Second On-Site Report from the EFF/EFC Booth

By Stanton McCandlish

Saturday, July 13, afternoon

Traffic has picked up dramatically, enough that we've had to double the staffing at the booth. Placing giant blue ribbons on the pavillion have helped people find us. EFF t-shirts have finally arrived, and are now available to concert goers. You can also get them from the EFF web page (look for the t-shirt button). In addition to making flyers to hand out in the crowd, there's something almost surreal about being miles out in the Canadian countryside doing desktop publishing.

Speaking of the crowd- it's unbelievable. I could swear it's doubled since yesterday. The headcount is guesstimated at over 60,000 on-site right now, with up to 30,000 more expected by the end of the whole shabang.

The diminutive Tracy Bonham, who packs a voice twice her size, just handed the stage over to Spacehog. As the sun heats up the air, the bands are heating up the crowd; the cheers are like a massive wave cascading back and forth across the Mosport hills. Despite a few minor injuries, the audience is almost uniquely easygoing.

Last night, the Cure gave a stellar performance, with frontman Robert Smith sporting a Toronto Maple Leaves hockey jersey. Besides the music and sampling of the headliners' best-known songs, the light show was great. On the stage now, Spacehog's just launched into their most popular number, "In the Meantime", a song interlaced with sampled telephone sounds (singularly appropriate given the communications, free speech and privacy focus of the Eden MusicFest).

The Internet trailers behind our pavillion are getting increasingly popular. Quite a set-up too: Pentium PCs with Netscape, over a T-1 line. Stereo speakers are pumping out a cacophony of multimedia presentations over the Net, from Edencast updates to footage of Winona Ryder delivering a eulogy at Timothy Leary's funeral.

At any rate, if you're here at the show or sitting at home, please take a moment to think about what privacy and free speech on the Net mean to you and the world and TELL SOMEONE ABOUT IT. Spread the word!

If you're not here at the show, check out the EFF web page (look for the t-shirt button) and the Canada site - the beneficiaries of the event, and a pair of organizations working to protect YOUR rights in our favorite new medium.

Stanton McCandlish - EFF Online Activist
mech@eff.org
http://www.eff.org/~mech

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