[NetBehaviour] Things Can Break - Tech Women Crashing Computers and Preconceptions.

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Things Can Break
Tech Women Crashing Computers and Preconceptions.

by Aileen Derieg

Free Space, Free Access, Free Software

Sometime around the mid-1990s electronic communication was discovered as
a useful tool for activism and organizing among leftist, progressive,
alternative groups. The first hurdle was to gain access to this useful
tool, but at the same time there was also a strong awareness of a need
to maintain control, as concerns were voiced in various discussions
about the danger of electronic communication being monitored. For people
with academic affiliations, it was possible to get an email address
through a university, but that usually meant only being able to read
email at the university. With the growing popularity of email, this
increasingly meant reading email with the next person in line breathing
down one's neck and reading over one's shoulder. Free services like
Hotmail initially provided a welcome alternative and independence from
university facilities, and Internet cafes started springing up in cities
all over the world. However, this still limited access to those who
already had some familiarity with email and could afford the fees
charged by Internet cafes.

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http://eipcp.net/transversal/0707/derieg/en