Activism & Government

NOTE: the "wh" in filenames in this directory means "White House".

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Files in this Archive

20030407_nepa_comments.php: EFF letter to the USDA Content Analysis Team regarding proposed rule 219.19(d)(1) which would limit public participation in the rulemaking process by disqualifying "[f]orm letters, check-off lists, pre-printed post cards, or similar duplicative materials" from consideration.
960924_cap_house_docs_online.letter: Letter to the US House of Representatives from Congressional Accountability Project, EFF, and many other groups (+ over 700 citizens) demanding online access to vital Congressional documents. Even the Dept. of Justice civil librarian signed on. Introductory message is followed by the letter, which goes into considerable detail about which documents are needed, and why. If you've ever wondered what lobbyists get to see that you don't, read this!
960923_sf_netdemo.announce: Press release about a public Internet demonstration organized in San Francisco. May serve as a good model for similar events in other areas.
activ_groups.faq: This has been replaced by http://www.eff.org/pub/Groups/organizations.html
action_alert.tips: Stanton McCandlish's brief tipsheet for writing online action alerts. A solid set of clear dos and don'ts, based on several years of direct experience.
activ_online.faq: Jim Warren's March 1994 FAQ-like discussion of how citizens can pursue Net grassroots political activism.
activ_resource.faq: This has been replaced by http://www.eff.org/pub/Groups/organizations.html
activ_techniques.summary: Jim Warren's brief summary of 3 techniques for grassroots political action, particularly dealing with the press and legislators.
activists.eff: A guide to on-line activism, with a list of resources available on the Internet. Updated 5/25/95.
alerts_online.faq: An article from The Network Observer 1/94 (v 1 n 1) containing guidelines on preparing Internet-based "action alerts."
bad_alert.example: An example of how not to write an "action alert" complete with critiques.
baptista_activist.article: Tom Evans' April 1994 article discussing Dr. Joe Baptista's "war with the government" Biography of an online activist in Canada.
bill_of_rights_status.report: Eric Postpischil's September 1990 updated Bill of Rights Status Report discussing important happenings related to our rights.
biotech_patent.rfc: September 1994 Notice of Public Hearings and Request for Comments on Patent Protection for Biotechnological Inventions including background information and a discussion of issues for public discussion.
brainwashing_techniques.article: Disck Sutphen's c. March 1990 article discussing Persuasion & Brainwashing Techniques Being Used On The Public Today. This file is provided for its ideas on the use of the media in controlling populations, not for it's political conspiracy speculations. Includes a historical look, a biological look and technical look at brainwashing.
ca_activism.article: Jim Warren, "ACCESS TO GOVERNMENT CALIFORNIA'S NEW LEGISLATIVE ACCESS PROVIDES MODEL FOR OTHER STATES". Not just a history of how online activism made a new law pass, but also serves as a how-to manual on using online media politically and actively.
citizen_net.guide: 1994 ASCII version of Citizens' Guide To The Net. Info that every online activists should know.
community_resources.list: This is a list of Internet/BITnet mailing lists which focus on or deal with Community, Civic, Rural, or Local issues, people, culture and governments. This especially includes information on that which has a direct relation to or effect on these things, such as community networking, access to public information, and the National Information Infrastructure. updated August 1994
competition_legal_info.report: October 1993 " On the Need for Free Competition in the Legal Information Field" by Carole Hafner relating to JURIS system
conf_organizing_notes_agre.article: Phil Agre's article, "Notes on Organizing Conferences". Brief but detailed observations of the pifalls and must-do's of organizing real-world conferences and other events.
congress_lags.article: From Computer underground Digest 6.17 Feb 1994. "Congress Is Lagging Behind In Getting Online" by David Batterson.
congress_94_report.card: Explanation of telecommunications and cryptography issues faced by Congress in 1994 and grades for all senators and representatives based on how they voted on these issues.
corp_public_cybercast.proposal: April 1993 article " TOWARD THE FORMATION OF A CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC CYBERCASTING" by T.M Grundner which outlines the need, structure, and rationale for a "Corporation for Public Cybercasting" -- an organization which would do for public access information age services what the Corporation for Public Broadcasting do for Public Radio and T.V.
deadly_ds.article: Article by International Advocates for Health Freedom's John C. Hammell, on governments methods for getting rid of pesky opposition. The Deady Ds are: deny, delay, divide, discredit, destroy.
doj_court_rulings_online.announce: Announcement about Justice Department efforts to improve public access to court rulings (released 9/2/94)
doj_legal_docs_online_conyers.letter: Letter from Reps. Conyers and Sabo regarding potential congressional objections to the Justice Department plan to improve access to court rulings (see doj_court_rulings_online.announce).
dol_bls_online.announce: announcement of the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics' ftp server
drug_legalization_groups.list: October 1993 international list of over 200 organizations which support drug law reform, although most of them are in the US.
edgar_grant.announce: TAP-INFO Internet Distribution List's November 1993 announcement that Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA) announced that the National Science Foundation would fund a pilot project to place the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (EDGAR) system online for users of the Internet.
edgar_threatened_by_IIA_1095.alert: TAP/IMS alert regarding threats to the new govt-maintained SEC EDGAR database from IIA lobbyists. Act soon. This dates to Oct. 95, so consider it old and of nothing but historical interest by Jan. 96.
elec_rights_ala.papers: ASCII version of "Citizen Rights and Access to Electronic Information: A Collection of Background Essays" distributed at the American Library Association conference in July 1991.
epa_online.note: Table of Contents from ACCESS EPA, a compilation of every identifiable information resource within the Environmental Protection Agency. Included are publications, databases, libraries, dockets, hotlines, bulletin boards, records contacts, and clearinghouses. At the end of the Contents Section is information on how to get a copy of ACCESS EPA either as a publication or an electronic file via online access to an EPA computer.
fbi_anti-activism.bulletin: FBI bulletin on how police should deal with (and spy on) activist individuals and groups. Focuses on anti-abortionists, but has many valuable lessons on what not to do if you want your rally to not be raided. Jan. 1996.
fcc_online.note: Feb 1994 announcement that the FCC Daily Digest, the FCC News Releases, some Public Notices, and speeches by Commission officials will be accessible by Internet.
fec_online.note: The FEC is asking Congress for $1.5 million in fiscal 1995 to set up an on-line system for tracking how political candidates raise and spend their donations. (Tampa Tribune 2/22/94)
fed_email_policy_omb.report: E-Mail Policy in Federal Government Report of the Electronic Mail Task Force Prepared for the Office of Management and Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Apr. 1, 1994
fins_media_tracking.announce: March 1994 FINS special report. "FINS INFORMATION AGE LIBRARY ADDITIONS Documenting the Rigged & Deadly Cultural Context of the Emerging Information Age"
foia.kit: Freedom of Information Act Kit - how to use FOIA to get gov't documents - includes a walk through of the entire process, including appeals, as well as samples of forms, etc. Great!
gao_online.announce: April 1994 announcement that The U.S. General Accounting Office, Congress' Watchdog agency, now has available a daily electronic posting of released reports.
global_civil_soc_networks.paper: "Computer Networks and the Emergence of Global Civil Society: The Case of the Association for Progressive Communications", paper presented at the Annual Conf. on Peace Studies, Boulder CO, Feb. 28, 1992, by Howard H. Frederick. Excerpt: "The growth of...global interdependent communication relations has been greatly accelerated by the advent of decentralizing communication technologies such as computer networking. Global civil society as represented by the "NGO Movement" (nongovernmental organizations) now represents a force in international relations, one that circumvents hegemony of markets and of governments. This paper outlines the concept of global civil society and the NGO Movement, describes the obstacles that they face from governments and transnational corporations, and sketches the emergence of the Association for Progressive Communications network as an illustration of this worldwide phenomenon.'
gore_cis.transcript: transcript of VP Gore's Jan electronic town meeting
govinfo_online.faq: Feb 1994 list of Internet Sources of Government Information by Blake Gumprecht
govt_online_rose.article: April 1994 note by Robert Park overviewing the forward looking opinions of Rep Rose.
gpo_online.announce: September 1994 announcement that the U.S. Government Printing Office will put congressional bills online.
hr3627_activism.article: Evidence that online activism works related to H.R. 3627
hr_online.announce: info on House of Representatives WWW page
hughes_activist.bio: WIRED 1.2 article "The Cursor Cowboy" by Jacques Leslie about the life and times of Dave Hughes.
iitf.faq: fact sheet on the Information Infrastructure Task Force
iitf_bbs.announce: December 1993 announcement of the Information Infrastructure Task Force's new BBS
iitf_contact_info.faq: information on contacting IITF members
index.html: WWW index of this directory.
k12_fed_prog_contact.list: list of contacts relating to networking K-12 classrooms
lanl_online.announce: March 1994 Announcement of a new gopher server at Los Alamos Nat'l. Labs., New Mexico: gopher.lanl.gov
lobby_techniques.faq: May 1994 FAQ on Lobbying/Advocacy Techniques. how to increase the efficiency of grassroots efforts. By Ira Borenstein
locis.note: Announcement that the Library of Congress Information System (LOCIS) is now available over the Internet at telnet locis.loc.gov.
make_cjr.kit: Attorney Lee Tien's kit for making Commodity Jurisdiction Requests for cryptographic items (you file such a request to, if you are lucky, move jurisdiction over your crypto product from the State Dept. with it's harsh ITAR regulations, to the Commerce Dept. with its more lax GTDA regs.)
mcbride_demographics.disclaimer: notice from JS McBride Co. announcing abandonment of McBride's plan to sell market demographic info gained my net monitoring (abandoned due to outcry from net users).
media_online.list: This is a listing of newspapers, magazines, TV stations and other media outlets that accept electronic submissions from readers and viewers, along with their main e-mail addresses. Updated March 1994 by Adam Gaffin.
nasa_patent_lawyer.list: Patent counsel for the various NASA laboratories
net_campaign.article: various examples of net activism
nist_online.list: NIST Contact Info and Online Resources updated Apr 1994 by Stanton McCandlish
nonprofit_resource.faq: A guide to internet resources for non-profit public services organizations compiled by Sarah Nesbeitt and Richard Truxall School of Information and Library Studies at The University of Michigan. For latest WWW version, see: http://asa.ugl.lib.umich.edu:80/chdocs/nonprofits/nonprofits.html
npat_test.note: Feb 1994 discussion of NPAT - The Politician's Report Card! The NPAT or National Political Awareness Test was given to all candidates for federal office in the the 1992 General Election.
nsa_doesnt_care.article: Steve Miller's April 1994 discussion of the NSA's attitudes about Clipper policy and what they will and will not listen to from opposition.
nsf_stis.announce: information about obtaining information from the NSF via modem or Internet
ntia_staff.list: National Telecommunications and Information Administration phone roster (3/95)
nwf_president.letter: an open letter to the President from the Nat'l. Wildlife Federation asking Clinton to establish procedures for all Federal agencies to accept comments on public notices via email.
omb_gils.notice: draft bulletin from the OMB formally establishing a Government Information Locator Service (GILS)
online_activism_thoughts_agre.article: Phil Agre's short article, "Some thoughts about political activity on the Internet", which makes several astute observations about political action online, its successes, and its failings.
or_elections_net_influence.announce: 2 VTW press releases detailing how the net.constituency was decisive in Oregon US Senate election, and how online entrepreneurs in the area affected candidate's positions on net-related issues. Jan. 1996.
ota_online.announce: announcement of the Office of Technology Assessment's online information resources
patent_server.announce: Announcement of Gregory Aharonian's patent searching e-mail server where you can get a list of patents by specifying the class/subclass.
patent_server.help: list providing the class number and class title for the US Patent Classification. ASCII files with the subclasses for any one class can be requested for the Patent Titles Email Server described in patent_server.announce
pff_online_activism.critique: Richard F. O'Donnell writing for the Progress and Freedom Foundation: "Courting Irrelevance: The Digerati Needs to Learn How to Make Friends and Win Influence in Washington". A stinging, but constructive, criticism of online activism efforts to date. May 3, 1996.
priv_sec_resource.list: non-net Resources for Privacy Seekers & Computer Security Buffs compiled by David Johnson on March 12, 1994.
privacy.kit: This is a 1993 "toolkit" of resources and information about privacy. it reviews books, Newsletters and Journals, Reports/Pamphlets, Advocacy Groups, and Online Resources for Computer Users.
psychwar.primer: Jeff Davis' "Psychological Warfare Primer for Online Activists" "Since we are engaged in Revolutionary War in Cyberspace, it would behoove us who are actively participating to have a delineation of strategy, tactics, and operations of guerilla warfare eidetic to this medium. Our Guerilla Warfare Operating Area, (GWOA), is the internet, with its peculiar strategic advantages and vulnerabilities. The genius of Patton's campaign in North Africa was the result of simple reading comprehension skills; he read Rommel's book. This primer on psychological warfare is prepared for your perusal offering fundamental intelligence to increase the probability of success in engagements with the competition."
repression.biblio: This is the reading list circulated by Phil Agee at his Speakout lectures. updated January 1991.
rose_gpo_access_s564.bill: s564 "Government Printing Office Electronic Information Access Enhancement Act of 1993"
russian_coup_netuse.article: Laurence Press' August 1991 collection of information and postings related to how the Internet was used in the Russian coup.
senate_ftp.rules: usage policies and rules for the Senate ftp server
senate_online.note: announcement of A new FTP site that has been put online to hold the publicly available documents and press releases of our Senators.
social_computing_pagre.paper: Paper titled "Computing as a Social Practice" by Philip Agre, discussing a broad range of theoretical and practical work over the last decade on the relationship between computer technology and society. Covers various topics from activism to research to online social responsibility.
stealthwatchers.article: WIRED 2.02 article "Armed with Radio Shack scanners and PCs, Steve Douglass and a small group of private citizens are unmasking the US Defense Department's black-budget aircraft. Phil Patton reports from Dreamland."
tap_gingrich_access_95.letters: Open letters initiated by Taxpayer Assets Project, and signed onto by several other organizations, including EFF, and (petition-wise) by many members of the online public, to Speaker of the US House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, demanding that Gingrich expand online access to Congressional records and bill texts, as per Gingrich's campaign promises.
tap_sec_edgar_0895.letter: Open letter from Taxpayer Assets Project to Securities & Exchange Commission regarding the SEC EDGAR database and its future.
technology_freedom.paper: Lev Anderson's November 1993 draft of an honors thesis entitled 'Technology and Freedom', which outlines various philosophical approaches the technological and compares these to social institutions.
tiiap_ntia.faq: Telecommmunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program fact sheet
us_95_budget_online.announce: Feb 1994 announcement that The U.S. Department of Commerce in cooperation with the Office of Management and Budget(OMB) will produce the Budget of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 1995 in electronic format using compact disc-read only memory (CD-ROM) and on-line computer delivery methods.
us_polit_groups.note: list of top 5 political groupings in the US according to a 1995 survey. The numbers are rather surprising.
west_v_doj.annouce: announcement of the Department of Justices investigation into West Publishing.
wh_e-pubs_stats.note: Of the estimated 120,000 to 140,000 daily recipients of electronic documents issued by the White House, 85% are under age 50; 80% are male; 75% are college educated; and 50% have a post-graduate degree, according to research done earlier this year at MIT. (Investor's Business Daily 9/15/94 A2)
wh_email_records.article: WIRED 1.6 Article by Brock Meeks describing that " Computer tapes containing White House e-mail going back to 1980 are now protected by law as federal records and as such are susceptible to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests." article discusses the campaign to achieve this and the implications.
wh_online.faq: April 1994 White House Electronic Publications and Public Access e-mail FAQ.
wh_phone_boondoggle.article: WIRED 2.01 article by Brock Meeks discussing the mismanagement of White House telephone policy.

Subdirectories in This Archive

ACTION/: The ACTION (ACTIvism ONline) Working Group archives
Congress_contact/: Directory containing databases and lists of US Congress contact info, including lists of phone & fax numbers and email addresses.
E-voting/: Directory for info on electronic voting and digital direct democracy systems and ideas.
Exec_Jud_branches/: Directory of information, incl. contact info, for the Executive and Judicial branches of the US government.
FOIA/: Directory of information concerning the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and state & foreign freedom of information and open government laws. (A.k.a. Freedom_of_info/).
Foreign_and_local/: Directory of information on activism issues locally, state-wide, (foreign) nationally, and globally.
HTML/: Web (HTML) documents related to Activism
Labor/: Labor activism issues in cyberspace. Though EFF has no position on labor issues, and neither do most other civil liberties groups, the information here may be of use to other varieties of grassroots activism.
Newin/: Misc. unsorted information
Old/: Directory of old & outdated material, still of historical interest.
Reform/: Info on efforts to reform policies that restrict (or simply fail to provide) online access to public documents (including campaign finance information, legislative vote records, and many others).
Tools/: Software tools for activism and grassroots political action.

Related On-Site Resources

Links to Government Servers and Information: A few carefully chosen links as there are now a lot of other networkers doing this job.
Online Activism Groups and Organizations Archive
Legal Issues and Cases Archive
Legislation & Regulation Archive
Old alertsThis directory contains Historical action alerts.: Current alerts are found on the welcoming page: http://www.eff.org
Profs Case - Armstrong v. Exectutive Office of the President.: Began in 1989 when the American Historical Association joined Scott Armstrong and other plaintiffs in seeking a temporary injuction to prohibit the destruction of the Nat'l Security Council's email. It is called the PROFS case because the email system used by the NSC was IBM's Professional Office System, (PROFS).

Links to Related Off-Site Resources

Phil Agre's "Designing Effective Action Alerts for the Internet": A MUST READ for anyone thinking of trying their hand at online activism!
The Congressional Internet Caucus: A new group of US legislators trying to protect the Internet; According to Ideas in Action newsletter, "the best online directory of media Websites around the world, including newspapers, magazines, TV and radio stations, and media associations."
Volunteer Activism Via the Internet: Good index of crucial online activism resources.
Net Action and the Virtual Activist: Site with a lot of general online activism resources (plus specific campaign info for a few topics, like broadband access and open source software).; An Institute for First Amendment Studies database of state/federal govt. contact info, plust activism how-tos.
Congress.Org: Issue Dynamics and Capitol Advantage provide free service to get legislator info, find out bill status, etc.; searchable database of experts on democracy around the world.
The American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science's: large database of human rights organizations around the world.
Deep Politics: online political books (corruption of democracy, govt. coverup, etc.)
Common Cause: Has a complete rundown of congressional financing, PAC contributions and what the Congress is up to with your money.
Contact Center Network's Idealist: the Interactive Clearinghouse of Nonprofit Services, Volunteer Opportunities, Jobs, Internships, Material and Events. This list is combined with their Index of Internatonal Organizations. Their Tools for Nonprofits and Community Organizations is on this same website.
"Why the Internet is Good: Community Governance that Works Well", by Joseph Reagle: Thesis: Mechanisms of Internet governance have resolved most Internet technical and social problems well. Not only should real world governments tread lightly upon the Net, but they might learn something from it.
Privacy International's: material on how to fight the implementation of national ID card schemes Draws on direct experience fighting Big Brother ID systems in democracies to near-dicatorships, ranging from Australia, New Zealand, the Phillipines, Thailand, and other countries.
Technology Tip Sheets for Nonprofits: How-to for techies with a cause