Issue # 19 Monday, October 12, 1998

About the Author: Todd Kuipers is a software designer/Internet consultant, living and breathing, with his wife Susanna, in Calgary, Alberta. He is resident at Merak Projects currently working on Web based implementations of their petroleum softwareand their Web site. He spends his spare time reading, writing, reading and writing about beer, tasting beer, reviewing anything that he comes across and providing pure research skills to paying customers. Current and past things Todd and Internet can be seen at http://propagandist.com/. One time proprietor of the currently defunct "E-mail-zines list", a listing of e-zines available via e-mail, Todd kept his interest in "low-bandwidth active delivery content" and currently subscribes to (and generally reads) 80+ e-mail publications on a wide variety of topics.

Frequency of Publication: When Needed

Subscription Instructions:
Address: [email protected]
E-mail Body: sub info-policy-notes jane doe (substitute your own name)

WWW location:
http://www.cptech.org/

Contact Information:
James Love at: [email protected]

Cost: Free

Review

Content - 5
Info-Policy-Notes provide updates on the activities and associated directions of The Consumer Project on Technology. Recently they have concentrated on antitrust enforcement, technology and anti-competitive issues especially where it pertains to Microsoft, but also recently have covered IBM, Intel and AT&T issues. Telecom policy, privacy and intellectual property pieces are also presented and commented on.

Many Info-Policy-Notes mailings contain open letters to U.S. government agencies discussing technology regulation/non-regulation incongruities from a consumer perspective. A recent letter covered ISDN pricing across the US and presented a case for investigation into the costs that ISDN vendors purport make ISDN charges high. One other recent letter to Bill Gates had philanthropy as an issue. His response was later published and responded to.

Other mailings highlight specific topics, mention Web sites for further info, and urge subscribers to take action and write letters to their gov't representatives.

Writing Quality/Style - 5
Style varies, but the writing quality stays quite high regardless of the author. The letters are well presented and are appropriately toned in "concerned citizen" style.

Regularity - 4
As needed.  When new letters are sent or particular issues come to a boil, items are posted to the list.

Extras - 3
All mailings are identified as Info-Policy-Notes mailers, but not all mailings come with the obligatory addresses and un/subscribe notices.  The associated Web site does add some depth to the mission, but seems to be lacking in really up to date info other than the mailing list archives.

Overall - 5
I tend to be neck deep in technology all the time such that sometimes I miss the trees for the forest.  Info-Policy-Notes puts a different perspective in my mailbox, one that I may not have seen previously.  I may not always agree with their political maneuverings but it definitely makes you think.

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E-mail Body Text: subscribe javascriptsource-news (your first name) (your last name)

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Visit: http://javascript.internet.com/feedback.html

Cost: very free!

E-zine Description: A nicely done, weekly newsletter showcasing news for the petrochemical and hydrocarbon industries.  Each week brings 5-15 news items with links back to the site for further info. It's delivered via a member of the VerticalNet "trade" communities (see: http://www.verticalnet.com/)

I find this one useful as I work for a petroleum software development company.  Not a bad way to get a good focused dose of Petroleum news. 

Frequency of Publication: weekly

Subscription Instructions:
Visit: http://www.hydrocarbononline.com/

WWW location: http://www.hydrocarbononline.com/

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feedback: http://www.hydrocarbononline.com/

Cost: Free