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- Computer underground Digest Wed Aug 10, 1994 Volume 6 : Issue 71
- ISSN 1004-042X
-
- Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET)
- Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
- Retiring Shadow Archivist: Stanton McCandlish
- Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
- Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
- Ian Dickinson
- Copywrite Editor: Eatingin Shrdlu
-
- CONTENTS, #6.71 (Wed, Aug 10, 1994)
-
- File 1--EFF Statement on Leahy/Edwards Digital Telephony Bill
- File 2--Today, PBS; tomorrow, the InfoBahn
- File 3--EPIC Seeks Release of FBI Wiretap Data
- File 4--Electronic Superhighway Introduced in House of Commons
- File 5--Essay Contest - Future of Print
- File 6--Announcing the COAST Security FTP Archive!
- File 7--CALL FOR PAPERS - Symposium on Computerized Information Mgmt
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- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Tue, 9 Aug 1994 21:51:24 -0400 (EDT)
- From: Stanton McCandlish <mech@EFF.ORG>
- Subject: File 1--EFF Statement on Leahy/Edwards Digital Telephony Bill
-
- Leahy and Edwards introduce a narrow Digital Telephony bill
- with major new privacy protections
- ============================================================
-
- Today Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Representative Don Edwards
- (D-CA) introduced their version of Digital Telephony legislation. Since
- 1992, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has been successful at stopping a
- series of FBI Digital Telephony proposals, which would have forced
- communications companies to install wiretap capability into every
- communications medium. However, earlier this year, Senator Leahy and Rep.
- Edwards, who have helped to quash previous FBI proposals, concluded that
- the passage of such a bill was inevitable this year. To head off passage
- of the FBI's bill, Leahy and Edwards stepped in to draft a narrow bill, and
- asked for EFF's help in the process. EFF remains deeply troubled by the
- prospect of the federal government forcing communications networks to be
- made "wiretap ready," but we believe that the legislation introduced today
- is substantially less intrusive that the original FBI proposals.
-
- Jerry Berman, EFF Policy Director said: "We have opposed digital telephony
- proposals for the past three years and still do not believe that such
- legislation is necessary."
-
- "Thanks to the work of Senator Leahy and Rep. Edwards and Senator Biden,
- however, the bill contains a number of significant privacy advances,
- including enhanced protection for the detailed transactional information
- records generated by online information services, email systems, and the
- Internet," Berman said.
-
- Many online communication and information systems create detailed records
- of users' communication activities as well as lists of the information that
- they have accessed. The new legal protection is critical in that it
- recognizes that this transactional information created by new digital
- communications systems is extremely sensitive and deserves a high
- degree of protection from casual law enforcement access which is currently
- possible without any independent judicial supervision. Under current law,
- the government can gain access to transactional records with a mere
- subpoena, which can be obtained without the intervention of a court. Under
- the new privacy protections in this bill, law enforcement would have to
- convince a court to issue an order based on a finding that there are
- "specific and articulable facts" which prove that the information sought
- would be relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation.
-
- "The fact that law enforcement has to take a case to court in order to get
- permission to access records is a major new privacy protection which will
- benefit all users of online communication systems," said Daniel Weitzner,
- EFF Deputy Policy Director.
-
- Another important privacy protection is that there is a cap on the amount
- of money that can be spent on surveillance technology in the first four
- years. The Attorney General is authorized to spend up to $500 million
- on reimbursement telecommunications carriers who retrofit their systems so
- as to come into compliance with the bill. So that this cap truly functions
- as a privacy protection, we believe that carriers should only be
- responsible for complying with the bill if the Attorney General actually
- pays for modifications. Government should get what it pays for, and no
- more.
-
- "Although we do not support the concept of digital telephony legislation,
- we believe that if Congress is to pass any version of the bill this year,
- it should be along the lines of the Leahy/Edwards version," said Berman.
-
- "The version crafted by Senator Leahy and Rep. Edwards," Berman explained,
- "is substantially better from a privacy, technology policy, and civil
- liberties standpoint than the draconian measures offered in the past
- by the Bush Administration."
-
- "As the bill works through the legislative process," Berman continued, "EFF
- will work to ensure that privacy and public process provisions are
- strengthened, and that the scope remains narrow -- continuing to exclude
- the Internet, electronic bulletin board systems, and online communications
- services such as America Online, Prodigy and Compuserve. Also, we note
- that the radio communication provisions have not yet been subject to public
- discussion, and hope that this will occur before the bill is considered by
- the full House and Senate."
-
-
- FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
-
- Jerry Berman Policy Director <jberman@eff.org>
- Daniel Weitzner Deputy Policy Director <djw@eff.org>
- +1 202 347 5400
-
-
- * * * * * * * *
-
-
- EFF Analysis of and comments on major provisions of the bill
- ============================================================
-
- A. Key new privacy protections
-
- 1. Expanded protection for transactional records sought by law
- enforcement
-
- Senator Leahy and Rep. Edwards have agreed that law enforcement access to
- transactional records in online communication systems (everything from the
- Internet to AOL to hobbyist BBSs) threatens privacy rights because the
- records are personally identifiable, because they reveal the content of
- people's communications, and because the compilation of such records makes
- it easy for law enforcement to create a detailed picture of people's lives
- online. Based on this recognition, the draft bill contains the following
- provisions:
-
- i. Court order required for access to transactional records
- instead of mere subpoena
-
- In order to gain access to transactional records, such as a list of to whom
- a subject sent email, which online discussion group one subscribes to, or
- which movies you request on a pay-per view channel, law enforcement will
- have to prove to a court, by the showing of "specific and articulable
- facts" that the records requested are relevant to an ongoing criminal
- investigation. This means that the government may not request volumes of
- transactional records merely to see what it can find through traffic
- analysis. Rather, law enforcement will have to prove to a court that it has
- reason to believe that it will find some specific information that is
- relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation in the records that it
- requests.
-
- With these provisions, we have achieved for all online systems, a
- significantly greater level of protection than currently exists for
- telephone toll records. The lists of telephone calls that are kept by local
- and long distance phone companies are available to law enforcement without
- any judicial intervention at all. Law enforcement gains access to hundreds
- of thousands of such telephone records each year, without a warrant and
- without even notice to the citizens involved. Court order protection will
- make it much more difficult for law enforcement to go on "fishing
- expeditions" through online transactional records, hoping to find evidence
- of a crime by accident.
-
- ii. Standard of proof much greater than for telephone toll records,
- but below that for content
-
- The most important change that these new provisions offer, is that law
- enforcement will (a) have to convince a judge that there is reason to
- look at a particular set of records, and (b) have to expend the time and
- energy necessary to have a US Attorney or DA actually present a case before
- a court. However, the burden or proof to be met by the government in such a
- proceeding is lower than required for access to the content of a
- communication.
-
- 2. New protection for location-specific information available
- in cellular, PCS and other advanced networks
-
- Much of the electronic surveillance conducted by law enforcement today
- involves gathering telephone dialing information through a device
- known as a pen register. Authority to attach pen registers is obtained
- merely by asserting that the information would be relevant to a criminal
- investigation. Courts have no authority to deny pen register requests.
- This legislation offers significant new limits on the use of pen register
- data.
-
- Under this bill, when law enforcement seeks pen register information from
- a carrier, the carrier is forbidden to deliver to law enforcement any
- information which would disclose the location or movement of the calling or
- called party. Cellular phone networks, PCS systems, and so-called
- "follow-me" services all store location information in their networks.
- This new limitation is a major safeguard which will prevent law enforcement
- from casually using mobile and intelligent communications services as
- nation-wide tracking systems.
-
- i. New limitations on "pen register" authority
-
- Law enforcement must use "technology reasonably available" to limit pen
- registers to the collection of calling number information only.
- Currently, law enforcement is able to capture not only the telephone number
- dialed, but also any other touch-tone digits dialed which reflect the
- user's interaction with an automated information service on the other end
- of the line, such as an automatic banking system or a voice-mail password.
-
- 3. Bill does not preclude use of encryption
-
- Unlike previous Digital Telephony proposals, this bill places no
- obligation on telecommunication carriers to decipher encrypted messages,
- unless the carrier actually holds the key.
-
- 4. Automated remote monitoring precluded
-
- Law enforcement is specifically precluded from having automated, remote
- surveillance capability. Any electronic surveillance must be initiated by
- an employee of the telecommunications carrier.
-
- 5. Privacy considerations essential to development of new technology
-
- One of the requirements that telecommunications carriers must meet to
- be in compliance with the Act, is that the wiretap access methods adopted
- must protect the privacy and security of each user's communication. If
- this requirement is not met, anyone may petition the FCC to have the
- wiretap access service be modified so that network security is maintained.
- So, the technology used to conduct wiretaps cannot also jeopardize the
- security of the network as a whole. If network-wide security problems
- arise because of wiretapping standards, then the standards can be
- overturned.
-
- B. Draconian provisions softened
-
- In addition, the surveillance requirements imposed by the bill are not
- as far-reaching as the original FBI version. A number of procedural
- safeguards are added which seek to minimize the threatens to privacy,
- security, and innovation. Though the underlying premise of the Act is
- still cause for concern, these new limitations deserve attention:
-
- 1. Narrow Scope
-
- The bill explicitly excludes Internet providers, email systems, BBSs,
- and other online services. Unlike the bills previously proposed by the
- FBI, this bill is limited to local and long distance telephone companies,
- cellular and PCS providers, and other common carriers.
-
- 2. Open process with public right of intervention
-
- The public will have access to information about the implementation of
- the Act, including open access to all standards adopted in compliance
- with the Act, the details of how much wiretap capacity the government
- demands, and a detailed accounting of all federal money paid to carriers
- for modifications to their networks. Privacy groups, industry interests,
- and anyone else has a statutory right under this bill to challenge
- implementation steps taken by law enforcement if they threaten privacy or
- impede technology advancement.
-
- 3. Technical requirements standards developed by industry instead of
- the Attorney General
-
- All surveillance requirements are to be implemented according to
- standards developed by industry groups. The government is specifically
- precluded from forcing any particular technical standard, and all
- requirements are qualified by notions of economic and technical
- reasonableness.
-
- 4. Right to deploy untappable services
-
- Unlike the original FBI proposal, this bill recognizes that there may
- be services which are untappable, even with Herculean effort to accommodate
- surveillance needs. In provisions that still require some strengthening,
- the bill allows untappable services to be deployed if redesign is not
- economically or technically feasible.
-
-
- C. Provisions that must be changed
-
- EFF plans to work on the following issues in the bill as the
- legislative process continues:
-
- 1. Strengthened public process
-
- In the first four years of the bill's implementation, most of the requests
- that law enforcement makes to carriers are required to be recorded in
- the public record. However, additional demands for compliance after
- that time are only required to be made by written notice to the carrier.
- All compliance requirements, whether initial requests or subsequent
- modification, must be recorded in the Federal Register after public
- hearings, to allow for public scrutiny.
-
- 2. Linkage of cost to compliance requirements -- the FBI gets what it
- pays for and no more
-
- The bill authorizes, but does not appropriate, $500 million to be spent by
- the government in reimbursing telecommunications carriers for bringing
- their networks into compliance with the bill. The FBI maintains that this
- is enough money to cover all reasonable expenses. The industry, however,
- has consistently maintained that the costs are five to ten times higher.
- Given the FBI's confidence in their cost estimate, we believe that
- telecommunications carriers should only be required to comply to the extent
- that they have been reimbursed. This spending cap is both a safeguard
- against requiring unnecessary surveillance technology, and a way to
- guarantee that carriers' expenses for electronic surveillance are truly
- paid for by the government, not by the customers.
-
- 3. Ensure right to deploy untappable services
-
- The enforcement provisions of the bill suggest, but do not state
- explicitly, that services which are untappable may be deployed. The bill
- should be state directly that if it is technically and economically
- unreasonable to make a service tappable, then it may be deployed, without
- interference by a court.
-
- 4. Clarify definition of call identifying information
-
- The definition of call identifying information in the bill is too broad.
- Whether intentionally or not, the term now covers network signaling
- information of networks which are beyond the scope of the bill. To
- maintain the narrow scope of the bill, this definition should be clarified.
-
- 5. Review of minimization requirements in view of commingled
- communications
-
- The bill implicitly contemplates that law enforcement, in some cases,
- will intercept large bundles of communications, some of which are from
- subscribers who are not subject of wiretap orders. For example, when
- tapping a single individual whose calls are handled by a PBX, law
- enforcement may sweep in calls of other individuals as well. Currently the
- Supreme Court requires "minimization" procedures in all wiretaps, to
- minimize the intrusion on the privacy of conversations not covered by a
- court's wiretap order. We believe that the bill should reinforce the
- current minimization requirements by recognizing that stronger minimization
- procedures may be required.
-
-
- * * *
-
-
- Locating Relevant Documents
- ===========================
-
- ** Original 1992 Bush-era draft **
-
- ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/Policy/FBI/Old/digtel92_old_bill.draft
- gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Policy/FBI/Old, digtel92_old_bill.draft
- http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/FBI/Old/digtel92_old_bill.draft
- bbs: +1 202 638 6120 (8N1, 300-14400bps), file area: Privacy - Digital
- Telephony; file: digtel92.old
-
-
- ** 1993/1994 Clinton-era draft **
-
- ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/Policy/FBI/digtel94_bill.draft
- gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Policy/FBI, digtel94_bill.draft
- http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/FBI/digtel94_bill.draft
- bbs: +1 202 638 6120 (8N1, 300-14400bps), file area: Privacy - Digital
- Telephony; file: digtel94.dft
-
-
- ** 1994 final draft, as sponsored **
-
- ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/Policy/FBI/digtel94.bill
- gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Policy/FBI, digtel94.bill
- http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/FBI/digtel94.bill
- bbs: +1 202 638 6120 (8N1, 300-14400bps), file area: Privacy - Digital
- Telephony; file: digtel94.bil
-
-
- ** EFF Analysis of sponsored version **
-
- ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/Policy/FBI/digtel94_analysis.eff
- gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Policy/FBI, digtel94_analysis.eff
- http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/FBI/digtel94_analysis.eff
- bbs: +1 202 638 6120 (8N1, 300-14400bps), file area: Privacy - Digital
- Telephony; file: digtel94.ana
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 04 Aug 1994 13:54:53 -0400 (EDT)
- From: JMCGRATH@ALBNYVMS.BITNET
- Subject: File 2--Today, PBS; tomorrow, the InfoBahn
-
- Today, PBS; tomorrow, the InfoBahn
-
- >From the Congressional Record, 6-28,
- Bernie Sanders (Independent, Vermont)
-
- Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding
- me this time. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment
- offered by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Crane) and urge Members
- to support the bill as reported by the Committee on Appropriations.
- I do want to say, however, that unless there are some substantial
- changes in Public Broadcasting and its relationship to the working
- people of America, my vote and my position might be very different
- next year.
-
- Mr. Chairman, one of the great dangers in America today, and
- something that frightens me and many other Americans very much is
- the growing concentration of ownership in the mass media. Fewer
- and fewer and larger and larger corporations increasingly control
- what we see on television, what we hear on the radio, and what we
- read in the newspapers and magazines. The noted journalist and
- author Ben Bagdikian has written in his book ~The Media Monopoly~
- that by the turn of the century a handful of huge multinational
- corporations will not only control what we see and hear in America
- but in fact will be controlling what much of the world sees, hears,
- and reads. That is a very dangerous trend.
-
- Mr. Chairman, it is not an accident that the Rush Limbaughs,
- the Pat Buchanans, and the G. Gordon Liddys dominate commercial
- radio talk shows. Their views reflect the interests of the
- corporations which own those radio networks. It is also not an
- accident that on commercial radio and television there is very
- little serious discussion about the enormous problems facing the
- working people and the poor of this Nation. The average working
- family in America is in trouble. They are under stress. They are
- hurting. But that reality is not reflected in the corporately
- controlled media. Yes, we do have round-the-clock analysis of the
- O.J. Simpson case and the Menendez brothers saga and the Bobbitt
- family adventures and the Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan
- adventure. Yes, we have in-depth analyses of why the Houston
- Rockets were able to defeat the New York Knickerbockers and why the
- Washington Redskins did not do so well this last session. Yes, the
- airwaves are filled with violence and blood and 30-second
- commercials which are having an extremely negative impact on the
- cognitive abilities of the young kids of America. But somehow,
- just somehow there is virtually no programming which explains to
- the American people why the standard of living of American workers
- has gone from 1st place in the world 20 years ago to 13th place
- today. Somehow we do not have programming which deals with that.
- Somehow there is very little discussion or portrayal on television
- about the growing gap between the rich and the poor in America. I
- guess we do not have time on TV for that or about the fact that the
- wealthiest 1 percent of our population owns more wealth than the
- bottom 90 percent, or about how multinational corporations are
- moving to the Third World and are hiring workers at 15 to 20 cents
- an hour while they are throwing American workers out on the street.
- I guess that is just not interesting enough to put on our TV
- airways. Should we be surprised that General Electric~s NBC or the
- corporations that own the other networks do not focus very much on
- these issues? Well, I am not surprised, and I think the average
- American is not surprised.
-
- Mr. Chairman, the reason that Public Broadcasting was
- established and why taxpayers are contributing to Public Television
- and Radio is that it is supposed to offer an alternative point of
- view to that offered by the corporately owned networks. It is
- supposed to give a voice to those who have no voice. It is
- supposed to be able to deal with controversywithout being afraid of
- offending corporate sponsors. That is the reason that it exists.
- It is supposed to take on the entrenched special interests because
- it is funded by the ordinary people of this country, the people who
- are not wealthy, the people who are not powerful, the people who do
- not own ABC, CBS, or NBC. In other words, radical thought that it
- may be, public television is supposed to represent the interests of
- the public. I know that is a radical thought, but that is the way
- it is supposed to be. Sadly, despite what its original mandate
- was, despite the fact that there is some excellent programming on
- public television, some very fine children~s programming on public
- television, despite all of that, very few people can argue that
- public television has fulfilled its original mandate. In fact,
- year after year it appears that public television is more and more
- coming to resemble commercial television.
-
- Mr. Chairman, I do not object that there are three regularly
- scheduled business shows on PBS. I do not object that there are
- three regularly scheduled shows - Wall Street Week, the Nightly
- Business Report, and Adam Smith~s Money World. I have no problem
- with those programs. I do have a problem, however, that there is
- not one regularly scheduled program on the PBS which focuses on the
- needs and the problems of the working people of America. If there
- are three regularly scheduled business shows, why is there not at
- least one, just one, regularly scheduled show reflecting the
- interests of working people and organized labor? I do not object
- that three weekly public affairs shows on the PBS stations are
- hosted by individuals who have been associated with the National
- Review, a leading right-wing magazine: William Buckley~s Firing
- Line, John McLaughlin~s McLaughlin Group, and McLaughlin~s One on
- One. I do not object to these shows. But I do object that there is
- not one weekly PBS show which is hosted by a journalist from a
- labor or a progressive point of view. Our side also has
- articulate, well-informed journalists and commentators who are
- capable of presenting interesting and informative television, and
- that point of view has a right to be heard.
-
- Mr. Speaker, it seems to me that the Corporation for Public
- Broadcasting is at a crossroads. If it wants to resemble
- commercial television, Mr. Crane has a point. If it wants to
- resemble commercial television, if it wants to go out and hunt for
- more and more corporate money, then maybe we should say once and
- for all that it should become a private entity which competes in
- the marketplace with the corporate media. Mr. Crane does have a
- point. But I do not think that is what it should be. It seems to
- me that in a time when more and more of the media is controlled by
- big money, it is imperative that we really do have a public
- broadcasting system which deals with the real problems facing the
- working people of America. Tonight I will oppose Mr. Crane~s
- amendment. I hope PBS changes, or next year I will not.
-
- bsanders@igc.apc.org
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 9 Aug 1993 13:15:11 +0000
- From: Dave Banisar <banisar@EPIC.ORG>
- Subject: File 3--EPIC Seeks Release of FBI Wiretap Data
-
- Electronic Privacy Information Center
-
- PRESS RELEASE
- _____________________________________________________________
-
- For Release:
- August 9, 1994
- 2:00 pm
-
- Group Seeks Release of FBI Wiretap Data,
- Calls Proposed Surveillance Legislation Unnecessary
-
- Washington, DC: A leading privacy rights group today sued
- the Federal Bureau of Investigation to force the release of
- documents the FBI claims support its campaign for new wiretap
- legislation. The documents were cited by FBI Director Louis Freeh
- during testimony before Congress and in a speech to an influential
- legal organization but have never been released to the public.
-
- The lawsuit was filed as proposed legislation which would
- mandate technological changes long sought by the FBI was scheduled
- to be introduced in Congress.
-
- The case was brought in federal district court by the
- Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a public interest
- research organization that has closely monitored the Bureau's
- efforts to mandate the design of the nation's telecommunications
- infrastructure to facilitate wiretapping. An earlier EPIC lawsuit
- revealed that FBI field offices had reported no difficulties
- conducting wiretaps as a result of new digital communications
- technology, in apparent contradiction of frequent Bureau claims.
-
- At issue are two internal FBI surveys that the FBI Director
- has cited as evidence that new telephone systems interfere with
- law enforcement investigations. During Congressional testimony on
- March 18, Director Freeh described "a 1993 informal survey which
- the FBI did with respect to state and local law enforcement
- authorities." According to Freeh, the survey describes the
- problems such agencies had encountered in executing court orders
- for electronic surveillance. On May 19 the FBI Director delivered
- a speech before the American Law Institute in Washington, DC. In
- his prepared remarks, Freeh stated that "[w]ithin the last month,
- the FBI conducted an informal survey of federal and local law
- enforcement regarding recent technological problems which revealed
- over 180 instances where law enforcement was precluded from
- implementing or fully implementing court [wiretap] orders."
-
- According to David L. Sobel, EPIC's Legal Counsel, the FBI
- has not yet demonstrated a need for the sweeping new legislation
- that it seeks. "The Bureau has never presented a convincing case
- that its wiretapping capabilities are threatened. Yet it seeks to
- redesign the information infrastructure at an astronomical cost to
- the taxpayers." The nation's telephone companies have
- consistently stated that there have been no cases in which the
- needs of law enforcement have not been met.
-
- EPIC is a project of the Fund for Constitutional Government
- and Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility.
-
-
- ================================================================
-
-
- FBI Director Freeh's Recent Conflicting
- Statements on the Need for Digital Telephony Legislation
- _______________________________________________________________
-
-
- Speech before the Executives' Club of Chicago, February 17:
-
- Development of technology is moving so rapidly that several
- hundred court-authorized surveillances already have been
- prevented by new technological impediments with advanced
- communications equipment.
-
- * * *
-
- Testimony before Congress on March 18:
-
- SEN. LEAHY: Have you had any -- for example, digital telephony,
- have you had any instances where you've had a court order for a
- wiretap that couldn't be executed because of digital
- telephony?
-
- MR. FREEH: We've had problems just short of that. And I was
- going to continue with my statement, but I won't now because
- I'd actually rather answer questions than read. We have
- instances of 91 cases -- this was based on a 1993 informal
- survey which the FBI did with respect to state and local law
- enforcement authorities. I can break that down for you.
-
- * * *
-
- Newsday interview on May 16:
-
- We've determined about 81 different instances around the
- country where we were not able to execute a court-authorized
- electronic surveillance order because of lack of access to that
- particular system - a digital switch, a digital loop or some
- blocking technology which we didn't have to deal with four or
- five years ago.
-
- * * *
-
- Speech before the American Law Institute on May 19:
-
- Within the last month, the FBI conducted an informal survey of
- federal and local law enforcement regarding recent techno-
- logical problems which revealed over 180 instances where law
- enforcement was precluded from implementing or fully
- implementing court orders [for electronic surveillance].
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 28 Jul 94 16:38:20 GMT
- From: DAZZZSMITH@MAIL.ON-LINE.CO.UK(Dazzz)
- Subject: File 4--Electronic Superhighway Introduced in House of Commons
-
- From: The Telegraph newspaper (UK) Thursday July 28 1994
- +---------------------------------------------------------
- DEMAND FOR ELECTRONIC 'SUPERHIGHWAY' TO TRANSFORM THE WAY WE LIVE AND
- WORK
-
- Construction of a 15 billion national fibre optic network linking
- every home, office, school and hospital was called for yesterday by the
- House of Commons select committee on trade and industry.
-
- The electronic 'superhighway' would have far higher capacity than
- today's standard telephone lines and televisions cables. It would allow
- the instant two-way transmission of data, graphics, photographs,
- medical images, high quality television pictures and video.
-
- Calling for an easing of regulations on phone and cable companies
- to achieve this, the influential cross-party committee published a
- blue-print for Britain yesterday in which it critiscised the
- Governments "lack of vision" on communications technology.
-
- Such a network would have "enormous and far-reaching effects", said
- the committee. It could revolutionise medicine, education and business,
- as well as bringing new shopping services and instant electronic delivery
- of videos to the home.
-
- Mr Richard Caborn, Labour chairman of the committee, said:
- "The developement of a national optical fibre information
- superhighway which would boost the economy and transform the way we live
- and work should be a priority for Government. The enthusiasm, sense of
- purpose and leadership of the type being shown in America and
- elsewhere towards information superhighways has not been replicated in
- Britain, despite the widespread dawning of the new information age."
-
- The biggest obstacle to the construction of the network was uncertainty
- on whether and when the Government might lift the ban that prevents
- BT and other phone companies from transmitting entertainment
- services. BT has argued that it cannot justify heavy investment in a
- new network without a guarantee that it will be able to provide such
- lucrative services over it.
-
- The ban was imposed to promote the growth of the cable television
- industry and introduce greater local competition to the phone market.
- It is due to run until at least 2001, with a possible review by by
- Oftel, the regulator in 1998. The committee said that if BT was to invest
- in a new high capacity network, the Government must make it clear that
- the ban would be lifted nationwide by the end of 2002.
-
- Mr Caborn said the committee favoured an "evolutionary rather than a
- big bang approach." with the ban being lifted in some cable franchise
- areas as early as next year and then gradually in all others.
-
- One condition on easing the restrictions should be that BT was forced to
- provde "fair and open" access to its network to allow other companies
- to play a role in building the superhighway. BT, which has lobbied for
- the ban to be lifted, Mercury Communications and the Cable Television
- Association all welcomed the report's recommendations.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 07 Aug 94 18:07:24 EDT
- From: AdamRCohen@AOL.COM
- Subject: File 5--Essay Contest - Future of Print
-
- I thought you might like to hear about an essay contest sponsored by
- the Audit Bureau of Circulations. The subject is, "Print: Roadkill on
- the Information Superhighway - Yes or No?" Top prize is $2,500. Essays
- are due 9/7/94.
-
- Basic information about eligibility and the Audit Bureau follows. For
- more complete information and entry forms, call ABC's Colleen O'Grady
- at 708-605-0909. Please share this notice with anyone who might be
- interested. Many thanks.
-
- Entry Requirements: Entrants must be employees of ABC-member companies
- and have worked in the advertising, marketing or publishing industries
- for 5 years or less as of 9/7/94. Over 4,000 publishers, advertisers
- and ad agencies are members of ABC. To verify your eligibility, call
- Ms. O'Grady at 708-605-0909.
-
- The Audit Bureau of Circulations is the first and largest
- circulation-auditing organization in the world. ABC establishes ground
- rules for circulation auditing and provides buyers and sellers of
- print advertising with independent verfication of the circulation
- information needed to make well-informed media decisions.
-
- Adam R. Cohen
- Member, ABC Young Media Professionals Committee
- AdamRCohen@aol.com
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 04 Aug 1994 00:37:34 -0500
- From: spaf@CS.PURDUE.EDU(Gene Spafford)
- Subject: File 6--Announcing the COAST Security FTP Archive!
-
- Announcing the COAST Security FTP Archive!
-
- The COAST group at Purdue are happy to (finally) announce the
- availability of our security archive. The archive is currently
- available via FTP, with extensions to gopher and WWW planned soon.
-
- The archive currently contains software, standards, tools, and other
- material in the following areas:
-
- * access control
- * artificial life
- * authentication
- * criminal investigation
- * cryptography
- * e-mail privacy enhancement
- * firewalls
- * formal methods
- * general guidelines
- * genetic algorithms
- * incident response
- * institutional policies
- * intrusion detection
- * law & ethics
- * malware (viruses, worms, etc)
- * network security
- * password systems
- * policies
- * privacy
- * risk assessment
- * security related equipment
- * security tools
- * social impacts
- * software forensics
- * software maintenance
- * standards
- * technical tips
- * the computer underground
-
- The collection also contains a large collection of site "mirrors" of
- interesting collections, many of which are linked by topic to the rest
- of the archive.
-
- You can connect to the archive using standard ftp to
- "coast.cs.purdue.edu". Information about the archive structure and
- contents is present in "/pub/aux"; we encourage users to look there,
- and to read the README* files located in the various directories.
-
- If you know of material you think should be added, please send mail to
- security-archive@cs.purdue.edu and tell us what you have and where we
- can get a copy. In order of preference, we would prefer to get:
- -- a pointer to the source ftp site for a package
- -- a pointer to a mirror ftp site for the package
- -- a uuencoded tar file
- -- a shar file
- -- a diskette or QIC tape
-
- If you are providing software, we encourage you to "sign" the software
- with PGP to produce a standalone signature file. This will help to
- ensure against trojaned versions of the software finding their way
- into the archive.
-
- Any comments or suggestions about the archive should be directed to
- "security-archive@cs.purdue.edu" -- please let us know what you think!
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 4 Aug 1994 14:09:07 CDT
- From: Victor Li <li@ASIAINFO.COM>
- Subject: File 7--CALL FOR PAPERS - Symposium on Computer Information Mgmt
-
- The 4th Beijing Int'l Symposium on Computerized Information Management
- (BISCIM'94)
-
- Technological Innovations and Marketing in Information Service
- Industry in Developing Countries
- October 14-18, 1994
- Beijing, People's Republic of China
-
- The Organizing Committee of the 4th BISCIM cum Technical
- Exhibition'94 cordially invites you to participate in this important
- event with a view to promoting the application of computer, CD-ROM
- and multimedia technologies in information management. The
- Symposium will include an extensive Technical Exhibition and an
- entertaining social programme.
-
- The following topics are suggested for contributing papers, but the
- list is not exhaustive:
- --Information marketing, promotional techniques and pricing
- structures
- --Information equipment and information technology in library and
- information centres
- --Automation of information processing
- --Database development and quality control
- --Computer and communication integrated new information services
- --Communication infrastructure for information services
- --CD-ROM versus on-line services
- --Multimedia publishing and electronic books
- --Standards and norms in information exchange and information
- technology
- --Internet and its future in developing countries
- Participants wishing to present papers should submit a full paper
- in English together with the filled Paper Contribution Sheet to the
- Secretariat of the Symposium not later than 31 August 1994.
-
- An official invitation letter to facilitate entrance visa applications
- will be sent by the State Science and Technology Committee of China
- to you upon receiving your registration fee and your full paper.
-
- Submissions should be sent to:
- 4th BISCIM '94 Secretariat
- c/o Division of International Relation and Cooperation
- Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC)
- P.O. Box 3827, 15 Fuxinglu, Beijing 100038,
- People's Republic of China
- Voice: national 8514020
- international +86 1 8514020
- Fax: +86 1 8514025
- Telex: 20079 ISTIC CN
-
- For more information contact:
- Victor Li
- AsiaInfo Services
- E-mail: li@asiainfo.com
-
- ------------------------------
-
- End of Computer Underground Digest #6.71
- ************************************
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