The Electronic Frontier Foubdation
P.O. Box 170190
San Francisco CA 94117 USA
+1 202 861 7700 (voice)
+1 202 861 1258 (fax)
AFTER AUG. 17: +1 415 668 7171 (voice)
+1 415 668 7007 (fax)
+1 202 861 1223 (BBS - 16.8k ZyXEL)
+1 202 861 1224 (BBS - 14.4k V.32bis)
Internet: ask@eff.org
EFF's Online Activism Quick Start
* WHAT IS ONLINE ACTIVISM?
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a nonprofit organization
dedicated to protecting and promoting the civil liberties of the users of
online technology. EFF's work includes educating policymakers, law
enforcement and citizens about the issues that affect our current and
future communications.
EFF is dedicated to providing critical information to the online community
through our newsletters (hardcopy and electronic), BBS (Outpost), Internet
mailing lists, Usenet newsgroups and online archives (ftp, gopher, wais and
www). We believe that citizen involvement is the best way to guarantee
that the future of our online communications will be consistant with our
traditions of free speech and privacy.
EFF members participate in a special kind of activism that includes
electronic mail campaigns and online political organizing. For more
information on membership in the Electronic Frontier Foundation, send mail
to membership@eff.org.
* RESOURCES
EFF maintains extensive electronic archives at ftp.eff.org, gopher.eff.org,
and http://www.eff.org/. The archives contain a great deal of issue-
specific information including legislation, legal information and
documents relating to online communications - the listings below are just a
sampling. For help in accessing our archives, refer to the general EFF
brochure (http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/about.eff) or send queries to
ask@eff.org.
ACTION Activists & Volunteers List: An Internet "mailing list" conference
for exchange of ideas and project coordination between online activists,
volunteers, and others actively involved in developing and protecting
online communities and civil liberties in cyberspace. Subscribe by sending
e-mail with a body of "subscribe action" (no quotes) to listserv@eff.org.
Note that the ACTION forum is a serious working group, not a chat area.
ACTION-related documents archived at http://www.eff.org/pub/Groups/ACTION/
EFF Online Alerts: Alerts concerning legal, policy and cultural
developments affecting the online community are posted regularly to
pertinant Usenet Newsgroups including comp.org.eff.news. Subscribe by
sending email to listserv@eff.org (message body: "subscribe
comp-org-eff-news", no "quotes", all on one line). This mailing list also
will bring you a copy of our newsletter as each issue is released (see
below for newsletter-only list). Archive: http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Alerts/
EFFector Online: EFF's biweekly electronic newsletter containing timely
information about developments affecting online communications.
Subscriptions are available at no cost by sending electronic mail to
listserv@eff.org (message body: "subscribe effector-online", no "quotes").
Archive: http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/
Online Activism Organizations List: A listing of regional, national
and international groups sharing goals similar or complementary to EFF's.
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/activ_groups.faq
Online Activism Resources List: A companion guide the above document; lists
online and offline resources for computer-assited advocacy and grassroots
political action.
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/activ_resources.faq
FOIA Toolkit: Introductory materials and required forms for requesting
(or suing for, if necessary) government information under the Freedom of
Information Act. http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/FOIA/foia.kit
FOIA Guide: A citizen's guide to using the Freedom of Information Act and
the Privacy Act of 1974. Report of the House Committee on Goverment
Operations; Subcommittee on Information, Justice, Transportation and
Agriculture. http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/FOIA/foia.guide
Privacy Toolkit: This is Robert Luhn's "toolkit" of resources and
informtion about privacy. It includes books, newsletters & journals,
online resources and other docs.
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/Privacy/privacy.kit
Privacy & Anonymity on the Internet: Information on email and account
privacy, anonymous mailing and posting, encryption, and other privacy and
rights issues associated with use of the Internet and global networks in
general. http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/Privacy/privacy_anonymity.faq
Legal Research: Mark Eckenwiler's guide to the standard resources and
tools used in conducting legal research on state and federal law in the US.
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Legal/law_research.faq. See also Erik J. Heels's
Legal List: Law-Related Resources on the Internet and Elsewhere.
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Legal/net_legal_resources.list
"Access to Goverment: California's New Legislative Access Provides Model
for Other States" - Jim Warren's article documenting how online activism
made a new law pass in California. See also his how-to on using online
media politically and actively: "How Citizens can Pursue Practical, Potent,
Grassroots Political Action - Net-Based, Computer-Aided".
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/ca_activism.article
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/activ_online.faq
Congressional contact info: Telephone & fax listings for members of
the U.S. Congress.
http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/senate95.list
http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/house95.list
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/Congress_cmtes/ (committees)
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/exec_branch_us_contact.list
(White House)
Internet Sources of Government Information: Listing of publicly available
information over the Internet. Compiled by Blake Gumprecht, Documents
Librarian, Temple University.
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/govinfo_online.faq
Via WWW, see also the EFF Govt. Server Index, listing US and non-US
publically accessible Internet services: http://www.eff.org/govt.html
Citizens' Guide to the Net: A primer on using the net for activism and
advocacy. A must-read for any grassroots networker interested in making
a difference. http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/citizen_net.guide
Citizen Rights and Access to Electronic Information: A collection of
background reports and papers, as relevant today as they were in 1991.
Produced for a 1991 ALA/LITA conference.
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/elec_rights_ala.papers
Ira Borenstein's Lobbying/Advocacy Techniques Primer: to assist you in
understanding the legislative process and to act as a concrete tool for
developing sophisticated grass roots lobbying or advocacy strategies on
the local and/or regional level.
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/lobby_techniques.faq
Adam Gaffin's Media Online List: list of newspaper and magazine email
addresses - very useful when disseminating alerts and press releases.
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/media_online.list
A Guide to Internet Resources for Non-Profit Public Service Organizations:
A document to help administrators and employees of non-profit, public
service organizations easily locate relevant information on the Internet.
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/nonprofit_resource.faq
Usenet Newsgroups: Some newsgroups to check out include alt.activism,
alt.activism.d, comp.org.eff.talk, comp.org.cpsr.talk, alt.censorship,
misc.activism.progressive, alt.society.civil.liberty, misc.legal,
misc.legal.computing, talk.politics.crypto and other talk.politics.*
newsgroups, alt.privacy (and sub-groups), alt.society.foia,
alt.society.resistance, alt.freedom.of.information.act and
alt.politics.datahighway (and other alt.politics.* groups), and alt.org.*
groups.
Unless noted as WWW-specific, all files are accessible via ftp
(substitute ftp.eff.org for the host; path is the same) and gopher
(substitute gopher.eff.org for the host, leave off the file name,
and change the "/pub/" in the path to "1/" for the gopher path.
Those without Internet access can get the files from our BBS (see top for
phone number.)
* CONTACTING EFF
Membership & donations: membership@eff.org
Legal services: ssteele@eff.org
Hardcopy publications: pubs@eff.org
Online publications, conferences, & other resources: mech@eff.org
Technical questions/problems, access to mailing lists: eff@eff.org
Latest issue of EFFector (EFF newsletter): effector-reflector@eff.org
BBS: +1 202 861 1223 (300-14400bps V.32bis, 24 hours)
Updated: May 25, 1995