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CFA: a million geeks?
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 <[email protected]>
(april 26, 1996)
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Rich Burroughs [email protected] http://www.teleport.com/~richieb
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