Sender: Stanton McCandlish <•••@••.•••> For those that didn't see it in it's entirety, I'll reproduced Mark's original fully. It's not that long, so no big deal. Mark: Esther, Barlow and Stewart were all invited, just like you were. There's not conspiracy here. EFF does not have any formal ties with PFF, and I think we all regard them somewhat warily. That said, I agree you got a raw deal. Had I been in your shoes, I'd have simply gotten up and left in the middle of it. Would have made a strong statement and embarassed them. Then again, I'm possibly less patient than you are. <shrug> If at least 10% of the attendees were shocked and irritated enough to approach you about what was going on, that suggests to me that probably 50% or more noticed what was happening, and that's pretty bad PR for PFF. Maybe they'll learn from this. As for your observation that the old left-right dichotomy is useless these days, I'm pleased to agree with you completely. > From: Cyber Rights <•••@••.•••> > To: "Multiple recipients of list •••@••.•••" <•••@••.•••> > Subject: Re: Left vs. Right? [cr-95/8/21] > X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas > X-Comment: CPSR Cyber Rights Working Group > X-Info: For listserv info write to •••@••.••• with message HELP > > Sender: Mark Stahlman <•••@••.•••> > > Folks: > > I'm just back from the PFF (Newt's thinktank) Aspen "Summit Conference > on Cyberspace and the American Dream" (http//:aspen.pff.org). The > earlier version of this event produced the "Magna Carta for > Cyberspace" -- a Richard Moore criticism of which helped to produce > this list. This event was a lesson for me and perhaps for you as > well. > > Billed as an exploration of the practical implications of the "Magna > Carta" and including what appeared to be a surprising left/right, > computer/policy, inside/outside collection of speakers, I was hopeful. > Naively hopeful. Far from being an open forum forum the discussion of > ideas and impacts, the event was a carefully orchestrated handoff. > The digital baton was passed from Al Gore to Newt Gingrich. And, it > was WIRED, EFF and their allies (Media Lab, GBN, CDT, "the digerati", > etc.) who did the honors. > > There were seven digital "experts" on the panel of 25 people sitting > in the middle of a conference room for two days -- EFF's Esther Dyson, > JP Barlow and Stewart Brand, WIRED's Kevin Kelly, mSoft's Nathan > Myrvold and Sun's John Gage -- and me. The event was moderated by PFF > senior fellow and military/intelligence analyst Michael Vlahos. He > picked the order of speakers and ran the show -- much like a moderated > list. > > He let me speak only three times in two days. Why? Because he knew > (as did all the others) that I wasn't part of the program. I'm > against technocrats (i.e. ex-socialists) like Toffler, I'm against > Beltway heavies who think they are revolutinaries, I'm against > cyberspace-has-a-mind-of-it's-own idiocies and they knew it. With a > very heavy-handed zeal to avoid discussion of any basic issues, he > simply ignored the fact that I had my hand up. It got tense when I > had speak over him once -- after that the open mikes were no longer > open. Of the 200 or so people in the room, 20-30 came up to me and > said, "What the hell is going on?" and "Don't let them get away with > it." In the metaphor of the day, this was a very Old Media event not > two-way, not New Media. > > If you were wondering why Newt was interviewed on the cover of WIRED > last month ("Friend and Foe") or if you were wondering what ever > happened to EFF then the answer may lie within. There is a kind of > Digital Mafia out there. They want to align with whoever is in power. > EFF began as an "outside" and "grassroots" organization when Bush was > in. Clinton/Gore came to town and they got appointed to NII panels. > Newt came to town and they left (in tatters it would seem) to retreat > to San Francisco -- but with a Newt alliance cemented in Aspen. It's > old power politics. Left and right meet in cyberspace. > > My suggestion is simply that their days are numbered. Recognise them > for what they are and don't help them co-opt the media which will > ultimately bring them down. Focus on the anti-propaganda capacity of > the Net. Expose hidden agendas and refuse to put up with one-way > media -- including heavy- handed moderators. > > In the process, all those old ideologies -- left and right -- which > gave us this mess will need to be discarded. It's not that they > didn't work. They worked just fine -- to divide and conquer. We've > got a new reality. Use it. > > Mark Stahlman > New Media Associates > New York City -- <A HREF="http://www.eff.org/~mech/"> Stanton McCandlish </A><HR><A HREF="mailto:•••@••.•••"> •••@••.••• </A><P><A HREF="http://www.eff.org/"> Electronic Frontier Foundation </A><P><A HREF="http://www.eff.org/1.html"> Online Services Mgr. </A> ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by -- Andrew Oram -- •••@••.••• -- Cambridge, Mass., USA Moderator: CYBER-RIGHTS (CPSR) World Wide Web: http://jasper.ora.com/andyo/cyber-rights/cyber-rights.html http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~hwh6k/public/cyber-rights.html FTP: ftp://jasper.ora.com/pub/andyo/cyber-rights You are encouraged to forward and cross-post messages and online materials, pursuant to any contained copyright & redistribution restrictions. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~-~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~