we can set up an
    organization of college students during the summer and
    have them recruit aggressively when school starts, we
    could hit 20K. We're also organizing amongst other
    communities that are more heavily wired than most: my
    first appointments were a Gay/Lesbian/Bi coordinator...
    I hope to get some help from the Pagan community as
    well... I already have plenty of hookups in Fandom...

    CFA: Cool :) Getting the word out seems very important
    now, with the changes...

    Keith G: Exactly. The Web site is among the top 5% hit,
    I have done my best to get the word out without overly
    spamming USENET. I know I'm going to about 15 or so
    lists...

    CFA: Jon Lebkowsky said you're doing the Club Wired EF
    forum? May 30?

    Keith G: Yep. Jon and I finalized that yesterday.

    CFA: Great.

    Keith G: Now, to beat that darned cyber-stagefright <g>

    CFA: :) What about multimedia stuff? Are there plans for
    video and/or audio from the March?

    Keith G: We're talking with NetRadio about a simulcast,
    one gent also is looking into a video feed, on the level
    of the Fish-cam.

    CFA: What about the roster of speakers? Any changes?

    Keith G: Not as yet.... but we're trying to get some
    bigger names. If anyone has an, ER, PIPELINE to Bill
    Gates or Mark Andreessen of Netscape, I'd be glad to
    chat. I'd like to get Barlow of EFF, maybe even Newt...

    CFA: Yes, a politician would be good. Maybe Leahy...

    Keith G: Leahy comes to mind. NOT Gore... unless we
    could boo him offstage...

    CFA: Heh.

    Keith G: I am NOT pleased with the two-facedness of the
    politicos over this whole thing... ESPECIALLY Clinton's,
    "It's unconstitutional but..." followed by his letter to
    Exon. Even if I WASN'T Republican, I couldn't vote for
    Clinton/Gore due to their utter fecklessness over the
    CDA

    CFA: The letter to Exon had me fuming, too. I'm getting
    tired of settling for the lesser evil...

    Keith G: Right: vote for the GREATER evil... dread
    Chthulu in 96 !!! <g>

    CFA: :) Well, anything else you want to add before I let
    you get some rest?

    Keith G: Nothing I can think of... our website is
    http://www.efm.org, and I'll post announcements to
    alt.censorship, comp.org.eff.talk, alt.activism,
    alt.wired, at minimum.

    CFA: Okay. Thanks for coming to talk :)

    Keith G: Anytime...


    ---


    rich burroughs <richieb@teleport.com>
    (april 26, 1996)




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______________________________________________________________________
Rich Burroughs  richieb@teleport.com  http://www.teleport.com/~richieb
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