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Welcome to the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet, version 2.2.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is proud to have sponsored the production of the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet. EFF is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., dedicated to ensuring that everyone has access to the newly emerging communications technologies vital to active participation in the events of our world. As more and more information is available online, new doors open up for those who have access to that information. Unfortunately, unless access is broadly encouraged, individuals can be disenfranchised and doors can close, as well. The Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet was written to help open some doors to the vast amounts of information available on the world's largest network, the Internet.
The spark for the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet was ignited in a few informal conversations that included myself and Steve Cisler of Apple Computer, Inc., in June of 1991. With the support of Apple Computer, EFF engaged Adam Gaffin to write the book and actually took on the project in September of 1991.
The idea was to write a guide to the Internet for people who had little or no experience with network communications. We intended to post this guide to the Net in ASCII and HyperCard formats and to give it away on disk, as well as have a print edition available. We have more than realized our goal. Individuals from as geographically far away as Germany, Italy, Canada, South Africa, Japan, Scotland, Norway, and Antarctica have all sent electronic mail to say that they downloaded the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet. The guide is now available in a wide array of formats, including ACSCII text, HyperCard, World Wide Web, PostScript and AmigaGuide. And the guide will be published in a printed format by MIT Press in June of 1994.
EFF would like to thank author Adam Gaffin for doing a terrific job of explaining the Net in such a nonthreatening way. We'd also like to thank the folks at Apple, especially Steve Cisler of the Apple Library, for their support of our efforts to bring this guide to you.
We invite you to join with EFF in our fight to ensure that equal access to the networks and free speech are protected in newly emerging technologies. We are a membership organization, and through donations like yours, we can continue to sponsor important projects to make communications easier. Information about the Electronic Frontier Foundation and some of the work that we do can be found at the end of this book.
We hope that the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet helps you learn about whole new worlds, where new friends and experiences are sure to be yours. Enjoy!
Mitch Kapor <mkapor@eff.org> Chairman of the Board Electronic Frontier Foundation February 20, 1994
For comments, questions, or requests regarding EFF or the Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet, send a note to <ask@eff.org> "Not all German hackers work for the Russian KGB. Some even work for the American EFF!" --- Anonymous
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