[atlarge-discuss] FYI: NetAction Notes (long)

[espresso@e-scape.net]

Please forgive the long repost but this issue may "kill several birds with one stone" for this group and might well interest members involved with other groups, too.

For this group, the first article should interest those working on identification of members and privacy matters; the second is obviously for WG-Web, and there's even a useful link on fundraising. Back issues and the "toolkit" on the NetAction site may be of interest, too.

Regards,

Judyth

<< start of forwarded material >>


Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 00:20:05 -0700 (MST)
From: Audrie Krause <audrie@netaction.org>
Subject: NetAction Notes 88: Internet Activism's Good, Bad & Ugly
Sender: netaction-owner@netaction.org
Reply-To: audrie@netaction.org

Published by NetAction            Issue No. 88              November 21, 2002

Repost where appropriate. Copyright and subscription info at end of message.
* * * * * * *
In This Issue:
Internet Activism: the Good, the  Bad, and the Ugly
Working With Web Sites
Back to Shrink-Wrap
Online Fundraising Resource
About NetAction Notes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Internet Activism: the Good, the  Bad, and the Ugly

As a tool for grassroots citizen action, the Internet can't be beat. 
Email reaches millions of people in an instant; Web sites make 
unfiltered information accessible around the clock and across the 
globe. At virtually no cost, ordinary citizens can organize and 
empower themselves to protest war, protect the environment, mobilize 
against all types of oppression and injustice.

That's what's good about Internet activism, and as countless 
activists have discovered it can be very good, indeed.

But there's also a down side to Internet activism. Subscribe to an 
email discussion list, sign up for an action alert, speak out in a 
news group or online forum and your in-box will eventually be flooded 
with unsolicited commercial email. The more active you are on the 
Internet, the more you're targeted by spammers.

That's what's bad about Internet activism, and -- again -- countless 
activists have experienced this.

But spam is a relatively minor annoyance compared to the truly ugly 
side of Internet activism that could emerge now that Congress has 
passed legislation to establish a Department of Homeland Security. 
One provision of the bill allows the Defense Advanced Research 
Project Agency (DARPA) to continue development of the proposed "Total 
Information Awareness" (TIA) system.

Simply put, TIA is the "Big Brother" of George Orwell's novel "1984." 
According to DARPA documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy 
Information Center (EPIC), TIA is an all-encompassing surveillance 
system that will collect virtually every byte of information that 
there is to collect about U.S. citizens: phone records, bank records, 
medical records, education records, travel records. There are even 
plans to establish a biometric identification system.

No one will be safe from electronic snooping if DARPA's project is 
developed, but Internet activists and nonprofit organizations with 
Web sites that criticize government policies may be especially 
vulnerable. Virtually every email message, news group posting, and 
web site document that travels the information highway is archived on 
a server somewhere and that data will also be subject to government 
surveillance if TIA is put into place. (If you think I'm exaggerating 
about how much information is accessible check for yourself by doing 
a Web search of your name, or your organization's name.)

Prior to 9/11 and enactment of the USA Patriot Act people who openly 
worried that the government was watching them were often dismissed as 
being paranoid. In the current political climate such concerns are 
not so easy to dismiss.

But as bleak as things seem to be, I'm confident that the threat of 
mass electronic surveillance won't silence Internet activism. Too 
many nonprofit organizations have discovered how much more effective 
they can be with the right technology; too many ordinary citizens 
have discovered that information is empowerment.

Yes, these are troubling times, but thanks to the Internet thousands 
of activists and organizations working for a better world are only a 
mouse-click away. So let's use that to our advantage.

If you want to know more about the government's plans for electronic 
surveillance, see:

EPIC's TIA page:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/profiling/tia/

ACLU's Cyber-Liberties page: 
http://www.aclu.org/Cyber-Liberties/Cyber-Libertieslist.cfm?c=58

CDT's Government Surveillance page:
http://www.cdt.org/wiretap/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Working With Web Sites

Recently I conducted a very informal survey of my colleagues on the 
NPTalk discussion list to determine what they liked about their 
favorite Web sites. The survey contained only two questions:

1) What is your favorite web site? (Other then the one operated by
     your own organization.)
2) Why?

I had no expectations about what sort of responses I'd get, but was 
surprised nonetheless: half of the NPTalkers who responded named 
Google as their favorite Web site. Granted it was a small and 
completely unscientific survey, but NPTalk subscribers are mostly 
working for or with nonprofit organizations and I expected more 
respondents to name a nonprofit Web site as their favorite. But 
Google only seemed an odd choice until I saw the responses to the 
second question in the survey.

Why did most of the respondents like Google best? It's the only 
address they need to remember, it lets them locate everything else, 
it's reliable, uncluttered and easy to use.

It's very simplicity, however, runs counter to the conventional 
wisdom that "richer" multi-media content is more desirable. Google 
has a "bare bones" home page without graphics or javascript, and with 
very little actual text. Most remarkable is the absence of any 
advertising on the home page, since Google relies on ad revenue to 
stay in business.

Keeping it simple had advantages, however. The page loads instantly 
and - with the exception of the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button -  the 
content is easy to understand. (It took a bit of searching to find 
the content that explained the purpose of the "I'm Feeling Lucky" 
button, but the explanation itself was very clear.)

There are other advantages to a simple design that are particularly 
important for activist and nonprofit Web sites. A simple design 
enables you to focus on the content. Also, it enhances 
inter-operability, which makes your Web site compatible with a wider 
range of browsers, and accessible with slow dial-up modems as well as 
broadband connections. Simple designs are also more likely to be 
accessible by international Internet users and people with 
disabilities.

Jakob Nielsen put together a list of the Top Ten Mistakes in Web 
Design in 1996. While that's ancient history in Internet years, his 
advice is still on target. Among other things, he recommends avoiding 
frames, bleeding-edge technology, scrolling text and animations. See 
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9605.html for all his tips.

Additional advice and resources are available in the Web Site 
mini-trainer section of NetAction's Virtual Activist Training course 
at http://www.netaction.org/training/part3b.html.

Subscription information for the NPTalk discussion list is at 
http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/133.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back to Shrink-Wrap

Like a bad penny, the software industry's anti-consumer software 
licensing proposal keeps coming back. According to a recent bulletin 
from the American Library Association (ALA), amendments made last 
summer to the Uniform Computer Information Transaction Act (UCITA) 
are expected to revive efforts to get state Legislatures to adopt the 
proposed law.

NetAction last addressed this issue in September 2000 when we asked 
the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to ensure that consumers who buy 
software are protected by the same law that governs other consumer 
products. In NetAction's comments, we asked the FTC to ensure that 
consumer protections be kept "technologically neutral" in response to 
continuing efforts by the software industry to exempt themselves from 
existing consumer protection laws.

As currently proposed, UCITA protects the interests of software 
vendors at the expense of consumers, libraries and schools, and 
businesses. Typically, consumer protection laws require vendors to 
disclose the terms of their licenses or warrantees prior to the sale. 
UCITA would let software vendors enforce the terms of licenses that 
aren't revealed until after the software is purchased, as well as 
terms that are changed by the vendor after the purchaser has agreed 
to them. Software companies would also be able to remotely shut down 
software and prohibit reverse engineering aimed at uncovering 
security holes.

The ALA has detailed information on UCITA and the status of industry 
efforts to enact it at http://www.ala.org/washoff/ucita/index.html.

AFFECT, a coalition of consumer and other organizations and 
businesses, also has information on UCITA at 
http://www-affect@ucita.com/happening.html.

NetAction's comments to the FTC are at http://netaction.org/ucita/ftc.html.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Online Fundraising Resource

A comprehensive guide to online fundraising is available from 
Handspring.org (formerly eGrants.org). The PDF document can be 
downloaded from http://www.groundspring.org/techniques/handbook.cfm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About NetAction Notes

NetAction Notes is a free electronic newsletter, published by 
NetAction. NetAction is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated 
to promoting use of the Internet for grassroots citizen action, and 
to educating the public and policy makers about technology policy 
issues.

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For more information about contributing to NetAction, contact Audrie
Krause by phone at (415) 775-8674, by E-mail at
mailto:audrie@netaction.org>, visit the NetAction Web site at
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NetAction * 601 Van Ness Ave., No. 631 * San Francisco, CA 94102
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Copyright 1996-2002 by NetAction/The Tides Center.  All rights reserved.
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<< end of forwarded material >>



##########################################################
Judyth Mermelstein     "cogito ergo lego ergo cogito..."
Montreal, QC           <espresso@e-scape.net>
##########################################################
"A word to the wise is sufficient. For others, use more."
##########################################################



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