Activism: Cyber Rights and Online Civil Liberties

"Information is the currency of democracy." -- Thomas Jefferson

ACLU's Cyber Liberties Page

"Cyberspace must be free!"

Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT)

a non-profit public interest organization based in Washington with a mission to develop and advocate public policies that advance constitutional civil liberties and democratic values in new computer and communications technologies.

Chilling Effects Clearinghouse

Chilling Effects aims to help you understand the protections that the First Amendment and intellectual property laws give to your online activities.

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR)

An excellent (IMO) non-profit, public interest organization originally concerned with the ethics and effects of computers on society, with an increasing focus on aspects of cyberlaw and electronic civil liberties. See also:

Computers and Academic Freedom (CAF)

Addresses questions surrounding the role of computers and networking at academic institutions, including such issues as should universities ban materials (e.g., from netnews facilities, email, libraries and student publications) that some find offensive. Be sure to check out their FAQ.

cryptome.org

publishes documents that are prohibited by governments worldwide, in particular material on freedom of expression, privacy, cryptology, dual-use technologies, national security and intelligence -- open, secret and classified documents -- but not limited to those.

Crypto Rights.org

"Security for Human Rights & Human Rights for Cryptographers."

Cyber-Rights

A CPSR working group promoting a Declaration of Rights in Cyberspace and the survival of democracy in the Information Age.

See also their list of interesting Web Sites

Cypherpunks

See also: Our local cypherpunk page

Digital Future Coalition

Act now to oppose the many extraneous provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

A non-profit civil liberties public interest organization working to protect freedom of expression, privacy, and access to online resources and information.

Some highlight of their excellent site:

Archives

Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)

A public interest research center established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values.

An International Survey of Encryption Policy

Encryption Policy Resource Page

Encryption technology is the key to the future of the information revolution. It allows businesses and individuals to communicate securely over any inexpensive communication platform without fear of eavesdropping.

Free Software

The Free Software Foundation (FSF)

Creators and supporters of the GNU Project

GNU/Linux resource page (by CoMedia)

The various free Linux and *BSD operating system software distributions allow you to get the most out of your hardware while not contributing to (and becoming a slave to) the large software monopoly, Microsoft.

OpenSource.org

Not necessarily free, but the source code is available which still enables better/easier integration than closed source (e.g., Microsoft)

Approved Open Source licenses

The Cathedral and the Bazaar

by Eric Raymond

The Global Internet Liberty Campaign (GILC)

An international survey of privacy laws and practice

ICANN Watch

a collaborative effort to keep an eye on the activities of ICANN, perhaps the most powerful force on the Internet

League for Programming Freedom (LPF)

Internet Patent News Service

NetAction.org

a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting effective grassroots citizen action campaigns by creating coalitions that link online activists with grassroots organizations, providing training in effective Internet organizing and advocacy, and educating the public, policymakers and the media about technology-based social and political issues.

NetAction Internet Resources

The Virtual Activist - A Training Course

NetCaucus

the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee