The CPSR Compiler - October 2002 - 1.4

COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS for SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Turning Thoughts to Actions

*********

TABLE OF CONTENTS
* Annual Meeting
* Board Meeting
* Using Technology To Control The Flow Of Ideas
* Essay Contest 2002-2003
* Expertise Sought and Shared
* CPSR Signed On To
* Opportunities

*********

CPSR's ANNUAL MEETING

Over 100 people attended CPSR's "SHRINKING WORLD, EXPANDING NET" and/or NORBERT WIENER AWARD DINNER honoring Karl Auerbach on Saturday, Oct.5, 2002 at Harvard University.

Andy Oram reported on the day in "CPSR conference brings people and Internet together" at http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/weblog/view/wlg/2118
It was also posted on Slashdot at http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/10/12/0033224&mode=thread&tid= 117

Andy also wrote an article, "Why Human Rights Requires Free Software," inspired by Patrick Ball's keynote.
See http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2002/10/11/platform.html

And the conference also appeared in press from Italy
http://www. neural.it.nnews/shrinkingworldexpandingnet.htm
http://www.neural.it/english

And press from the Philippines have inquired.

More information about the conference and Wiener Award Dinner will be added to the conference web pages, and reported in future CPSR publications.

*********

CPSR's BOARD MEETING October 6, 2002

Six members from Japan, Canada, and the U.S. joined ten board members to talk about CPSR finances, board development, elections, publications, committeees, groups, membership, and fundraising.

Highlights include:
John Dwyer is our new Treasurer.
Robert Guerra is our new Board Development Committee Chair.
Paul Hyland is our new Publications Committee Chair.
Stuart Shapiro is our new Membership Committee Chair.
Katitza Rodriguez is chair of our new International Development Chapter Committee.

A Board Development Committee will review and update officer responsibilities and work with potential candidates for the spring 2003 elections.There will be seven open seats on the board, including President and Chair.

The next board meeting will be virtual on either February 8 or 9, 2003.

Minutes will be available by writing to cpsr@cpsr.org.

*********

USING TECHNOLOGY TO CONTROL THE FLOW OF IDEAS - THE CPSR JOURNAL

CPSR has followed and contributed to the issues revolving around intellectual property, particularly since the debate around and passage of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998. It has always been the case that powerful interests steered the law in this policy arena, but in recent years they have become more brazen. Another recent change of significance is the impact of digital technology on the discourse of ideas and their expression, and the ways that this fact supposedly changes everything and necessitates vastly changed intellectual property rules.

We think that you'll find this issue of The CPSR Journal an interesting and provocative introduction to a topic that has an impact on innovation and progress, with some insights not normally seen elsewhere.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
* Using Technology to Control the Flow of Ideas - by Paul Hyland, editor
* Society, Technology, and Law: A Balanced View of "Intellectual Property" - by Andy Oram
* Capitalism and Ideas: Creativity or Control ? - by Andy Oram
* What the Copyright Office Got Wrong - by Karen Coyle
* Hollywood's Legislative Agenda: MPAA Wants to Plug the "Analog Hole" - by Cory Doctorow
* The Trouble with Software Pattents - by Wen-Hsin Lin
* Washington Report - by Paul Hyland

The issue is available at
http://www.cpsr.org/publications/newsletters/issues/2002/Summer/index.html

To keep up with important policy initiatives and CPSR's responses to them, be sure to check in regularly to http://www.cpsr.org/program/ip

**********

ESSAY CONTEST 2002-2003

Information about this year's contest can be found at
http://www.cpsr.org/essays/200 3/contest.html

Thank you to the Groups who responded with new questions. We can still add more.

Please let me know if you would like to be a reviewer this year.

*********

EXPERTISE SOUGHT AND SHARED

The Report to CPSR on PrepCom-1 of the World Summit on the Information Society, July 1-5, 2002 in Geneva is now available at: http://www.cpsr.or g/wsis/docs/Report-PrepCom1.html

Robert Guerra spoke at the III Global Congress on Community Networking in the Digital Era, held October 7-12 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
http://www. globalcn.org/conf/montreal2002/en/home_en.html

Harry Hochheiser was quoted by Wired News and translated into Hotwired Japan News at http://www.hotwired.co.jp/news/news/business/story/20020819104.html
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,54428,00.html

Nobuo Sakiyama of CPSR/Japan is working on FOIA requests on email intercepting devices which belong to the National Police Agency of Japan.

Shinji Yamane, CPSR/Japan Chair, was interviewed
http://www.mainichi.co.jp/digital/coverstory/archive/200210/16/index.html

Hiroki Azuma, a Japanese cultural critic commented about CPSR in Hacker Crackdown at http://www.seidosha.co.jp/eureka/200210 and about CPSR/Japan at
http://www.kadokawa.co.jp/book/contents/200208/2002060000099.html

Manuel Jesus Roman Estrade of CPSR/Spain was interviewed about the chapter's Spanish Big Brother Awards.
See http://www.lpradio.es/discolp.hm
http://www.bigbrotherawards-es.org

The German press also covered the event
http://www.heise.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/te/13416/1.html

David Casacuberta of CPSR/Spain was quoted in the October 13th edition of EL Pais (Madrid Spain)

CPSR/Spain participates in weekly radio segments on cyber rights.

A CPSR/Berkeley statement was translated/quoted in Japan at
http://www.seidosha.co.jp/siso/200209

Hans Klein spoke with Dow Jones about ICANN.

IEEE-USA's Today's Engineer Webzine contacted CPSR about anti-spam efforts.

A professor from the Unviersity of Leeds School of Computing will be using properly cited copies of CPSR publications for a class of 150 students.

Andy Oram has written more articles.

"The National Strategy To Secure Cyberspace: A Sober Cyberassessment" should prove unusually controversial.
See http://www.praxagora.com/andyo/ar/national_cyber.html

"Wireless Enron Demonstrates Privatization Aches"
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/2126

*********

CPSR SIGNED ON TO

A letter from Veni Markovski to the Bulgarian National Assembly, concerned with the recent proposed draft of a new Bulgarian Telecommunications Act that would establish a procedure for licensing Internet service providers.

A letter in support of H.R. 5544, the Digital Media Consumers Rights Act, from a broad bi-partisan coalition to preserve personal fair use of digital media.
See http://www.cpsr.org/program/ip/

*********

OPPORTUNITIES

Install free operating systems like GNU/Linux on computers bound for the developing world. Prevent lock-in of Windows and decrease illegal copying in one volunteer action. Installers needed by the World Computer Exchange http://www.worldcomputerexchange.org/ Contact Daryl Martyris

NASRO, the health insurance provider CPSR offers members, has had recent changes/additions.

Some of them include adding:
Blue Cross of California
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia
Empire Blue Cross of New York
Massachusetts Blue Cross and Blue Shield
Unicare of Texas
Unicare of Illinois
Unicare of Virginia
Please contact NASRO directly with any questions. If they are not responsive, contact CPSR to help.

infoDev is accepting applications for support for conferences taking place between November 2002 and June 2003 that foster the utilization of information and communications technologies for development.
See http://www.infodev.org/icsf/index.html

The Internet Education Foundation is seeking an energetic policy assistant for an entry-level position working on Internet issues. Position based in Washington, DC. See http://www.neted.org

Contribute abstracts, articles, book reviews, announcements, comments, questions, and discussion on all topics relating to the general area of human communication to CRTNET via crtnet@natcom.org.
See http://lists1.cac.psu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0-CRTNET

*********

The CPSR Compiler is a monthly notice with short updates on recent activities of our members and opportunities to engage in the development of the public voice through CPSR projects.

To report news for future issues, send a sentence or two (and URL if available) to cpsr@cpsr.org

CPSR provides a discussion and project space where individuals can contribute to the public debate and design of our global digital future. Through CPSR's chapters and working groups, members focus on regional and civic issues developing the public voice. To insure a democratic future in a time of intense globalization, the voice of the public must command a prominent position on the world stage. CPSR frames and channels the public voice.

(c) Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility 2002.
Redistribution of this email publication - both internally and externally - is encouraged if it includes this paragraph.

CPSR is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
Donations are tax deductible.

Pay Dues, Buy Tshirts, or Make Donations via
http://cpsr.org/membership

The CPSR Compiler is emailed to CPSR members in good standing,who have provided CPSR with their email address.
If you do not want to receive these monthly messages reply with Subject "do not send compiler"

--
Susan Evoy * Managing Director
http://www.cpsr.org/
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
P.O. Box 717 * Palo Alto * CA * 94302
Phone: (650) 322-3778 * (650) 322-4748 (fax)
Email: evoy@cpsr.org