AOL File Library: 4,401 to 4,500

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ AOL File Library: 4,401 to 4,500 / aol-file-protocol-4400-4401-to-4500.zip / AOLDLs / CPSR Publications / CPSR Alert 3.06 / CPSR Alert 3.06 next >

Wrap

Text File | 2014-12-08 | 18KB | 420 lines

============================================================== @@@@ @@@@ @@@ @@@@ @ @ @@@@ @@@@ @@@@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@ @ @@@ @@@@@ @ @@@ @@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@ @ @@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ ============================================================= Volume 3.06 April 14, 1994 ------------------------------------------------------------- Published by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility Washington Office (Alert@washofc.cpsr.org) ---------------------------------------------------------------- Contents [1] New Docs Raise Questions on FBI's DT Cost Claims [2] S-4 Telecom Bill Includes Counter-Intel Provisions [3] FCC Sets New Rules on Caller ID [4] Medical Privacy Bill Introduced in Congress [5] CPSR Newsgroups Accepted [6] DIAC Conference Announcement [7] New Files at the CPSR Internet Library [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events ---------------------------------------------------------------- [1] FBI Wiretap Claims Questioned Ever since it first proposed "Digital Telephony" legislation in 1992, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has claimed that wiretapping enables law enforcement agencies to prevent billions of dollars in economic loss. Most recently, in a briefing book on the proposed legislation dated March 8, 1994, the Bureau stated that "[t]he economic benefit from the continued use of electronic surveillance (fines, recoveries, restitution, forfeitures and prevented economic loss) is in the billions of dollars per year." These FBI figures are derived from a cost-benefit analysis the Bureau drafted in May 1992 to justify the substantial cost the telecommunications industry would need to bear in order to comply with the legislation. Among other things, the FBI analysis claimed that electronic surveillance had prevented more than $1.8 billion in "potential economic loss" between 1985 and 1991. CPSR has now obtained government documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that raise substantial questions as to the accuracy of these numbers. The documents contain comments on the Bureau's cost-benefit analysis from various components of the federal government, including the White House. These internal critiques of the FBI analysis include the following: * May 22, 1992 memo from the White House: "The analysis should make consistent assumptions with respect to both costs and benefits. The benefits analysis should reflect clearly that only some cases involve electronic surveillance; that some surveillance could continue in the absence of this legislation (at least for some period of years); and that some convictions could probably still be obtained absent surveillance." ... "The analysis does not consider the existence of or the potential for other forms of surveillance that might compensate for the reduction in telephone wiretapping capabilities." ... "On p. 4 and p. 6, certain figures representing 'prevented potential economic loss' are cited. Please explain what losses are encompassed in those figures and how they are calculated." ------------------------------------------------------ * May 22, 1992 memo from Office of the Vice President: "In several places in the analysis, figures are cited without reference to their sources or to how they were derived. For example, on p. 4 a figure of $1.8 billion is cited for potential economic loss. ..." ------------------------------------------------------ * May 26, 1992 memo from Treasury Department: "It is difficult to do a critical analysis of DOJ's cost benefit package without a full explanation of how DOJ arrived at its cost/benefit figures, and what costs and benefits were included in those figures. It is not clear that DOJ knows, or could know, all the costs and benefits involved, but this should be clearly stated." ------------------------------------------------------ In addition to these new documents, industry officials at a Congressional hearing on March 18 sharply questioned the FBI's figures. Roy Neel, President of the US Telephone Association, disputed the FBI's figures that the bill would only cost around 300 million, citing that just revising call forwarding would cost an estimated $1.8 billion. ---------------------------------------------------------------- [2] National Security Provisions Added to Competitiveness Act In March, the US Senate added several controversial provisions to S. 4, the National Competitiveness Act of 1994, to make counter-intelligence surveillance easier. The amendment, named the Counter-Intelligence Improvement Act of 1994, was introduced by Senator William Cohen (R-ME) and approved by a voice vote March 10. S. 4 passed the Senate on March 16 and is now pending in the House of Representatives as HR. 820. One provision makes it easier for the FBI to obtain credit reports. Another allows the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to authorize break-ins. Section 1011(b) authorizes the FBI to obtain the credit reports of individuals without a warrant if a designee of the Attorney General sends a letter to the credit bureau stating that the subject is the target of a counter-intelligence investigation and they have "specific and articulable facts" that the person is a foreign agent. Section 1011(c) allows the FBI to obtain the name, address, former addresses, current and former places of employment of a person from a credit bureau with a written request stating that "the information is necessary to the conduct of an authorized foreign counterintelligence investigation." The credit bureaus are prohibited from disclosing to the people that their reports have been obtained. The only oversight is a yearly report presented to the Intelligence Committees of the House and the Senate. Another provision allows the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, (FISC) a secretive court of 7 specially chosen judges created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to authorize physical searches. The court currently only has jurisdiction to authorize electronic surveillance in counter-intelligence cases. Since its formation in 1979, it has never rejected any of the 6,500 requests by the government for a electronic surveillance order. ---------------------------------------------------------------- [3] FCC Issues Decision on Caller ID (Finally) After three years of deliberation, the FCC in April finally issued its rules on Caller Number Identification. The FCC mandated that telephone companies that use Signaling System 7 offer Caller ID for interstate calls and that interstate carriers carry the signals at no charge. The FCC ruled that telephone companies provide free per call blocking for interstate calls, preempting the decisions of over 30 states public utility commissions, many of which have opted for greater privacy protections. It adopted a controversial brief by the Department of Justice brief, which decided that Caller ID does not violate the Electronic Communications Privacy Act prohibition of "Trap and Trace Devices," which capture the numbers of incoming telephone calls. Previously, the Congressional Research Service and several states found that Caller ID was a trap and trace device. The FCC rules also require that users of ANI services, such as 800 and 900 number services, which do not currently have a blocking capability, obtain consent from callers before passing on the information. Telephone companies must institute public education campaigns about ANI and Caller ID. A copy of CPSR and the US Privacy Council's brief to the FCC and other materials from CPSR on Caller ID are available at the CPSR Internet Library. ---------------------------------------------------------------- [4] Medical Privacy Bill Introduced in Congress Congressmen Gary Condit (D-CA), has introduced a comprehensive bill protecting the privacy of medical records in the House of Representatives. HR 4077, the Fair Health Information Practices Act of 1994, is a free standing bill but is intended to be an amendment to HR 3600, the Clinton Administration's health reform bill and other bills currently pending in Congress. The bill creates fair information practices for the collection and use of personal medical information. It mandates that holders of health information keep that information confidential unless there is authorization for its release by the patient or other limited exceptions. Each person who obtains private medical information becomes a trustee. Patients will also have the right to access, and correct their own personal files. The bill also creates criminal and civil penalties for improper access or disclosure of records. For criminal access, penalties are up to a $250,000 fine and 10 years in jail. Civil penalties are available against any private company, individual or state or local government for damages, including punitive damages in some cases, and attorney fees. One area that has caused some concern is the law enforcement access to medical records. As currently written the bill allows law enforcement access to patient records with only a written certification by a supervisor that access is being obtained for a lawful purpose. Privacy advocates are concerned that a low threshold for obtaining records will encourage "fishing expeditions" for information by law enforcement officials. HR 4077 was also cosponsored by John Conyers (D-MI) and Maria Velazquez (D-NY). Congressional hearings will be held on April 20, 27 and 28. CPSR has been asked to testify on April 28. HR 4077 and supporting materials are available from the CPSR Internet Library. (See below for details). ---------------------------------------------------------------- [5] CPSR Newsgroups Accepted. CPSR now has two USENET newsgroups to discuss CPSR related issues comp.org.cpsr.announce is a moderated group for official cpsr releases. It will duplicate the material sent over the cpsr-announce list. If you wish to receive the Alert only though the newsgroup, you can unsubscribe to the listserv by sending the command: "unsubscribe cpsr-announce (your name)" (No quotes or brackets) to listserv@cpsr.org. comp.org.cpsr.talk is an unmoderated discussion group for areas of interest to CPSR members and the public. Please join in. ---------------------------------------------------------------- [6] DIAC Conference Announcement "Developing an Equitable and Open Information Infrastructure" Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC-94) Symposium Cambridge, Mass April 23 - 24, 1994 Benjamin Barber on Electronic Democracy Herbert Schiller on Media Control and Alternative Programming Tom Grundner on Grassroots Networking The National Information Infrastructure (NII) is being proposed as the next-generation "information superhighway" for the 90's and beyond. Academia, libraries, government agencies, as well as media and telecommunication companies are involved in the current development. Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) and other organizations believe that critical issues regarding the use of the NII deserve increased public visibility and participation and are using the DIAC Symposium to help address this concern. The DIAC-94 symposium is a two-day event and will consist of presentations on the first day and workshops on the second day. The DIAC Symposia are held biannually and DIAC-94 will be CPSR's fifth such conference. We encourage your participation both through attending and through conducting a workshop. Sponsored by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility Co-sponsored by the Internet Society and the MIT Communications Forum. For more information on co-sponsorship or on general issues, contact conference chair, Coralee Whitcomb, cwhitcom@bentley.edu. ---------------------------------------------------------------- [7] New Files at the CPSR Internet Library HR 4077. Fair Health Information Practices of 1994 /cpsr/privacy/medical/ hr4077 - text of bill hr4077.faq - Frequently Asked Questions hr4077.int - Questions and Answers hr4077.pr - Press Release hr4077.sum - Summary Transcripts of the CFP94 panel "Who holds the Keys?" and Bruce Sterling's Speech /privacy/crypto/cfp94_who_holds_keys_discussion.txt /privacy/crpyto/cfp94_sterling.txt The CPSR Internet Library is a free service available via FTP/WAIS/Gopher/listserv from cpsr.org:/cpsr. Materials from Privacy International, the Taxpayers Assets Project and the Cypherpunks are also archived. For more information, contact ftp-admin@cpsr.org. ---------------------------------------------------------------- [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC)-94 "Developing an Equitable and Open Information Infrastructure" Cambridge, MA. April 23 - 24, 1994. Sponsored by CPSR. Contact: cwhitcomb@bentley.edu or doug.schuler@cpsr.org. Computer-Human Interaction 94. Boston, Mass. April 24-28. Sponsored by ACM. Contact: 214-590-8616 or 410-269-6801, chi94office.chi@xerox.com "Navigating the Networks." 1994 Mid-Year Meeting, American Society for Information Science. Portland, Oregon. May 22 - 25, 1994. Contact: rhill@cni.org Rural Datafication II: "Meeting the Challenge of Providing Ubiquitous Access to the Internet" Minneapolis, Minnesota. May 23-24, 1994. Sponsored by CICNet & NSF. Contact: ruraldata-info-request@cic.net. Send name, mailing address and e-mail address. "Information: Society, Superhighway or Gridlock?" Computing for the Social Sciences 1994 Conference (CSS94). University of Maryland at College Park. June 1-3, 1994. Contact: Dr. Charles Wellford 301-405-4699, fax 301-405-4733, e-mail: cwellford@bss2.umd.edu. Abstracts for papers due March 1. Contact William Sims Bainbridge (wbainbri@nsf.gov). Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computer Science. Washington, DC June 9-11. Contact: 415 617-3335, hopper-info@pa.dec.com DEF CON ][ ("underground" computer culture) "Load up your laptop muffy, we're heading to Vegas!" The Sahara Hotel, Las Vegas, NV. July 22-24, Contact: dtangent@defcon.org. Conference on Uncertainty in AI. Seattle, WA. July 29-31. Contact: 206-936-2662, heckerma@microsoft.com. Symposium: An Arts and Humanities Policy for the National Information Infrastructure. Boston, Mass. October 14-16, 1994. Sponsored by the Center for Art Research in Boston. Contact: Jay Jaroslav (jaroslav@artdata.win.net). Third Biannual Conference on Participatory Design, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, October 27-28, 1994. Sponsored by CPSR. Contact: trigg@parc.xerox.com. Submissions due April 15, 1994. (Send calendar submissions to Alert@washofc.cpsr.org) ======================================================================= To subscribe to the Alert, send the message: "subscribe cpsr-announce <your name>" (without quotes or brackets) to listserv@cpsr.org. Back issues of the Alert are available at the CPSR Internet Library FTP/WAIS/Gopher cpsr.org /cpsr/alert and on America Online in the Mac Telecomm folder. 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 23 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 or visit the CPSR discussion conferences on The Well (well.sf.ca.us) or Mindvox (phantom.com). ======================================================================= CPSR MEMBERSHIP FORM Name ___________________________________________________________ Address ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip _____________________________________________________ Home phone _____________________ Work phone ______________________ Company ___________________________________________________________ Type of work ______________________________________________________ E-mail address _____________________________________________________ CPSR Chapter __ Acadiana __ Austin __ Berkeley __ Boston __ Chicago __ Denver/Boulder __ Los Angeles __ Loyola/New Orleans __ Madison __ Maine __ Milwaukee __ Minnesota __ New Haven __ New York __ Palo Alto __ Philadelphia __ Pittsburgh __ Portland __ San Diego __ Santa Cruz __ Seattle __ Washington, DC __ No chapter in my area CPSR Membership Categories __ $ 75 REGULAR MEMBER __ $ 50 Basic member __ $ 200 Supporting member __ $ 500 Sponsoring member __ $1000 Lifetime member __ $ 20 Student/low income member __ $ 50 Foreign subscriber __ $ 50 Library/institutional subscriber (Corporate memberships also available) Additional tax-deductible contribution to support CPSR projects: __ $50 __ $75 __ $100 __ $250 __ $500 __ $1000 __ Other Total Enclosed: $ ________ Make check out to CPSR and mail to: CPSR P.O. Box 717 Palo Alto, CA 94301 ------------------------ END CPSR Alert 3.06 ----------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------