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CPSR Alert 2.02 (Sept 24, 199
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CPSR Alert 2.02
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Volume 2.02 September 24, 1993
-------------------------------------------------------------
Published by the
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
Washington Office
Editor: Dave Banisar
--------
CPSR Washington Office Staff:
Director: Marc Rotenberg (rotenberg@washofc.cpsr.org)
Legal Counsel: David Sobel (sobel@washofc.cpsr.org)
Policy Analyst: Dave Banisar (banisar@washofc.cpsr.org)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Contents
[1] Crypto Update
[2] White House Announces NII Plan
[3] CPSR Annual Meeting
[4] The CPSR Internet Library
[5] Upcoming CPSR Events
-------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Crypto Update
Key Escrow Agents Chosen
At a Congressional staff briefing on Sept 15, the Justice Department
announced that it was planning to designate NIST and a "non-law
enforcement" component of the Department of Treasury to hold the keys
for the Clipper Chip phones. DOJ also admitted that it was not a
true escrow system because the agencies holding the keys will have
no fiduciary duty to the owners of the Clipper devices. To retrieve
the keys, law enforcement agencies will fax the serial number of the
targetted Clipper device to the escrow agencies with a certificate that
they are authorized to intercept the communication.
Comments Deadline Approaching
The deadline for comments to NIST on the Key Escrow System is
September 28. The FIPS is available in electronic form from the CPSR
Internet Library FTP/WAIS/Gopher cpsr.org
/cpsr/crypto/clipper/call-for-comments. Send comments to Director,
Computer Systems Laboratory, ATTN: Proposed FIPS for Escrowed
Encryption Standard, Technology Building, room B-154, National
Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899.
Background material on the Clipper proposal and other cryptography
issues is also available from the CPSR Internet Library.
CPSR has created an archive of comments on the proposal and has
asked people to electronically submit a copy of their comments to
clipper@washofc.cpsr.org. Stored comments are available at cpsr.org
/cpsr/crypto/clipper/call-for-comments.
A 450 page source book of materials on crypto policy is available
from CPSR for $50.00. Contact banisar@washofc.cpsr.org for more
information.
NIST Explains Role of Clipper Review Panel
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
has clarified the role of five experts selected by the agency to
evaluate the government's Clipper Chip proposal and the underlying
SKIPJACK cryptographic algorithm. In a recent letter to the CPSR
Washington Office, NIST asserts that the panel was not eastablished
to provide "advice or recommendations" to the government. Rather,
according to NIST, the reason for convening the group was "to
provide the opportunity for independent experts to satisfy
themselves as to the strength and effectiveness of the algorithm in
order to encourage widespread acceptance of it in the marketplace."
NIST concludes that the panel's evaluation therefore falls outside
the scope of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which opens the
work of advisory panels to public scrutiny.
In response to CPSR's request for documents relevant to the
panel's review, the agency reveals that:
NIST has no records which were made available to or
prepared for the five experts for the purpose of
enabling them to evaluate the Clipper Chip proposal.
Any such records would be in the possession of the National
Security Agency, where all activities related to the
work of the experts were conducted.
This disclosure provides further confirmation that NSA, and not
NIST, is the driving force behind the Clipper proposal, despite
NIST's public role as the "proposing" agency.
The only NIST document released to CPSR is a copy of the
invitation sent to the five experts who participated in the
evaluation. That letter describes the "key escrow" system and
states that the escrowed keys will be made available "only to
authorized government officials under proper legal authorizations,
usually a court order." This language -- "usually a court order" --
suggests that there will be instances in which the escrow keys will
be provided to government agents without presentation of a judicial
warrant. The government has never clearly defined what will
constitute "legal authorization" under the Clipper system.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[2] White House announces NII Plan
The administration recently released the "NII Agenda for Action."
The proposal describes the plans for the National Information
Infrastructure and outlines a series of action items. The
administration targets job creation, economic development, and
healthcare for the NII. The NII Agenda makes clear that the
government will play an important role in realizing these goals.
The NII Agenda says also that the government's role should be
"carefully crafted" and developed in partnership with the private
sector.
The Agenda for Action expresses a commitment to an updated view of
universal service, as well as improved access to government
information. There is also support for technological innovation and
new applications, including new money for Information Infrastructure
Technologies and Applications and the NII Pilot Project Program.
Interactivity is given high priority as is security and reliability.
There are references to life-long learning, revitalizing democratic
institutions, and encouraging new educational opportunities. The
administration also acknowledges that policy should be developed in
coordination with other governments, recognizing that the NII should
be viewed in a global setting.
The creation of two new committees is also an important part of the
administration's NII plan. The Information Infrastructure Task
Force is the government group responsible for coordinating policy
development. It is headed by Secretary of Commerce Ronald Brown and
includes three committees -- information policy, telecommunications
policy, and applications. These committees are headed by the Office
of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the National
Telecommunications Information Administration, and the National
Institute of Standards and Technology. The information policy group
is then divided into three areas -- privacy, information, and
copyright. (The person heading the information subcommittee, Bruce
McConnell, is the keynote speaker for the upcoming CPSR Annual
Meeting)
Then there is an Advisory Council with 25 members that reports to
Secretary Brown. It is unclear exactly what the responsibilities of
the committee will be. Presumably, the Advisory Council will
provide public input into the IITF process.
CPSR will be preparing formal comments for the IITF.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[3] CPSR Annual Meeting
COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
ANNUAL MEETING
October 16 - 17, 1993
University of Washington, South Campus Center
Seattle, Washington, USA
Envisioning the Future: A National Forum on the National
Information Infrastructure and Community Access
Co-sponsored by the American Society for Information Science
Pacific Northwest Chapter (ASIS-PNC)
For more information, contact the National Office at cpsr@cpsr.org,
or Aki Namioka, Annual Meeting Chair, at aki@cpsr.org.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[4] The CPSR Internet Library
CPSR has set up an archive of materials on privacy, cryptography,
information access, the National Information Infrastructure and
other related issues. Recent additions to the archive include the
entire National Performance Review report, and the full text of the
Clinton Adminstration's National Information Infrastucture
plan.
NII /cpsr/clinton/ntia_nii_agenda.txt
The archive also archives materials from Privacy International, the
US Privacy Council, the Taxpayers Assets Project and the Cypherpunks
cryptography group. To access the archive, FTP/WAIS/Gopher cpsr.org.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[5] Upcoming Events
National Conference on Technology Conversion, Roselyn West Park
Hotel, Arlington, Va. Oct 7-8, Contact: Miriam Pemberton, National
Commission for Economic Conversion and Disarmament (202) 462-0091.
CPSR Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA. October 16-17, Contact: Aki
Namioka (aki@atc.boeing.com).
Computers Freedom and Privacy 4. Chicago, Ill. March 1993. Contact:
George Trubow, 312-987-1445 (cfp94@jmls.edu).
==============================================================
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to listserv@gwuvm.gwu.edu. Back issues of the Alert are available
at the CPSR Internet Library FTP/WAIS/Gopher cpsr.org /cpsr/alert
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility is a national,
non-partisan, public-interest organization dedicated to
understanding and directing the impact of computers on society.
Founded in 1981, CPSR has 2000 members from all over the world and
22 chapters across the country. Our National Advisory Board includes
a Nobel laureate and three winners of the Turing Award, the highest
honor in computer science. Membership is open to everyone.
For more information, please contact: cpsr@cpsr.org
==============================================================
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------------------------ END CPSR Alert 2.02-----------------------