ASCII is a non-profit internetworkspace running on open source software. We try to show that there's more than just M$ Windows and we try to convince our fellow activists that using software made by the biggest multi-national corporation in the world must be bad.

ASCII started in 1999 in a squatted building on the Herengracht. Our main goal in that time was to get all the squatters and email address. Nowadays, using email and the web is so common that we could choose new goals: We provide internet in action camps, host websites for organisations that were not welcome elsewhere and try to facilitate the use of internet by activists.

Many activists are still only just starting to grasp the importance of the Internet as a medium, meeting place and information source. We don't claim the Internet is more important than other media or that in order to have a successful campaign it is necessary to rely on net mechanisms.Radio, for instance, is unsurpassed when it comes to spreading a message to even the remotest areas of the planet. However, none of the "conventional" media influence our perception of reality like the Internet does. That is, the boundaries of participation and observation/non-participation are clearly defined when it comes to reading the paper, watching TV etc. The Internet, on the other hand, has a far-reaching interactivity; it is a soapbox, library, publishing tool and meeting place at the same time. Where else could one find detailed and extensive information on, for instance, genetic modification, join a newsgroup, put a site up, find like-minded people to organize a global campaign, spread news about local actions within minutes of their taking place - and all of that just a click away?

We feel the Internet should be accessible to anyone and that censorship sucks. Infringement on free speech, surfers' privacy and over-commercialization of the net are mayor problems already. At this rate the net will soon be one huge billboard where multinational companies provide the world with good, clean family fun. Not if we can help it! We hope the subversive elements of the world will continue to infiltrate the net.