From: sjackson@tic.com (Steve Jackson)
To: eff-a@tic.com
Subject: Minutes of 2-12 meeting

MINUTES OF AUSTIN EFF DIRECTORS' MEETING - Feb. 12, 1992
 
   Held 7:30pm at Matt Lawrence's. Directors present were Jon Lebkowsky,
Matt Lawrence, Ed Cavazos, John Quarterman, Steve Jackson. Observing:
Nancy Loomis, Jon Boede, Bruce Sterling.
   As usual, minutes taken by SJ, who is solely at fault for any
omissions or errors.
   Minutes of the last meeting were approved w/o reading.
 
   Recommendations on organization and our official status - Smoot
and Jon worked on this and sent a letter to Mitch Kapor. His reply
was favorable. We have a GO to write organizational bylaws. Ed
Cavazos will prepare a draft, keeping it to the bare bones that
will satisfy Texas law if we later attempt to register as a nonprofit
corporation. We discussed directors, officers, etc., briefly.
 
   Local dues - Tentative approval of $10/year, or $5 per students,
or $50 for corporations. That does NOT have to be specified in the
bylaws - but it needs to be in our membership material. Final decision
to be made next meeting. (It was suggested that these rates might be
too low.)
 
   Meetings and publicity - General agreement that it's time to
find a site and hold a general meeting. SJ has talked repeatedly
to a Dell representative about their Arboretum site, and sent
information about the EFF, but has never gotten any commitment
from him.
   Jon thinks that he can get permission to use the excellent MCC
auditorium. An Austin Community College facility near Highland Mall
was also mentioned; this won't be as pretty but is more central.
   SJ will draft a membership package for the local group, in time
for the March meeting. Smoot will take care of postage.
   We have had an increasing demand for literature, as various
Austin EFFectives make public appearances. Steve now has a stock of
literature at his office. Rita Rouvalis at the Cambridge office
continues to be very helpful in sending more as needed. We still need,
and do not have, a volunteer for local distribution of this material
   The ACLU show TAKING LIBERTIES, with Steve Jackson as interviewee,
will rerun part 1 on March 6 and part 2 on March 13.
 
Local activities since the last meeting:
   Steve Jackson addressed the monthly meeting of the Central Texas
Civil Liberties Union. It went well. Questions afterward ranged from
exactly-on-point to out-in-left-field, which indicates that we were
not just preaching to the choir this time - some of these people were
not yet aware of the issues, but they were interested!
   Steve Jackson also went to San Marcos to speak to the SWT chapter
of the ACM on February 5. This also went well. Audience about 30.
   Bruce Sterling gave away 300 copies of EFFECTOR during his
promotional tour for DIFFERENCE ENGINE.
   Today was the first day of the Government & Technology Conference.
Unanimous acclaim for Jon's excellent job of organizing our participa-
tion. The booth looked good, was well stocked with a variety of
EFF literature, and was staffed at all times. Lots of people stopped
to ask questions, and many signed up for more information. Bruce will
appear on a panel later in the conference. Improvements needed for
next time: a more prominent banner, sign or booth-back. For tomorrow
and Friday, John Quarterman is working on a supergraphic illustrating
the growth of the Net over the last few years and projections for the
next few.
 
Local activities, upcoming or proposed:
   SJ will appear this weekend at OrcCon, a very large gaming 
convention in Los Angeles, and will take literature and discuss the EFF
in his main presentation.
   The UT College of Communication is interested in having an EFF speaker
at their Communications Week, April 1-4. They're talking with SJ. Mike
Godwin is interested in coming down from Cambridge.
   SJ has been invited to participate in a debate at the
yearly ACM meeting in Kansas City. The debate will concern licensing of
computer professionals. Mike Godwin will be on hand for that one, too.
   When Bruce's HACKER CRACKDOWN book is published, EFF-Austin
should sponsor a signing. Maybe at a local bookstore . . . maybe at a
computer store. Bruce is willing. The book will be released in September.
See the note from Bruce below.
 
   Mailing list - Nothing new on this. Jon will discuss again with
Earl Cooley. He may be waiting on some further go-ahead from us - not
clear. If he is able and willing to write the database, we need
something by next meeting.
   We discussed whether we should fulfill, or block, requests for our
mailing list when it is created. Decision: There should be a flag in the
database so people can indicate that they're willing to have their names
given out, but the default is NO.
   As for the online list, we will not share or redistribute it.
 
   Local conference: It has been pointed out that there may be a
conflict, though not a direct one, with the name BBScon. Nobody loves
that name anyway, it seems. The name CyberTex was suggested, and met
with general glee.
   Ed Cavazos notes: "I have gathered a group of active Austin modem
users who are willing to help with the conference and any other EFF
activities.  They could prove invaluable when it comes time to
publicize meetings, organize membership drives, etc."
   We definitely want a dealer room and a flea market. We definitely
want some video, visual or VR-type activities. We definitely want
some good speakers.
   Date: probably late in the year, at this point. Austin is a very
pleasant place even in November.
   Jon and Ed will start holding convention committee meetings and
will announce them to eff-a.
 
   Computer display program - No progress.
 
   Logo - we now have a working graphics file of the star, cannon and
"Come And Take It" image.
 
NEW BUSINESS
   It's been proposed that we start feeding files to local BBSs which
are interested in carrying EFF material. Everyone thought this was a
reasonable thing to do. Ed Cavazos is already posting lots of EFF files
on his own BBS - the rest of the Board will just start sending him any
files that seem worthwhile.
   On a related issue, Bruce Sterling writes:
   "HACKER CRACKDOWN will be out in September.  I visited my editor's
office in NYC two days ago and the Bantam crew seemed quite pleased with
the book and determined to promote it vigorously.  One of their
promotional schemes is to give away a free floppy containing the
electronic text of the book and "other interesting material."  Perhaps
the fertile imaginations of the EFF-A B.O.D. can conjure up some
possibilities for this "other material."  The COME AND TAKE IT graphic
file leaps to mind, but what else? Perhaps a complete run of EFFector
Online?  WELL log-on procedures?  The mind boggles...."
   Other suggested additions: Crime & Puzzlement, of course - see if
Barlow wants to update anything. Ten False Facts about the Cybergate Raid.
The Hacker Test. Material for law enforcement. The Tribe amendment.
Bibliography!
 
Not discussed - held over till next meeting:
   We've been sent an "Interactive University" proposal from Dick Cutler
at UT. Is this something we are able and willing to support in any way?
   There's a report of a phreak bust in Houston - a kid going by the
handle of "Archaic Illume." Do we have any information about this? Do
we want to research further?
 
   Until further notice, directors' meetings will be held on
the second Tuesday of each month, at 7:30 pm, at Matt Lawrence's. That
makes the next two meetings March 10 and April 14.