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1990-11-24
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4KB
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88 lines
COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
PRESS RELEASE
CPSR TO UNDERTAKE EXPANDED CIVIL LIBERTIES PROGRAM
CPSR, a national computing organization, announced today that it would
receive a two-year grant in the amount of $275,000 for its Computing and
Civil Liberties Project. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, founded by
Mitchell Kapor and John Barlow, made the grant to expand ongoing CPSR work
on civil liberties protections for computer users.
At a press conference in Washington today, Mr. Kapor praised CPSR's work.
"CPSR plays an important role in the computer community. For the last
several years, it has sought to extend civil liberties protections to new
information technologies. Now we want to help CPSR expand that work."
Marc Rotenberg, director of the CPSR Washington Office said, "We are
obviously very happy about the grant from the EFF. There is a lot of work
that needs to be done to ensure that our civil liberties protections are
not lost amidst policy confusion about the use of new computer
technologies."
CPSR said that it will host a series of policy round tables in Washington,
DC, during the next two years with lawmakers, computer users including
"hackers," the FBI, industry representatives, and members of the computer
security community. Mr. Rotenberg said that the purpose of the meetings
will be to "begin a dialogue about the new uses of electronic media and the
protection of the public interest."
CPSR also plans to develop policy papers on computers and civil liberties,
to oversee the Government's handling of computer crime investigations, and
to act as an information resource for organizations and individuals
interested in civil liberties issues.
The CPSR Computing and Civil Liberties project began in 1985 after
President Reagan attempted to restrict access to government computer
systems through the creation of new classification authority. In 1988 CPSR
prepared a report on the proposed expansion of the FBI's computer system,
the National Crime Information Center. The report found serious threats to
privacy and civil liberties. Shortly after the report was issued, the FBI
announced that it would drop a proposed computer feature to track the
movements of people across the country who had not been charged with any
crime.
"We need to build bridges between the technical community and the policy
community," said Dr. Eric Roberts, CPSR President and a research scientist
at Digital Equipment Corporation in Palo Alto, California. "There is simply
too much misinformation about how computer networks operate. This could
produce terribly misguided public policy."
CPSR representatives have testified several times before Congressional
committees on matters involving civil liberties and computer policy. Last
year CPSR urged a House Committee to avoid poorly conceived computer crime
laws that could criminalize a wide range of computer activity. "In the
rush to criminalize the malicious acts of the few we may discourage the
beneficial acts of the many," warned CPSR. A House subcommittee recently
followed CPSR's recommendations on computer crime amendments.
Dr. Ronni Rosenberg, an expert on the role of computer scientists and
public policy, praised the new initiative. She said, "It's clear that
there is an information gap that needs to be filled. This an important
opportunity for computer scientists to help fill that gap."
CPSR is a national membership organization of computer professionals, based
in Palo Alto, California. CPSR has over 2,000 members and 21 chapters
across the country. In addition to the civil liberties project, CPSR
conducts research, advises policy makers and educates the public about
computers in the workplace, computer risk and reliability, and
international security.
For more information contact:
Marc Rotenberg
CPSR Washington Office
1025 Connecticut Avenue NW
Suite 1015
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 775-1588
Gary Chapman
CPSR National Office
P.O. Box 717
Palo Alto, CA 94302
(415) 322-3778