History of CommUnityCommUnity was born in 1991 when Roger Bennett from ELSPA started a campaign to persuade the government to introduce a licensing/registration scheme for BBS's because, in his words:
"Probably the majority of Bulletins Boards are actively engaged in software piracy"
Various denizens of Fidonet and CiX started discussing ways of combatting this threat to computer comms in the UK. These discussions took place on Malcolm Arnold's Fidonet echo CYBERSPACE, another called FAST&ELSPA which I created in an attempt to get a dialogue going with FAST & ELSPA, and the CiX bbs.freedom conference.
In practice the threat from FAST & ELSPA was seen off relatively easily because apart from being completely impractical (nobody would have had the resources to implement it) a lot of opposition was met from MP's like Emma Nicholson. By this time, however, it had become clear that there was a need for an organisation to fight for civil liberties in computer comms in the UK, both the BBS world and that of the Internet, and CommUnity was born at a meeting in London.
CommUnity started as a formally structured organisation, but has
recently stripped itself down somewhat to become an almost completely
"on-line" entity. What we do has changed little, however, since its
inception: We aim to persuade politicians, the media, police, and any other
people who can affect computer comms that this is now a medium of crucial
importance, but one which should not be restricted in ways that do not bind
other media, such as the printed word, telecommunications & broadcast
media. We counter misleading or inaccurate media coverage, seek to prevent
adverse legislation which would damage computer comms or the people using it,
and support other groups worldwide who have similar aims, such as the
EFF.
CommUnity is now a completely virtual entity
and the Mailing List is open to anyone on request. We've dispensed with the
concept of membership and subscriptions and are simply an online network of
individuals with a common interest
in
preserving civil liberties for UK users of the Internet.
CommUnity's Current ActivitiesCommUnity submitted evidence to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee when it considered the matter of computer pornography. The report the Committee produced was well-balanced and sensible, and must have taken account of our submission.
We gave a submission to the CCTA's Ethics group when it was asked by the Government to produce a report on "Internet Ethics". This report has since been suppressed (presumably because it does not fit in with current government thinking) but the initial draft was likewise a pretty accurate summation of the current situation and what could be or needed to be done.
We still write to the media and give interviews whenever possible. Peter Ceresole & I were interviewed on BBC2's The Net to give our views on censorship and where the Net was heading.
Although at times over the past 4 years we
have been short of windmills at which to tilt, more recently, we have been
particularly busy, following the G7 Nations communique on encryption, the
Metropolitan Police's proposal to the ISPA to censor 130 Usenet Newsgroups, the
Observer articles attacking Clive Feather of Demon & Julf Helsingius of
anon.penet.fi, and the Safety Net proposals. We are active in formulating
worldwide alerts as part of the EFF's Action-Global group and are busy forging
links with journalists so that we can get our message out more quickly and
easily.
My Involvement with
CommUnityI've been involved with CommUnity since its conception. I created the FAST&ELSPA echo in an attempt to get a dialogue going between FidoNet Sysops and those people like Roger Bennett of ELSPA & John Loader of FAST. That didn't work because the somewhat hostile atmosphere they encountered in the echo didn't make serious conversation easy and they didn't appear to be too interested in our views anyway!
Malcolm Arnold was the first Chairman of CommUnity - indeed CommUnity was really his brainchild. When Malcolm stepped down at our first AGM in 1992, I was persuaded to take over the Chair, and have been there ever since. Although some might think it strange that a Police Sergeant is involved in running a group campaigning for civil liberties, I see no conflict of interest: CommUnity has always maintained that the law is our guideline and has never supported illegal uses of computer comms. One can support the rule of law and still fight to prevent bad or oppressive legislation, however.
I contribute as much as possible to the day-to-day activities of CommUnity whilst trying not to be too "busy". Fortunately, CommUnity has attracted a first-class bunch of people who are committed to its success, most of whom are far more able than me, so it's rarely necessary to give more than a gentle nudge to keep things on track.
Mostly, I'm involved in putting CommUnity's
view across whenever the opportunity presents itself: I have spoken for
CommUnity at an Internet seminar organised by Nottingham University. I write an
to magazines and newspapers regarding Internet Censorship or civil liberties
when the need arises, and am occasionally asked for quotes by journalists
covering computer comms. I represent CommUnity on the EFF's Action-Global
group, through which we maintain contact with other similar organisations
worldwide. Increasingly, though, we trying to involve all of CommUnity's
members in the day-to-day stuff, so my job gets easier and easier!
Contacting CommUnityCommUnity can be contacted in various ways:-
Oliver Clarke (CommUnity)
375 Rochdale Road,
Bury, Lanc's,
BL9 7DB
United Kingdom
Joining CommUnityCommUnity has now done away with the concept of membership as such. Anyone can join in CommUnity's Mailing List. See the CommUnity Website for details.
Please support CommUnity and help the fight to
protect computer communications in the UK. With your help, we can make a
difference.
