May First/People Link Information

May First/People Link is a membership organization of progressive people and groups who use the Internet. We have joined together to pool our resources to assure ourselves quality equipment; mutual support; Internet tools that meet our needs as activists; and secure, reliable communications. As an organization, we believe that the Internet is critically important to the future of humanity and therefore must be a priority for the progressive movement in this country. For that reason, we are involved in many activities and campaigns to improve access to the Internet, enhance its function as a tool for mass communication and organizing, develop new technologies and uses for it, and help progressive movements use it effectively to communicate with each other and with the world. Are you a fairly new organization? No. We are a merger of two organizations: May First Technology Collective and People Link. People Link was founded in 1995, about a year after the development of the World Wide Web and that makes us one of the oldest Internet organizations in the world and probably the oldest progressive organization of our type in this country. So you're an Internet Provider? No. The resources we share are those a commercial provider will sell to you but we're not a provider: in fact, just the opposite. We are a resource sharing organization. A commercial provider is most interested in one thing: your money. And that provider will do what's necessary to get it but, in order to survive, must limit it to that -- only that which is necessary. Maximum profit for minimum service. The relationship is, even in the most respectful and productive forms, money-driven. May First/People Link is built on the idea that, to build the society we all need, all our movement's organizations must be able to function well on the Internet. This means assuring maximum capability and we think the best way to do that is through sharing and collaboration. Isn't that just rhetoric? It's very practical. Nothing is sold in our organization. Members ...