113 lines
5.6 KiB
Plaintext
113 lines
5.6 KiB
Plaintext
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 91 01:21:41 CST
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From: sjackson (Steve Jackson)
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To: eff-a
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Subject: Directors Meeting Minutes
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Whoops. I sent these to National within a couple of hours of
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the meeting, and neglected to post them where Austin could see. Sorry!
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MINUTES OF EFF-AUSTIN DIRECTORS' MEETING - Oct. 23, 1991
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Prepared by Steve Jackson; blame him for errors or omissions.
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These minutes prepared during and immediately after the meeting
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through the miracle of SJ's new laptop . . .
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Held chez Matt Lawrence, 7:30pm. Present: Steve Jackson, Matt
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Lawrence, Jon Lebkowski, Smoot Carl-Mitchell. John Quarterman
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and Lar Kaufman had previously warned that they'd be out of town.
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"Approval of the minutes" - no one had any problems with the
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previously posted minutes of the last meeting.
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Recommendations on organization and our official status - Smoot
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has nothing new for us yet. A particular point we need to get
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clarification on: Does the 501(c)(3) status of the national
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organization extend to its branches? E.g. - Can a donation made
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to EFF-Austin be tax deductible?
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Armadillocon - The table was organized by Jon L. and SJ. Thanks
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to the volunteer helpers! Therel Moore, Chris McCubbin and Bruce
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Sterling put in a lot of time; others filled in occasionally.
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There were a great many signups on the "please send information"
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sheet (most from outside Austin!). Two people wrote out membership
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checks on the spot.
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Everyone was interested and sympathetic, but many people were
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surprisingly unfamiliar with the issues.
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One person, who works for IBM, was AFRAID to sign our mailing list.
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She later changed her mind, but her initial reluctance was very
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interesting.
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The table needed a good, readable banner and a legible sign
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explaining, in ten words, what the group was about. There was
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general agreement that a big professionally-made sign or banner
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should be one of our first acquisitions, for use at this sort of
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event.
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We had a computer at the booth, with a large selection of EFF-
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related files. This was a good idea, and it was used by some visitors
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to the booth, but a user-friendly front end for file reading would have
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been helpful. (After the meeting, SJ and Matt developed a design for
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such a front end. Matt will implement code as time allows. If it
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proves worthwhile, we'll spread it around - maybe as shareware with
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a request for donation to EFF-Austin.)
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Also at Armadillocon was a panel on electronic freedoms. This turned
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into an argument about piracy and did not really address the
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stated issues for more than a couple of minutes. Should this be
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considered a problem? The moderator, and most of the audience,
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obviously had more to say about piracy than about Constitutional
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rights, and it's an important issue, but it's not an EFF issue at
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the moment.
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Other conventions - We still have other possible targets, including
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a conference in Dallas on fiber optics (the national EFF does not have
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the manpower to go) and a professional conference in San Antonio in
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a few months. Which ones should we try to hit? Do we need a Convention
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Coordinator, to deal with such appearances?
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Meetings and publicity - Long discussion of this general
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subject. Consensus reached as follows:
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We should hold monthly directors' meetings and quarterly
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general meetings. The general meetings should be Events, with
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programs of interest to the general computer-literate public.
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Before we can hold meetings, we need a meeting site. SJ and
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Jon will check various local possibilities and report back.
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We need to prepare a membership package for the local group, once
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the first meeting is set. SJ will do DTP and printing, Smoot will take care of postage.
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SJ will check with John Quarterman on just what our mailing
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list format should be.
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There should be local dues. Pending Cambridge approval, we like
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$10/year, or $5 per students. Membership in the national EFF would
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be required. (Meetings should probably be open to everyone, but
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there should be some specific membership perks.)
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When Bruce Sterling's HACKER CRACKDOWN book is published, EFF-
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Austin should sponsor a signing. Maybe at a local bookstore . . .
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maybe at a computer store.
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Dean Langston is still interested in doing something for
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cable TV. He and SJ have been playing phone tag since the first
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meeting. SJ will work harder at making a good contact. (Videotaping
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speakers at the quarterly meetings would be worthwhile.)
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We could also no doubt get on the local radio shows.
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CACTUS - Bruce spoke to their last meeting. Matt reports that it
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went well. (For out-of-towners, this is the Capital Area Central
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Texas UNIX Society.)
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Conference/Convention - There is still interest in having the
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Austin EFF host a local conference. What we lack most is the high
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concept - a ten-word explanation of what the conference is about. The quarterly general meetings would be good practice.
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Texas Observer - Richard Steinberg has turned in an article. It is a popularization with lots of quotes, rather than an in-depth look at the issues, but it reads quite well.
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UT Law School - We have a potential liaison, a second-year law
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student who runs the Bamboo Garden BBS in Austin. Jon will invite
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him to the next directors' meeting.
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Legislative initiative - This is far in the future yet, but
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SJ will bring copies of the Texas "computer crime" law to the
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next meeting.
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The Houston group had a successful "CyberLunch" a couple of weeks ago, and collected lots of names.
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Next meeting: Wednesday, Nov. 27, at Matt's.
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Meeting after next: We want to do a holiday party sometime
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around Christmas or New Year's. Matt has volunteered to host it.
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Everyone will be invited.
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