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-
- Computer underground Digest Wed Oct 2, 1996 Volume 8 : Issue 70
- 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, #8.70 (Wed, Oct 2, 1996)
-
- File 1--Mitnick Pleads Innocent
- File 2--ELEMENTS OF THE NEW CRYPTO PROPOSAL
- File 3--White House crypto proposal -- too little, too late
- File 4--White House Statement on Return of Clipper
- File 5--Press Release in re Cleveland Crypto Challenge
- File 6--Newsnybble: GPS privacy threat
- File 7--Corrected URL for Crypt Newsletter Awards
- File 8--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: Wed, 2 Oct 1996 06:55:18 -0400 (EDT)
- From: Noah <noah@enabled.com>
- Subject: File 1--Mitnick Pleads Innocent
-
- From -Noah
-
- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
- Date--Tue, 1 Oct 1996 15:20:37 -0400 (EDT)
- From--Anthony Williams <alby@UU.NET>
-
- Computer hacker Mitnick pleads innocent
-
- September 30, 1996
- Web posted at: 11:45 p.m. EDT
-
- LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The notorious computer hacker Kevin Mitnick pleaded
- innocent Monday to charges he mounted a multimillion-dollar crime wave
- in cyberspace during 2 1/2 years as a fugitive.
-
- Mitnick, 33, held without bail on a fraud conviction, told the judge
- not to bother reading the indictment, which includes 25 new counts of
- computer and wire fraud, possessing unlawful access devices, damaging
- computers and intercepting electronic messages.
-
- "Not guilty," Mitnick said. His indictment, handed up Friday by a
- federal grand jury, follows an investigation by a national task force
- of FBI, NASA and federal prosecutors with high-tech expertise.
-
- It charges Mitnick with using stolen computer passwords, damaging
- University of Southern California computers and stealing software
- valued at millions of dollars from technology companies, including
- Novell, Motorola, Nokia, Fujitsu and NEC.
-
- ...........
-
- Mitnick pleaded guilty in April to a North Carolina fraud charge of
- using 15 stolen phone numbers to dial into computer databases.
- Prosecutors then dropped 22 other fraud charges but warned that new
- charges could follow.
-
- Mitnick also admitted violating probation for a 1988 conviction in Los
- Angeles where he served a year in jail for breaking into computers at
- Digital Equipment Corp. At 16, he served six months in a youth center
- for stealing computer manuals from a Pacific Bell switching center.
-
- Mitnick also got a new lawyer Monday, Donald C. Randolph, who
- represented Charles Keating Jr.'s top aide, Judy J. Wischer, in the
- Lincoln Savings swindle.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 02:02:48 -0400 (EDT)
- From: Voters Telecommunications Watch <shabbir@vtw.org>
- Subject: File 2--ELEMENTS OF THE NEW CRYPTO PROPOSAL
-
- VTW BillWatch #60
-
- VTW BillWatch: A newsletter tracking US Federal legislation
- affecting civil liberties. BillWatch is published about every
- week as long as Congress is in session. (Congress is in session)
-
- BillWatch is produced and published by the
- Voters Telecommunications Watch (vtw@vtw.org)
-
- Issue #60, Date: Tue Oct 1 01:59:19 EDT 1996
-
- Do not remove this banner. See distribution instructions at the end.
- ----------------------------------------------
-
- ELEMENTS OF THE NEW CRYPTO PROPOSAL
-
- Strap yourself in, friends. The White House is at it again.
-
- On Thursday October 3, the White House will unveil it's long-dreaded
- encryption proposal. The cause of some significant consternation among
- Administration staffers, the proposal has been so long in coming that
- Justice officials attending hearings last week on H.R. 3011 were visibly
- annoyed at being left to twist in the wind.
-
- Leaks abound right before a big announcement like this, but this time
- everyone with a copy of the proposal has kept mum these last few days.
- However the press has caught bits and pieces of it which we've collected
- for you here. If you're an absolute crypto-media-hound, this may not be
- news to you.
-
- MOVE OF EXPORT APPROVALS FROM STATE TO COMMERCE, FBI VETO POWER
- For years, companies have attempted to get their encryption products
- through an easier, more lenient export process in the Department of
- Commerce, instead of State. Approval in Commerce goes quickly, and
- the hurdles are less formidable. Clearly, this should be a good thing.
-
- However the deal that's been floating around for several weeks now is
- that this move will not be this easy. The Department of Justice,
- (or as Brock Meeks translates, the FBI) wants a seat at the table. In
- effect, they want veto power over export applications. The assumption
- is that they feel they can influence the domestic encryption market to
- integrate Clipper-style key escrow technology by simply refusing the
- export of any strong encryption products that might have previously been
- approved in State.
-
- This is bad news for companies that have no customer base demanding
- government-friendly key escrow products.
-
- KEY LENGTH RAISED TO 56 OR 64 BITS PROVIDED IT USES KEY ESCROW
- This aspect of the proposal looks like old news, and to a certain extent,
- it is. The Clipper II proposal suggested that the industry build hooks
- into their products so that third parties could hold your keys for you.
- Of course, that third party cannot be yourself, or anyone you would think
- of when you think of entities you trust.
-
- Thursday's proposal is likely to look a lot like Clipper II, and it will
- likely cite the new IBM offering, SuperCrypto, as an example of products
- that employ key escrow to allow export of products that use higher length
- keys. What isn't certain is the extent to which key lengths will be raised.
- There have been several conflicting rumors, some of them claiming 56 bits,
- others claiming 64 bits.
-
- More important than the question of key length will be the determination of
- which companies are allowed to hold their own keys. This author predicts
- that the only entities that will be allowed to hold keys will be: a gov't
- agency (such as NIST), the maker of the encryption product itself, or
- large companies that have the significant resources to run a key recovery
- center. In all cases, the key recovery centers will still need to be
- seperate entities that will dole out keys to law enforcement without the
- knowledge of the key's owner.
-
- In other words, you as an individual or small business are still out of luck.
-
- PROBABLY NOT IN PLAN: KEY LENGTH RAISED TO 56 BITS WITHOUT KEY ESCROW
- It has long been rumored that the avalanche of proof provided by the industry
- experts would eventually force the Administration to raise the key length
- for which unescrowed encryption products could be exported. Currently,
- this limit is 40 bits, but several rumors floated and died within the
- last few weeks suggesting that the Administration would be raising the
- key length. It now looks like those were indeed just rumors.
-
- SUMMARY
- Most of these measures, if not all of them, can be implemented
- administratively removing the need for Congress to get involved. However
- Congress has already staked out its turf on this issue, and isn't likely
- to cede that any time soon. Keep an eye out for the reactions from sponsors
- of S.1726 (Pro-CODE) and HR 3011 on the feasibility White House proposal.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 14:56:21 -0700 (PDT)
- From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
- Subject: File 3--White House crypto proposal -- too little, too late
-
- I just got back from the White House, where Gore's office held a
- roundtable plugging the administration's long-awaited and already
- widely-derided Return of Clipper proposal.
-
- Gore announced that jurisdiction over crypto exports would move to the
- Commerce Dept; that the export embargo on 56-bit DES would be lifted
- in part for two years only; that to be approved for export firms must
- submit a detailed proposal describing how they will move towards key
- escrow; that the new regulations would go into effect on January 1.
-
- The true problem with this plan is that 56-bit DES is woefully
- inadequate. But much of the media coverage I've read of the plan
- doesn't even mention that. Take Elizabeth Corcoran's article, which
- ran above the fold on the front page in today's Washington Post. (It's
- what almost certainly prompted Gore's office to move the announcement
- to today rather than hold it later this week.)
-
- The thrust of the article is that the administration's new proposal
- balances the needs of privacy, business, and law enforcement. But it
- doesn't. The Feds, foreign governments, and determined attackers can
- crack anything encrypted with 56-bit DES -- the strongest crypto that
- can be exported under the plan. This vital fact appears nowhere in the
- Post article.
-
- That's why Bruce Schneier, author of Applied Cryptography, recommends
- against using DES in favor of a more secure algorithm. According to
- Schneier: "A brute-force DES-cracking machine [designed by Michael
- Wiener] that can find a key in an average of 3.5 hours cost only $1
- million in 1993."
-
- More recently, in January 1996 an ad hoc group of renowned
- cryptographers including Matt Blaze, Whitfield Diffie, Ronald Rivest
- and Schneier, released a report going even further. They said: "To
- provide adequate protection against the most serious threats -
- well-funded commercial enterprises or government intelligence agencies
- - keys used to protect data today should be at least 75 bits long. To
- protect information adequately for the next 20 years in the face of
- expected advances in computing power, keys in newly-deployed systems
- should be at least 90 bits long."
-
- What's even more disturbing is what the administration might do
- next. After the roundtable broke up, I chatted with Michael Vadis, one
- of the assistant deputy attorneys general who oversees national
- security issues. He said an international consensus is forming that
- terrorists can use crypto; therefore crypto must be controlled. The
- U.S. is certainly pushing this line at the OECD talks.
-
- "But it just takes one country to decide to export strong crypto," I said.
-
- "You're missing something," said Vadis.
-
- "What?" I asked. "Unless you're talking about import restrictions."
-
- "Exactly," he said.
-
- -Declan
-
- *******
-
- Some background:
-
- Linkname: Brock Meeks on White House plan -- 6 Sep 96
- Filename: http://www.muckraker.com/muckraker/96/36/index4a.html
-
- ********
-
- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1996-10/01/041L-100196-idx.html
-
- U.S. TO EASE ENCRYPTION RESTRICTIONS
-
- Privacy Advocates Wary of Proposal For Software Exports
-
- By Elizabeth Corcoran
- Washington Post Staff Writer
- Tuesday, October 1 1996; Page A01
- The Washington Post
-
- The Clinton administration is cutting off an emotional four-year-old
- debate with the computer industry over the export of
- information-scrambling technology with a plan that it says will help
- U.S. companies boost sales overseas and still allow law enforcement
- agencies to unscramble messages, officials said yesterday.
-
- President Clinton has decided to sign an executive order that changes
- the rules restricting the overseas sale of the technology, the
- officials said. Although the full details of the plan had yet to be
- revealed, privacy advocates and some industry executives contended
- that it would be difficult to put into practice.
-
- Under current rules, companies can sell only relatively easy-to-crack
- scrambling technology. Under the plan, they would get permission to
- export somewhat more sophisticated versions of the software and
- hardware, which prevents eavesdroppers from looking at information.
-
- The issue has caused enormous friction between the government and
- computer industry and privacy groups, which contend that keeping any
- restrictions in place will harm the protection of personal information
- everywhere and slow the development of on-line commerce, which relies
- on keeping credit card numbers and other sensitive information secure.
-
- The administration counters that it has come a long way in meeting
- such objections. However, last night some companies and privacy
- advocates were still worried that the constraints will leave U.S.
- companies at a disadvantage abroad and will not ensure that
- individuals will be able to protect their communications.
-
- The government's plan preserves what has been its unnegotiable
- cornerstone since the debate began in the early day of the Clinton
- administration -- that law enforcement officials must have the means
- for peeking at encrypted information when they are properly equipped
- with court authorization.
-
- Earlier versions of the plan tightly limited what kinds of technology
- could be sold abroad. They also called for makers of encryption
- technology to deposit "keys" with approved third parties so that law
- enforcement authorities could decode material. The new plan doesn't
- specify who would have the keys.
-
- Last night, several companies, led by International Business Machines
- Corp., said they have a technical plan that they believe could comply
- with the new rules on keys.
-
- [...]
-
- Industry officials say they ultimately want to be able to use the most
- sophisticated encryption technology available. "It's really critical
- to doing business around the world," said an IBM source. "But
- governments exist. It's a balancing act . . . to satisfy the needs of
- the governments and make sure that markets and individuals trust the
- integrity of what's being sent over the networks."
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 20:23:46 -0700 (PDT)
- From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
- Subject: File 4--White House Statement on Return of Clipper
-
- [Also at http://www.epic.org/crypto/key_escrow/clipper4_statement.html
- -Declan]
-
-
- THE WHITE HOUSE
- Office of the Vice President
-
- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- CONTACT: 456-7035
- TUESDAY, October 1, 1996
-
- STATEMENT OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
-
- President Clinton and I are committed to promoting the growth of
- electronic commerce and robust, secure communications worldwide
- while protecting the public safety and national security. To that
- end, this Administration is consulting with Congress, the
- information technology industry, state and local law enforcement
- officials, and foreign governments on a major initiative to
- liberalize export controls for commercial encryption products.
-
- The Administration's initiative will make it easier for Americans
- to use stronger encryption products -- whether at home or abroad
- -- to protect their privacy, intellectual property and other
- valuable information. It will support the growth of electronic
- commerce, increase the security of the global information, and
- sustain the economic competitiveness of U.S. encryption product
- manufacturers during the transition to a key management
- infrastructure.
-
- Under this initiative, the export of 56-bit key length encryption
- products will be permitted under a general license after one-time
- review, and contingent upon industry commitments to build and
- market future products that support key recovery. This policy
- will apply to hardware and software products. The relaxation of
- controls will last up to two years.
-
- The Administration's initiative recognizes that an industry-led
- technology strategy will expedite market acceptance of key
- recovery, and that the ultimate solution must be market-driven.
-
- Exporters of 56-bit DES or equivalent encryption products would
- make commitments to develop and sell products that support the key
- recovery system that I announced in July. That vision presumes
- that a trusted party (in some cases internal to the user's
- organization) would recover the user's confidentiality key for the
- user or for law enforcement officials acting under proper
- authority. Access to keys would be provided in accordance with
- destination country policies and bilateral understandings. No key
- length limits or algorithm restrictions will apply to exported key
- recovery products.
-
- Domestic use of key recovery will be voluntary, and any American
- will remain free to use any encryption system domestically.
-
- The temporary relaxation of controls is one part of a broader
- encryption policy initiative designed to promote electronic
- information security and public safety. For export control
- purposes, commercial encryption products will no longer be treated
- as munitions. After consultation with Congress, jurisdiction for
- commercial encryption controls will be transferred from the State
- Department to the Commerce Department. The Administration also
- will seek legislation to facilitate commercial key recovery,
- including providing penalties for improper release of keys, and
- protecting key recovery agents against liability when they
- properly release a key.
-
- As I announced in July, the Administration will continue to expand
- the purchase of key recovery products for U.S. government use,
- promote key recovery arrangements in bilateral and multilateral
- discussions, develop federal cryptographic and key recovery
- standards, and stimulate the development of innovative key
- recovery products and services.
-
- Under the relaxation, six-month general export licenses will be
- issued after one-time review, contingent on commitments from
- exporters to explicit benchmarks and milestones for developing and
- incorporating key recovery features into their products and
- services, and for building the supporting infrastructure
- internationally. Initial approval will be contingent on firms
- providing a plan for implementing key recovery. The plan will
- explain in detail the steps the applicant will take to develop,
- produce, distribute, and/or market encryption products with key
- recovery features. The specific commitments will depend on the
- applicant's line of business.
-
- The government will renew the licenses for additional six-month
- periods if milestones are met. Two years from now, the export of
- 56-bit products that do not support key recovery will no longer be
- permitted. Currently exportable 40-bit mass market software
- products will continue to be exportable. We will continue to
- support financial institutions in their efforts to assure the
- recovery of encrypted financial information. Longer key lengths
- will continue to be approved for products dedicated to the support
- of financial applications.
-
- The Administration will use a formal mechanism to provide
- industry, users, state and local law enforcement, and other
- private sector representatives with the opportunity to advise on
- the future of key recovery. Topics will include:
-
- evaluating the developing global key recovery architecture
- assessing lessons-learned from key recovery implementation
- advising on technical confidence issues vis-a-vis access to and
- release of keys addressing interoperability and standards issues
- identifying other technical, policy, and program issues for
- governmental action.
-
- The Administration's initiative is broadly consistent with the
- recent recommendations of the National Research Council. It also
- addresses many of the objectives of pending Congressional
- legislation.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 19:22:52 -0400
- From: "Peter D. Junger" <junger@pdj2-ra.F-REMOTE.CWRU.Edu>
- Subject: File 5--Press Release in re Cleveland Crypto Challenge
-
- Press Release
-
-
- Plaintiff Seeks Summary Judgment in Cleveland Case Challenging
- Licensing of ``Exports'' of Cryptographic Information
-
- Government Argues That Law Professor Cannot Challenge Regulation
- Requiring Him to Get Permission Before Teaching and Publishing
- Because He Did Not Apply for That Permission
-
- Oral Argument in Junger v. Christopher Set for Wednesday, November 20
-
-
- Cleveland, Ohio, Tuesday, October 1, 1996
- For Immediate Release
-
-
- For More Information Contact:
-
- Raymond Vasvari (216) 522-1925
- Gino Scarselli (216) 291-8601
-
- Or see URL: http://samsara.law.cwru.edu/comp_law/jvc/
-
-
- Cleveland, Ohio, Oct. 1 -- Lawyers for Professor Peter D. Junger today
- filed a brief and a motion for summary judgment in Junger v.
- Christopher, the case challenging the licensing of the communication of
- ``cryptograhic software'' that is pending before Judge Donald C. Nugent
- in the Federal District Court here.
-
- Junger seeks an injunction against the enforcement of provisions of
- the International Traffic in Arms Regulations that require him to get
- the permission of the State Department's Office of Defense Trade
- Controls (the "ODTC") before he can communicate information about
- cryptographic software to foreign persons, ``whether in the United
- States or abroad.'' The penalty for failing to get such permission
- before disclosing the information can be as great as a fine of one
- million dollars and imprisonment for ten years. These provisions
- effectively prevent Junger from admitting foreign students to the
- course that he teaches about Computers and the Law at Case Western
- Reserve Law School in Cleveland, Ohio, and keep him from publishing
- his course materials and articles containing cryptographic software,
- or explaining what it does, how and where to get it, and how to use
- it.
-
- The challenged licensing scheme threatens the long-run viability of
- the United States software industry and, according to a blue-ribbon
- panel of the National Research Council, already costs that industry at
- least ``a few hundred million dollars per year ..., and all
- indications are that this figure will only grow in the future.'' The
- regulations have been extensively criticized by industry and bills to
- repeal or limit them are now pending in Congress.
-
- Junger's legal challenge is not based, however, on the economic damage
- that the ITAR's cryptographic licensing scheme imposes on the software
- industry and the nation's economy, but rather on the unconstitutional
- restraints that it imposes on anyone who wants to speak or write
- publically about any computer program that has, in the words of the
- ITAR, the ``capability of maintaining secrecy or confidentiality of
- information or information systems.'' Junger does not challenge the
- constitutionality of requiring one to get a license before exporting a
- physical cryptographic device: ``It isn't unconstitutional for the
- Office of Defense Trade Controls to damage the computer industry and
- our economy by requiring export licenses for cryptographic hardware,
- but information about cryptographic software is, as the National
- Research Council has pointed out, `pure knowledge that can be
- transported over national borders inside the heads of people or via
- letter.' Requiring the permission of the government before one can
- communicate knowledge is unconstitutional. Such a prior restraint is,
- in fact, the paradigmatic example of a violation of the First
- Amendment.''
-
-
- THE GOVERNMENT ARGUES THAT PLAINTIFF MUST APPLY FOR PERMISSION
- TO SPEAK BEFORE HE CAN CHALLENGE THE REQUIREMENT
- THAT HE APPLY FOR SUCH PERMISSION
-
- In motions and briefs submitted August 21st, the government has asked
- the court to dismiss the lawsuit, or in the alternative, to grant the
- government judgment prior to trial.
-
- The government makes the initial argument that Junger lacks standing
- to claim that the provisions of the ITAR requiring him to get a formal
- license or other permission from the ODTC before he publically
- communicates information about cryptographic software, including the
- contents of the software itself, are unconstitutional. And it also
- argues that that claim is neither ``ripe'' nor ``colorable'', because
- Junger has not applied to the ODTC for such permission.
-
- Junger takes the position that as a law teacher who venerates the
- First Amendment it would be as improper for him to request the federal
- censors for permission to speak and publish as it would be for him
- openly violate the law. As he puts it: ``My duty is to challenge
- these unconstitutional regulations, not to give in to them nor to
- violate them in an act of civil disobedience.'' His lawyers point out
- in their briefs that few propositions of constitutional law are better
- established than the rule that a plaintiff does not have to submit to
- an unconstitutional restraint on speech and on the press before
- challenging it in court.
-
- ``Those arguments by the government are rather strange,'' says Gino
- J. Scarselli, one of Junger's lawyers, ``they seem to be based on
- their argument that cryptographic software is actually hardware
- because it is functional.'' And then he adds, ``Of course, that
- argument is also rather strange.''
-
-
- THE GOVERNMENT ARGUES THAT SOME OF THE MATERIAL AT ISSUE
- IS EXEMPT UNDER THE ITAR
-
- The government also contends that some of the information at issue may
- be exempt from the ITAR's licensing requirements as technical data
- that is in the ``public domain'' because it is available to the public
- through ``fundamental research in science and engineering'' or through
- ``sales at newsstands and bookstores.''
-
- ``That hardly is a defense,'' says Scarselli, ``since it is quite
- clear that the government will not concede that all of the information
- that Professor Junger wants to be able publish and discuss is in the
- public domain. And to make matters worse, the only way that Professor
- Junger can actually find out whether the government will treat
- particular information as being exempt from the formal licensing
- requirements is to apply to the ODTC for it calls a Commodity
- Jurisdiction Determination, which in reality is just another form of
- license.''
-
- ``It is not as if I am engaged in fundamental research in science and
- engineering.'' Junger adds. ``What I want to publish and discuss has
- to do with the political and legal issues that are raised by computer
- technology, including, of course, cryptography.
-
- ``For just one example, since lawyers have a legal and ethical duty to
- protect the confidences of their clients, I am convinced that lawyers
- who use electronic mail or other computer technologies to communicate
- with their clients, or to store information supplied by their clients,
- are in some circumstances ethically, and perhaps even legally,
- required to use cryptography to maintain the confidentiality of that
- information. And yet I cannot publically explain to law students and
- lawyers--and lawyers cannot publically explain to their clients--how
- to obtain and use effective cryptographic software without first
- getting the government's permission to disclose that information.
- And, of course, if the cryptographic software really is effective,
- then there is little or no chance that the government will permit its
- disclosure.''
-
-
- THE GOVERNMENT ARGUES THAT CRYPTOGRAPHIC SOFTWARE
- IS NOT PROTECTED BY THE FIRST AMENDMENT
- BECAUSE IT IS FUNCTIONAL
-
- There is no law in the United States that forbids or regulates the use
- of cryptography. Yet the government argues that the information in
- texts containing cryptographic software, including recipes for
- creating such software, can be used in a computer to preserve secrecy
- and confidentiality, and concludes that cryptographic software is
- ``conduct'' and ``functional'' and is thus not a text that is
- constitutionally protected as speech.
-
- Junger's lawyers, on the other hand, say that his claims do not relate
- to the conduct of running a cryptographic program on a
- computer--conduct that is not regulated by the ITAR, after all--and
- that he only challenges the restraints that the ITAR impose on the
- communication of information about how to carry on such legal conduct.
-
- ``Expressive conduct is exactly what is protected by the First
- Amendment,'' says Raymond Vasvari, another of Junger's lawyers. ``And
- if that expression were not functional, if it were not effective,
- there would be no need to protect it. The government's argument turns
- two hundred years of First Amendment jurisprudence on its head.''
-
- ``The government's arguments about software being conduct and
- functional are striking examples of the sort of confusion that
- pervades the whole area of Computers and the Law,'' Junger says.
- ``Trying to clear up such confusion is my major goal in my course in
- Computers and the Law. In fact, when I started teaching that course
- in 1993, I wrote some cryptographic software to assist my students in
- grasping the distinction between software as a text that can be
- communicated, and that is protected by copyright law and the First
- Amendment, and software as a process that runs in a computer's central
- processor that can be protected by patents, but not by copyrights. If
- it weren't so frustrating, it would almost be funny that I cannot
- publish that software because of the prior restraints imposed by the
- defendants' interpretation of the ITAR, even though it is perfectly
- legal for me, or for any one else, including `foreign persons,' to
- actually run such software on a computer. The government's confusion
- is so extensive that an agent of the ODTC has actually told me that
- software, cryptographic software, is actually hardware.''
-
- ``It is quite clear to me,'' Junger adds, ``that the State Department
- and the National Security Agency and other elements in the executive
- branch of the government are attempting to restrain the communication
- of information about cryptographic software not only abroad, but also
- within the United States, because they do not want us actually to be
- able to use cryptography to preserve the privacy of our thoughts and
- our communications. It is as if the government required one to get a
- license before explaining how to make or use an envelope, even though
- it did not forbid the use of envelopes themselves. After all, all
- that cryptographic software is is a way of making electronic
- envelopes.''
-
- ORAL ARGUMENT SCHEDULED
-
- Junger v. Christopher has been placed on a fast track by Judge Nugent.
- On September 5 he established a briefing schedule: the plaintiff's
- brief was due and was filed today and the government's response is due
- on Friday, October 18.
-
- Oral argument is scheduled for Wednesday, November 20.
-
- Judge Nugent's decision is expected before the first of the year.
-
-
- BACKGROUND ON THE LITIGATION
-
- Litigation is expensive. Professor Junger and his volunteer lawyers
- were only able to bring the suit because of a generous gift by an
- anonymous donor of $5,000 that was used to create the ITAR Legal
- Attack Fund. Additional donations by Professor Junger and others have
- increased that fund to more than seven thousand dollars.
-
- Scarselli and Vasvari are lawyers in private practice in Cleveland who
- have dedicated much of their professional lives to the protection of
- First Amendment freedoms. The third lawyer on the team is Kevin
- O'Neill, a law professor at Cleveland State University and the former
- legal director of the Ohio Chapter of the American Civil Liberties
- Union.
-
- --30--
-
- --
- Peter D. Junger--Case Western Reserve University Law School--Cleveland, OH
- Internet: junger@pdj2-ra.f-remote.cwru.edu junger@samsara.law.cwru.edu
- URL: http://samsara.law.cwru.edu
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 13:04:42 -0700 (PDT)
- From: Stanton McCandlish <mech@EFF.ORG>
- Subject: File 6--Newsnybble: GPS privacy threat
-
- Excerpt from Innovation (business-oriented version of Edupage):
-
- MORE USES FOR GPS TECHNOLOGY
- Global positioning satellite technology is finding its way into new
- products that are smarter and more functional than their previous
- "dumb" counterparts, says the founder of Sirf Technology, which
- designs tiny GPS chipsets that can go almost anywhere. For
- instance, by teaming up low-cost GPS with a wireless link, "you
- could have a watch with a personal tracking system. And because GPS
- satellites have atomic clocks, these would be very accurate watches.
- Also you would never have to set it for time zones, because it
- automatically knows where you are. A GPS device could be provided
- to visitors at theme parks... to guide them through the park and
- include information about the rides. And there's no reason why a
- portable computer can't become a locating device. You could just
- add the GPS capability as a PCMCIA card or include it on the
- motherboard. Then you could location-lock your PC. If it's moved
- from a certain location, it will not work." (Interview with Kanwar
- Chadha, Investor's Business Daily 26 Sep 96 A8)
-
- [The privacy risks here should be immediately apparent, esp. given
- the FBI's recent attempt to turn all cell phones into surveillance
- devices.]
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: 02 Oct 96 15:40:58 EDT
- From: "George C. Smith" <76711.2631@CompuServe.COM>
- Subject: File 7--Corrected URL for Crypt Newsletter Awards
-
- ((MODERATORS' NOTE: In the last issue, the URL for information
- on Crypt's "virus hype" contest. Here is the updated announcement
- with the corrected URL))
-
- ==============================================================
-
- Crypt Newsletter and Computer Virus Myths guru Rob Rosenberger
- have put their heads together to comb the media for
- computer virus stories that have contributed the most to
- computer virus misinformation and confusion in 1996. Once they've
- been compiled, we'll put them on display along with analyses of their
- impact and faults and throw the nominees open to Netizens for their
- votes on which are the best, or worst, depending on your point
- of view.
-
- Rob has puckishly named the contest the 1996 John McAfee Awards
- after the 1992 watershed event of Michelangelo hype that catapulted
- the anti-virus software developer to fame and fortune -- his
- former company to a dominant position in the anti-virus industry.
-
- But we want this to be an exercise in extending computer literacy
- and to that end we intend to give away some prizes -- namely books!
- Here's where you -- authors, publishers, the pure of heart and
- philanthropic -- come in. Contribute one book on computer security,
- computer viruses or reality and culture in cyberspace and we'll be
- forever in your debt. You'll get publicity when we mention your
- philanthropy and book during the nominations, voting and awards
- ceremony. Plus you'll have the satisfaction of knowing your book
- is going to be placed directly into the hands of someone in the media
- who needs it the most!
-
- To contribute a book, contact me or Rob Rosenberger.
-
- George Smith: crypt@sun.soci.niu.edu
- Rob Rosenberger: us@kumite.com
-
- In late October we'll publicize the nominees and the prizes so the
- voting can begin. Watch this space for further details.
-
- Computer Virus Myths
- http://www.kumite.com/myths
- Crypt Newsletter
- http://www.soci.niu.edu/~crypt
-
- Postscript: Already in the prize pot are "Bandits on the Information
- Superhighway" by Dan Barrett, "Masters of Deception: The Gang That
- Ruled Cyberspace" by Michelle Slatalla & Joshua Quittner and
- "The NCSA Guide to PC and LAN Security" by Stephen Cobb. Profuse
- thanks to the parties involved.
-
- ------------------------------
-
- Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 22:51:01 CST
- From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu>
- Subject: File 8--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 Apr, 1996)
-
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- ------------------------------
-
- End of Computer Underground Digest #8.70
- ************************************
-
-
-