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CPSR/Boston Minutes (Jun, 91)
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From: [email protected]
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: cpsr-members
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 91 17:34 EDT
Sender: Coralee Whitcomb <CWHITCOMB%[email protected]>
Subject: Minutes of the June 17 CPSR meeting
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
RECAP OF THE JUNE 17 CPSR/BOSTON MEETING
NOTE: Those of you on the cpsr-member list, will receive this
ONLY in electronic form. All others will receive a hardcopy in
the mail.
The Monday night meeting was a real success. About 35 people
came and we discussed a variety of projects both formally in the
works and some still in idea stage. The meeting started at about
6:45 and finished up with the last stragglers leaving about 8:45.
I would like to plan our next meeting for mid-September and am
open to suggestion. Those at the meeting felt that 6:30 + food
worked for them, but 7:00 might be better for some. We are also
not required to have meetings on the same night every time or in
the same place so if anyone knows of a good spot (for free) or
has any other suggestions concerning logistics, I would be happy
to have them.
Boston/National Membership
As are many non-profits these days, CPSR is hurting pretty badly
financially. The national office is supported by a combination
of membership dues and foundation money. Lately the foundation
money is hard to come by and for the most part we do not have a
membership that is comfortable asking others for money. I've
heard it said that if the membership base was doubled, we could
stay afloat on dues alone. To that end, I would like, as a
chapter, to do what we can to increase our membership. I feel
that the potential in the Boston area is huge and that the only
thing holding many people back is the knowledge of how to join.
I have some very nice posters and pads of "free information" post
cards that we can hang on bulletin boards in our workplaces. I'd
planned to do this myself but ran into policies requiring the
poster to come from employees. So far there has been enough
return on the few posters out there that I think this is well
worth doing. When I receive a post card I send back a 10 Year
History, an introductory letter from the national office, one
introducing the Boston chapter, and membership information. Then
I cross my fingers. Please contact me if you feel you have a
bulletin board that could use a really classy poster. Coralee-
617-864-7329, [email protected]
MacWorld
Though this will not be confirmed until later this month, a
booth at MacWorld sounds like a possibility. This would be a
GREAT opportunity to publicize our name, spread our word, maybe
round up some new members. The problem is that it is 10:00-6:00,
August 6-9. That is a Tuesday through Friday at Bayside Expo.
Should this come to pass we would probably need at least two
people in the booth most of the time as thousands and thousands
will attend. I would plan to have a little preliminary meeting
so we all give a similar spiel. If your schedule permits this
kind of activity I would love to hear from you. You don't need
to commit for the whole time. A half day would be great.
Contact me if interested. By the way, we would also need a 10 X
10 rug if anyone has a line on carpeting.
Electronic Mail
Through the generosity of Ed Frankenberry and the Electronic
Frontier Foundation we now have e-mail capability. Because of
our awareness that too much e-mail can be just as annoying as
none, the current addresses are not for discussion purposes.
There was a good deal of interest at the meeting in having a
discussion address but we would want a moderator and for the
moment that person has not appeared. Anyway -
[email protected] - communication from the executive committee
to the membership, any replies will also go to the
membership so please use another address. We intend to use
this for sending the newsletter and things like this
report. This address could save us a lot of money. If our
reliance on the post office - $.29 letters and $.52
newsletter costs could be reduced it would be a big help and
we could stay in touch better. For now anyone on this list
will receive the newsletter in electronic form only. If you
would prefer a paper copy, please let me know. I urge you
to help the chapter finances by getting on the list if
possible. I promise continued hardcopy to those of you
without e-mail.
[email protected] - this is the administrative arm of
above address - for additions, deletions, changes to your
address.
[email protected] - a superset of cpsr-members including both
members and other mailing lists. If you have anything of
interest to announce to the world at large, this is the
place.
[email protected] - again, the route for additions
and deletions from the list.
[email protected] - if you wish to contact the
executive committee, we are all on this list. I am not
encouraging heavy use of this list for discussion, but for
now that's a good way to get ahold of us as a group.
Otherwise, we all have individual addresses.
October Annual Meeting
We are planning to have the 1991 CPSR Annual Meeting here on
October 12 and 13. It is intended to piggyback a meeting to be
held at MIT the two previous days. This year the plan is to tie
our agenda in with that of the MIT event (I^3, Informational
Impact Initiative) which is to be a gathering of big names (Eli
Noam, Al Gore, Mitch Kapor, etc) discussing the future directions
of our field. Hopefully we can convince some of them to attend
our meeting as a chance to address the public on these concerns.
Typically Saturday has a formal schedule of events and Sunday is
used to address CPSR related concerns while allowing members from
around the country to get to know each other. Chances are good
that Saturday or Sunday night will include a fundraising event.
Of course, this all takes many hands. If you're interested call
Gary Chapman - 864-7329, [email protected].
Participatory Design Conference '92
Dan Williams spoke about holding the Participatory Design
Conference here in late October, early November next year. I've
enclosed a Call for Participation. We would really like to pull
this conference away from the hallowed halls of academia. The
more flavors of systems' projects that we can bring together, the
better. This is a truly positive and empowering concept for use
in the workplace and something the CPSR Workplace group has done
quite a lot to promote.
State Bill on Electronic Monitoring in the Workplace
Karen Van Kooy from the Massachusetts Coalition on New Office
Technology (CNOT) spoke on House bill, H5569. Should this bill
pass, it will be the very first addressing electronic monitoring
IN THE COUNTRY. The bill does not prevent or limit monitoring,
it simply requires the employee be made aware that monitoring
takes place, in what form, what is collected, how it is used, who
is to see it, and provides an avenue for redress. At this point
the bill has favorably passed out of the Commerce and Labor
Committee and is in the Ways and Means Committee. CPSR testified
in favor of the bill last spring and has done some lobbying at
the State house.
CNOT is currently organizing a phone tree (EMLAN) of supporters
who will contact their local representatives when an important
vote is coming up. There are coordinators across the state who
will receive the alert first from CNOT. They will contact their
point people. Each coordinator has from 5 to 10 point people who
live or work within the same geographic area of the state. Every
point person has up to 10 rank and filers to contact who will
call or write their legislators within 24 hours. The rank and
filers are co-workers, family members, friends, etc. Once the
network is activated, there will be 500 to 1000 calls to the
statehouse from all areas of the Commonwealth.
The fact that this bill really only asks for fair treatment and
yet is ground breaking legislation is proof that our legal
recognition of privacy issues is lagging far behind the
technological intrusion taking place in many aspects of our
lives. This bill is not only important for what it addresses but
also for the precedent it sets in addressing similar issues.
Unfortunately, this year the legislature is distracted with the
budget process so it might not get the attention it deserves. I
urge you to contact CNOT and sign up for EMLAN. 617-776-2777 or
write to Massachusetts Coalition on New Office Technology, 1
Summer Street, Somerville, MA 02143.
Caller ID and the Department of Public Utilities
AT&T is proposing a new set of services labeled "Phonesmart" to
be made available late this year. These new services include
Caller ID, Call Trace, Call Return, and Repeat Dialing. CPSR
takes issue with caller ID in that in order for your number not
to be sent when making a call, you must first enter extra
characters each time. CPSR feels that this asks the caller to go
to extra effort just to maintain a level of privacy now enjoyed
for free. We also feel that the data gathering capabilities this
affords businesses will serve to exacerbate the telemarketing
annoyance rather than diminish it. Call Trace and existing E911
services are better vehicles to deal with harassment and
emergency situations.
I presented testimony written by Ronni Rosenberg at the
Department of Public Utilities. We are on the official record
but did not formally intervene. Evidentiary hearings will take
place July 9-12 at 10 am, 12th floor of 100 Cambridge Street,
Boston. These are open to the public. Letters expressing your
concern will be included in the official record and should be
addressed to Ms. Mary Cottrell, Secretary, Department of Public
Utilities, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 100 Cambridge St.,
12th floor, Boston, MA 02202. Be sure to make reference to DPU
91-64 in any communication. Letters can be sent until October 12
when the decision will be made. If you would like a copy of the
full testimony, contact me. It's 7 pages so I can't afford to
send it to everyone, but it is extremely informative. The DPU
has been receiving a lot of mail on this. From the testimony and
general reaction when this is brought up, my guess is that AT&T
has done an extremely effective job of selling this service on
grounds that just don't hold up under scrutiny. Please join us
in an effort to bring some reason into the process.
21st Century Project
Gary Chapman is currently pursuing funding sources for a large,
broadbased project intended to change the government R & D focus
away from all military oriented projects to more civilian and
infrastructure oriented type research. This description is way
too simplistic to do the project justice. Since it is in the
very early stages, there is not much any of us can do, but when
this gets rolling it promises to be one of the most significant
and all encompassing activities CPSR has ever attempted.
Future
As you can see there's no shortage of things to do. I see great
things ahead for our chapter. We have built strong ties to other
area activist groups and hope to coordinate our efforts with
theirs wherever possible. Certainly our world is taking a new
look at the societal implications of new technology so our
audience is better schooled all the time. As computer
professionals it is our responsibility to see that what we
produce is used wisely and for the betterment of all. This
chapter is positioned perfectly to play an influential role in
seeing to it that our work is improving our world, not just
letting it change without forethought. We've got lots to do so
keep in touch.
Coralee
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