May First/People Link engages in building movements by advancing the strategic use and collective control of technology for local struggles, global transformation, and emancipation without borders. Flowing from that mission, our organization redefines the concept of “Internet Service Provider” in a collective and collaborative way. Like any democratic membership organization, we gather together each year to evaluate the past year’s experiences, plan the coming year’s work and elect a Leadership Committee to apply what we’ve decided. Like a coop, we pay dues, buy equipment and then we all use that equipment as we need to for websites, email, email lists, and just about everything else we do on the Internet. As a movement organization, we participate in (and often lead) campaigns, struggles, coalitions and network of left, progressive and social justice organizations in the U.S., Mexico and Internationally. Learn more about our organization by reading our official documents.
May First/People Link is a member of the Media Action Grassroots Network, the Association for Progressive Communications, the US Social Forum and actively participates in the Left Forum, the Allied Media Conference, the Mexican and International Coop movemets, and other movement coalitions and gatherings. We are committed to building movements for global transformation and emancipation.
May First/People Link is binational, based in the US and Mexico. Our member-elected Leadership Committee is drawn from both countries to allow us to build a strategic vision with an international perspective that matches the potential of movement as we continue to develop communication opportunities that cross borders.
Over 800 May First/People Link members pay dues to support our work. One important benefit of membership is access to our first class web, email and other hosting services, based entirely on free and open source software, hardened to defend against denial of service attacks, and with a track record of fighting corporate and government requests for data.
Mar 23, 2016: We can’t ignore this threat; you shouldn’t miss this presentation!!! Call in and hear May First/People Link Leadership Committee member and chief technologist Jamie McClelland on The Increase in On-Line Attacks and Threats Why it’s happening, what it means and what we should do about it. When: March 31, 2016 – 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm (U.S. Eastern time) To get connection information, please Register. Link to slides: https://mayfirst.org/en/files/2016-03-ddos-slides.pdf Bring as many people as you want; all they have to do is register.
Mar 9, 2016: March 8, 2016 Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit granted a partial stay requested by the telecommunications companies effectively delaying last year’s Order by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate the prison phone industry. FCC Chair Tom Wheeler and Commissioner Mignon Clyburn have already expressed their regret in this temporary setback. The Campaign for Prison Phone Justice echoes this disappointment but we remain hopeful that the rate caps passed by the FCC will be fully implemented.
Feb 11, 2016: In partnership with the Calyx Institute, May First/People Link now has our own block of Internet addresses, allowing us greater freedom and flexibility when responding to denial of service attacks and legal take down notices from corporations trying to stifle political speech. The partnership with the Calyx Institute offers many political benefits. It is the first Internet organization to resist a National Security Letter and is a leader in the movement for a free and private Internet and its work dovetails with several of May First’s objectives and campaigns.
Feb 8, 2016: The website http://itsnotthetimes.com, a spoof of the New York Times that exposes the U.S. media’s biased coverage of the Palestinian rights issue, is again live on May First servers. The website, sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace (a U.S.-based member of May First/People Link) and Jews Say No!, was wiped off the Internet earlier this week when lawyers for the Times sent Dreamhost, which was hosting the site, a spurious DMCA copyright violation notification.
Dec 2, 2015: The members of May First/People Link have elected Rob Robinson, Sandra Contreras Martinez, Manisha Desai, Francia Gutierrez, Aarón Moysén and Jacobo Nájera as new members of the organization’s Leadership Committee. These elected members fill five positions already open as well as the seat occupied by Enrique Rosas who has stepped down from the LC. The full Leadership Committee is listed at: https://mayfirst.org/en/who/ The membership has also approved six official documents which can be found here: https://mayfirst.org/en/official-documents/ The vote breakdown: Values/Valores 84 in favor, 2 against Goals/Objectivos 84 in favor, 2 against Mission/Misión 82 in favor, 4 against Structure/Estructura 80 in favor, 6 against Intentionality/V 76 in favor, 10 against Political Environment/Politico 73 in favor, 13 against And the list of priorities set for our organization by its membership is: https://mayfirst.org/en/priorities/ These votes were the final phase of the 2015 Membership Meeting which has now been completed.
May First/People Link offers two different webmail programs. You will always see the same email regarless of which program you use. Roundcube has a friendly and simple iterface, making it the easier of the two programs to use. Horde, on the other hand, offers more than just email - you can share calendars, to do lists and more with other members of your group. Feel free to try both and decide which one makes sense for you.