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- PRIVACY Forum Digest Friday, 15 January 1993 Volume 02 : Issue 03
-
- Moderated by Lauren Weinstein (lauren@cv.vortex.com)
- Vortex Technology, Topanga, CA, U.S.A.
-
- ===== PRIVACY FORUM =====
-
- The PRIVACY Forum digest is supported in part by the
- ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy.
-
-
- CONTENTS
- PRIVACY Briefs (Lauren Weinstein; PRIVACY Forum Moderator)
- Expectation of Dependability (A. Padgett Peterson)
- Public water bills (Walter Smith)
- Utility bills going to law enforcement (Jim Harkins)
- Traceable Cash, Breakable Codes (chaz_heritage.wgc1@rx.xerox.com)
- Re: Perot campaign raiding credit data? (Larry Seiler)
- Op-ed piece on telephone Calling Number ID (Michael L. Scott)
- Released GSA Docs Slam FBI Wiretap Proposal (Dave Banisar)
-
-
- *** Please include a RELEVANT "Subject:" line on all submissions! ***
- *** Submissions without them may be ignored! ***
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- The PRIVACY Forum is a moderated digest for the discussion and analysis of
- issues relating to the general topic of privacy (both personal and
- collective) in the "information age" of the 1990's and beyond. The
- moderator will choose submissions for inclusion based on their relevance and
- content. Submissions will not be routinely acknowledged.
-
- ALL submissions should be addressed to "privacy@cv.vortex.com" and must have
- RELEVANT "Subject:" lines. Submissions without appropriate and relevant
- "Subject:" lines may be ignored. Subscriptions are by an automatic
- "listserv" system; for subscription information, please send a message
- consisting of the word "help" (quotes not included) in the BODY of a message
- to: "privacy-request@cv.vortex.com". Mailing list problems should be
- reported to "list-maint@cv.vortex.com". All submissions included in this
- digest represent the views of the individual authors and all submissions
- will be considered to be distributable without limitations.
-
- The PRIVACY Forum archive, including all issues of the digest and all
- related materials, is available via anonymous FTP from site "cv.vortex.com",
- in the "/privacy" directory. Use the FTP login "ftp" or "anonymous", and
- enter your e-mail address as the password. The typical "README" and "INDEX"
- files are available to guide you through the files available for FTP
- access. PRIVACY Forum materials may also be obtained automatically via
- e-mail through the listserv system. Please follow the instructions above
- for getting the listserv "help" information, which includes details
- regarding the "index" and "get" listserv commands, which are used to access
- the PRIVACY Forum archive.
-
- For information regarding the availability of this digest via FAX, please
- send an inquiry to privacy-fax@cv.vortex.com, call (310) 455-9300, or FAX
- to (310) 455-2364.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- VOLUME 02, ISSUE 03
-
- Quote for the day:
-
- "There even are places, where English, completely disappears!
- Why, in America they haven't used it in years."
-
- -- Prof. Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison)
- "My Fair Lady" (1964)
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- PRIVACY Briefs (from the Moderator)
-
- ---
-
- A report commissioned by the British government has recommended sweeping new
- controls on the British press. A strict code of conduct was suggested, with
- large fines for violators. The report claims that self-regulation has been
- a failure. Some complaints appear to revolve around what are being called
- "physical intrusions"--entering property without permission to take pictures
- or make recordings, for example. New laws regarding interception of
- telecommunications and related privacy concerns are also recommended. Much
- of the current controversy appears to revolve around London tabloids which
- have published transcripts of "sexy" recordings (from portable phone
- transmissions) involving members of the British royal family.
-
- ---
-
- An East London store specializing in "spy" equipment has reported booming
- sales. They say that 95% of their sales go to businesses who wish to
- eavesdrop on their employees or on other businesses.
-
- -------------------------------
-
- Date: Sat, 9 Jan 93 09:52:36 -0500
- From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson)
- Subject: Expectation of Dependability
-
- Mark Rotenberg presents as part of the guidelines (emphasis mine):
-
- > From: Marc Rotenberg <Marc_Rotenberg@washofc.cpsr.org>
- > Subject: OECD Security Guidelines
- ...
- > "While growing use of information systems has generated
- >many benefits, it has also shown up a widening gap between
- >the need to protect systems and the degree of protection
- >currently in place. Society has become very dependent on
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- >technologies that are not yet sufficiently dependable. All
- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- >individuals and organizations have a need for proper
- >information system operations (e.g. in hospitals, air traffic
- >control and nuclear power plants).
-
- This is nothing new, society has *always* been vulnerable to
- insuficiently dependable technology. What has changed is the
- ability of a single failure to affect ever larger numbers of
- people *who did not know of their dependancy*.
-
- With the rise of the industrial revolution came the capability
- for unnatural disaster (though the fall of the Tower of Babel might
- be a much earlier precident). During the ninteenth century, reports
- were rife with train and steamship disasters, but it wasn't until
- the twenteth century that the capability for cataclysm reached
- its current bounds beginning fittingly enough with the "unsinkable"
- Titanic.
-
- Interestingly enough the tanker spill in the Shetlands recently brought
- out the fact that that ship, like the Titanic, did not have a full
- double hull, a point brought out in the Titanic inquiry and subsequently
- retrofitted to both sister ships, the Olympic and the Britannic nearly
- eighty years ago. (However there does not appear to be a worldwide
- standard and double hulls are expensive...)
-
- Similarly, few of the passengers on the Hindenberg realized that a
- refusal by the United States to sell helium to Germany (considered a
- war material) left them vulnerable.
-
- Point is that an excess trust in "magic" is not a new charactoristic
- of the human race, it is inherant. Further, until an exception occurs,
- often there is no way to predict it, there are just too many possibilities.
-
- The Atomic age brought conciousness of this forth for the first time, I
- recall a movie "The Magnetic Monster" as just one of a collection of
- "one mistake and the world will end" thoughts of the fifties.
-
- Is there an answer - probably not - but one cause is the secretiveness
- of many designs that prevent them from being analyzed by those who might
- be able to spot a vulnerability, but this brings up a privacy concern:
- Should designs that will be used or could affect the public be public
- information ? Sticky wot ?
-
- Warmly,
- Padgett
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1993 19:12:16 -0800
- From: wrs@newton.apple.com (Walter Smith)
- Subject: Public water bills
-
- Another data point for the privacy of utility bills: There was much
- consternation a year ago here in Palo Alto, California when the local
- weekly newspaper coerced the water company to reveal the names, addresses,
- and usage of the top 100 residential water users in the previous year. The
- paper published this information in a large feature article.
-
- (NOTE: I don't have the issue in front of me, so the following is just my
- recollection.) The legal situation was a conflict between California laws
- regarding personal privacy and public records. The "top 100 users" idea
- was a compromise between the privacy of the customers and the public "right
- to know", due to the drought, who was using the most water. The city
- council has since stopped this practice, which is not surprising since many
- of the "outed" water users were wealthy Silicon Valley entrepeneurs who own
- huge water-guzzling estates...
-
- - W
-
- Walter Smith "Mid-1993, 408-974-5892
- Newton Group well under $1000" Internet: wrs@apple.com
- Apple Computer, Inc. AppleLink: walter.smith
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 09:48:58 PST
- From: pacdata!jimh@UCSD.EDU (Jim Harkins)
- Subject: Utility bills going to law enforcement
-
- Concerning the practice of some utility companies to report sudden changes in
- utility bills to law enforcement I submit the following. I recently bought a
- new 486 PC that I leave on all the time. With the base unit, monitor, printer,
- etc it must suck up a lot of power, probably about 3-5 grow lights worth.
- Right after buying the computer my toilet developed a slight leak that I haven'
- t
- fixed yet (been playing with the computer). It's not much of a leak, but as
- it's 24 hours a day it could probably supply 3-5 trays of plants.
-
- A few months ago local DEA agents raided a man's house based on incorrect
- information. Evidently they never announced themselves, and the homeowner
- reacted to several men beating down his door at midnight by getting a gun. He
- was shot several times (he survived). No drugs were found, no charges were
- filed.
-
- So is the combination of my leaving my computer on all day, not fixing a leaky
- toilet, and sleeping with a gun about to get me killed?
-
- jim
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 05:34:25 PST
- From: chaz_heritage.wgc1@rx.xerox.com
- Subject: Traceable Cash, Breakable Codes
-
- [PFD V02.02: Tue, 29 Dec 92: Jerry Leichter: On expectations of privacy]
-
- >This is viewed with universal shock and horror as a new intrusion on our
- obvious traditional right to complete anonymity in cash transactions.
-
- But is there really any such traditional right?<
-
- Of course not. Banks (as we British have discovered to our cost recently, e.g.
- BCCI, NatWest) are there to serve not the interests of their customers but
- those of their major shareholders; they are pillars of the Establishment, and
- of course they will inform upon any of their less well-to-do customers,
- whatever contracts of confidentiality there might be between them, if they
- think that they might thereby do a favour for those upon whom they might turn
- for support later (RIch criminals, on the other hand, are called 'financiers'
- here, and are vigorously defended by the courts against slurs on their
- character; vide Maxwell v. 'Private Eye', several cases).
-
- This is why only amateur terrorists, gun-runners and drug-smugglers, the small
- fry, the weekend warriors, ever use cash. A cursory study of the history of
- professional organised crime and unconventional warfare strongly suggests that
- the international currencies of choice between their exponents are gold
- bullion, heroin and armaments. In more modern times plutonium, and possibly
- even oralloy, are said to have played the same role. Since possession of any of
- these is illegal anyway (at least it is here), one need not expect those who
- use these currencies to worry too much about the so-called fiduciary integrity
- of their 'bankers' - since any disputes would probably be settled not by
- lengthy litigation but by shortened shotguns - nor about their views on
- privacy, since the penalties for informers among these groups are harsh and of
- long traditional standing.
-
- The authorities have also apparently gone astray in trying to gain absolute
- control of cryptography, to prevent 'terrorists' and 'drug-smugglers' from
- using secret codes to fool law enforcers. Of course only a crass amateur would
- trust a telephone line or a commercial electronic encipherment system with
- their secrets, no matter what their 'rights' were alleged to be; professional
- covert communications at this level - such as they are - have, it seems, for
- about a century been dominated by an archaic, slow, manual system known in the
- US as 'Vernam' or in UK as 'Foreign Office One Time Pad', which apparently, if
- correctly used, never provides sufficient key-consistent ciphertext for there
- to be any realistic probability of a successful brute-force attack using
- current supercomputers, and has therefore, it is said, never been broken.
- Commercial users might need fast, high-capacity automatic crypto equipment
- which is, of course, susceptible to both brute-force and other attacks, but
- messages like 'Three hundred Armalites at $99.95 each' or 'Revolution starts
- 1200 Thursday; if wet, in church hall' perhaps do not.
-
- If the authorities truly think that by tracing (or simply banning, as seems
- more likely in the long term) cash, opening mail, tapping phones and suspending
- the suspect's 'right to silence' they will stop the likes of the Medellin
- cocaine traffickers or the Abu Nidal terrorist group then IMHO they are
- probably mistaken and, if so, also wasting a lot of public money (mind you,
- aren't those 'Miami Vice' speedboats *fun*? So much more stylish than an
- ordinary pair of police-issue shoes...).
-
- If, on the other hand, all this 'war on drugs', 'war on Bolshies', 'war on
- jaywalkers', etc. stuff is just a cover for setting up, with the support of an
- apparently unquestioningly docile majority of the public, general surveillance
- and control measures that would have gladdened the hearts of Himmler or Beria,
- then IMHO they're doing rather well...
-
- Regards,
-
- Chaz
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 12:56:27 EST
- From: "Larry Seiler, x223-0588, MLO5-2 11-Jan-1993 1252"
- <seiler@rgb.enet.dec.com>
- Subject: Re: Perot campaign raiding credit data?
-
- On the one hand, I'm glad to hear that the FBI and the news services are
- taking this seriously. It's a terrible thing if people steal private data
- such as credit records.
-
- On the other hand, a cynical part of me says "why bother"? Wouldn't Orix
- have sold that same data to any customer who claimed a "business need" to
- know it, with no checking and without asking permission?
-
- It's as if a policeman comes across 10 soldiers and one civilian looting a
- store, and arrests the civilian but leaves the soldiers to their work.
- Well, of course, looters should be arrested and the police cannot do
- anything about the soldiers. But I cannot help thinking that the reporters
- covering this story have missed the point: Equifax' databases are *not*
- secure, and even if they were, there are so many legal ways to get the data
- that the only advantage I can see to stealing it is that there is less of a
- paper trail to show who got the data.
-
- Larry
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Wed, 13 Jan 93 08:46:28 -0500
- From: scott@cs.rochester.edu
- Subject: Op-ed piece on telephone Calling Number ID
-
- I recently wrote the following article for the editorial page of the
- Rochester, NY _Times_Union_. It appeared (edited down a couple of
- paragraphs) on Tuesday, January 12th, 1993, under the (newspaper chosen)
- headline "Call Id Will Be Boon For Telemarketers". I thought I'd share
- it with the net.
-
- ---------------------
-
- Unless you act immediately, your name, address, and telephone number are
- about to be added to the marketing lists of a whole new set of telephone soli-
- citors and direct-mail advertisers. How? Through the "Call ID" facility
- recently introduced by Rochester Telephone.
-
- Call ID or, more accurately, Calling Number Identification (CNID), is a
- mechanism that gives your telephone number to anyone you call. CNID is being
- promoted as a way to enhance personal privacy: if you pay for CNID service and
- buy a special phone, you can see the number from which you are being called
- before you decide to answer. Unfortunately, CNID is much more useful to the
- marketing industry than it is to individuals. On the whole, it is likely to
- _reduce_ your personal privacy, rather than enhance it.
-
- To its credit, Rochester Telephone has sought to educate customers,
- through phone bill inserts and newspaper ads, about the technical details of
- CNID. Moreover, it is permitting customers to opt out of the system.
-
- By default, your telephone number will be given to anyone you call, unless
- you punch a special code before you dial. If you call the phone company and
- request "all-call restrict," this behavior will be reversed: your number will
- _not_ be given to anyone you call, _unless_ you punch a special code first.
-
- Many people would "like to know `who is it?'" before they pick up the
- phone. Advertising slogans notwithstanding, however, CNID doesn't tell you.
- Suppose you buy into the service. When your phone rings and displays the call-
- ing number, how will you decide whether to answer? Do you know the phone
- numbers of all the people you might be willing to talk to? If not, how will
- you resist the urge to pick up the phone "just in case"? Even if you memorize
- the phone numbers of all your friends, how will you know if they call you from
- a different phone, or if your spouse calls from a gas station when the car
- breaks down, or if a stranger calls to tell you that your child has been
- injured while out playing?
-
- Experience with CNID in other states suggests that the real beneficiaries
- are commercial customers who want to compile -- and then sell -- a list of the
- people who call them. For $200, your favorite business can buy a "reverse
- directory" that lists all the phone numbers in the Rochester area, in numeri-
- cal order, with the names and addresses that go with them. For $350, they can
- buy this directory on a computer-readable laser disk. A business that keeps
- track of the numbers from which it is called can easily generate a list of the
- people who made those calls, or at least of the people who own the numbers.
- Call a movie theater for show times, and within a few days you may begin to
- receive junk mail and phone calls inviting you to join a video-of-the-month
- club. Call a bank or broker to check on interest rates and you may begin to
- receive cold calls from financial advisors. Call any sort of specialty shop
- (toy store, gun shop, pro shop -- even a fancy restaurant) and you're likely
- to find yourself on yet another marketing list.
-
- These lists are very big business. A multi-billion-dollar industry now
- collects and organizes personal information on ordinary people. The same com-
- pany that sells reverse directories will, for a price, augment the listing
- with estimates of family income (guaranteed 98% accurate to within $5,000),
- number of children, number of cars, favorite hobbies, etc. One of their
- sources of information is a CNID-like service that was offered to businesses
- with 1-800 and 1-900 numbers several years ago. (Your number is given away
- whenever you make an 800 or 900 call, and there's nothing you can do to
- prevent it.) The company representative to whom I spoke expects local CNID
- to increase his business substantially, but he understands the cost: he has
- switched to all-call restrict for his own phone.
-
- For those who want to eliminate nuisance phone calls, there are better
- alternatives than CNID. Many people have taken to leaving their answering
- machines on all the time. I have friends whose recording says "Please state
- your name and the person for whom you are calling. If no one picks up the
- phone right away, you may leave a message." Of course, they have to listen
- whenever the phone rings, but they'd have to go look at the number display if
- they had CNID.
-
- An option that saves you the trouble of even going to the phone when an
- unwanted call arrives can be purchased for $70 from local telephone stores
- (though not from the Rochester Telephone product center). It's a "call
- screening" box that plugs in between your phone and the wall, and that can be
- programmed with a special 4-digit "security code." Callers hear a recorded
- message that asks them to type in the code. If they get it wrong, your phone
- doesn't even ring. Friends who know the code can call you from anywhere.
- Hammacher Schlemmer sells a fancier version that remembers up to 300 different
- codes.
-
- If privacy were really the goal, telephone companies could easily provide
- the name of the owner of the calling number, rather than the number itself, in
- a CNID service. The name would be much more useful to residential customers
- than the number is, but would be much less useful to marketers, since names do
- not uniquely identify households. Equally easily, phone companies could pro-
- vide services that duplicate the functionality of call screening boxes. If
- they allowed callers to identify themselves, either by voice or by punched-in
- code, you would be in a far better position to decide whether you wanted to
- answer. Knowing that your call is from "Tom at work" is a lot more useful,
- from a privacy point of view, than knowing the number from which the call was
- placed. At the same time, this sort of personalized identification is useless
- for the collection of marketing lists.
-
- Privacy-enhancing alternatives to CNID have been proposed in testimony to
- the FCC and before public service commissions across the country. In every
- case, telephone companies have resisted the proposals, on the grounds that
- they do not adequately meet the needs of their marketing customers. Marketers
- are clearly hoping that most Rochester residents won't bother to opt out of
- CNID. I urge you to disappoint them: call the Rochester Telephone customer
- service number (777-1200) and request all-call restrict. Keeping your phone
- number private is easy and free.
-
- Michael L. Scott is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the Univer-
- sity of Rochester and a member of Computer Professionals for Social Responsi-
- bility. The views expressed here are his own.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1993 23:22:47 -0500
- From: Dave Banisar <banisar@washofc.cpsr.org>
- Subject: Released GSA Docs Slam FBI Wiretap Proposal
-
- "GSA Memos Reveal that FBI Wiretap Plan was
- Opposed by Government's Top Telecomm Purchaser"
-
- The New York Times reported today on a document obtained
- by CPSR through the Freedom of Information Act. ("FBI's
- Proposal on Wiretaps Draws Criticism from G.S.A.," New York
- Times, January 15, 1993, p. A12)
-
- The document, an internal memo prepared by the General
- Services Administration, describes many problems with the
- FBI's wiretap plan and also shows that the GSA strongly
- opposed the sweeping proposal. The GSA is the largest
- purchaser of telecommunications equipment in the federal
- government.
-
- The FBI wiretap proposal, first announced in March of
- 1992, would have required telephone manufacturers to design
- all communications equipment to facilitate wire surveillance.
- The proposal was defeated last year. The FBI has said that it
- plans to reintroduce a similar proposal this year.
-
- The documents were released to Computer Professionals
- for Social Responsibility, a public interest organization,
- after CPSR submitted Freedom of Information Act requests
- about the FBI's wiretap plan to several federal agencies last
- year.
-
- The documents obtained by CPSR reveal that the GSA,
- which is responsible for equipment procurement for the
- Federal government, strongly opposed two different versions
- of the wiretap plan developed by the FBI. According to the
- GSA, the FBI proposal would complicate interoperability,
- increase cost, and diminish privacy and network security.
- The GSA also stated that the proposal could "adversely
- _affect national security._"
-
- In the second memo, the GSA concluded that it would be a
- mistake to give the Attorney General sole authority to waive
- provisions of the bill.
-
- The GSA's objections to the proposal were overruled by
- the Office of Management and Budget, a branch of the White
- House which oversees administrative agencies for the
- President. However, none of GSA's objections were disclosed
- to the public or made available to policy makers in
- Washington.
-
- Secrecy surrounds this proposal. Critical sections of a
- report on the FBI wiretap plan prepared by the General
- Accounting Office were earlier withhold after the FBI
- designated these sections "National Security Information."
- These sections included analysis by GAO on alternatives to
- the FBI's wiretap plan. CPSR is also pursuing a FOIA lawsuit
- to obtain the FBI's internal documents concerning the wiretap
- proposal.
-
- The GSA memos, the GAO report and others that CPSR is
- now seeking indicate that there are many important documents
- within the government which have still not been disclosed to
- the public.
-
- Marc Rotenberg
- CPSR Washington office
- rotenberg@washofc.cpsr.org
-
- Note: Underscores indicate underlining in the original text.
- Dashes that go across pages indicate page breaks.
-
-
- [Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility is a non-
- profit, public interest membership organization. For
- membership information about CPSR, contact
- cpsr@csli.stanford.edu or call 415/322-3778. For information
- on CPSR's FOIA work, contact David Sobel at 202/544-9240
- (sobel@washofc.cpsr.org).]
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------
-
- (#4A)
-
- Control No. X92050405
- Due Date: 5/5/92
-
- Brenda Robinson (S)
-
- After KMR consultations, we still _"cannnot support"_ Draft
- Bill. No. 118 as substantially revised by Justice after its
- purported full consideration of other agencies' "substantive
- concerns."
-
- Aside from the third paragraph of our 3/13/92 attachment
- response for the original draft bill, which was adopted as
- GSA's position (copy attached), Justice has failed to fully
- address other major GSA concerns (i.e., technological changes
- and associated costs).
-
- Further, by merely eliminating the FCC and any discussion of
- cost issues in the revision, we can not agree as contended by
- Justice that it now " ... takes care of kinds of problems
- raised by FCC and others ...."
-
- Finally, the revision gives Justice sole unilateral exclusive
- authority to enforce and except or waive the provisions of
- any resultant Iaw in Federal District Courts. Our other
- concerns are also shown in the current attachment for the
- revised draft bill.
-
- Once again OMB has not allowed sufficient time for a more
- through review, a comprehensive internal staffing, or a
- formal response.
-
-
- /Signature/
-
- Wm. R. Loy KMR 5/5/92
-
- Info: K(Peay),KD,KA,KB,KE,KG,KV,KM,KMP,KMR,R/F,LP-Rm.4002
-
- (O/F) - 9C1h (2) (a) - File (#4A)
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------
-
- ATTACHMENT
- REVISED JUSTICE DRAFT BILL
- DIGITAL TELEPHONY
-
- The proposed legislation could have a widespread impact on
- the government's ability to acquire _new_ telecommunications
- equipment and provide electronic communications services.
-
- _Existing_ Federal government telecommunications resources
- will be affected by the proposed new technology techniques
- and equipment. An incompatibility and interoperability of
- existing Federal government telecommunications system, and
- resources would result due to the new technological changes
- proposed.
-
- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been removed
- from the legislation, but the Justice implementation may
- require modifications to the "Communications Act of 1934,"
- and other FCC policies and regulations to remove
- inconsistencies. This could also cause an unknown effect on
- the wire and electronic communications systems operations,
- services, equipment, and regulations within the Federal
- government. Further, to change a major portion of the United
- States telecommunications infrastructure (the public switched
- network within eighteen months and others within three years)
- seems very optimistic, no matter how trivial or minimal the
- proposed modifications are to implement.
-
- In the proposed legislation the Attorney General has sole
- _unilateral exclusive_ authority to enforce, grant exceptions
- or waive the provisions of any resultant law and enforce it
- in Federal District Courts. The Attorney General would, as
- appropriate, only "consult" with the FCC, Department of
- Commerce, or Small Business Administration. The Attorney
- General has exclusive authority in Section 2 of the
- legislation; it appears the Attorney General has taken over
- several FCC functions and placed the FCC in a mere consulting
- capacity.
-
- The proposed legislation would apply to all forms of wire and
- electronic communications to include computer data bases,
- facsimile, imagery etc., as well as voice transmissions.
-
- The proposed legislation would assist eavesdropping by law
- enforcement, but it would also apply to users who acquire the
- technology capability and make it easier for criminals,
- terrorists, foreign intelligence (spies) and computer hackers
- to electronically penetrate the public network and pry into
- areas previously not open to snooping. This situation of
- easier access due to new technology changes could therefore
- affect _national security_.
-
- (1)
-
- -------------------------------------------------------------
-
- The proposed legislation does not address standards and
- specifications for telecommunications equipment nor security
- considerations. These issues must be addressed as they effect
- both the government and private industry. There are also
- civil liberty implications and the public's constitutional
- rights to privacy which are not mentioned.
-
- it must be noted that equipment already exists that can be
- used to wiretap the digital communications lines and support
- court- authorized wiretaps, criminal investigations and
- probes of voice communications. The total number of
- interception applications authorized within the United States
- (Federal and State) has been averaging under nine hundred per
- year. There is concern that the proposed changes are not cost
- effective and worth the effort to revamp all the existing and
- new telecommunications systems.
-
- The proposed bill would have to have the FCC or another
- agency approve or reject new telephone equipment mainly on
- the basis of whether the FBI has the capability to wiretap
- it. The federal- approval process is normally lengthy and the
- United States may not be able to keep pace with foreign
- industries to develop new technology and install secure
- communications. As a matter of interest, the proposed
- restrictive new technology could impede the United States'
- ability to compete in digital telephony and participate in
- the international trade arena.
-
- Finally, there will be unknown associated costs to implement
- the proposed new technological procedures and equipment.
- These costs would be borne by the Federal government,
- consumers, and all other communications ratepayers to finance
- the effort. Both the Federal government and private industry
- communications regular phone service, data transmissions,
- satellite and microwave transmissions, and encrypted
- communications could be effected at increased costs.
-
- (2)
-
- =============================================================
- Documents disclosed to Computer Professionals for Social
- Responsibility (CPSR), under the Freedom of Information Act
- December 1992
- =============================================================
-
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-
- End of PRIVACY Forum Digest 02.03
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