The following resources are useful for keeping up on public policy controversies surrounding the Internet. These are not offered as an exhaustive or complete set of resources on such subjects -- that would be impossible -- but as selected and reviewed resources that each cover a wide range of subject matter. Most of these resources are news sites on the Web or Internet listservs that send mail containing news and/or opinion about social issues surrounding the Internet. In other words, these are resources that offer constantly changing or updated information gleaned from many different sources, as opposed to information sources that represent the particular views of an organization, a company, an individual, or a government entity.
Internet listservs
A listserv is a feature of many Internet hosts, or servers, that allows self-maintaining mailings lists, sometimes of thousands or even tens of thousands of "subscribers." Individual users can subscribe to a listserv using their e-mail address, or unsubuscribe if they no longer wish to receive messages from the listserv. Some listservs are "high traffic," which can involve the circulation of tens of messages every day, while others are "low traffic," sending out material only a few times a month or even less frequently. Listservs can be moderated, which means the messages can come only from one or more authorized moderators, or unmoderated, which means that messages can be sent by anyone who subscribes to the listserv. News listservs tend to be moderated, while discussion listservs tend to be unmoderated, although each listserv is different. Listservs can also implement other features, such as "digests," which allow users to select to receive all messages at a specified interval instead of at the time each one is sent out; or archiving, which allows subscribers to search for and view previously posted messages. Some listservs are archived automatically to searchable Web pages.
A standard way of subscribing to a listserv is to send an e-mail message to a designated address, using the e-mail account name to which one wants listserv mail sent. In this e-mail message, one typically types in the command "Subscribe," the name of the listserv, and a user name. There are variations on this technique, depending on which listserv software the host machine is running. Instructions for how to subscribe to a listserv are usually included with announcements about the listserv's activity and purpose.
Some selected listservs about the Internet
A medium-traffic listserv on the politics of the Internet, run by Declan McCullagh of The Netly News (http://pathfinder.com/netly/). This moderated news listserv sends out between two to five messages per day, all on subjects relating to political controversies surrounding the Internet. The messages tend to be opinionated and sometimes controversial in themselves, but also newsy and very up-to-date. Subscription information is at http://www.well.com/user/declan/politech/.
Benton Foundation's Communications-Related Headlines
A free daily online news service provided by the Benton Foundation. It will keep you up to date on important industry developments, policy issues, and other pertinent communications-related news events. This service is available online at www.benton.org/News/.To subscribe to the Benton Communications-Related Headlines:
send email to: listserv@cdinet.comIn the body of the message, type only:
subscribe benton-compolicy YourFirstName YourLastName
A daily news summary of articles in other publications on the topics of the Internet, telecommunications, computing, and technology and society. Underwritten by Arthur Andersen and the IEEE Computer Society, and edited by John Gehl and Suzanne Douglas. To subscribe or unsubscribe to the text version of NewsScan Daily, send an e-mail message to NewsScan@NewsScan.com with "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
An international, low-traffic listserv run by Phil Agre of the University of California at Los Angeles. A moderated list that sends out between five to ten messages per week. This is an opinionated but extremely literate and useful listserv, one of the most "intellectual" -- in a good way. Phil Agre is very insightful, is always thinking about interesting things, and he passes on unusual and astonishingly diverse material from other sources.Instructions are at http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/people/pagre/rre.html.
First Monday is a scholarly, peer-reviewed, online journal about the Internet. It is published on the first Monday of every month. It features conventional scholarly articles about the Internet, book reviews, software reviews, and commentaries, many of these relevant to current public policy and political issues. First Monday runs a listserv mailing list that forwards a monthly e-mail summary of the current month's publication, with active links to the articles summarized. Subscriptions to this listserv are handled by a Web form at http://www.firstmonday.dk/join.html.
Texas Telecommunications Policy Institute
A research program at the University of Texas at Austin, TTPI is a multi-disciplinary, university-wide project that addresses the ongoing development of telecommunications and infrastructure in Texas, with attention to relevant developments outside the state. Its listserv sends out notices of events, reports, hearings, and other information. Subscribe by sending mail to listproc@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu, leave the subject line blank, and in the first line of the message, put: subscribe ttpi [firstname] [lastname] [organization] [city/state], leaving out the brackets.
Edupage
Edupage is a thrice-weekly summary of Internet and technology news prepared by John Gehl and Suzanne Douglas of EduCom, the national organization that deals with computers in education. Edupage is a very useful summary of major stories involving information technologies from a variety of sources, mostly newspapers and news magazines. It has tens of thousands of subscribers and is sent all over the world in many languages. To subscribe, send mail to listproc@educom.unc.edu, with the message Subscribe edupage [First name] [Last name].
A high-traffic, intense listserv for e-mail junkies who want every piece of information available about telecommunications, run by Patrick A. Townson in Skokie, Illinois. Subscription requests can be sent to telecom-request@telecom-digest.org. Archives and other resources can be found on the Telecom Digest home page at http://hyperarchive.lcs.mit.edu/telecom-archives/.
One of the oldest and most highly respected listservs on the Internet, run by Peter Neumann of SRI International in Menlo Park, California. This listserv (also a UseNet newsgroup, comp.risks) is about risks to the public posed by computers and related technologies. Its contributors and audience tend to be a highly technical group of people. It features in-depth information about news stories and reports from contributors involving computer failures, glitches, bugs, viruses, and various other problems. Subscribe using the address risks-request@csl.sri.com, although Peter requests that users read comp.risks through UseNet if possible.
The best Internet listserv on privacy issues, moderated by Lauren Weinstein of Vortex Technologies and the Association for Computing Machinery. Topics include a wide range of telecommunications, information/database collection and sharing, and related issues, as pertains to the privacy concerns of individuals, groups, businesses, government, and society at large. The forum is moderated and sent out as a digest of messages. To subscribe, send a message to privacy-request@vortex.com with a line in the body of the message of the form: subscribe privacy <your full name>. Archives are available at http://www.vortex.com/privacy.htm.
The following are useful news sites, some of them updated daily or even more than once a day, where one can find the latest news about the Internet, telecommunications, computing, and public policy controversies. Again, this is a selected list -- there are thousands of sites on the Web that would fit this description. These are some of the most useful and the ones experts consult most frequently.
A general news source about the computing and telecommunications industry, with a useful set of links to related stories in other publications, updated several times a day.
A wide-ranging collection of short articles on the Internet, cyberculture, the politics of technology, and many other related issues, featuring columnists and links to stories in other publications. Updated throughout the day.
Billed as "News for Nerds: Stuff That Matters," Slashdot has quickly vaulted to the top of tech news sites with its breaking stories and unusual commentary on its discussion bulletin boards. Heavily oriented to the Internet "geek" crowd with a particular focus on developments surrounding Linux and other Open Source software. Includes links to other publications.
Featuring the best stable of writers on technology in the U.S. -- John Markoff, Amy Harmon, and Katie Hafner, among others -- the technology section of The New York Times is not surprisingly one of the best in the world. A new "CyberTimes" section is posted every day, and is supplemented on Thursdays by the articles appearing in the print edition's "Circuits" section.
The Washington Post "WashTech" site
The Washington, D.C., and northern Virginia area have become one of the nation's top technology regions -- Virginia even features the slogan "Home of the Internet" on its license plates. America Online is in northern Virginia, of course, and AOL Time Warner now accounts for roughly half of all the Internet users in the U.S. Combine this private sector activity with the growing influence of the federal government on technology policy, as well as all the lobbyists and nonprofit organizations in D.C. that deal with Internet policy, and it's not surprising that The Washington Post has thrown a lot of money and talent at covering the tech industry and tech policy. The "WashTech" site has become one of the best news sites in the U.S.
The Pew Internet and American Life Project
An ongoing investigation into the ways Americans use and think about the Internet, a subset of the highly respected Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C., the Pew Internet and American Life Project publishes useful and ground-breaking reports on Internet demographics, social policy issues, and trends in Internet use, all the product of survey research. Many, if not most, of the Pew research reports generate news stories covered nation-wide.
An award-winning publication that changes daily, Salon features a "21st Century" section on technology that is updated every day. It features one essay each day on a new issue surrounding technology and the section focuses on the Internet. Salon also publishes thoughtful essays on the culture of computing and technology, such as by the superb writer/programmer Ellen Ullman, author of Technophilia and Its Discontents.
The Web version of a now defunct print magazine on the business of the Internet.
Probably the "smartest" and most well-written Web magazine, co-edited by Steven Johnson and Stephanie Syman, FEED has published many quality articles on public policy controversies and cultural issues surrounding the Internet and computing. And FEED features perhaps the most innovative use of the Web itself for an online publication.Unfortunately, FEED went out of business in 2001, like so many other Web publications, but its archives are still useful.
The Nando Times is an online source of syndicated articles from a wide variety of publications, and features a daily technology section called TechServer. This contains articles from other publications from around the U.S.
Government Technology magazine
Probably the best magazine on the use of computers and networking by government, and it features a new, constantly updated news service. It also has a list of conferences, a bookstore, notices of RFPs, and many other resources.
Another magazine about the use of computers and networks in government, with a focus on the federal government. Also features a news service, a "best practices" resource, a test center, and other resources.
A subsidiary of Federal Computer Week, for state and local government officials.
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