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Volume 6, #03                      /___________________________________________
                                                                 March 29, 1993

Table of Contents:

Section a: Metro/Northwest
[a 1] Oregon CNID Delayed Again

Section b: National/World News
[b 1] Federal Appeals Court Upholds Privacy
[b 2] Secret Service Admits Knowledge of 2600 Raid
[b 3] Steve Jackson Games Wins Case Againsts Secret Service
[b 4] Chapman, Pine to Leave CPSR


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  ___|                                                                 CPSR/PDX
 |   | Section a:
 |__/| Metro/Northwest


[a 1] Oregon CNID Delayed Again

U S West recently announced that they will begin offering Calling
Number Identification to Oregonians.  CNID allows people you call to
gather information about you.  Originally, the service was to be
offered on April 1.  However, introduction has now apparently been
delayed until at least May 4.  No reason has been given for the delay.

Because of the efforts of CPSR and other groups, the current CNID
proposal has a number of restrictions.  For 60 days, U S West will
offer the option of selecting Line Blocking for free.  Line Blocking
allows you to make calls without disclosing information about
yourself.  Thereafter, there will be a fee for selecting line
blocking.  A card allowing the selection of Line Blocking was in all
U S West billing envelopes.

In addition, U S West will not be offering a controversial feature
called Last Call Return (LCR), until problems with the feature are
fixed.  LCR allows someone you call to call you back with the press of
a button.  The problem with LCR is that, in the current software
revisions of telephone switches, it can't be blocked.  U S West has
stated that they will not offer LCR until new releases block LCR when
CNID is blocked.

Finally, every non-published telephone subscriber in Oregon has
received a letter from U S West, alerting them that their privacy may
be compromised by the new services.

"Clearly, we aren't happy with this new service," stated CPSR/Portland
member Erik Nilsson.  "While we supported providing these services to
Oregonians, we would have preferred something a little more useful to
average telephone consumers, and less useful to those who would abuse
the network to gather information on Oregonians."

"Still, it could have been worse.  The current services, while risky,
are better than what has been offered in some States.  We're glad we
got involved."

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 |   | Section b:
 |___| National/World News


[b 1] Federal Appeals Court Upholds Privacy

Use of Social Security Number Limited

CPSR Expresses Support for Decision


A federal court of appeals has ruled that Virginia's divulging of the
Social Security numbers of registered voters violates the
Constitution.  The Court said that Virginia's registration scheme
places an "intolerable burden" on the right to vote.

The result comes nearly two years after Marc Greidinger, a resident of
Falmouth, Virginia, first tried to register to vote.

Mr. Greidinger told the New York Times this week that when the State
of Virginia refused to register him as a voter unless he provided his
Social Security number he decided to bring suit against the state
arguing that Virginia should stop publishing the Social Security
numbers of voters.

This week a federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia ruled that the
state's practice constituted "a profound invasion of privacy" and
emphasized the "egregiousness of the harm" that could result from
dissemination of an individual's SSN.

CPSR joined with Mr.  Greidinger in the effort to change the Virginia
system.  CPSR, which had testified before the U.S. Congress and the
state legislature in Virginia about growing problems with the misuse
of the SSN, provided both technical and legal support to Mr.
Greidinger.  CPSR also worked with Paul Wolfson of the Public Citizen
Litigation Group, who argued the case for Mr. Greidinger.

In an amicus brief filed with the court, CPSR noted the long-standing
interest of the computing profession in the design of safe information
systems and the particular concerns about the misuse of the SSN.  The
CPSR brief traced the history of the SSN provisions in the 1974
Privacy Act.  The brief also described how the widespread use of SSNs
had led to a proliferation of banking and credit crime and how SSNs
were used to fraudulently obtain credit records and federal benefits.

CPSR argued that the privacy risk created by Virginia's collection and
disclosure of Social Security numbers was unnecessary and that other
procedures could address the State's concerns about records
management.

This week the court of appeals ruled that the state of Virginia must
discontinue the publication of the Social Security numbers of
registered voters.  The court noted that when Congress passed the
Privacy Act of 1974 to restrict the use of the Social Security number,
the misuse of the SSN was "one of the most serious manifestations of
privacy concerns in the nation."

The Court then said that since 1974, concerns about SSN
confidentiality have "become significantly more compelling. For
example, armed with [someone's] SSN, an unscrupulous individual could
obtain [that person's] welfare benefits, or Social Security benefits,
order new checks at a new address, obtain credit cards, or even obtain
the person's paycheck."

The Court said that Virginia's voter registration scheme would "compel
a would-be voter in Virginia to consent to the possibility of a
profound invasion of privacy when exercising the fundamental right to
vote."

The Court held that Virginia must either stop collecting the SSN or
stop publicly disclosing it.

Marc Rotenberg, director of the CPSR Washington office said, "We are
extremely pleased with the Court's decision.  It is a remarkable case,
and a real tribute to Marc Greidinger's efforts.  Still, there are
many concerns remaining about the misuse of the Social Security
number.  We would like to see public and private organizations find
other forms of identification for their computing systems.  As the
federal court made clear, there are real risks in the misuse of the
Social Security number."

Mr. Rotenberg also said that he hoped the White House task force
currently studying plans for a national health care claims payment
system would develop an identification scheme that did not rely on the
Social Security Number.  "The privacy concerns with medical records
are particularly acute.  It would be a serious design error to use the
SSN," said Mr. Rotenberg.

The Court's opinion is available from the CPSR Internet Library via
Gopher/ftp/WAIS.  The file name is "cpsr/ssn/greidinger_opinion.txt".
The CPSR amicus brief is available as "cpsr/ssn/greidinger_brief.txt".

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[b 2] Secret Service Admits Knowledge of 2600 Raid

One month after being sued under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA), the Secret Service has officially acknowledged that it
possesses "information relating to the breakup of a meeting of
individuals at the Pentagon City Mall in Arlington, Virginia."  The
admission, contained in a letter to CPSR, confirms widespread
suspicions that the agency played a role in the detention and search
of individuals affiliated with "2600" Magazine at the suburban
Washington mall on November 6, 1992.

CPSR filed suit against the Secret Service on February 4 after the
agency failed to respond to the organization's FOIA request within the
statutory time limit.  In its recent response, the Secret Service
released copies of three news clippings concerning the Pentagon City
incident but withheld other information "because the documents in the
requested file contain information compiled for law enforcement
purposes."  While the agency asserts that it possesses no
"documentation created by the Secret Service chronicling, reporting,
or describing the breakup of the meeting," it does admit to possessing
"information provided to the Secret Service by a confidential source
which is information relating to the breakup of [the] meeting."
Federal agencies classify other law enforcement agencies and corporate
entities, as well as individuals, as "confidential sources."

The propriety of the Secret Service's decision to withhold the
material will be determined in CPSR's pending federal lawsuit.

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[b 3] Steve Jackson Games Wins Case Againsts Secret Service

A federal judge awarded Steve Jackson Games (SJG) over $50,000, in
addition to attorney's fees, in their suit against the US Secret
Service (USSS).  SJG alleged that the USSS wrongly seized computer
equipment, as well as a constitutionally-protected book in progress,
and private e-mail.

Judge Sam Sparks chastised the USSS, calling their warrant "sloppy,"
and criticizing the whole manner of their investigation:

          Unfortunately, although he was an attorney and
          expressly represented this fact in his affidavit,
          Agent Foley was not aware of the Privacy
          Protection Act, 42 U.S.C. 2000aa et seq., and he
          conducted no investigation about Steve Jackson
          Games, Incorporated, although a reasonable
          investigation of only several hours would have
          revealed Steve Jackson Games, Inc. was, in fact, a
          legitimate publisher of information to the public
          and Mr.  Jackson would have cooperated in the
          investigation.

The Secret Service did not immediately announce whether they would
appeal.

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[b 4] Chapman, Pine to Leave CPSR

CPSR's Managing Director and CPSR's technology policy expert have both
announced resignations.

Gary Chapman cited CPSR's shift in focus towards National Information
Infrastructure and away from areas he had concentrated on as factors
in his resignation.  Chapman was CPSR's first executive director, and
most recently ran the 21st Century Project from CPSR's Cambridge
office.  "I am going to continue to try and work on economic
conversion, technology policy, and democratization of science and
technology ....  While the CPSR Board and the membership endorse this
work, there was a problem [given CPSR's increasing focus on other
areas]."

CPSR Managing Director Evelyn Pine will be leaving CPSR this Summer to
seek other opportunities.

CPSR/PDX wishes Chapman and Pine well in their future endeavors, and
thanks them for their work.

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Editor:      Erik Nilsson
Copy Editor: Andrea Rodakowski

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