Information about EFN

EFN was founded by one of the greatest Internet enthusiasts in Norway, Micha Reisel, Managing director of the Municipal Reporter, in May 1994. He suggested a discussion list for Information Politics and legal rights in Cyberspace, after model of Electronic Frontier Foundation. Several people joined in, and the list grew steadily. About 180 people is now on the list (feb. 1995).

The list discussed mostly legal rights and the low level of Internet awareness and knowledge in Norwegian politics. The discussion reflected, and still reflects, that most of the members are students or faculty in academic institutions.

Throughout the summer of 1994 Norwegian media started to discuss Internet and to some degree information infrastructure. By the Fall of 1994 Internet was "on everybodys lips", and every newspaper had at least some pages about Internet and the Information Superhighway.

EFN as a formal organization

The discussion list soon discovered that, even though it had a lot to say to Norwegian media, it had no way to reach a sufficent consensus online as a basis for public statements. This started a discussion about the formal stucture of EFN. An Interim Board was given the task to organize a General Assembly and establish a formal structure for EFN.

The formal foundation of EFN took place on January 19, 1995. The first General Assembly occured on February 9, at 7:30 PM at the Department of Computer Science, University of Oslo. A board was elected and EFN is now slowly emerging as a factor in the political discussion on Information Politics in Norway.


Created January 7, 1995. Last updated April 27, 1995 by BenT.
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