--- begin forwarded text Date: Thu, 08 Sep 2005 20:48:22 -0400 From: Daniel Greenwood <dang@media.mit.edu> User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2 (Windows/20050317) To: "'dang@media.mit.edu'" <dang@media.mit.edu> Subject: IMPORTANT NOTICE: MIT CONFERENCE ON REAL ID ACT IS POSTPONED AND AUGMENTED BY ONLINE DISCUSSION. [Apologies if you have already received this notice - the mail server at the MIT Media Lab crashed today and we are aware that at least some people on our notice list did not get this important message.] Please be advised that the public forum originally scheduled for Wednesday, September 14, 2005 to address the REAL ID Act of 2005 has been postponed. This has become necessary because many of the people interested in the forum are from the homeland security and first responder communities, and their focus is now squarely on the ongoing efforts to recover from Hurricane Katrina. In place of the September 14th public forum, the MIT Media Lab and the MIT E-Commerce Architecture Program will be organizing an online forum to start a conversation about the REAL ID Act of 2005. This online forum will be an ongoing, asynchronous event lasting from Monday, September 19, 2005 through Friday, September 23, 2005. This online discussion will include presentations by leaders in the field, policy experts and governmental officials who will give deeper background on the status and issues related to REAL ID. There will also be an opportunity for all registrants to participate in a dialog with the speakers and each other. Additional details about the online forum will be available shortly at http://ecitizen.mit.edu/realid.html. Please register at that web site between now and September 19th in order to participate in this web-based discussion. Finally, there will be a physical meeting at MIT to discuss the REAL ID Act of 2005 on Thursday, November 17, 2005. The upcoming online forum will provide an excellent opportunity to design this event so as to provide the maximum benefit for the people who will be attending this gathering. In the meantime, please continue to use the registration feature on the website to let us know if you are interested in participating in the online forum or attending the November meeting. Also be sure to check the website periodically for additional details. Regards, Daniel J. Greenwood, MIT Media Lab, Smart Cities Group, Lecturer MIT E-Commerce Architecture Program, Director --- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'