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Letter from the President

by Aki Namikoa
CPSR President

CPSR News Volume 15, Number 3: Summer 1997

Dear CPSR Supporters,

For cyber-rights activists, June 26, 1997 will be remembered as a date that sends a thrill up our spines. It symbolizes an affirmation of our beliefs-through the resounding decision that the Communication Decency Act is unconstitutional. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision, CPSR stands on the cusp of a wave; looking toward the horizon we see a future where civil liberties in cyberspace will be considered an unalienable right-much as freedom of the press is viewed today. However, between here and the horizon is a series of billowing waves and deep troughs. The Supreme Court decision is only one landmark in what will surely be a series of legal battles to preserve freedom of speech on the 'net'. CPSR will continue to work to preserve these freedoms by supporting legal challenges, as we did with the Communication Decency Act, and through continued local chapter and national activism. We know that further attempts to abridge our rights will be pushed the Congress and in the state legislatures, too.

In other CPSR news, the Annual Meeting October 4-5 will focus on another 'hot' topic-Electronic Commerce. We are just beginning to see the potential impact of this new business paradigm on us and the rest of the world. While CEOs around the country are trying to figure out how to harness this new opportunity, CPSR will examine how this new way of doing business will impact our communities, workplaces, and society as a whole. Some of the issues that will be discussed are intellectual property and freedom of speech, digital commerce and new economic models, the impact of technology on jobs and income, and local vs. global economics. I hope you will join me in Berkeley for this unique conference.

For those of you who are interested in workplace issues, the 1998 Participatory Design conference is in the preliminary planning stages. It will be scheduled in conjunction with CSCW-98 in Seattle. I am excited that PDC will once again be in Seattle-after 8 years. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

And last, but not least, I would like to welcome the new board members and thank the outgoing members for their hard work and support of CPSR. As of July 1st, the CPSR board of directors has 50-50 gender balanced. This is a big thrill for me and I look forward to working with the new board.

Aki Namioka
President, CPSR

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