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-
- Computer underground Digest Wed Sep 4, 1996 Volume 8 : Issue 64
- ISSN 1004-042X
-
- Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu)
- News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu)
- Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
- Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
- Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
- Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
- Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
- Ian Dickinson
- Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
-
- CONTENTS, #8.64 (Wed, Sep 4, 1996)
- File 1--Sep 20th SF C'punks meeting: ITAR on trial
- File 2--National ID Card Web Pages
- File 3--Bernie S. attacked in prison
- File 4--Anon.penet.fi is closed!
- File 5--Press Release on anon.penet.fi closing
- File 6--"Wired UK" response to Observer Article
- File 7--London Observer replies (9/1/96) (fwd)
- File 8--British Hacker ("The Squidge") Arrested (fwd)
- File 9--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 Apr, 1996)
-
-
- CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ApPEARS IN
- THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
-
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 6 Sep 1996 10:57:44 -0700 (PDT)
- From: Declan McCullagh <declan@eff.org>
- Subject: File 1--Sep 20th SF C'punks meeting: ITAR on trial
-
- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
- Date--Fri, 06 Sep 1996 03:51:20 -0700
- From--John Gilmore <gnu@toad.com>
- To--cypherpunks-announce@toad.com
-
- We're having another "Cypherpunks Dress-Up Day" on Friday, September
- 20th. Meet at the Federal Building in San Francisco, 450 Golden Gate
- Avenue, at 11:45AM, in high-quality business drag. [There will also
- be a regular Saturday meeting this month, on Sep 14.]
-
- It's been eleven months to the day since our first hearings in Dan
- Bernstein's lawsuit against the NSA and State Department. At this
- hearing, starting at High Noon, we hope to convince Judge Marilyn Hall
- Patel to declare that the ITAR (export regulations) and AECA (export
- law) are unconstitutional. We are asking her to order the State
- Department to immediately stop enforcing them with respect to
- cryptographic software.
-
- Simultaneously, the government is asking her to declare that their
- actions have been completely legal and Constitutional, and to throw
- out our lawsuit.
-
- Judge Patel has asked both sides to fully explore all the legal issues
- in the case for this hearing, leaving aside any unresolved factual
- questions (like exactly how many people have had their exports
- denied). She plans to decide the questions:
-
- * Should the government's actions be examined under the "strict
- scrutiny" appropriate when they attempt to restrict speech,
- or under a looser "O'Brien" test that applies when the
- government seeks to restrict conduct and only incidentally
- restricts speech?
- * Is the ITAR Scheme a prior restraint on speech?
- * Does the ITAR Scheme impermissibly punish speech after the fact?
- * Is the ITAR Scheme too vague to constitutionally regulate speech?
- * Is the ITAR Scheme so broadly worded that it unconstitutionally
- limits speech protected by the First Amendment?
- * Were the government's actions as applied to Dan Bernstein
- unconstitutional restrictions on his First Amendment rights?
-
- It's possible, but unlikely, that the judge will decide some of this
- then-and-there. Instead, we will get some insights into how she is
- leaning, based on her questions and comments. Her written decision
- will come out some weeks or months later. She then plans to certify
- the case for immediate appeal to a higher court (the Ninth Circuit,
- also here in San Francisco), to confirm or deny her legal analysis.
-
- >From there it will probably go to the Supreme Court.
-
- Watch the wheels of justice grind! Meet the intrepid lawyers who are
- working hard to protect our rights! Shake hands with one or more NSA
- representatives specially flown in for the occasion! Meet some
- journalists and be quoted talking about crypto freedom!
-
- We will follow the hearing with a group lunch at Max's Opera Plaza, a
- block away at Van Ness Avenue and Golden Gate Avenue.
-
- As background, Dan Bernstein, ex-grad-student from UC Berkeley, is
- suing the State Department, NSA, and other agencies, with help from
- the EFF. These agencies restrained Dan's ability to publish a paper,
- as well as source code, for the crypto algorithm that he invented. We
- claim that their procedures, regulations, and laws are not only
- unconstitutional as applied to Dan, but in general. Full background
- and details on the case, including all of our legal papers (and most
- of the government's as well), are in the EFF Web archives at:
- http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/ITAR_export/Bernstein_case.
-
- Like Phil Karn's and Peter Junger's cases, this lawsuit really has the
- potential to outlaw the whole NSA crypto export scam. We intend to
- make your right to publish and export crypto software as well-
- protected by the courts as your right to publish and export books. It
- will probably take more years, and an eventual Supreme Court decision,
- to make it stick. But this is the hearing at which we plan to
- convince our judge that these laws really are unconstitutional. Her
- order restoring our legal right to publish crypto source code could
- come out by Christmas!
-
- Please make a positive impression on the judge. Show her -- by
- showing up -- that this case matters to more people than just the
- plaintiff and defendant. Demonstrate that her decision will make a
- difference to society. That the public and the press are watching,
- and really do care that she handles the issue well.
-
- We'll have to be quiet and orderly while we're in the courthouse.
- There will be no questions from the audience (that's us), and no
- photography, but the session will be tape-recorded and transcribed,
- and you can take notes if you like. The lobby guards will want to
- hold onto guns, "munitions", and even small pocketknives, before
- they'll let you go upstairs to the courtrooms.
-
- So, here's your excuse to put on a nice costume, take an early lunch,
- and pay a call on the inner sanctum of our civil rights. See you there!
-
- John Gilmore
-
- PS: If you can't come, you can still contribute. Join EFF's Legal
- Defense Fund; see http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/cyberlegal_fund_eff.announce.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 2 Sep 1996 13:52:18 -0500
- From: "Dave Banisar" <banisar@EPIC.ORG>
- Subject: File 2--National ID Card Web Pages
-
-
- EXTENSIVE NATIONAL ID CARD WEB SITE IS NOW ON LINE
-
-
- The London-based human rights watchdog Privacy International (PI)
- has just opened an extensive web page on National ID cards. The
- initiative comes in the wake of pending efforts in the United
- States, Canada and United Kingdom to implement national ID card
- systems.
-
- The page contains a 7,000 word FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on
- all aspects of ID cards and their implications. Also included in the
- PI documents is a paper describing successful campaigns opposing to
- ID cards in Australia and other countries. The page also has links
- to numerous other sites and documents.
-
- PI Director Simon Davies said he hoped the page would help promote
- debate about the cards, "ID cards are often introduced without
- serious discussion or consultation. The implications are profound,
- and countries planning to introduce them should proceed with
- caution."
-
- "The existence of a card challenges important precepts of individual
- rights and privacy. At a symbolic and a functional level, ID cards
- are often an unnecessary and potentially dangerous white elephant.
- They are promoted by way of fear-mongering and false patriotism, and
- are implemented with scant regard for serious investigation of the
- consequences." he said.
-
- The URL is :
-
- http://www.privacy.org/pi/activities/idcard/
-
- PI has also set up an auto response function for the FAQ document.
- Its address is: idcardfaq@mail.privacy.org
-
- Privacy International is an international human rights group
- concerned with privacy and surveillance issues. It is based in
- London, UK. For further information contact the Privacy
- International Washington Office at +1.202.544.9240 or email
- pi@privacy.org. PI's web page is available at:
- http://www.privacy.org/pi/
-
- David Banisar (Banisar@privacy.org) * 202-544-9240 (tel)
- Privacy International Washington Office * 202-547-5482 (fax)
- 666 Pennsylvania Ave, SE, Suite 301 * HTTP://www.privacy.org/pi/
- Washington, DC 20003
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Wed, 4 Sep 1996 15:28:52 -0400 (EDT)
- From: Emmanuel Goldstein <emmanuel@2600.COM>
- Subject: File 3--Bernie S. attacked in prison
-
- COMPUTER HACKER SEVERELY BEATEN AFTER CRITICIZING PRISON CONDITIONS
-
- TARGET OF CAMPAIGN BY U.S. SECRET SERVICE
-
- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
-
- A convicted hacker, in prison for nothing more than possession of
- electronic parts easily obtainable at any Radio Shack, has been
- savagely beaten after being transferred to a maximum security prison
- as punishment for speaking out publicly about prison conditions.
- Ed Cummings, recently published in Wired and Internet Underground, as
- well as a correspondent for WBAI-FM in New York and 2600 Magazine,
- has been the focus of an increasingly ugly campaign of harrassment
- and terror from the authorities. At the time of this writing, Cummings
- is locked in the infectious diseases ward at Lehigh County prison in
- Allentown, Pennsylvania, unable to obtain the proper medical treatment
- for the severe injuries he has suffered.
-
- The Ed Cummings case has been widely publicized in the computer hacker
- community over the past 18 months. In March of 1995, in what can only
- be described as a bizarre application of justice, Cummings (whose pen
- name is "Bernie S.") was targetted and imprisoned by the United States
- Secret Service for mere possession of technology that could be used to
- make free phone calls. Although the prosecution agreed there was no
- unauthorized access, no victims, no fraud, and no costs associated with
- the case, Cummings was imprisoned under a little known attachment to the
- Digital Telephony bill allowing individuals to be charged in this fashion.
- Cummings was portrayed by the Secret Service as a potential terrorist
- because of some of the books found in his library.
-
- A year and a half later, Cummings is still in prison, despite the
- fact that he became eligible for parole three months ago. But things have
- now taken a sudden violent turn for the worse. As apparent retribution for
- Cummings' continued outspokenness against the daily harrassment and
- numerous injustices that he has faced, he was transferred on Friday
- to Lehigh County Prison, a dangerous maximum security facility. Being
- placed in this facility was in direct opposition to his sentencing
- order. The reason given by the prison: "protective custody".
-
- A day later, Cummings was nearly killed by a dangerous inmate for not
- getting off the phone fast enough. By the time the prison guards stopped
- the attack, Cummings had been kicked in the face so many times that he
- lost his front teeth and had his jaw shattered. His arm, which he tried
- to use to shield his face, was also severely injured. It is expected that
- his mouth will be wired shut for up to three months. Effectively,
- Cummings has now been silenced at last.
-
- From the start of this ordeal, Cummings has always maintained his
- composure and confidence that one day the injustice of his
- imprisonment will be realized. He was a weekly contributor to a
- radio talk show in New York where he not only updated listeners on
- his experiences, but answered their questions about technology.
- People from as far away as Bosnia and China wrote to him, having
- heard about his story over the Internet.
-
- Now we are left to piece these events together and to find those
- responsible for what are now criminal actions against him. We are
- demanding answers to these questions: Why was Cummings transferred
- for no apparent reason from a minimum security facility to a very
- dangerous prison? Why has he been removed from the hospital immediately
- after surgery and placed in the infectious diseases ward of the very
- same prison, receiving barely any desperately needed medical
- attention? Why was virtually every moment of Cummings' prison stay a
- continuous episode of harrassment, where he was severely punished for
- such crimes as receiving a fax (without his knowledge) or having too
- much reading material? Why did the Secret Service do everything in
- their power to ruin Ed Cummings' life?
-
- Had these events occurred elsewhere in the world, we would be quick
- to condemn them as barbaric and obscene. The fact that such things are
- taking place in our own back yards should not blind us to the fact that
- they are just as unacceptable.
-
- Lehigh County Prison will be the site of several protest actions as will
- the Philadelphia office of the United States Secret Service. For more
- information on this, email protest@2600.com or call our office at
- (516) 751-2600.
-
- More information on this case can be found on the following
- web site: http://www.2600.com.
-
- 9/4/96
-
- -30-
-
-
-
-
- These are the people responsible for keeping Ed Cummings imprisoned.
-
-
- Name/Address Phone Fax
-
- Bucks County Correctional Facility 215.325.3700 215.345.3940
- 1730 South Easton Road
- Doylestown, PA
- Director: Mr. Nesbitt (warden equivalent)
- Chief: John Henderson (had Cummings thrown into maximum security
- for receiving a fax from a reporter - later
- told Cummings he had "no right" to speak
- to the press)
-
- Lehigh County Prison 610.820.3270
- 38 North Fourth Street
- Allentown, PA 18103
- Warden: Ed Sweeney 610.820.3133 610.820.3450
-
- Haverford Township Police Department
- John Morris 610.853.2400 610.853.1706
- (original arresting officer who believed Cummings was involved
- in a drug deal because he was observed selling electronic
- components to a vehicle occupied by African Americans)
-
- Northampton County Probation Department
- Scott Hoke (parole officer) 610.559.7211 610.559.7218
- (as Cummings' parole officer for a minor infraction years
- earlier, Hoke had told Cummings that parole was a waste of
- time for such a trivial offense. However, after being
- interviewed by the Secret Service, Hoke did an about face
- and began referring to Cummings as a very dangerous criminal
- who needed to be in prison for a long time.)
-
- Harrisburg Parole Office
- Ralph Bigley 717.787.2563 717.772.3534
- Mr. Bigelow 717.787.5699
-
- Northampton County Courthouse (main) 610.559.3000
- Judge Panella 610.515.0830 610.515.0832
-
- US District Court, Philadelphia (main) 215.597.2995
- 601 Market Street
- Philadelphia, PA 19106
- Judge Marjorie Rendell 215.597.3015 215.580.2393
- Judge Jay C. Waldman 215.597.9644 215.580.2155
- Judge Charles B. Smith 215.597.0421 215.597.6125
-
- Assistant U.S. Attorney
- Anne Whatley Chain, Esq. 215.451.5282
- 615 Chestnut Street
- Suite 1250
- Philadelphia, PA 19106
-
- Special Agent Thomas L. Varney
- U.S. Secret Service (main) 215.597.0600 215.597.2435
- Room 7236
- Federal Building
- 600 Arch Street
- Philadelphia, PA 19106
- (Varney was the key factor in having Ed Cummings imprisoned
- since March of 1995. It was he who convinced Det. John Morris
- that Cummings' possession of electronic components and certain
- books and magazines made him a danger to society. His testimony
- stands out in its incredible assessment of Cummings as nothing
- short of a terrorist and his ability, as a representative of
- one of the nation's most powerful agencies, to convince others
- in law enforcement that Cummings belongs in prison with the most
- dangerous and most violent of criminals.)
-
-
-
-
- Every one of these people has the power to do something. Please contact
- them and convince them to take an interest!
-
- Pennsylvania Elected Officials
-
- Governor:
-
- Tom Ridge
- (717) 787-5962
- governor@state.pa.us
-
- Senators:
-
- Arlen Specter (R)
- (202) 224-4254
- senator_specter@specter.senate.gov
-
- Rick Santorum (R)
- (202) 224-6324
- senator@santorum.senate.gov
-
- Representatives:
-
- 1st District
- Thomas Foglietta (D)
- (202) 225-4731
-
- 2nd District
- Chaka Fattah (D)
- (202) 225-4001
-
- 3rd District
- Robert Borski (D)
- (202) 225-8251
-
- 4th District
- Ron Klink (D)
- (202) 225-2565
-
- 5th District
- William Clinger (R)
- (202) 225-5121
-
- 6th District
- Tim Holden (D)
- (202) 225-5546
-
- 7th District
- Curt Weldon (R)
- (202) 225-2011
- curtpa7@hr.house.gov
-
- 8th District
- James Greenwood (R)
- (202) 225-4276
-
- 9th District
- Bud Shuster (R)
- (202) 225-2431
-
- 10th District
- Joseph McDade (R)
- (202) 225-3731
-
- 11th District
- Paul Kanjorski (D)
- (202) 225-6511
- kanjo@hr.house.gov
-
- 12th District
- John Murtha (D)
- (202) 225-2065
- murtha@hr.house.gov
-
- 13th District
- Jon Fox (R)
- (202) 225-6111
- jonfox@hr.house.gov
-
- 14th District
- William Coyne (D)
- (202) 225-2301
-
- 15th District
- Paul McHale (D)
- (202) 225-6411
- mchale@hr.house.gov
-
- 16th District
- Robert Walker (R)
- (202) 225-2411
- pa16@hr.house.gov
-
- 17th District
- George Gekas (R)
- (202) 225-4315
-
- 18th District
- Mike Doyle (D)
- (202) 225-2135
-
- 19th District
- Bill Goodling (R)
- (202) 225-5836
-
- 20th District
- Frank Mascara (D)
- (202) 225-4665
-
- 21st District
- Phil English (R)
- (202) 225-5406
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 1 Sep 96 15:47:45 +0300
- From: daemon@ANON.PENET.FI
- Subject: File 4--Anon.penet.fi is closed!
-
- Due to both the ever-increasing workload and the current uncertain
- legal status of the privacy of e-mail in Finland, I have now closed
- down this service until further notice. For now, you can still mail
- NON-ANONYMOUSLY to existing anXXXXX@anon.penet.fi users using the
- naXXXXX@anon.penet.fi address convention, so that you might
- establish another way to communicate with people you only know by
- their anon.penet.fi address, but news postings and anonymous mail is
- not supported.
-
- To use the non-anonymous forwarding service, you have to modify the
- anon address by swapping the first two letters (an to na, standing
- for Not Anonymous), so that an123456@anon.penet.fi becomes
- na123456@anon.penet.fi. But remember that your address will *not* be
- removed - this method is only intended as a stop-gap to enable you
- to establish another way of communicating with the people you only
- know by their anon.penet.fi addresses.
-
- If you feel that the service has been valuable, you can send a
- letter of support to support@anon.penet.fi, and likewise, if you
- feel it is a good thing the remailer has gone off the air, you can
- use the address against@anon.penet.fi to outline your reasons. As
- people always ask me why anyone would need a service such as
- anon.penet.fi, I am collecting case stories at why@anon.penet.fi.
-
- I have now maintained this service for over 3 years, and as there
- have appeared a number of other similar, reliable and well
- maintained servers, I feel we have reached a situation where the
- current anon.penet.fi server can be retired. Thank you for a very
- interesting time on the net!
-
- Julf
-
- P.S.: More info and the full press release on http://www.penet.fi/
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 08:34:37 -0500
- From: Charles Stanford <cstanfor@mail.coin.missouri.edu>
- Subject: File 5--Press Release on anon.penet.fi closing
-
-
- PRESS RELEASE
- 30.8.1996
-
- Johan Helsingius closes his Internet remailer
-
- Johan Helsingius has decided to close his Internet remailer. The
- so-called anon.penet.fi anonymous remailer is the most popular
- remailer in the world, with more than half a million users.
-
- "I will close down the remailer for the time being because the legal
- issues governing the Internet in Finland are yet undefined. The legal
- protection of the users needs to be clarified. At the moment the
- privacy of Internet messages is judicially unclear."
-
- The idea of an anonymous remailer is to protect the confidentiality of
- its users' identity. The remailer itself does not store messages but
- serves as a channel for message transmission. The remailer forwards
- messages without the identity of the original sender.
-
- Finland is one of the leading countries in Internet usage. Therefore
- all decisions and changes made in Finland arouse wide international
- interest.
-
- "I have developed and maintained the remailer in my free time for over
- three years now. It has taken up a lot of time and energy. Internet
- has changed a lot in these three years - now there are dozens of
- remailers in the world, which offer similar services.
-
- I have also personally been a target because of the remailer.
- Unjustified accusations affect both my job and my private life", says
- Johan Helsingius.
-
- The closing of the remailer will raise a lot of discussion among the
- Internet community. "Remailers have made it possible for people to
- discuss very sensitive matters, such as domestic violence, school
- bullying or human rights issues anonymously and confidentially on the
- Internet. The closing of anon.penet.fi will make it harder to discuss
- these matters.", says Helsingius.
-
- Child porn claims proven false
-
- Last Sunday's issue of the English newspaper Observer claimed that the
- remailer has been used for transmitting child pornography pictures.
- The claims have been investigated by the Finnish police. Observer's
- claims have been found groundless.
-
- Police sergeant Kaj Malmberg from the Helsinki Police Crime Squad is
- specialized in investigating computer crimes. He confirms that more
- than a year ago Johan Helsingius restricted the operations of his
- remailer so that it cannot transmit pictures.
-
- "The true amount of child pornography on the Internet is difficult to
- assess, but one thing is clear: We have not found any cases where
- child porn pictures were transmitted from Finland", Kaj Malmberg says.
-
- Basic rules need to be clarified
-
- There are several significant projects going on in Finland at the
- moment that deal with the impact of information technology. Johan
- Helsingius is a participant in both the [1]TIVEKE project run by the
- Ministry of Communications and the [2]Information Society Forum
- project run by the Ministry of Finance. These projects assess the
- political and social issues of networks and the impact of information
- technology. However, these projects need the support of practical,
- down-to-earth work to highlight current problems and suggest possible
- solutions.
-
- Johan Helsingius has taken an initiative to set up a working group to
- discuss the practical problems related to ethical and civil rights
- issues in connection with the Internet.
-
- "I will try to set up a task force which will include Internet experts
- together with representatives of civic organizations and public
- authorities. The group could suggest ways to deal with problems such
- as the lack of guidelines in applying the existing laws on the
- Internet. I hope that the results of this work will support the
- development of the network", he says.
-
- For further information, please contact
-
- Johan Helsingius
- Oy Penetic Ab
- e-mail: [3]Julf@Penet.FI
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Sun, 1 Sep 1996 19:47:45 +0200
- From: Hari Kunzru <pringler@t0.or.at>
- Subject: File 6--"Wired UK" response to Observer Article
-
- Review Editor, Wired UK, from Public Netbase, Vienna, Austria (www.t0.or.at)
-
- **** BEGINS ****
-
- Dear Will Hutton
-
- Your cover splash on paedophilia and the Internet last week was a disgrace
- to the traditions of liberal, intelligent journalism that I and others have
- always looked for in The Observer - a tradition of telling the truth and
- serving the public. It was a disservice to your readers, an affront to
- those of us who care about the future of the Internet - and a setback to
- the cause of fighting the brutalisation and molestation of children.
-
- Your piece implies that companies which provide full access to the Usenet
- newsgroups on the Internet - in particular Demon - are willing links in a
- chain of pederasty. It suggests that if the strictures being urged on these
- providers by the Clubs and Vice Unit of the Metropolitan Police were
- heeded, and these companies took data from various Internet newsgroups off
- their machines, then the problem would be eased. It does not mention that
- the Met's list of newsgroups is a mixed bunch, some of which (for example,
- alt.homosexual) are not pornographic.
-
- The truth of the matter is that such a change would achieve little if
- anything. Full newsgroup access is currently available from hundreds of
- machines all over the world, all of them accessible through all Internet
- providers. So as a pragmatic measure in the fight against child abuse,
- removing them from the computers of British companies is futile. It is hard
- to understand as anything other than a gesture - a threatening one,
- designed to show that the police can shut down newsgroups without any need
- to show cause or prove a case.
-
- The argument that Demon and many other Internet providers are making is
- that the law should recognise that they are not responsible for information
- that is accessed through their computers. In this, they ask for the same
- treatment that phone companies and post offices get. Your article quoted
- DCI French of the Clubs and Vice unit saying that "Morally you cannot adopt
- this position." If this is the case, why not put a director of BT on your
- front page with the caption "Millionaire behind the sordid phone sex
- business". Behind the Internet business, too, for that matter - the system
- uses BT's lines. Are you saying that BT is responsible, too?
-
- Obviously not. Paedophiles are responsible for paedophilia - not telecoms
- companies or Internet providers. But your article chose to ignore this and
- look elsewhere - at Demon and at Johan Helsingius, who runs a non-profit
- computer system in Finland which puts computer files on to the Internet
- without any sign of their original provenance. This is a service with many
- uses. It helps in anonymous counselling, it helps in whistle-blowing. You
- claim that it is used for 90% of the Internet's child porn - a claim for
- which I could see no credible support. Mr Helsingius stops messages going
- to newsgroups that have been brought to his attention as likely to carry
- child pornography. His system can be accessed by policemen who go to the
- trouble of getting a warrant (and the Finnish police do not think that
- there is a child porn problem in the system). It retransmits only short
- text files, extraordinarily poorly suited to imagery. And it cannot in
- itself be used, as your article suggests, to participate in anything "live"
- or "interactive".
-
- In short, the article on your front page and its companion inside are
- shoddy work. When evidence from the Internet is not available, they bring
- forward the use paedophiles make of videos and magazine photographs - thus
- underlining the crucial point that the Internet is not the cause of all
- this. The truth of the matter is that networks of pederasts existed prior
- to, and independently of, the Internet. Much of the current outrage comes
- from the fact that the Internet is revealing new aspects of this unhappy
- state of affairs. And those who look beyond a knee-jerk shoot-the-messenger
- response see that the Internet can in fact be used to fight the scourge.
- The Dutch police, rather than attacking the companies that provide access
- to the Internet, are using the Internet as a way of finding child
- pornography. They are establishing web sites and hotlines whereby people
- can help them in this work. When they find perpetrators in their
- jurisdiction, they prosecute. They are eager that other police forces work
- with them in exploring these avenues.
-
- The position The Observer took last week will not bring about an end to
- paedophile crimes. It will instead usher in a new era of arbitrary
- censorship and surveillance. You
- vilify Johan Helsingius for reposting anonymous messages. Presumably then
- you would applaud if he read all of the messages which passed through his
- machine and deleted those which he disapproved of? And you would encourage
- other media -- like Demon, the Royal Mail and BT -- to do the same? You
- vilify Demon for not immediately banning the newsgroups as requested by
- Scotand Yard. Presumably then you are happy that Scotland Yard should draw
- up lists of material which it deems unsuitable for public consumption and
- enforce them without judicial, political or public review?
-
- In your other articles, you document real evidence of real suffering caused
- by this disgusting trade. These offer real constructive ways of fighting
- this evil: combating child-sex tourism, tracking down paedophiles
- themselves, creating an intelligent debate about images of children in the
- mainstream media. In attacking Internet service providers you not only
- endanger freedom of expression on a nascent medium - a freedom about which
- many care passionately. You also take people attention away from the real
- problem, which is attacking the practising paedophiles.
-
- Mr Hutton, I'm not blind to the fact that people use the Internet to
- distribute revolting material the creation of which is clearly criminal. It
- is something that a lot of people, online as well as off, want to do
- something about. But it's not Demon's business or Demon's fault. It's not
- something that the Met's cosmetic censorship strategy will change. It's not
- why Mr Helsingius does what he does. And it's not something that journalism
- like this will stop.
-
- Sincerely
-
- Oliver Morton
- Editor
- Wired UK
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 5 Sep 1996 23:36:28 -0500
- From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
- Subject: File 7--London Observer replies (9/1/96) (fwd)
-
- From--mlissa3379@aol.com (Mlissa3379)
- Newsgroups--alt.censorship
- Subject--Re--Against PICS and Internet Censorship
-
- The Observer today published an editorial in response to their articles
- last week. Comment, for or against?
-
- The Observer, 1 September, 1996
-
- Editorial comment
-
- In a philosophical tangle over the Net
-
- THERE ARE two substantial objections to the story and comment that we
- ran last week over the transmission of paedophile material on the
- Internet, which aroused a fierce response on both sides. The first is
- philosophical. No state or regulatory intervention can be justified in
- the free world of cyberspace. The Internet is the embodiment of
- individual liberty.
-
- The second is technical. The Observer betrayed a lack of understanding
- of the Internet - how it works and how impossible, even self-defeating,
- any form of regulation might be. Given the millions of transactions
- that occur daily across national boundaries, cyberspace cannot be
- successfully regulated. Worse, the anonymous servers that might be used
- by sexual deviants can also be used, for example, by victims of
- political persecution. This is much more complex than we indicated.
-
- The philosophical issue is comparatively simple. Freedom of expression
- in civil society is qualified by rules - over, say, incitement to racial
- hatred or sexual indecency. John Stuart Mill, in his essay On Liberty,
- accepted the need for constraints of this type on individual freedom;
- even this ardent defender of liberty recognised it cannot be an
- absolute. The Internet is emerging as a major cultural and
- communications force; its freedoms must be protected even while it
- conforms to the same democratically established rules as apply in normal
- society.
-
- The effectiveness of intervention is more difficult. We report today on
- some ideas. Service providers can adopt codes of practice and patrol
- their web sites more intensively; regulatory agencies can establish
- hotlines to which users can report illegal material (such a scheme is
- already up and running in the Netherlands); and there is the
- international cybercop unit established last week by the World Congress
- against the sexual exploitation of children. New legal obligations
- might have to be accepted by service providers.
-
- The Observer is on the side of the Internet, but against the abuse that
- succours the sexual exploitation of children. Those who say taking such
- a position is absurd, because of the nature of the Internet, should
- pause. If so, what future is there for our civilisation?
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Fri, 30 Aug 1996 10:08:12 -0400 (EDT)
- From: Noah <noah@ENABLED.COM>
- Subject: File 8--British Hacker ("The Squidge") Arrested (fwd)
-
- From -Noah
-
- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
- Date--Thu, 29 Aug 1996 19:26:00 -0500
- From--Frosty <sotmesc@datasync.com>
-
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
- C Y B E R - S P A C E P R O J E C T Email List / Instructions at the end
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Nexus :::
-
- bibble@madrab.demon.co.uk Cap'n B at Rabbit
- Solutions, UK
-
- ENGLAND:
-
- The Squidge was arrested at his home yesterday under the Computer Misuse
- Act. A long standing member of the US group the *Guild, Squidge was silent
- today after being released but it appears no formal charges will be made
- until further interviews have taken place.
-
- Included in the arrest were the confiscation of his computer equipment
- including two Linux boxes and a Sun Sparc. A number of items described as
- 'telecommunications devices' were also seized as evidence.
-
- Following the rumours of ColdFire's recent re-arrest for cellular fraud
- this could mean a new crackdown on hacking and phreaking by the UK
- authorities. If this is true, it could spell the end for a particularly
- open period in h/p history when notable figures have been willing to
- appear more in public.
-
- We will attempt to release more information as it becomes available.
-
- (not posted by Squidge)
-
- --
- Brought to you by The NeXus.....
-
- * sotmesc@datasync.com aka ---* Frosty, ilKhan of the SotMESC
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- * Finger SotMESC or http://www.datasync.com/sotmesc/gcms
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 22:51:01 CST
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- Subject: File 9--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 Apr, 1996)
-
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- ------------------------------
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- End of Computer Underground Digest #8.64
- ************************************
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-