From announce at mail.sfccp.net Sun Jan 13 22:55:34 2008 From: announce at mail.sfccp.net (San Francisco Community Colocation Project Announcements) Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:55:34 -0800 Subject: [sfccp-announce] 2008 New Years Community Colo Update Message-ID: <20080114035534.GA39073@linefeed.org> :: SAN FRANCISCO COMMUNITY COLOCATION PROJECT :: 2008 NEW YEARS UPDATE (JANUARY) :: http://www.sfccp.net/ :: CONTENTS 1.0 Birthday Party -- Celebrate One Year of SFCCP! 2.0 Organization Growth Update 3.0 Legal Update 4.0 Expansion Freeze 5.0 Planned Enhancements 6.0 Fundraising Update --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.0 BIRTHDAY PARTY -- CELEBRATE ONE YEAR OF SFCCP! We're going to informally celebrate our one year birthday party on Friday, January 25th, starting around 7pm and going until whenever. The party will be hosted in San Francisco, between 7th & 8th and Howard & Folsom. We'll send more details as the date gets closer. The party will include a video link with our volunteers in Argentina, Brazil and Germany, so they'll virtually be coming to the party also. We're also going to play some hacker movies, drink alcohol and eat food. We need a little bit of help pulling this party together, so if you have some time to volunteer, please email org @ mail.sfccp.net and ask to get involved on the party planning. This party is also intended to be a benefit for SFCCP to help us raise some money to end the waiting list and start moving people in again (see below). --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.0 ORGANIZATION GROWTH UPDATE Well, it's been one busy and exciting year of building up the San Francisco Community Colo! We started out with nothing more than an impending deadline of when our servers would power down at California CCP and a year later, we're a rapidly-expanding non-profit with volunteers from all over the world who share our vision for a non-commercial, protected community network. All year, by the time we've finished the upgrade work for one expansion, it's almost been time to start the upgrade work for the next expansion! So that's good -- the more servers we rack, the lower the costs for everyone. The downside is that expansion is expensive because we do something like, for example, add a new power circuit to accommodate one new client and during the time we're waiting for more clients to move in and pay for the entire circuit, SFCCP eats that cost difference. We're developing strategies to deal with that kind of situation. Meanwhile, here are some of the cool projects that we're hosting at SFCCP during our first year: http://baychi.org/ : BayCHI, the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI), brings together scholars, practitioners, and users to exchange ideas about computer-human interaction and about the design and evaluation of human interfaces. http://radioplanton.linefeed.org/ : When one looks at government corruption in Mexico, one of the most brazen and repressive political machines is the governorship of Ulises Ruiz Ortiz in the tourist state of Oaxaca. Since 2006, an enormous popular movement has been growing out of what started as a teachers' strike there. This movement is directly taking on a ruthless governor who uses illegal paramilitary muscle to protect his racket. At least 17 people have been killed during the uprising, including Brad Will, an Indymedia reporter who was shot by one of the paramilitary thugs. Brad filmed his own death. Radio Planton is a free, community radio broadcasting on 92.1 FM in Oaxaca and has given continuous news about events on the ground there. SFCCP is proud to host their website and streaming simulcast. marieta.indymedia.org : This is a powerful server donated by an SFCCP volunteer in Amsterdam to a group of techies from Brasil Indymedia. It hosts independent media websites like brasil.indymedia.org, ecuador.indymedia.org, venezuela.indymedia.org and qollasuyu.indymedia.org. It also hosts a skill-sharing environment to help people from those countries learn sysadmin and web development skills. Also, to support other local grassroot initiatives, we joined the Network of Bay Area Workers Cooperatives -- http://www.nobawc.org/ We also organized a special workshop for people from other cities who want to build a community colocation project in other places. We presented the workshop at LinuxWorld and the Bay Area Linux User Group meeting. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.0 LEGAL UPDATE Defending the digital rights of free speech and privacy is a part of CCP history and one of the main parts of our mission as an organization. This year, we set up a relationship with the law firm of Covington & Burling (with the help of the EFF) who has offered pro bono legal services to us for day-to-day issues that might come up. And, we established a channel to the EFF for any major cases that might happen (like the Diebold case of several years ago). Also, members of our organizing group participated on a training with the EFF at a bootcamp workshop they organized. With this information, we are starting a Legal Guide on the wiki to help community colo participants have the knowledge about their digital rights and what to do if they ever receive a corporate or law enforcement order. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.0 EXPANSION FREEZE Recently, we had to upgrade our power circuit because we were using beyond our capacity and we had to add 10 more amps. Unfortunately, this only covers the power we were running over capacity with and does not give us power to add new servers! We need to purchase an additional 10 amps of power as well as APC power strips (we are actively seeking donations for this type of hardware!). As a result, we have had to impose an expansion freeze for right now. We are building a waiting list because as soon as we have the financial and hardware resources, we will continue our expansion. Much of 2007 was spent building the organization, building the working groups, building the interactive website, and getting things set up. Now we are organizationally going to focus more on getting financial support from the community at large. The core organizers have kicked in a lot of their own personal money and we need an infusion of money to make possible our next expansion. We hope that we will be out of this freeze soon and we will continue to update the SFCCP community as the situation develops. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.0 COMING ENHANCEMENTS In addition to expanding our capacity, we have a number of service expansions planned as well. These include: o Remote serial console access, o Remote server reboot capabilities, o Specific bandwidth monitoring available via the website, o Anti-spam services with an anti-spam network appliance donated to us. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.0 FUNDRAISING UPDATE The organizing group has decided to put a significant part of our focus on fund-raising as we head into 2008. We know that there are people within the community who have the resources to help us and also share our ideals and goals as a group. We welcome any help we can get from anyone regarding ideas, searching for possible funders, help with grant-writing, and etc. Any and all help on this is crucially important, especially since we are currently in the expansion freeze, solely because of financial need. We are also continuing to promote the Supporting Member program. If every SFCCP client got 5 people to join at $10/month, we'd be a lot closer to ending the expansion freeze. SFCCP is doing the work necessary to provide affordable colocation that creates legally protected community networks. If you know people who share those values, please approach them about becoming a Supporting Member! Again, the URL for this program is: http://www.sfccp.net/wiki/Join --------------------------------------------------------------------- This is our 2008 New Years update! We're excited about the possibilities for this coming year and hope everyone else is, too. You are always welcome to drop by irc.indymedia.org in channel #sfccp to chat with us and get involved! This is a community effort and we rely on the community for support. And for those of you who have supported SFCCP throughout our first year, a BIG thank you goes out to you. We couldn't have done it without you! See you in the February 2008 Update :) From announce at mail.sfccp.net Mon Jan 14 22:20:07 2008 From: announce at mail.sfccp.net (San Francisco Community Colocation Project Announcements) Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:20:07 -0800 Subject: [sfccp-announce] Update -- intermittent network outages Message-ID: <20080115032007.GB52373@linefeed.org> Hello everyone, We are currently experiencing intermittent network outages at the colo. We have gotten this information from our uplink provider (Monkeybrains): "Still working on it... found the offending port. Doesn't seem to be a SFCCP issue, more of a MonkeyBrains-Switch ==> XO-Switch issue. Specifically, our Brannon st equipment is having some trouble talking to the Xo equipment that provides the cross town link. We have a backup switch if needed, but are not yet at the point of replacing hardware." Jan 14 16:53:28 gato 388: 1w5d: %LINK-CLUSTER_MEMBER_2-3-UPDOWN: Interface FastEthernet0/1, changed state to down Jan 14 16:53:28 gato 389: 1w5d: %LINEPROTO-CLUSTER_MEMBER_2-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface FastEthernet0/1, changed state to down Jan 14 16:53:30 gato 390: 1w5d: %LINK-CLUSTER_MEMBER_2-3-UPDOWN: Interface FastEthernet0/1, changed state to up Jan 14 16:53:30 gato 391: 1w5d: %LINEPROTO-CLUSTER_MEMBER_2-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface FastEthernet0/1, changed state to up Jan 14 16:56:33 gato 392: 1w5d: %LINK-CLUSTER_MEMBER_2-3-UPDOWN: Interface FastEthernet0/1, changed state to down Jan 14 16:56:33 gato 393: 1w5d: %LINEPROTO-CLUSTER_MEMBER_2-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface FastEthernet0/1, changed state to down Jan 14 16:56:35 gato 394: 1w5d: %LINK-CLUSTER_MEMBER_2-3-UPDOWN: Interface FastEthernet0/1, changed state to up Jan 14 16:56:36 gato 395: 1w5d: %LINEPROTO-CLUSTER_MEMBER_2-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface FastEthernet0/1, changed state to up Thank you for your patience. This problem is actively been working on towards resolution. From announce at mail.sfccp.net Tue Jan 15 11:53:17 2008 From: announce at mail.sfccp.net (San Francisco Community Colocation Project Announcements) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 08:53:17 -0800 Subject: [sfccp-announce] Intermittent network outages resolution report Message-ID: <20080115165317.GA19896@linefeed.org> Hello SFCCP'ers, Yesterday we were experiencing intermittent network outages to the community colo network. Connectivity was impacted (on and off) between Jan 14 1130 and Jan 14 2039, GMT-8. About 120 2 to 5 second outages occurred. Our uplink provider says: "XO had messed up a configuration setting on their switch when adding a new customer. MonkeyBrains troubleshot, determined the problem was on the XO side, opened a trouble ticket, and XO resolved the issue." Thank you. From announce at mail.sfccp.net Tue Jan 15 12:07:07 2008 From: announce at mail.sfccp.net (San Francisco Community Colocation Project Announcements) Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:07:07 -0800 Subject: [sfccp-announce] Paypal Payment Failures -- Explanation Message-ID: <20080115170707.GA20872@linefeed.org> Hello, In the last few days, our Paypal account has been put in a "limited access" mode because Paypal requires additional account validation -- which is, they need certification that we are fiscally-sponsored by the Agape Foundation. We're not sure what exactly prompted this but we are dealing with it nonetheless. We will fax this information to them today and hopefully this problem will be resolved today. While our account is "under limitation," we cannot receive or make payments. So some of you may notice that your subscription payments have been denied. We will resolve the situation with Paypal and then be in contact with everyone to make sure that payments come in. Because we operate "at-cost" with everyone pitching in, we cannot afford for even a couple payments to get lost. Thanks for your patience in this matter. We'll give you more updates soon. From announce at mail.sfccp.net Wed Jan 16 15:57:20 2008 From: announce at mail.sfccp.net (San Francisco Community Colocation Project Announcements) Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2008 12:57:20 -0800 Subject: [sfccp-announce] Paypal Restriction Lifted -- please catch up on payments! Message-ID: <20080116205720.GA93320@linefeed.org> Hello everyone, We've just received notice that the restriction on our Paypal account has been lifted. Apparently, Paypal does periodic reviews of accounts, we were noticed and they wanted verification from us about our status as a fiscally-sponsored non-profit organization. During this time, the account was essentially frozen so if you had problems using Paypal over the last few days, this is the reason, per the announcement we sent out on January 15. We provided Paypal with the necessary documentation and the limitations on our account were lifted. If you were making changes to your monthly payment or need to catch up on your payment from January, please do it as soon as you can. We're behind on paying our bill for January because of the Paypal limitation and now that it's lifted, we need to get everyone caught up. Thank you! From announce at mail.sfccp.net Mon Jan 21 17:53:24 2008 From: announce at mail.sfccp.net (San Francisco Community Colocation Project Announcements) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:53:24 -0800 Subject: [sfccp-announce] THIS FRIDAY -- SFCCP BIRTHDAY PARTY! Message-ID: <20080121225323.GC17932@linefeed.org> :: SAN FRANCISCO COMMUNITY COLOCATION PROJECT :: 2008 BIRTHDAY PARTY REMINDER :: http://www.sfccp.net/ Hey everyone! This is a reminder that THIS Friday, January 25th, 2008, SFCCP will be holding a benefit house party in SOMA. People will start to show up around 7PM. All of the relevant details can be found on this page - http://sfccp.net/wiki/party We also put up an evite page about it - http://www.evite.com/pages/invite/viewInvite.jsp?inviteId=SNDQCLPIWYFYSLXIYIHU There will be food, drink, retro hacker movies and video tele-conferencing with simultaneous SFCCP benefit parties in Brazil and somewhere in Europe! REMEMBER: This is a benefit party! The intention is to raise money to help cover the costs of our recent expansion. So, ideally everyone who comes will bring a little extra cash to throw in the SFCCP donation bucket. And if you want to go above and beyond, you can also bring alcohol and food to share. Can't wait to see everyone there! From announce at mail.sfccp.net Fri Jan 25 20:05:14 2008 From: announce at mail.sfccp.net (San Francisco Community Colocation Project Announcements) Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:05:14 -0800 Subject: [sfccp-announce] RAIN OR SHINE, HACKER PARTY IS ON TONIGHT! Message-ID: <20080126010514.GA21331@linefeed.org> :: SAN FRANCISCO COMMUNITY COLOCATION PROJECT :: 2008 BIRTHDAY PARTY REMINDER :: http://www.sfccp.net/wiki/party :: "BRING ALCOHOL AND LAPTOPS" Tonight, Friday, January 25th ... people will start showing up between 1900 - 1930 hours. Bring alcohol and laptops -- does anything more need to be said? The videoconference virtual party is NOW LIVE from San Francisco ... view it with Quicktime/VLC/etc here: rtsp://nettlau.indymedia.org/sf.sdp We expect the simulcast parties to start coming online soon. For all the details you need about the party, go here: http://sfccp.net/wiki/party If you have any problems, call the SFCCP Party Hotline: (415) 706-6007 AND NOTE: We don't have a good digital camera on hand! Can someone please bring a good digital camera? The party is intended to be a benefit towards ending the current new server freeze at SF Community Colo... we've already spent over $150 buying supplies and so on, so please bring alcohol, other drinks, party food and some extra cash for the donation bucket!! See you all tonight!! From announce at mail.sfccp.net Sat Jan 26 19:32:29 2008 From: announce at mail.sfccp.net (San Francisco Community Colocation Project Announcements) Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 16:32:29 -0800 Subject: [sfccp-announce] Birthday Debriefing, 2008 Meeting Schedule Message-ID: <20080127003229.GB35439@linefeed.org> :: SAN FRANCISCO COMMUNITY COLOCATION PROJECT :: BIRTHDAY PARTY DEBRIEFING, 2008 MEETING SCHEDULE :: http://www.sfccp.net/ [1] Birthday Party Debriefing The one-year anniversary of SFCCP opening our colo facilities was celebrated on Friday, January 25th. The party was coordinated with a another party of SFCCP volunteers in Sao Paulo, Brazil -- they provided the music for our party via an audio stream and we ran a video/audio stream that they put on display and the two parties were further connected via IRC, where we were also joined by someone directly from inside the Seattle Community Colo facility. A full debriefing of the party including photos and IRC logs can be found at http://www.sfccp.net/wiki/party Photos of the party were posted on SFCCP's Flickr account - http://www.flickr.com/photos/sfccp/ ---------- [2] 2008 Meeting Schedule SFCCP is instituting a new meeting schedule for 2008. Every first Monday of every month, SFCCP will hold a face-to-face meeting to discuss on-going projects and working group updates. The meetings are also a way for new volunteers to meet other SFCCP volunteers and get a sense for how to get involved with the project. The first general meeting for SFCCP will be on Monday, February 4, 2008 at 7:30PM at the SFCCP Social Club, 52 Rausch Street #103, between 7th & 8th and between Howard & Folsom. We'll have plenty of coffee and something nice to with it. Closer to the date, we'll send a reminder e-mail that'll include an agenda and more information. ---------- Thank you to everyone who helped support the party! SFCCP will continue to grow and expand so we look forward to the 2009 birthday party which will be even bigger!