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- PRIVACY Forum Digest Sunday, 5 May 1996 Volume 05 : Issue 10
-
- Moderated by Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com)
- Vortex Technology, Woodland Hills, CA, U.S.A.
-
- ===== PRIVACY FORUM =====
-
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
- The PRIVACY Forum is supported in part by the
- ACM (Association for Computing Machinery)
- Committee on Computers and Public Policy,
- "internetMCI" (a service of the Data Services Division
- of MCI Telecommunications Corporation), and Cisco Systems, Inc.
- - - -
- These organizations do not operate or control the
- PRIVACY Forum in any manner, and their support does not
- imply agreement on their part with nor responsibility
- for any materials posted on or related to the PRIVACY Forum.
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
- CONTENTS
- Call for bad arguments against privacy (Phil Agre)
- Wiretap concerns in terrorism bill (Audrie Krause)
- Crypto Legislation (David Sobel)
- Open Letter to Internet Community From Senator Burns (Audrie Krause)
-
-
- *** Please include a RELEVANT "Subject:" line on all submissions! ***
- *** Submissions without them may be ignored! ***
-
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- The Internet 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@vortex.com" and must have
- RELEVANT "Subject:" lines; submissions without appropriate and relevant
- "Subject:" lines may be ignored. Excessive "signatures" on submissions are
- subject to editing. 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@vortex.com". Mailing list problems should be reported to
- "list-maint@vortex.com".
-
- All messages included in this digest represent the views of their
- individual authors and all messages submitted must be appropriate 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 "ftp.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.
-
- All PRIVACY Forum materials are available through the Internet Gopher system
- via a gopher server on site "gopher.vortex.com". Access to PRIVACY Forum
- materials is also available through the Internet World Wide Web (WWW) via
- the Vortex Technology WWW server at the URL: "http://www.vortex.com";
- full keyword searching of all PRIVACY Forum files is available via
- WWW access.
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- VOLUME 05, ISSUE 10
-
- Quote for the day:
-
- "That's what this country needs--more Nathan Hales!"
-
- -- Uncle Victor (Charles Tyner)
- "Harold and Maude" (Paramount; 1972)
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 21 Apr 1996 15:58:03 -0700 (PDT)
- From: Phil Agre <pagre@weber.ucsd.edu>
- Subject: Call for bad arguments against privacy
-
- In my online newsletter, The Network Observer, I periodically summarize
- and rebut bad arguments against a broad right to privacy. At the end
- of this message I've included a partial list of the arguments I have
- discussed so far. I would like to gather another batch of arguments,
- probably for the July 1996 issue of TNO, and I am hoping that you can
- help me. Please send me any bad arguments against privacy rights that
- you have encountered, even if you can't quite figure out what's wrong
- with them, and even if you don't have a specific example ready to hand.
- Arguments concerning specific issues such as government records, medical
- privacy, and video surveillance are particularly welcome. Once I finish
- this next set of arguments and rebuttals, I'll gather the whole set into
- a "handbook" that can be distributed freely on the Internet.
-
- Thanks very much.
-
- Phil Agre
-
- Encl:
-
- The Network Observer can be found on the Web at:
-
- http://communication.ucsd.edu/pagre/tno.html
-
- The privacy articles can be found indexed a little ways down the page.
- Here are most of the arguments that I have discussed in past issues:
-
- * "We've lost so much of our privacy anyway."
-
- * "Privacy is an obsolete Victorian hang-up."
-
- * "Ideas about privacy are culturally specific and it is thus
- impossible to define privacy in the law without bias."
-
- * "We have strong security on our data."
-
- * "National identity cards protect privacy by improving
- authentication and data security."
-
- * "Informational privacy can be protected by converting it into
- a property right."
-
- * "We have to balance privacy against industry concerns."
-
- * "Privacy paranoids want to turn back the technological clock."
-
- * "Most people are privacy pragmatists who can be trusted to make
- intelligent trade-offs between functionality and privacy."
-
- * "Our lives will inevitably become visible to others, so the
- real issue is mutual visibility, achieving a balance of power
- by enabling us to watch the people who are watching us."
-
- * "Once you really analyze it, the concept of privacy is so
- nebulous that it provides no useful guidance for action."
-
- * "People *want* these systems, as indicated by the percentage
- of them who sign up for them once they become available."
-
- * "Concern for privacy is anti-social and obstructs the building
- of a democratic society."
-
- * "Privacy regulation is just one more category of government
- interference in the market, which after all is much better
- at weighing individuals' relative preferences for privacy
- and everything else than bureaucratic rules could ever be."
-
- * "There's no privacy in public."
-
- * "We favor limited access."
-
- * "Privacy in these systems has not emerged as a national issue."
-
- [ Submissions that would be interesting to the general
- readership of the PRIVACY Forum would also be very
- welcome here. -- MODERATOR ]
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 22 Apr 1996 23:31:02 -0700
- From: akrause@Sunnyside.COM (Audrie Krause)
- Subject: Wiretap concerns in terrorism bill
-
- To CPSR members and friends,
-
- The following post to CPSR's Cyber-Rights discussion list concerns the
- wiretap provisions in the terrorism bill that just passed Congress. This
- and other important issues regarding our rights in cyberspace are discussed
- regularly on the Cyber-Rights discussion list.
- * * * * *
-
- To subscribe to cyber-rights, send a message to: listserv@cpsr.org
- The body of the message should say: subscribe cpsr-cyber-rights (your name)
-
- To unsubscribe from cpsr-announce, send a message to: listserv@cpsr.org
- The body of the message should say: unsubscribe cpsr-announce
-
- * * * * *
-
- (Introduction from moderator: cyber-rights intersect with other
- rights, and the terrorism bill that President Clinton is pushing so
- hard for definitely affects cyber-rights issues like wiretapping. So
- I am taking a news item from the ACLU News 04-17-96. Incidentally,
- the EFF newsletter I posted yesterday also commented briefly on the
- bill.--Andy)
-
- *ACLU Alerts House That Significant Wiretap Provisions*
- *Remain in Conference Report on Terrorism Legislation*
-
- WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union today alerted members of
- the House of Representatives that significant wiretap provisions remain in
- the terrorism legislation now making its way through Congress.
-
- Despite assurances to the contrary by House and Senate leadership, the ACLU
- said that the current conference version of the terrorism bill includes two
- significant expansions of wiretap powers for government law enforcement
- agents while also removing prohibitions on eavesdropping by private parties.
-
- In their desire to hide the wiretap provisions from concerned members of the
- House, the conference leaders went to such extremes as to subtly change
- wording in the conference report, the ACLU said. Section 731 of the House
- Bill, for example, was titled "Exclusion of Certain Types of Information from
- Wiretap-Related Definitions." While the conference committee deleted the
- words "wiretap-related," it left the wiretap provisions unchanged, the ACLU
- said.
-
- The ACLU also pointed to another provision deeply buried in the conference
- report that would require banks to freeze assets of domestic groups and U.S.
- citizens if there is any reason, however vague, to believe that the
- organization or individual is an "agent" of a designated foreign terrorist
- organization.
-
- In addition, the ACLU said that the terrorism conference report includes yet
- another provision added at the last minute that would federalize state law to
- an even greater extent than either version of the corresponding sections of
- the House and Senate bills sent to conference.
-
- "Taken together, these provisions should cause members of the House to have
- deep concerns about the terrorism bill as they face a final vote," said
- Gregory T. Nojeim, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "Dangerous and largely hidden
- changes have been made in this bill. We ask that members of the House vote
- against this legislation to protect our nation's liberties well into the next
- century.
-
- "This bill," Nojeim added, "would do nothing to make safer, but would, in
- effect, add the Bill of Rights and our nation's liberty to the list of
- casualties of the tragic bombing in Oklahoma City."
-
- Posted by Andrew Oram - andyo@ora.com - Moderator: CYBER-RIGHTS (CPSR)
- Cyber-Rights: http://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/
- ftp://www.cpsr.org/cpsr/nii/cyber-rights/Library/
- CyberJournal: (WWW or FTP) --> ftp://ftp.iol.ie/users/rkmoore
- Materials may be reposted in their _entirety_ for non-commercial use.
- --
- Audrie Krause CPSR Executive Director
- PO Box 717 * Palo Alto, CA * 94302
- Phone: (415) 322-3778 * Fax: (415) 322-4748
- * * E-mail: akrause@cpsr.org * *
- * Web Page: http://www.cpsr.org/home.html *
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 1 May 1996 18:17:10 -0500
- From: "David Sobel" <sobel@epic.org>
- Subject: Crypto Legislation
-
- FOR RELEASE: CONTACT:
- Thursday, May 2, 1996 David Sobel
- 8:00 a.m. EDT Dave Banisar
- (202) 544-9240
-
- EPIC APPLAUDS PROPOSED CRYPTO LEGISLATION:
- "NECCESSARY STEP" FOR SECURE INTERNET
-
- WASHINGTON, DC -- The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
- today applauded the introduction of legislation designed to relax
- export controls on privacy-enhancing encryption technology. The
- "Promotion of Commerce On-Line in the Digital Era (Pro-CODE) Act,"
- introduced by Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), would place export control
- authority in the Commerce Department, rather than the State
- Department and the National Security Agency (NSA) -- the agencies
- currently charged with that responsibility.
-
- The proposed bill would remove out-dated barriers to the
- development and dissemination of software and hardware with
- encryption capabilities. According to EPIC Legal Counsel David
- Sobel, "This is a necessary step to ensure the development of a
- secure Global Information Infrastructure that promotes on-line
- commerce and preserves individual privacy. EPIC has long
- advocated adoption of encryption policies that emphasize the
- protection of personal data and encourage the widespread
- dissemination of privacy-enhancing technologies."
-
- The proposed legislation comes in the midst of an ongoing debate
- concerning U.S. encryption policy and at a time when the need for
- secure electronic communications is becoming widely recognized.
- The explosive growth of the Internet underscores the need for
- policies that encourage the development and use of robust security
- technologies to protect sensitive personal and commercial
- information in the digital environment.
-
- EPIC recently joined with other organizations to create the
- Internet Privacy Coalition (IPC). The mission of the IPC is to
- promote privacy and security on the Internet through widespread
- public availability of strong encryption and the relaxation of
- export controls on cryptography. The IPC has launched the "Golden
- Key Campaign" to raise public awareness of these issues.
- Additional information is available at the IPC website:
- http://www.privacy.org/ipc/
-
- EPIC is a public interest research center in Washington, D.C.
- It was established in 1994 to focus public attention on emerging
- civil liberties issues and to protect privacy, the First
- Amendment, and constitutional values. Additional information
- about EPIC is available at http://www.epic.org.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 00:16:36 -0700
- From: akrause@Sunnyside.COM (Audrie Krause)
- Subject: Open Letter to Internet Community From Senator Burns
-
- CPSR Members and Supporters,
-
- U.S. Senator Conrad Burns is asking the Internet community to support
- legislation that would promote the development and use of encryption
- technology. CPSR is a member of the Internet Privacy Coalition (IPC),
- which supports this legislation. For more information on IPC, visit the
- CPSR web page at:
- http://www.cpsr.org/home/html
-
- To receive alerts about encryption legislation, send a message to:
- IPC-announce@privacy.org
- The body of the message should say: subscribe IPC-announce
-
- To unsubscribe to *this* cpsr-announce list, send a message to:
- listserv@cpsr.org
- The body of the message should say: unsubscribe cpsr-announce
-
- -------------------------------------------
-
- Sender: Conrad_Burns@burns.senate.gov
-
- OPEN LETTER TO THE INTERNET COMMUNITY
-
- May 2, 1996
-
- Dear friends:
-
- As an Internet user, you are no doubt aware of some of the hurdles the
- federal government has put up that limit the growth and full potential
- of exciting, emerging technologies. One of the most egregious of
- these has been the governmentally set limits on so-called "encryption"
- technologies. Today I am introducing a bill to address this major
- problem for businesses and users of the Internet.
-
- If the telecommunications law enacted this year is a vehicle to
- achieve real changes in the ways we interact with each other
- electronically, my bill is the engine that will allow this vehicle to
- move forward. The bill would promote the growth of electronic
- commerce, encourage the widespread availability to strong privacy and
- security technologies for the Internet, and repeal the out-dated
- regulations prohibiting the export of encryption technologies.
-
- This legislation is desperately needed because the Clinton
- administration continues to insist on restricting encryption exports,
- without regard to the harm this policy has on American businesses'
- ability to compete in the global marketplace or the ability of
- American citizens to protect their privacy online. Until we get the
- federal government out of the way and encourage the development of
- strong cryptography for the global market, electronic commerce and the
- potential of the Internet will not be realized.
-
- The last thing the Net needs are repressive and outdated regulations
- prohibiting the exports of strong privacy and security tools and
- making sure that the government has copies of the keys to our private
- communications. Yet this is exactly the situation we have today.
-
- My new bill, the Promotion of Commerce On-Line in the Digital Era
- (Pro-CODE) Act of 1996, would:
-
- - Allow for the unrestricted export of "mass-market" or
- "public-domain" encryption programs, including such products as Pretty
- Good Privacy and popular World Wide Web browsers.
-
- - Require the Secretary of Commerce to allow the unrestricted export
- of other encryption technologies if products of similar strength are
- generally available outside the United States.
-
- - Prohibit the federal government from imposing mandatory key-escrow
- encryption policies on the domestic market and limit the authority of
- the Secretary of Commerce to set standards for encryption products.
-
- Removing export controls will dramatically increase the domestic
- availability of strong, easy-to-use privacy and security products and
- encourage the use of the Internet as a forum of secure electronic
- commerce. It will also undermine the Clinton Administration's
- "Clipper" proposals which have used export restrictions as leverage to
- impose policies that guarantee government access to our encryption
- keys.
-
- The Pro-CODE bill is similar to a bill I co-authored with Senator
- Patrick Leahy of Vermont, except that it highlights the importance of
- encryption to electronic commerce and the need to dramatically change
- current policy to encourage its growth. My bill does not add any new
- criminal provisions and does not establish legal requirements for
- key-escrow agents.
-
- Over the coming months, I plan to hold hearings on this bill and
- encourage a public debate on the need to change the Clinton
- Administration's restrictive export control policies. I will need
- your support as we move forward towards building a global Internet
- that is good for electronic commerce and privacy. I look forward to
- working with the Internet community, online activists, and the
- computer and communications industry as this proposal moves through
- Congress.
-
- I'd like to hear from you, so please join me on two upcoming online
- events to talk about the new bill. The first is on America Online in
- the News Room auditorium at 9 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on May 6.
- The second will be on Hotwired's Chat at 9 p.m. EDT on May 13.
-
- In the meantime, I need your help in supporting the effort to repeal
- cryptography export controls. You can find out more by visiting my
- web page http://www.senate.gov/~burns/. There you will find a
- collection of encryption education resources that my Webmaster has
- assembled. I trust that the entire Internet community, from the
- old-timers to those just starting to learn about encryption, will find
- this information useful.
-
- This bill is vital to all Americans, from everyday computer users and
- businesses to manufacturers of computer software and hardware. I very
- much look forward to working with you on this issue.
-
- Conrad Burns
- United States Senator
-
- -------------------------------------------
-
- (The following program announcement comes from a CDT Policy Post.
- Email me if you want the whole newsletter, which discusses the current
- attempts to legalize encryption export.--Andy)
-
- * SENATORS TO GO ONLINE TO DISCUSS BILLS, TAKE COMMENTS FROM NETIZENS
-
- In an effort to bring the Internet Community into the debate and encourage
- members of Congress to work with the Net.community on vital Internet policy
- issues, Senator Burns and Senator Leahy will participate in live, online
- discussions of the new legislation. CDT and VTW, who are helping to
- coordinate these events, will publish the transcripts of the sessions and
- encourage Netizens to participate.
-
- Please join Senator Burns live online to discuss the Pro-CODE bill on:
-
- * MONDAY, MAY 6 AT 9:00 PM ET IN AMERICA ONLINE'S NEWS ROOM AUDITORIUM
-
- Note that you will have to join AOL participate in this chat. (If you
- aren't currently an AOL member, you can obtain the software by either
- a) finding one of those pervasive free floppy disks, or b) by using
- ftp to get it from ftp.aol.com (ftp://www.aol.com/)
-
- * MONDAY, MAY 13 AT 9:00 ET AT HotWired's CLUB WIRED
-
- Visit http://www.hotwired.com/ for more information.
-
- Senator Leahy will also conduct sessions on America Online and HotWired in
- the next several weeks, dates and times are TBA (visit
- http://www.crypto.com for updates)
-
- --
- Audrie Krause CPSR Executive Director
- PO Box 717 * Palo Alto, CA * 94302
- Phone: (415) 322-3778 * Fax: (415) 322-4748
- * * E-mail: akrause@cpsr.org * *
- * Web Page: http://www.cpsr.org/home.html *
-
- ------------------------------
-
- End of PRIVACY Forum Digest 05.10
- ************************
-