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This letter went to EFF-National a week or so ago.
It is appearning about now in their online newsletter.
It may be of some interest locally, too.

John

To: Cliff Figallo <fig@eff.org>
From: John S. Quarterman <jsq@tic.com>
Subject: EFF-Austin Today
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Dear Cliff,

Since you have just recently joined the EFF office in Cambridge we thought
we would take the opportunity to fill you in and provide an update on the
status of the local Austin chapter.  This letter is also suitable
for printing in EFFector.

As of July 1992, the official name of our group is EFF-Austin,
and we are a Texas nonprofit corporation.  Our goals, adapted from
those of EFF-National, are given in our Articles of Incorporation:

         (a) to engage in and support educational activities that
	increase understanding of the opportunities and challenges posed
	by computing and telecommunications, and related civil liberties
	issues.

         (b) to foster a clearer social understanding of the issues
	underlying free and open telecommunications; and

         (c) to facilitate and encourage communication between
	individuals  interested in computer and telecommunication
	technology and related social and legal issues.

Among other activities in pursuit of these goals, we hold three
distinct types of public meetings: member meetings; Public Forums; and
Cyberdawgs.

Member meetings consist of presentations by EFF-Austin directors and
others on what EFF-Austin is doing, and questions and suggestions
from the attendees.

Our first general public meeting was held in May, at the Austin
Technology Incubator.  Close to sixty people attended to listen to
what we had to say and to offer ideas.  We are planning another member
meeting for November.

Public Forums have agendas and speakers, and are meant to present
information of interest to our members and the public, and to invite
discussion.

Our most recent public forum was "The Net: What is It, Where is it,
Who Uses It, and for What?", presented by John Quarterman and Smoot
Carl-Mitchell of TIC and MIDS, and Anna Couey, an art networker from
San Francisco.  This was held at MCC and included online demonstrations
of Internet applications such as anonymous FTP, archie, and gopher,
as well as TELNET to locations such as Moscow and the WELL.

The next scheduled Public Forum is on October 29.  Noted science
fiction author Bruce Sterling will speak and sign copies concerning his
latest work, the nonfiction book, The Hacker Crackdown, just published
by Bantam.  This meeting will be held at the University of Texas.  We
are also inviting local law enforcement officers to attend, considering
the subject matter of the book.  As you know, we are inviting you to
come introduce Bruce.

Ed Cavazos is organizing a panel discussion on Sysop Liability
as a public forum for January.

In contrast to the formal presentation of a Public Forum is a
"Cyberdawg".  These are informal networking mixers.  (The name comes
from a hot dog picnic held last year behind Steve Jackson Games.) We
have held two Cyberdawgs so far this year, in June and August, at the
High Times Tea Bar and Brain Gym (an interesting local establishment
that serves intellectual games instead of alcohol), and at Europa Books.
They were well-attended by a diverse mix of the Austin electronic
community.  All types of computer users meet to talk, exchange
information, make contacts, and simply have fun.  We have scheduled the
next Cyberdawg for November, and plan to have Tracy LaQuey Parker
present to sign copies of her latest book, The Internet Companion,
just published by Addison-Wesley.

Another method of information distribution that we have employed is
staffing tables at conventions.  For example, we held a table at the
Government and Technology Convention in February of 1992, and have
plans to be present at the 1993 show as well.  We had a meeting at
the Armadillocon Science Fiction Convention 9-11 October.

Since several of our members are frequent travelers to SF conventions,
we have presented panels and distributed literature at many such events.
We consider this worthwhile, since science fiction readers are likely
to be interested in the way society evolves to handle evolving technology.

At all of these events we have been passing out EFF literature that we
possess at the time.  We have created information of our own, as well.
There is the Info Disk, which contains text files that serve as a
primer to relevant issues in the use of computers and networks.
September saw the first issue of our online newsletter, Word, which we
plan to distribute monthly.  EFF-Austin also sponsors a moderated
newsgroup, austin.eff, linked bidirectionally with a mailing list,
eff-austin@tic.com.  That newsgroup and mailing list are about
EFF-Austin and local concerns, but they are already widely
distributed outside of Austin and on BBSes as well as through
USENET, UUCP, and the Internet.

This is all in addition to the meetings of the Board of Directors
(fifteen in the last twelve months).  We currently hold these meetings
on the second Tuesday of each month.

John S. Quarterman
President, EFF-Austin