060.10 The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) by Gerard Van der Leun Since the inception of the EFF in April of 1990, we have become an organization dedicated to the protection and promotion of the emerging electronic environments of the information age. We believe that computer-based communications should be useful, affordable and accessible to all citizens, and that all systems should be created and managed in keeping with our societies highest traditions of the free and open flow of information and communication. To accomplish this, we have taken on the complimentary roles of watchdog and advocate; the former to make sure that the constitutional rights and privileges of other media are extended to this new realm, the latter to ensure that this new realm is settled in a way that benefits as wide an array of citizens as possible. During the first phase of our existence, we were instrumental in reducing, through numerous public appearances, press conferences, and other means, the wave of "hacker hysteria" which was prevalent throughout 1990 and much of 1991. When warranted, we have defended people unjustly accused of computer "crimes" and lobbied successfully against faulty legislation on the federal and state level. We believe that much of the apprehension of the public and law enforcement about computer networks stems not from ill-will, but from ignorance of the technology and the networked culture that the technology creates. We are continuing in our efforts to inform and enlighten individuals and groups throughout the country through a program of presentations, speeches and symposiums. At the same time, it is not enough to simply defend and explain. To create the kind of National Public Network that this nation needs requires that we be pro-active in the political arena. Political and legislative decisions made now and in the next few years will shape the electronic environments of this nation and the world well into the next century. The central position of the EFF is that any nationally deployed telecommunications infrastructure should be, in all senses of the term, an open platform. Only a National *Public* Network open to all information providers, large or small, and accessible to all citizens in an affordable manner, can satisfy the needs of the nation. Currently, we are developing a proposal for Congress calling for the early deployment of such a system through the use of existing ISDN technology. We believe that the use of this technology will be a means of jump-starting the National Public Network if it is guided by an overarching vision of openness, competitiveness, and affordability. While we agree that fiber-optic technology will ultimately be used, we see no reason to lose a generation of experience and usefulness waiting for the highly expensive and time-consuming re-wiring of America. In concert with this, and because we believe that the current Internet will become an important part of the National Public Network, we have been working closely with the Commercial Internet Exchange and the ANS to develop policies in line with the public interest. In order to give citizens with networking experience a voice in the ongoing national debate over telecommunications policy, we have now established a Washington office to compliment EFF headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The EFF is a non-profit, membership organization. You can find out more about us by sending requests for information to eff@eff.org. You can retrieve information about the EFF and its projects via anonymous FTP via ftp.eff.org. Our mission statement and back issues of our online newsletter, EFFector Online, are held in the EFF directory. We maintain two Usenet groups on the Internet, comp.org.eff.talk and comp.org.eff.news. THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION 155 SECOND STREETCAMBRIDGE, MA 02141 Phone:(617) 864-1550FAX: (617) 864-0866 Director of Communications at the Electronic Frontier Foundation