National Capital FreeNet (NCF) (French: Libertel de la Capitale Nationale), is a non-profit community organization Internet service provider, with the goal of linking people in Canada's capital of Ottawa, ensuring no Ottawa citizens would be excluded from Internet access.
Founded in September 1992 with the active participation of volunteers, Carleton University, and private industry (which donated communications equipment), NCF was one of the first free-nets set up worldwide and was patterned after the Cleveland Free-Net that had been established at Case Western Reserve University in 1984. Within a year of its establishment NCF had over 10,000 members.Evans, Ken & Bonni: The National Capital FreeNet Navigator: a practical guide to the National Capital FreeNet, access to your community and the world, pages 1-3. Imagicians Artware Inc, Manotick, Ontario, 1995
NCF offers broadband (DSL) and dial-up service to people in the national capital region; in early 2012, over 4,000 members used its dial-up service.
History In many ways the history of NCF parallels that of the Internet itself. In the early 1990s NCF was one of the region's only Internet service providers and members flocked to it to take advantage of the new technology. Due to its volunteer and donation-based model the organization failed to keep up with the rapid technological changes that occurred in the 1995–2000 period and lost most of its membership to commercial ISPs as a result. Later it floundered trying to make ends meet and finally established itself in the niche market of providing services to disadvantaged segments of the community. NCF board member Jim Elder summarized NCF's early history: "NCF surfed the wave of Internet success in the first-half of the 1990s, but lost the wave in 1995 and then tread water." NCF regained some of its 'mojo' in the early 2000s, when funding from Industry Canada's SmartCapital program and several partners helped NCF modernize its back office system and web pages, bringing NCF firmly into the web era."
The early days of this free-net featured dial-up service and web access using the Lynx browser. Members typically used the system to access Usenet, telnet, e-mail and Gopher. As the web became popular many new Internet users became NCF members before they went to a PPP provider for graphic access to the web. As the web evolved NCF began offering dial up PPP access.
1990s
1991 National Capital FreeNet was started at a luncheon held in October 1991. Jay Weston of the Carleton University Department of Mass Communications and George Frajkor of the School of Journalism and Television Programming invited Dave Sutherland, the director of the university's Computing and Communication Services Department, to have lunch and discuss the concept of establishing a free-net based on the concept of the Cleveland Free-Net.
A committee independent of the university was formed under Sutherland's leadership and started meeting weekly that same month to lay the groundwork for the free-net. A decision was made to make the endeavour community-based and not part of the university, an approach supported by the university president.
1992 In the summer of 1992, the free-net was activated as a pilot project, using university computer resources that were underutilized over the summer. With help from Industry Canada, Sun Microsystems was persuaded to donate a computer and Gandalf Technologies provided the first modems.
In September, the Ottawa Citizen carried a front-page article by Dominic Lacasse, describing the new pilot free-net project. The article included the dial-in phone number and, as a result, twenty people per day started signing up as members.
The first NCF board meeting was held on 10 December 1992 with Sutherland as chairman. At that point the organization had a total of 4 dial-up lines, a custom logo designed by a graphic artist and Cdn$2120. The start-up funding was made up of Cdn$1000 from City of Ottawa Community Health, Cdn$1000 from the Carleton School Board, a private donation of Cdn$50, and Cdn$70 in cash on hand. The board indicated that the "correct spelling for FreeNet was confirmed at this time as " FreeNet ", with both the "F" and "N" capitalized."
1993 National Capital FreeNet had its official public launch on 1 February 1993.
In April 1993, Julie Chahal, head of the NCF's Public Access Committee presented a public access policy that was accepted by the board. This policy set free public access as a priority for the organization:
By April 1993, NCF had reached the limit of their first server in offering 58 dial-up phone lines and started upgrading to faster 14.4 kbps modems.
In the summer of 1993, the organization's application for charitable status was turned down by Revenue Canada, as was the application of another early freenet in Victoria, BC. NCF spent much of the year in fundraising activities to meet its mandate in the face of rapidly rising demands for service and the need to purchase new hardware on an ongoing basis. The organization hired its first Office Manager, Kyla Huckerby and committed to hiring a System Administrator as well.
Late in the year Ian Allen was hired as NCF's first System Manager, reporting to the board. By the end of the year, NCF had over 11,000 members.
1994 The association took delivery of its first Sun Microsystems SPARCstation computer and a new terminal server in April. By the end of the first quarter, NCF had 19,000 members.
The success of the free public terminals at the Ottawa Library was identified as problematic in a survey of users at that facility. The survey showed that some users were dominating the computers and this made it hard for others to access them. NCF dealt with this through a technological solution: limiting sign-in time on the public computers to one hour and to one log-in per day.
1994 also saw NCF make French language access a priority, forming a committee to make recommendations on ensuring that Francophone users in the nation's capital had equal access to NCF and registering the name Libertel as the French equivalent to FreeNet. By the end of June 1994 NCF had 97 dial-up phone lines and was expanding to a total of 120.
By the end of 1994, NCF had published an Internet Survival Guide aimed at both members and at the general public. The publication was free to members on the Internet and sold on paper to non-members. NCF activities had attracted the notice of CBC-TV who completed a news program on the association. Telephone help services were provided at the NCF offices by unpaid volunteers, a practice that continues today. NCF finished the year with 160 dial-up phone lines in operation.
One of the early supporters of the NCF community Internet project was Dr. José Luis Pardos, the Spanish Ambassador to Canada who brought the Embassy of Spain online using NCF.
1995
Lisa Donnelly became the organization's first executive director.
At the start of the year members were limited to two hours Internet usage per day with a one-hour time limit per log-in.
In an attempt to raise funds, NCF published a paper cookbook under the title From the Kitchens of the National Capital FreeNet. The project was headed by NCG member Andre Ouellette and came off the presses in May.Ouellette, Andre: From the Kitchens of the National Capital FreeNet. National Capital FreeNet May 1995
In June 1995, the organization adopted a Statement of Values that was based on free and equal access and specifically that there would be no charges for membership or Internet use, that the same services be available to all people of the region, unfettered communication and respect for the rights of others. The organization continued to fund its operations primarily from sponsorships, government grants, and donations.
By June 1995, NCF had 43,515 registered users and was taking action to make use of the then new World Wide Web through introduction of the Lynx text browser, among other preparations.
The organization had struggled with the need for and the drafting of an Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) since its inception. In September 1995, it finally adopted one. The AUP made individuals, and not NCF, responsible for their content posted on newsgroups and on the web, banned spamming, and provided guidance on offensive material and on personal attacks. On offensive material it stated:
By the end of the year, it was becoming obvious that use of the World Wide Web was where the future lay and not in newsgroups and that the organization was at risk of being left behind and "of becoming a ghetto for the information-poor instead of helping all members of our community participate equally and fully in future information networks." This challenged the organization to provide ever newer hardware and software while maintaining free community access. These challenges lead to a debate as to whether NCF should be an up-to-date Internet service provider for the whole community in competition with the new commercial Internet providers, or focus on ensuring that the "novice, computer illiterate, and less-well-off segments" have Internet access.
1996 In January 1996 NCF began experimenting with using Solaris to run the news servers, as the organization began the transition from the NCF-developed text-based FreePort-based system to the World Wide Web.
The organization also formally adopted a Freedom of Expression Policy that acknowledged the Fundamental Freedoms of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the legal limitations on free speech in Canada, and that individuals were responsible for their posted material and not NCF. The policy stated that "however, NCF will cooperate with Canadian legal authorities to identify the person responsible for questionable material. NCF will only remove illegal material when directed to by Canadian legal authorities."
Hardware was upgraded in 1996 with the addition of two computers: a Sparc-10 and a Sparc-20. The transitions were complicated by the fact that the new computers ran Solaris, which did not support the existing FreePort, but were necessary to make the transition to the World Wide Web.
The organization had been using a set of rooms at Carleton University since its inception, but the addition of ever more equipment and of four staff members put pressure on NCF to find new accommodations. The organization considered offers of space at the university, public libraries, and high schools. It became clear that a move would have to happen in the future but, additional space was temporarily found at the university.
The middle of 1996 saw NCF facing a cash flow shortage. The organization had budgeted on the basis of past levels of donations from individuals and from corporate sponsorships and was in a period where new hardware was required while donations dropped off precipitously. In response, the board considered whether to cease expansion plans or move to a new funding model. They considered all options, including voluntary contributions, corporate sponsorships, government or foundation sponsorship, advertising, selling products, and membership fees. The last option was noted "Some other Freenets do charge a small membership fee. To date, the NCF Board has opposed having any fees. However, given a choice between continuing to operate with a fee or not continuing to operate, we may want to change our minds."
The organization decided initially to address funding with a multi-faceted approach that included approaching Mitel and the Royal Bank of Canada for cash sponsorships, approaching several partners for hardware donations, setting up a sponsor database, applying for municipal grants, recognizing donors on-line, updating on-line donation information, creating a webpage on activities, and auctioning off fifty-eight pieces of Microsoft software and five pieces of Corel Corporation software.