Where: Sacramento Convention Center Sacramento, CA
Caucus Meeting: Friday, April 24, 5:30pm-7:00pm

Get your free New Media Primer at our meeting!

I am excited to announce that we have our final agenda for convention, with panel speakers including Act Blue's Director Nate Thames from Boston with Obama's California Co Chair, Steve Westly and Mayor Gavin Newsom, on Leveraging New Technology to Win Elections.
We also have an update on Open Source Voting and Transparency from Brent Turner, and Brian Leshon of CyberAdMedia on CRM systems,
We will be presenting our New Media Awards to recipients Debra Bowen, Brian Leubitz and Sarah Granger, and starting a resolution to change the name of the caucus to "Science and Technology". We will also be hearing from Lt. Governor John Garamendi, D.A. Kamala Harris, and Zak Ford, AFL-CIO.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Brigette Hunley
Chair, CDP Computer & Internet Caucus
www.cdpic.org
brigette.hunley@gmail.com
http://twitter.com/brigette_hunley
707.712.3325

PS: Please come join our Facebook group at http://bit.ly/cdpic

The phrase Network Neutrality describes networks that don't favor some destinations over others, or classes of application (for example the World Wide Web) over others (such as online gaming or Voice over IP).

However, several major Internet providers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast are trying to control access to the Internet by deciding which Web sites are best for you. The speed at which a website loads would be based on which site pays them the most.

This means that large corporations would have an unfair advantage over their smaller competitors as they will be able to afford to pay the most. This also means that startup sites with new ideas and applications will never get seen if they can't afford to pay the high fees to get their sites viewed.

In addition, this will allow ISPs to control which websites you have access to. There have already been several documented cases where ISPs have blocked access to various sites:

• Time Warner's AOL blocked all emails that mentioned www.dearaol.com -- an advocacy campaign opposing the company's pay-to-send e-mail scheme.
  
• Canada's telephone giant Telus blocked customers from visiting a Web site sympathetic to the Telecommunications Workers Union during a contentious labor dispute.

A major communications bill that addresses Net Neutrality is in front of Congress right now and is in danger of being defeated by the large corporations if we don't speak up.

For a brief video discussing this issue, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9jHOn0EW8U

2009 Scholarship Essay Contest

California Democratic Party Computer & Internet Caucus (CDPCIC)

Scholarship Essay Contest

 
 
The 'CDPCIC 2009 Scholarship' will award $500 to a student. The scholarship is NOT an academic scholarship - it is entirely based on an essay submission. 
Who's Eligible? To be eligible for the scholarship award, you must be at least 18 years of age, a registered Democrat living in California, and attend or plan to attend an accredited school in the United States. The institution you choose can be any trade school, college, or university. 
How Do You Apply? There Are Just Two Steps Involved:

1. If you haven't already, you must register with CDPIC.org right now! Its free, and it takes just a few seconds!  
     http://www.cdpic.org/ 
   
2. After you register with CDPIC.org, you have until June 20, 2009 to write a 500 word essay on "Creative Ways to use the Internet for Political Purposes."

 
Your submission must be emailed to: Chair@CDPIC.org. Do not submit your essay by postal mail. 
Important Guidelines:

• The subject of your email must be: "CDPCIC 2009 Scholarship Entry".
• Your essay submission must be within the body of the email along with your name, contact info and your school of choice.
• Do not email your essay as an attachment.
• The entry must be original and not previously published in either print or electronic form.
• Only one entry is allowed per person.
• Scholarships will be awarded without regard to sex, race, age, religion, or national origin of applicant.
• No scholarships or prizes will be awarded to applicants who do not meet all eligibility requirements.
• Entrants must stipulate that their essay is their own, and that there can be no claims of ownership by anyone else.
• Essays shall not have been published elsewhere.
• All entries remain the property of their authors, who grant the CDPCIC non-exclusive rights to use them, as well as personal information about the authors, in perpetuity, for the purposes of publicity, marketing, and publication in print or electronic form.

Judging

 
We will review all submissions and select a winner based on the quality, uniqueness, and creativity of the content in your essay.

Award

 
The winner will be announced at the first California Democratic Party 2009 executive board meeting following the Convention in Sacramento, CA.  We will not publish the winning essay, but will announce the name of the winner, and the school he/she attends. If you are the winner, the check will be written out to your school, not to you personally.  
All Federal, State, and local laws apply. Taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of the prizewinner. Winners consent to the use of their name and/or photos or likeness for advertising purposes without additional consultation (except where prohibited). By accepting a prize, winners release CDPCIC, its parent and agents from any and all liability, harm, damages, cost or expense arising out of participation in this contest or the acceptance, use or misuse of the prize. 
Important Note: For questions not answered on this page, you MUST email us at Chair@CDPIC.org.

Thank You!

Brigette Hunley
Chair, CDP Computer & Internet Caucus