[net.politics] Proposal for a Peace Network

jim@cornell.UUCP (Jim Ferwerda) (03/11/85)

	More than most others, readers of net.politics are probably aware
	of the great potential of this medium for facilitating communication
	between people, and providing a forum for the free exchange of ideas.
	A group of people at Cornell University is attempting to bring the
	power of electronic communication to the community of people around
	the country who are working for peace and social justice. This
	project hopes to establish a nation-wide dialup network of small
	computers that will allow this activist community to exchange
	mail, broadcast announcements, establish a netnews-like facility,
	track government legislation, do bibliographic searches, and in
	general achieve better coordination between groups of similar
	interest that are isolated from one another by geographical location
	or because of lack of access to information resources.
	At this point in the project, I am trying to establish contacts
	with people on the net who are active in peace and social justice
	work. My hope is that we will be able to share our interests, and
	technical expertise to get this project off the ground. Please
	do not reply to this message through the usual news channels, but
	send me mail at any of the addresses listed below.

	
						Thanks,

						Jim Ferwerda

	jim@cornell (arpa)
	jim@crnlcs  (bitnet)
	allegra!
	decvax!
	uw-beaver!
		  cornell!jim (uucp)

medin@ucbvax.ARPA (Milo Medin) (03/17/85)

> 
> 	More than most others, readers of net.politics are probably aware
> 	of the great potential of this medium for facilitating communication
> 	between people, and providing a forum for the free exchange of ideas.
> 	A group of people at Cornell University is attempting to bring the
> 	power of electronic communication to the community of people around
> 	the country who are working for peace and social justice. This
> 	project hopes to establish a nation-wide dialup network of small
> 	computers that will allow this activist community to exchange
> 	mail, broadcast announcements, establish a netnews-like facility,
> 	track government legislation, do bibliographic searches, and in
> 	general achieve better coordination between groups of similar
> 	interest that are isolated from one another by geographical location
> 	or because of lack of access to information resources.
> 	At this point in the project, I am trying to establish contacts
> 	with people on the net who are active in peace and social justice
> 	work. My hope is that we will be able to share our interests, and
> 	technical expertise to get this project off the ground. Please
> 	do not reply to this message through the usual news channels, but
> 	send me mail at any of the addresses listed below.
> 
> 	
> 						Thanks,
> 
> 						Jim Ferwerda
> 
> 	jim@cornell (arpa)
> 	jim@crnlcs  (bitnet)
> 	allegra!
> 	decvax!
> 	uw-beaver!
> 		  cornell!jim (uucp)


I hope you don't plan on using DoD funded resources for political
activities, right or left wing.  Individuals just offering their
opinion on the net is tolerated by DCA, but this type of activity
will not be.  In fact, our campus research machines (paid for
by DARPA or NSF) are not to be used for this purpose, and I would
suspect CORNELL and many other places would have a similar policy.
Abuse of this type is what gets written up in 'golden fleece'
awards, and the network community doesn't need this type
of publicity.  


					Milo

myers@uwmacc.UUCP (Jeff Myers) (03/18/85)

> 
> I hope you don't plan on using DoD funded resources for political
> activities, right or left wing.  Individuals just offering their
> opinion on the net is tolerated by DCA, but this type of activity
> will not be.  In fact, our campus research machines (paid for
> by DARPA or NSF) are not to be used for this purpose, and I would
> suspect CORNELL and many other places would have a similar policy.
> Abuse of this type is what gets written up in 'golden fleece'
> awards, and the network community doesn't need this type
> of publicity.  
> 
> 
> 					Milo

How much rogue or hack do you play, Milo?  Why is political activity less
apropriate than spreading thousands of lines of game source across the
phone lines?  Because the DoD has use for military simulations?

Isn't peace the goal of Defense?  Or should the DoD go back to the more
correct acronym DoW (DOW chemical...hm.)?

jeff m

medin@ucbvax.ARPA (Milo Medin) (03/20/85)

> How much rogue or hack do you play, Milo?  Why is political activity less
> apropriate than spreading thousands of lines of game source across the
> phone lines?  Because the DoD has use for military simulations?
> 
> Isn't peace the goal of Defense?  Or should the DoD go back to the more
> correct acronym DoW (DOW chemical...hm.)?
> 
> jeff m

Actually, I dont play rogue, or hack, but thats not the point.
Political activity using research machines is not allowed, moreover
it is strictly prohibited in the DCA regulations involving
ARPANET/MILNET.  The fact that they don't pay much attention now
is because it hasn't been an embarassment to them, if political
activities such as those proposed take place, and somebody tells
DCA about it, then they will pay attention to everything going
over those lines.   I'd prefer not having to deal with that
(me being a system manager).  The goals are laudable, but the
rules don't permit it.  Life is like that some times.

					Milo


BTW, the War dept. was just the army and air components,
the navy had its own dept. (the navy dept).