A List of Environmental and Telecommunications Events and Issues

April 4 to April 11, 1997







Published, Edited and Written by George Mokray for
Information Ecologies
218 Franklin St #3
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617)661-2676
gmoke@world.std.com

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http://www.eff.org/blueribbon.html



Listings

Saturday, April 5

Harvard Asia Pacific Design Conference 1997
contact asiagsd@gsd.harvard.edu

American Minorities in Science, Engineering and Mathematics in the 21st Century
Shirley Ann Jackson, keynote
contact 495-1527

The Courtyard House and the Urban Fabric - International architecture conference
contact Attilio Petruccioli at 253-1418 or minas@mit.edu
MIT Building 6, Room 120

8 am - 5:30 pm
11th Annual Toxics Action Conference
Paul Connett, Dianne Dumanoski, Rep James McGovern and others
contact 292-4821 or toxicsaction@igc.apc.org
Boston College, Cushing Hall
admission: $20 pre-registration, $25 Saturday
Editorial Comment: I will be doing a workshop on Internet for Activists from 10 am to 11:15 am

8:45 - 5 pm
Religion & Ecology Conf: Chinese, Japanese & East Asian Traditions
contact 491-1090
Boston Research Center, 396 Harvard St
admission: $15

9 am -5 pm
Resisting the Corporate Agenda in Higher Education
Elizabeth Mock, UMass Boston Faculty/Staff Union; Meline Kasparian, MTA; Howard Zinn, author; Diane Dujon, UMass Boston; Jonathan King, MIT; Bill Murphy, MA State College Association
contact 491-2525 or jberkshire@wellesley.edu
UMass Boston, Lipke Auditorium
Registration $10 or $5 for student and low-income

9 am - 6 pm
Waterworks Symposium
Patricia Phillips, SUNY at New Paltz; Tim Weiskel, Harvard; John Todd, Ocean Arks International; Mags Harries, landscape architect; and others
contact 349-4381
Harvard, Arthur M. Sackler Museum
registration: $75, students and seniors $35

9 am
Rainbow Coalition Party Party: coalition building for an ecologically sound community based economic development
contact mhking@MIT.EDU
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 53 East Central Street, Worcester
A bus will leave Ruggles Station (next to the Registry of Motor Vehicles) at 8:00 am. The bus will cost $10, please call 253-3287.

10 am to 4 pm
Home Grown Economics Fair: alternative community based models of economics
contact Lynn Hiller 508-349-7355
Dennis Senior Center on Rte 134 in Dennis, MA

10 am - 5 pm
Turning Conflict into Better Relationships - find ways to reconcile stagnant, alienated and/or unfulfilled relationships in work and daily life
contact 225-0403 or imagine@world.std.com
$100 plus $10 for Myers Briggs Test

12 noon to 4:30 pm
Charles River Watershed Association - corridor council meeting about the Combined Sewerage Overflow Planning
contact Kate or Peggy at 965-5975 or crwa@crwa.org
Harvard, Kennedy School, Starr Auditorium
registration before April 1 free, $5 afterwards

5 to 8 pm
Opening Reception for COLLAGE/Five Hudson Valley Artists - including 12 works by Jonathan Talbot
contact (914) 452-7040 and (914) 454-9553
Lorraine Kessler Gallery,196 Main Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Editorial Comment: Jonathan Talbot is my cousin. I like his prints and paintings and have two of his works in my "collection." The show will be up until May 17. You can see examples of his work on his Webpage at http://www.talbot1.com

Sunday, April 6

Harvard Asia Pacific Design Conference 1997
contact asiagsd@gsd.harvard.edu

American Minorities in Science, Engineering and Mathematics in the 21st Century
Shirley Ann Jackson, keynote
contact 495-1527

The Courtyard House and the Urban Fabric - International architecture conference
contact Attilio Petruccioli at 253-1418 or minas@mit.edu
MIT Building 6, Room 120

11th Annual Toxics Action Conference: Training
contact 292-4821 or toxicsaction@igc.apc.org
Boston College, Cushing Hall
admission: $5

10 am - 2 pm
Waterworks Symposium
Patricia Phillips, SUNY at New Paltz; Tim Weiskel, Harvard; John Todd, Ocean Arks International; Mags Harries, landscape architect; and others
contact 349-4381
Harvard, Arthur M. Sackler Museum
registration: $75, students and seniors $35

Monday, April 7

8 am
A Symposium on Advances in Nuclear Technology
contact 253-3801
MIT Building E15, Room 070

9 am - 12:30 pm
Town Meeting on Climate Change: New England's Future
Sen. John Kerry, Timothy Wirth, US Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, Trudy Coxe, Massachusetts Sec. of Environmental Affairs, Henry Kendall, Union of Concerned Scientists, Dr. George Woodwell, Woods Hole Research Center
contact 547-5552
Boston Public Library, Rabb Lecture Hall, 666 Boylston St

12 pm
The New Global Media Landscape
Ira Carlin, McCann-Erickson Worldwide Advertising Agency
Harvard, Coolidge Hall, 1737 Cambridge St, Room 3

12:15 pm
The Hong Kong Transition in Historical Perspective
Betsy Bartlett, Yale
Harvard, Coolidge Hall, 1737 Cambridge St, Room 4

4 pm
Marketing Public Health: Social Marketing as a Tool for Change
Jay Winsten, Harvard School for Public Health; Sarah Brown, National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy; Randall Rothenberg, _Esquire_
Harvard School of Public Health, Snyder Auditorium, Boston

The South African Truth Commission: Peace at the Cost of Justice?
Hendrick van der Werwe, Center for Intergroup Studies
Harvard, Coolidge Hall, 1737 Cambridge St, Room 1

The Business of Getting the Get
Connie Chung, journalist
Harvard, Taubman Building, Room 275

Performing `TAXOL': Facts, Actors and Imbroglios in the Biography of an Anti-Cancer Drug
Jordan Goodman, Univ of Manchester
contact 253-4062
MIT Building E51, Room 095

4:05 pm
Portly Plumes in Mississippi: A Reinterpretation of the Macro Dispersion Experiment (MADE) and Other Thoughts About Rate Limited Mass Transfer and Solute Transport
Charles Harvey, Harvard
contact Janni at 258-5554 or janiscka@mit.edu
MIT Building 48, Room 316

6 pm
Project HEALTH Children's Healthcare Forum: Children's Healthcare and the National Agenda: Designing a Plan for the 21st Century
Sen Edward Kennedy, keynote
contact 493-3166
Harvard, Kennedy School, ARCO Forum

6-8 pm
North South Rail Link Citizens' Advisory Committee
State Tranportation Building,10 Park Plaza, conference room 4, Boston

6:30 pm
Screening and Panel on "Power" - the Cree's battle to defeat Hydro Quebec's James Bay hydroelectric project in NE Canada
Matthew Coon Come, Cree Grand Chief; Ashok Gupta, NRDC; Glen Salzman, Film Producer
contact 253-0108 or http://web.mit.edu/tac/www/home.html
MIT, Stratton Student Center, La Sala de Puerto Rico

7 pm
Are Changes in Climate Affecting Human Health
Paul Epstein, Center for Health and Global Environment
contact Jen Meagher 521-2089
Simmons College, Main College Building, Conference Center, 300 The Fenway, Boston

7 pm -9 pm
MassGreens Steering Committee
contact (508) 688-2068 or massgreens@igc.apc.org
Lawrence, MA

Tuesday, April 8

12 pm
Beyond _Machine and the Garden_: Toward a New Paradigm for Landscape Architecture
Mark Klopfer, landscape architect
Harvard, Gund Hall, Room 109

Food Fight: The Real Issue in Food Lion v ABC
Richard Wyatt, lead counsel, Food Lion
Harvard, Taubman Building, Room 275

1 pm
Working on Bureaucracy
Moshe Lewin, Univ of PA
Coolidge Hall, 1737 Cambridge St, Room 215

4:30 pm
The Dithering Away of the State? Social Theory, Cultural Consciousness, and Class Perspectives in the Contemporary World System
Terence Turner, Univ. of Chicago
contact 3-3065 or rjacobs@mit.edu
MIT Building E38, Room 714

6:30 pm
The Impact of Digital Technology on Space and Place
Micha Bandini, Georgia Institute of Technology
MIT Building 10, Room 250

Wednesday, April 9

11 am
Solid State Lasers: From Concepts to Applied Sources
James Harrison, Schwartz Electro-Optics
contact 253-8504
MIT Building 34, Room 401B

12 pm
De-Alerting Nuclear Forces
Bruce Blair, Brookings Institute
MIT Building E38, Room 615

A Prolegomenon to the Origins of Landscape Architecture
Jospeh Disponzio, Columbia
Harvard, Gund Hall, Room 109

12:10 pm
Acoustic Thermometry of Ocean Climate: Where Do We Stand?
Dimitris Menemenlis, MIT
MIT Building, Room 915

12:30 pm
Techology as a Learning Tool
Dave Masters, Warner Brothers
Harvard, Longfellow Hall, Appian Way, Askwith Lecture Hall

3:30 pm
Phase Transitions in Thin Polymer Mixtures
Sanat Kumar, Pennsylvania State Univ
contact rutledge@mit.edu
MIT Building 37, Room 252

4 pm
Significance of the GISP2 Pre-Holocene and Holocene Rapid Climate Change Events
Paul Mayewski, Univ of NH
MIT Building 54, Room 915

Intra-Firm Capital Flows and Diversificiation: Transnational and Domestic Corporations
Janis Kapler, Bunting Fellow
Harvard, Bunting Institute, 34 Concord Ave

Adverse Consequences of Environmental Federalism: The Case of Hazardous Waste Taxes
Arik Levinson, Univ of WI
Harvard, Kennedy School, Room 332

5:30 pm
Supporting Arts and Education: A Biased View
Ellen Rudolph, Surdna Foundation
Harvard, Longfellow Hall, Appian Way, Eliot-Lyman Room

7:30 pm
Disruptive Discourses: Reconfiguring American Culture in the Age of Globalization
Frederick Buell, Queen's College
Harvard, 61 Kirkland St, Room 24

8 pm
BTUs, the Biota, and the Proliferation of Nuclear Bombs: Some Science and Technology Policy Priorities for the Second Clinton Term
John Holdren, Harvard
Harvard, Science Center, Lectrue Hall C

Thursday, April 10

11:30 am
Sharing the Payoffs of Collaborative R&D Relationships
Sandy Jap, MIT
MIT Building E51, Room 376

12 pm
Forecasting and Assimilating Ocean Processes & Variables
Allan Robinson, Harvard Univ
contact 253-9310 or bales@mit.edu
MIT Building E38, Room 300

3 pm
Biocatalyst Engineering for Extreme Environments
Douglas C. Clark, UC Berkeley
MIT Building 66, Room 110

4 pm
Teaching and Learning in Cyberspace
Vijay Kumar, Director, Academic Computing; Leslie Perelman, Assoc. Dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs; Shigeru Miyagawa, Foreign Languages and Literatures. Moderator: Edward Barrett, Writing and Humanistic Studies
contact http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/www or 253-0008
MIT Building 2, Room 105

The Expressiveness of the Body and the Divergence of Greek and Chinese Medicine
Shigehisa Kuriyama, Int Research Center for Japanese Studies
Harvard Medical School, Benjamin Waterhouse Room, Boston

The Peace Process: Where Are We Now and What Do Indicators Say About the Future?
Steven Spiegel, UCLA
Harvard, Coolidge Hall, 1737 Cambridge St, Room 3

Facing the Challenge of Food Scarcity
Lester Brown, Worldwatch Institute; Nazli Choucri, MIT
contact 253-0108 or http://web.mit.edu/tac/www/home.html
MIT Building 9, Room 150

4:30 pm
The People and the Community
Aaron Feuerstein, President and CEO of Malden Mills
MIT Kresge Auditorium

5 pm
Conservation and Community Development in Central America
Shanu Paul, EcoLogic
please confirm your attendance at 441-6300 or ecologic@igc.org
1692 Massachusetts Avenue, Second Floor

5:30 pm
Pop Internationalism
Paul Krugman, MIT
MIT Building 54, Room100

6 pm
Environmental Roundtable Dinner Meeting: coalition building and local environmental organizing around the dinner table
R.S.V.P. to Eric Antebi eantebi@amcinfo.org, 523-0655 x353
5 Joy Street, Boston
Attendees should indicate if they wish to enjoy food from the ER pizza table ($5 donation required) or to bring their own food.

6:30 pm
ACLU v Reno: Censoring the Internet
Chris Hansen, ACLU
contact 495-9611
Harvard Law School, Pound Hall, Room 101

7:30 pm
Boston Area Solar Energy Association: City of Boston Energy Task Force
contact 49-SOLAR
3 Church St, Harvard Sq

Friday, April 11

12:45 pm
Lecture by David Calhoun, President and CEO, GE Transportation Systems
MIT Building 10, Room 105 (Bush Room)

4 pm
Signatures of Quantum Chaos in Microstructures: Porter-Thomas Distributions and Wave Interference Effects
Albert Change, Bell Labs
Harvard, Pierce Hall, Room 209

Saturday, April 12

Volunteer work day at the Cambridge Sustainable House
contact 868-7788
136 Appleton St

8:30am -5:30 pm (Symposium) and 7:30pm -12 am (Dinner/dance)
Physicians for Human Rights 10th Anniversary Celebration
Symposium and Awards Dinner. (You do not have to be a physician to attend or to join)
contact agrunder@phrusa.org, or fax 617-695 0041
Park Plaza Hotel, Boston MA

Sources for Listings:
MIT _Tech Talk_ :
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/www
Harvard _Gazette_ :
http://www.news.harvard.edu/hno.subpages/hno.calendar.full.html
Harvard Environmental Resources On-Line:
http://environment.harvard.edu
MA Executive Office of Environmental Affairs calendar:
http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/envir/earth.htm
Earth Day Network international/national listings:
http://www.cfe.cornell.edu/EarthDay/ednethome.html
Earth Day Greater Boston calendar:
http://www.earthdaygb.org

act-ma the Massachusetts activists mailing list:
subscribe by emailing majordomo@igc.apc.org, leaving the subject line blank and typing "subscribe act-ma" as the message

Peace and Justice Events Hotline at (617)787-6809

Table of Contents



Online ISO 14000 Seminar

Editorial Comment: I saw this on the Environment Online List (eon@world.std.com, subscribe by emailing majordomo@world.std.com and typing "subscribe eon" as the message).



Announcement of Online ISO 14000 Seminar
"UNDERSTANDING AND IMPLEMENTING ISO 14000 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS" ProSolve Consulting is offering an interactive, online session about ISO 14000 Standards to be held April 21 - May 2, 1997. Participants work on their own schedules using a web browser.

The seminar presenters will answer the following questions:
What are the ISO 14000 Environmental System (EMS) Standards?
What are the benefits of an Environmental Management System?
How do you implement an Environmental Management System?
How do you register your Environmental Management System?

REQUIREMENTS
1. Internet connection and web browser (Netscape 2.0 or greater, or Internet Explorer).
2. Time - about 30 minutes per day for two weeks
3. Cost $185 (US funds)

FURTHER INFORMATION
Visit http://infopalconference.com/iso14000.htm
RECEPTION
visit the free interactive reception at
http://infopalconference.com/~caucus/infop_2.htm (choose "first time users", self-register and select iso14000_info).

REGISTRATION
To register for the ISO 14000 Seminar, either:
1. fill in the online form at http://infopalconference.com/event1register.htm or
2. reply by e-mail to pallistj@cadvision.com
3. phone (403) 266-1030

Table of Contents



Understanding and Applying the Natural Step

Editorial Comment: I am a member of a New England study group on The Natural Step. We have been meeting together for over a year now and have just scheduled a one day training session for those who are interested in learning more. Donald Fried-Tanzer (donaldf@gis.net) posted the following announcement to our mailing list, tns-consultant@igc.org (subscribe by emailing majordomo@igc.org and typing "subscribe tuns-consultant" as your message.) TNS is a practical regimen for ecological restoration. This is a good, affordable opportunity to learn more.


DATE: Saturday, May 17, 1997, 9:00 - 5:00
PLACE: Wentworth Institute of Technology, 550 Huntington Avenue, Roxbury (2 blocks west of the Museum of Fine Arts)

THE NATURAL STEP: The Natural Step (TNS) is a highly successful scientific and social consensus process that helps individuals and organizations of all sizes move toward greater sustainability and economic strength. Four system conditions for sustainability provide a coherent platform that makes strategic sense out of environmental challenges and gives an entire organization a common framework for addressing both present and future challenges.

PURPOSE: Inspire participants with an understanding of The Natural Step and its implications for achieving sustainability. Significant training time will be devoted to interactive exercises that will provide participants with tools they can use to incorporate TNS into their communities and workplaces after the training.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: Individuals interested in bringing The Natural Step to their agencies, businesses, communities, organizations, and households; consultants interested in incorporating The Natural Step into their practices; and those interested in understanding how to contribute to a sustainable future.

SCOPE OF TRAINING: This 1-day Training is designed to help participants:
(1) Deepen their understanding of the basic science principles underlying The Natural Step [Editorial Comment: substances from the Earth's crust and produced by society must not systematically increase in the ecosphere, the physical basis for productivity and diversity of nautre must not be systematically diminished, and all resources should be used fairly and efficiently to meet human needs.]
(2) Understand the system conditions and how they are derived, explained, and applied
(3) Learn how public and private organizations have used the system conditions as a compass to help point the way toward a sustainable future
(4) Explore the application of the system conditions at home and work
(5) Gain comfort in effectively communicating about The Natural Step

MAJOR PRESENTERS:
Frank Dixon, TNS Trainer and Consultant
Alice E. Nichols, Integrated Strategies International & TNS Board Member

FEE: Regular Tuition $150
EARLY Registration DISCOUNT Tuition (received by 4/30/97) $100
Discounted STUDENT Tuition $100
EARLY Registration DISCOUNT Student Tuition (received by 4/30/97) $75
Handouts, lunch and light refreshments included

REGISTRATION: Complete the registration form below and mail with a check payable to:
TNS Boston
108 Rolling Meadow Drive
Holliston, MA 01746-2600
To ensure a space in the training, make sure your registration is received by 5/9/97, registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis. Registrations will be accepted up until the morning of the training on a space available basis. E-mail or telephone to assure availability. Cancellations made after 5/9/97 will not be refunded.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Contact: Donald Fried-Tanzer, 508-429-5004, donaldf@gis.net
or: Paul Lipke, 413-367-2878, mplipke@library.umass.edu
or: Alice Nichols, 617-527 2385, anichols@cs.tufts.edu

REGISTRATION FORM
UNDERSTANDING AND APPLYING THE NATURAL STEP
Saturday, May 17, 1997, 9:00 - 5:00
Wentworth Institute of Technology, 550 Huntington Avenue, Roxbury

Name:
Organization:
Street Address:
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Telephone:
Fax:
E-mail:
Please indicate vegetarian or other special dietary requests for lunch:

1. In what aspects of TNS are you particularly interested?
2. In what area do you have interest in implementing the TNS concepts (your home, corporation, municipality, community, government group, etc)?
3. What would make this one-day event most valuable for you?

Please fill out and return this form with your check by 5/9/97.
To register after 5/9/97, call or e-mail before submitting this form.

Please circle the fee that applies to your registration.
FEE: Regular Tuition $150
EARLY Registration DISCOUNT Tuition (received by 4/30/97) $100
Discounted STUDENT Tuition $100
EARLY Registration DISCOUNT Student Tuition (received by 4/30/97) $75

Table of Contents



Trainers' Workshop on Sustainable Community Indicators

Editorial Comment: Maureen Hart (mhart@tiac.net) is doing a workshop on her specialty, sustainable community indicators. If you want to know what the indicators movement is all about, you can't do better than talking to Maureen.


US EPA's Office of Sustainable Ecosystems and Communities (OSEC) and the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at University of Massachusetts Lowell (Lowell Center) are pleased to announce a workshop for individuals and organizations working with community groups on sustainable community initiatives. The workshop will be lead by Maureen Hart, a nationally known expert on sustainable community indicators. Ms. Hart is the author of the Guide to Sustainable Community Indicators as well as a web site of searchable sustainable community indicators.

Who should attend?
This workshop is for people and organizations who are reaching out to communities on issues of sustainability or who are considering developing economic, environmental, or social indicators for a community. This would include nonprofit organizations, grassroots activists, and state and local government officials.

What is the purpose of this workshop?
The purpose of this workshop is to increase participants' understanding of sustainability issues at the grassroots level and provide community members with tools for initiating or furthering community indicator projects. The half day workshop will provide an introduction to the concept of sustainability and the use of indicators as well as tools for evaluating indicators and sustainability projects. The workshop will be an interactive process that encourages the active involvement of the participants rather than a lecture session. In addition to learning about how others are defining and working on sustainability, participants will gain experience in developing and evaluating potential indicators of sustainability. The workshop will also highlight useful resources and sources of data for indicators. As a result of attending this workshop, the participants will be able to provide more effective outreach to their constituents on issues of sustainability. They will also be able to work more effectively with groups developing indicators, so that those indicators are more aligned with the concepts of sustainability.

When and where will the workshop be held?
The workshop will be Thursday, May 1, 1997 from 9AM to 12 noon on the University of Massachusetts Lowell campus in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Is there a charge to attend the workshop?
There is no charge for the workshop, however, space is limited and registration is required by April 16th.

How do I find out more about the workshop?
For more information, contact Maureen Hart at (508) 975-1988 or mhart@tiac.net.
To learn more about sustainable community indicators, visit her web site at:
http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators

How do I register for the workshop?
Contact Maureen by April 16th at:

Hart Environmental Data
P.O. Box 361
North Andover, MA 01845
phone: (508) 975-1988
fax (508) 975-2241
mhart@tiac.net
http://www.subjectmatters.com/indicators

We are what we measure.
We need to measure what we want to be.

Table of Contents



Crypto Alert

Editorial Comment: Daniel Wallace (dwallace@tiac.net) sent this alert to the Computer Organizations of NE list (cone@world.std.com, subscribe by emailing majordomo@world.std.com and typing "subscribe cone" as your message). When I teach people about the Internet, I tell them it is like a party line, that email is not really private unless it is encrypted. Our Federal goverment does not understand the necessity for privacy. Please let them know what you feel about this issue. It's midnight for privacy, do you know where your government is?


WHAT'S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW
On March 26, 1997, the Clinton Administration proposed draft legislation which would, for the first time, impose DOMESTIC RESTRICTIONS on the ability of Americans to protect their privacy and security online.

In its current form, the draft bill seeks to impose a risky "key-recovery" regime which would compel American citizens to ensure government access to their private communications. Law enforcement and national security agents would not even need a court order to access private decryption keys.

Congress is currently considering three separate bills which would prohibit the government from imposing "key-recovery" domestically, and encourage the development of easy-to-use, privacy and security tools for the Net.

As more and more Americans come online, the Administration's plan is a giant step backwards and would open a huge window of vulnerability to the private communications of Internet users. Americans expect more when conducting private conversations with their doctors, families, business partners, or lawyers.

Please read the Alert below to find out what you can do to protect your privacy online.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
1. Adopt Your Legislator
Now is the time to increase our ranks and prepare for the fight that lies ahead of us in Congress. The time to blast Congress or the White House with phone calls and emails will come, but now is not the appropriate moment.

Instead, please take a few minutes to learn more about this important issue, and join the Adopt Your Legislator Campaign at http://www.crypto.com/adopt/ This will produce a customized page, just for you with your own legislator's telephone number and address.

In addition, you will receive the latest news and information on the issue, as well as targeted alerts informing you when your Representatives in Congress do something that could help or hinder the future of the Internet.

Best of all, it's free. Do your part, Work the Network!
Visit http://www.crypto.com/adopt/ for details.

2. Beginning Monday March 31, call the White House
Internet public interest advocates continue to work the Hill in support of the three true encryption reform bills in Congress, Pro-CODE, SAFE, & ECPA II. If you still feel a need to voice your opinion, however, you can call the White House to express your opinion.

Step 1 - Beginning Monday March 31, call the White House
Call 202-456-1111 9am-5pm EST. Ignore the voice mail survey and press '0' to get a comment line operator.

Step 2 - Tell them what you think about intrusions into your privacy!
Operator: Hello, White House comment line!
YOU: I'm calling to oppose president's Internet encryption bill. It infringes on the privacy of Americans. We need a solution to the encryption issue that protects privacy, and this is not it.
Operator: Thank you, I'll pass that along to the President.

3. Spread the Word!
Forward this Alert to your friends. Help educate the public about the importance of this issue.

Please do not forward after May 1, 1997.

BACKGROUND
Complete background information, including:
* A down-to-earth explanation of why this debate is important to Internet users
* Analysis and background on the issue
* Text of the Administration draft legislation
* Text of Congressional proposals to reform US encryption policy
* Audio transcripts and written testimony from recent Congressional Hearings on encryption policy reform
* And more!
Are all available at http://www.crypto.com/

WHAT'S AT STAKE
Encryption technologies are the locks and keys of the Information age - enabling individuals and businesses to protect sensitive information as it is transmitted over the Internet. As more and more individuals and businesses come online, the need for strong, reliable, easy-to-use encryption technologies has become a critical issue to the health and viability of the Net.

Current US encryption policy, which limits the strength of encryption products US companies can sell abroad, also limits the availability of strong, easy-to-use encryption technologies in the United States. US hardware and software manufacturers who wish to sell their products on the global market must either conform to US encryption export limits or produce two separate versions of the same product, a costly and complicated alternative.

The export controls, which the NSA and FBI argue help to keep strong encryption out of the hands of foreign adversaries, are having the opposite effect. Strong encryption is available abroad, but because of the export limits and the confusion created by nearly four years of debate over US encryption policy, strong, easy-to-use privacy and security technologies are not widely available off the shelf or "on the net" here in the US.

A recently discovered flaw in the security of the new digital telephone network exposed the worst aspects of the Administration's encryption policy. Because the designers needed to be able to export their products, the system's security was "dumbed down". Researchers subsequently discovered that it is quite easy to break the security of the system and intrude on what should be private conversations.

This incident underscores the larger policy problem: US companies are at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace when competing against companies that do not have such hindrances. And now, for the first time in history, the Clinton Administration has DOMESTIC RESTRICTIONS on the ability of Americans to protect their privacy and security online.

All of us care about our national security, and no one wants to make it any easier for criminals and terrorists to commit criminal acts. But we must also recognize encryption technologies can aid law enforcement and protect national security by limiting the threat of industrial espionage and foreign spying, promote electronic commerce and protecting privacy.

What's at stake in this debate is nothing less than the future of privacy and the fate of the Internet as a secure and trusted medium for commerce, education, and political discourse.

SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS
For more information, contact the following organizations who have signed onto this effort at their web sites.
Center for Democracy and Technology http://www.cdt.org
Press contact: Jonah Seiger, +1.202.637.9800
Eagle Forum http://www.eagleforum.org
Press contact: Phyllis Schlafly, +1.314.721.1213
Electronic Frontier Foundation http://www.eff.org
Press contact: Stanton McCandlish, +1.415.436.9333
Voters Telecommunications Watch http://www.vtw.org
Press contact: Shabbir J. Safdar, +1.718.596.7234
Wired Magazine http://www.wired.com
Press contact: Todd Lappin, +1.415.276.5224

Table of Contents



Betting Your Home on Environmental Justice

Editorial Comment: Barry Kort (bkort@musenet.org) is a pioneer in creating learning spaces online for children. Over a year ago, he contacted me about a problem he was having with his condo association over their appropiation of wetlands for a private golf course and I included his account in "A List..." He needs help on the same fight and it looks like the final innings. He is risking quite a lot for principle. He'd appreciate any help you can give.


Hi George,
Today's Globe (Sunday, March 30) in the NorthWest Section (only available in copies delivered to that zone) carries a front page story on the controversy with my Condo over the conversion of the Wetlands and Conservation Lands into an undocumented golf course. The Globe article is not on the Web, but there is some basic info up on my Web page at http://www.musenet.org/~bkort under the paragraph on the Wetlands.

I need people to write letters of outrage to the Trustees, to the Town, to environmental groups, and to the press. The only way I can turn this around is if there is a hue and cry the likes of which Bedford has never seen before.
Barry

from Barry's Webpage:
"Moulton (Barry's online character) lives in a Condominium located along the flowage of the Shawsheen River in Bedford Massachussets. The land alongside the river include Wetlands and Conservation Lands owned by the Town of Bedford and protected by the Bedford Conservation ByLaws and by the Wetlands Protection Act. Some Unit Owners decided to build a golf course on this land, and did so without notification to the Town, without approval from the Planning Board and Conservation Commission, and without approval of the remaining Unit Owners. The Trustees of Bedfordshire then assumed the cost of maintaining the golf course and rolled the expenses into the annual budget.

"Moulton protested the invasion and conversion of the Wetlands and Conservation Lands for the construction of an unapproved golf course, and refused to pay for it. The Trustees then filed a lawsuit in Superior Court, seeking an order to sell Moulton's condo. Moulton counter-sued the Trustees, alleging willful breach of trust and exceeding their lawful authority. You can read the pleadings and outcome of the case and send messages of support to Moulton.

"If the Trustees win the case, Moulton will lose his condo and be forced to move away. If that happens, MicroMuse and MuseNet will most likely go out of service. Your letters of support will be forwarded to the Trustees, with copies to town officials and to the local newspaper. They will also be reposted on the the Web pages here.

"I regret to report that Moulton lost the case."

Please send your letters of outrage to any or all of these recipients.
Trustees of Bedfordshire (or to their wives)
47 Mitchell Grant Way
Bedford MA 01730

Bedford Town Officials (Any of: Selectmen, Planning Board, Code Enforcement Office, Conservation Commission)
10 Mudge Way
Bedford MA 01730

Judge Margot Botsford
Courtroom 9B
Middlesex Superior Court
40 Thorndike Street
Cambridge, MA

The Boston Globe
NorthWest Weekly Section
442 Marrett Road
Lexington MA

Please send a copy to me at bkort@musenet.org and I will post it on my Web page.

Table of Contents



The Begging Bowl

I spent part of Wednesday and Thursday at "a citizen's panel on telecommunications and the future of democracy" at Tufts. There I took the opportunity to talk with Laura Ring of the MA Telecommunications Council (http://www.masstel.org/) and David Tebaldi (dtebaldi@hfa.umass.edu) of the MA Foundation for the Humanities. I gave them both my contact information, explained a little about what "A List..." is, and asked them to consider the idea of establishing an online central repository for public lecture information from our local colleges and universities (to start with). This is the one of the projects I started when I began "A List..." Then I realized that most colleges and universities don't centralize public lecture information within their own institutions let alone make it available to the general public and that the job of centralizing a resource that didn't yet exist would be too big a job for me to do alone.

I think that David Tebaldi really got what I was driving at. We talked for a while about what such an information resource might mean in terms of educational, social, and business advantage to this region. I hope that my suggestion will stimulate his imagination and that the MA Foundation for the Humanities will take on this project with the collaboration of such groups as the MA Telecommunications Council, the MA Software Council, the High Tech Council, and all of the colleges and universities in the area.

I feel like I'm giving away the store, letting go of a great idea so that I can be free to create others. My hope is that these folks get together and do it just as I imagined with minimal participation by me. I'd sorta kinda like to see the whole thing emerge with my contribution vanishing into anonymity.

However, you can recognize my contributions with your own - money, articles, information, good wishes and prayers all accepted gratefully.

How "A List..." works:
If you want to have a listing included in "A List..." please send it to me before noon on the Friday before the event and if said even is deemed suitable for coverage, it will be included in the appropriate edition of "A List..." Articles and reviews, ideas, rants and opinions are also solicited. Publication is up to the erratic discretion of the editor.

"A List..." is also a listserv. You can subscribe or unsubscribe to the listserv by emailing a-list-request@world.std.com, leaving the Subject line blank, and typing "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" as the message.

"A List..." is a freeware/shareware publication. If the information is of any value to you, please contribute - money, information, encouragement, prayers and good wishes are all valid currencies for feedback and will be gratefully appreciated by
George Mokray
Information Ecologies
218 Franklin St #3
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617)661-2676
gmoke@world.std.com

This publication is copyrighted to George Mokray and the individual writers of the articles. Permission to reproduce is granted for non-profit purposes as long as the source is cited.