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- EFFector Online Volume 08 No. 05 May 11, 1995 editors@eff.org
- A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
-
- In This Issue:
- State Dept. Responds to Bernstein/EFF Crypto Export Suit
- Karn to Sue State Dept. Over ITAR First Amendment Violations
- New Features at EFFweb - Govt. Server Index, Forsale/Wanted
- Calendar of Events
- Quote of the Week
- What YOU Can Do
-
- * See http://www.eff.org/Alerts/ or ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/ for more
- information on current EFF activities and online activism alerts! *
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
- Subject: State Dept. Responds to Bernstein/EFF Crypto Export Suit
- -----------------------------------------------------------------
-
- On May 1, 1995, the government filed its answer to the Plaintiff's
- complaint in Bernstein v. State Dept. That case, filed on March 23
- by Dan Bernstein and sponsored by EFF, challenges the government's
- classification of encryption as a munition and controlling export of
- cryptographic items as being an unconstitutional prior restraint on
- speech. The only surprise regarding the government's response is that
- DoS didn't attempt to delay filing. The answer alleges that the court
- has no jurisdiction to hear issues of national security, that individual
- defendants should be dismissed since they were acting within the scope of
- their authority, and that we failed to exhaust all administrative remedies.
-
- The government agencies also "have been unable to locate a copy of the
- September 22, 1993, letter [from Bernstein]...or confirm that an appeal was
- submitted...." Since Bernstein is claiming that their failure to respond
- to that appeal is evidence of the uselessness of the administrative
- appellate process, they're probably frantically searching for that
- important document as you read this.
-
- The State Dept. answer (and other case documents) are on our site at:
- http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/ITAR_export/Bernstein_case/
- gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Privacy/ITAR_export/Bernstein_case
- ftp.eff.org, /pub/Privacy/ITAR_export/Bernstein_case/
-
- Warning, of sorts: The State Dept.'s answer is a document of very
- thick legalese (even the attorneys working on Bernstein's behalf
- consider it extremely dull.)
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
- Subject: Karn to Sue State Dept. Over ITAR First Amendment Violations
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Below is a letter from Phil Karn's attorneys to the Department of State
- warning that Karn will file suit against State if it does not favorably
- and immediately respond in his pending appeal.
-
- Karn, since 1993, has been attempting to seek export approval of a
- diskette of cryptographic sourcecode created as a supplement to Bruce
- Schneier's _Applied_Cryptography_ book. Though the book is exportable,
- and the diskette contains nothing but an exact duplication of code
- already in the book, Karn's Commodity Jurisdiction Request has been
- repeatedly denied. The Administration maintains, unbelievably, that
- the source code is somehow *not* the same, but that its translation to
- "machine-readable format" somehow imbues it with "value-added" qualities,
- as if by magic. [One surmises State may not have heard of scanners and
- manual typing, which render any text "machine-readable."]
-
- More documents from the Karn case can be found at:
- http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/ITAR_export/Karn_Schneier_export_case/
- gopher.eff.org 1/EFF/Privacy/ITAR_export/Karn_Schneier_export_case
- ftp.eff.org, /pub/Privacy/ITAR_export/Karn_Schneier_export_case/
-
- *******
-
- April 28, 1995
-
-
- Mr. Thomas E. McNamara
- Assistant Secretary
- Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
- Room 7325A
- Department of State
- Washington, DC 20520
-
- Dear Mr. McNamara:
-
- On December 5, 1994, we wrote on behalf of our client, Mr. Philip
- R. Karn, Jr. of San Diego, California, to appeal the adverse
- determination by Deputy Assistant Secretary Martha C. Harris with
- regard to Mr. Karn's appeal of an determination by the State
- Department's Office of Defense Trade Controls ("ODTC") in CJ case
- 081-94. On February 28, 1995, we met with you and representatives of
- the Department of Justice and the National Security Agency, to provide
- additional information and explain our position. We have not heard
- anything more about this appeal since that meeting.
-
- All relevant facts are known to the Department and to the interested
- agencies. While all of us recognize the importance of the issues
- raised in this case, the issues are neither complex nor analytically
- difficult. As you know, it has appeared to us and to other observers
- that the licensing delays that Mr. Karn and others who seek licenses
- relating to cryptographic materials have experienced fit a pattern of
- procrastination by federal agencies which appears to be based on the
- publicly stated policy of the National Security Agency to attempt to
- deter the further spread of strong cryptography as much as they can,
- notwithstanding the fact that the technology at stake is already
- widely available, as documented in our appeal. In short, it continues
- to appear that NSA is using the tactics of delay and
- decision-avoidance in an effort to continue to chill the First
- Amendment activities of Mr. Karn and others interested in
- cryptography.
-
- Mr. Karn has patiently attempted to comply with established procedures
- throughout this matter. His initial request for a Commodity
- Jurisdiction determination was filed on March 9, 1994, and was denied
- by ODTC on May 12, 1994. That adverse decision was appealed to
- Dr. Harris on June 7, 1994. Dr. Harris affirmed the adverse decision
- on October 7, 1994. The issues involved had been pending before your
- department since Mr. Karn filed his 1993 request for a commodity
- jurisdiction determination on the book, Applied Cryptography. In
- short, the Executive Branch has had the issue in this case before it
- for over a year. We have repeatedly been assured that the matter is
- receiving "high-level attention" and has generated significant
- inter-agency discussion.
-
- The continued delay in rendering a decision in this matter is
- inexplicable except on the assumption that the Executive Branch
- intends, by its inaction, to chill the activities of Mr. Karn and
- others. As you know from our earlier submission, the chilling effects
- of this system of prior restraints lies at the heart of the
- constitutional difficulties of the ITAR regime that have been
- previously identified by the Department of Justice.
-
- Please be advised that while we would prefer to obtain a decision on
- our appeal from your office, we will not continue to wait for an event
- that apparently will not occur. Mr. Karn has requested that we seek
- judicial review of this matter not later than June 15, 1995, whether
- or not your decision has been issued. We will take such action,
- unless, of course, you render a favorable decision before that time.
-
- Cordially,
-
- Kenneth C. Bass, III
- Thomas J. Cooper
-
- cc: Phil Karn
-
- [end of letter]
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
- Subject: New Features at EFFweb - Govt. Server Index, Forsale/Wanted
- --------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- EFF's World Wide Web server at http://www.eff.org/ has been upgraded with
- several recent features:
-
- * The EFF Government Server Index at http://www.eff.org/govt.html
- provides links to hundreds of governmental and government-related
- servers around the world from state and local information, through
- US and non-US federal servers, to UN and other multinational governmental
- bodies' online offerings. Probably the most comprehensive index of its
- kind, the list is a volunteer effort, and updated frequently.
- EFF would like to thank Fred Bourgeois for his tireless efforts in
- maintaining this list.
-
- * The For-sale/Wanted Page at http://www.eff.org/forsale.html
- EFF has some equipment to sell, and is also seeking particular
- hardware and software. If interested in helping us unload some of
- this material, or if you or your company would like to donate or provide
- non-profit discounts on some equipment, many thanks! Donors will be listed
- on the page if they wish - good advertising!
-
- * New Online Activism & Government Index at http://www.eff.org/pub/Activism
- A sneak preview of the shape of things to come at EFFweb. A complete
- HTML index of the unique EFF Activism and Government FTP archive has
- been completed, with links to on-site and off-site relevant resources.
- Eventually our entire FTP/Gopher/WWW archive will be structured in this
- manner. State one of the effort is already complete: most of our hundreds
- of directories now have text 00-INDEX file indexes. The next stages are
- beginning soon (full descriptions of all files, and finally HTMLizing
- of all indexes for WWW browsing.) Many other directories also already
- have HTML partial indexes, and all of the HTML directory indexes can
- be found quickly from our site-wide Topical Index list at
- http://www.eff.org/links.html in alphabetical order.
-
- * Simpler Archive Structure
- The FTP and WWW archives have been restructured to make finding the
- important files you need easier. All directories formerly located under
- /pub/EFF/Policy/ (a.k.a. /pub/EFF/Issues/) have been moved to /pub/ (for
- example: http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/Privacy/ is now
- http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/; and ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/Issues/Legal/
- is now ftp.eff.org, /pub/Legal/). This will make it easier to browse
- our site without missing our most important archives, and also gives
- you shorter, easier paths and URLs. Note for those browsing from our
- Welcome Page at http://www.eff.org/ - pick "EFF Document & File Archives",
- then "EFF WWW-Enhance FTP Archive" to get to http://www.eff.org/pub/ the
- roundabout way.) Links to the old directory locations are still valid,
- and will remain valid for several months.
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
- Subject: Calendar of Events
- ---------------------------
-
- This schedule lists EFF events, and those we feel might be of interest to
- our members. EFF events (those sponsored by us or featuring an EFF speaker)
- are marked with a "*" instead of a "-" after the date. Simlarly, government
- events, such as deadlines for comments on reports or testimony submission, are
- marked with "!" in place of the "-" after the date.
-
- If you know of an event of some sort that should be listed here, please
- send info about it to Stanton McCandlish (mech@eff.org)
-
- The latest full version of this calendar, which includes material for
- later in the year as well as the next couple of months, is available from:
-
- ftp: ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/calendar.eff
- gopher: gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF, calendar.eff
- http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/calendar.eff
-
-
- Updated: May 11, 1995
-
-
- 1995
- ----
-
- May 14-
- 17 - Interactive95; Anaheim, Calif. "The leading forum for developers
- and users of multimedia learning technology".
- Contact: 1-800-348-7246 (voice, US-only), +1 617 393 3344 (voice,
- elsewhere)
-
- May 16 * Networking the World Conf.; Virginia Commonwealth U., Richmond, VA.
- Legal issues panel includes Shari Steele (EFF)
-
- May 17-
- 20 - National Public Telecomputing Network 1995 Conf. (Free-Net '95);
- Computing Commons Bldg., ASU, Tempe, Arizona.
- Includes a session entitled "Laws and Liabilities of Electronic
- Communities".
- Email: amq@nptn.org
- WWW: http://www.nptn.org/
-
- May 22-
- 24 - ErgoCon '95 - Silicon Valley Ergonomics Conference & Exposition;
- San Jose, Calif.
- Contact: Abbas Moallem, +1 408 9244132 (voice), +1 408 924 4153 (fax)
-
- May 26-
- 28 - Virtual Futures 1995; U. of Warwick, Coventry, UK. VF'95 "is an
- interdisciplinary event that examines the role of cybernetic
- and specifically dissipative or non-linear models in the arts,
- sciences, and philosophy. The conference explores the relationship
- between postmodern philosophy and chaos theory, with topics
- ranging from: information technology, hypertext and
- multimedia applications...[to] neural nets, and nanotechnology."
- Speakers include: Kathy Acker, Hakim Bey, Richard Kadrey, Manuel
- DeLanda, Alan Sondheim and many more. Deadline for proposals:
- Mar. 1 '95.
- Contact: +44 0203 523523 x2582 (voice), +44 0203 523019 (fax)
- Email: virtual-futures@warwick.ac.uk
-
- May 31 - Deadline for paper submissions, 11th Ann. Computer Security
- Applications Conference (see Dec. 11, below).
-
- June 4-
- 6 - Cyber.Xpo.95; Sahara Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada; sponsored by
- _Sysop_News_. Seminar sessions & tradeshow.
- Contact: +1 614 452 4541 (voice)
-
- June 5-
- 6 ! 5th Annual "U.S. Copyright Office Speaks" Seminar (West Coast);
- the Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles, Calif. Topics include: inside
- look at New Register's agenda, analysis of NII legislation,
- ACCORD update, & international developments. (See May 1-2 for
- East Coast event.)
- Contact: +1 201 894 8260 (voice)
-
- June 7-
- 9 - Third International Conference on Artificial Intelligence
- Applications on Wall Street; Pace University, New York City, NY.
- Contact: +1 914 763 8820 (voice), +1 914 763 9324 (fax)
- Email: satwell@mcimail.com
-
- June 8-
- 10 - Exploring the VideoClass Alternative; Raleigh, N. Carolina.
- Email: tom_russell@nsu.edu
-
- June 11-
- 14 - Society & the Future of Computing (SFC'95); Tamarron Lodge,
- Durango, Colorado. Sponsored by the Assoc. for Computing
- Machinery, LANL, U. of Md., IEEE. Speakers will include Phil Agre
- (UCSD), Leslie Sandberg (Institute for Telemedicine), Wm.
- Halverson (PacBell), Don Norman (Apple), Linda Garcia
- (Congressional Office of Technology Assessment), John
- Cherniavsky (Natl. Science Found.) and several others.
- Email: sfc95@lanl.gov
- WWW: http://www.lanl.gov/LANLNews/Conferences/.sfc95/sfcHome.html/
-
- June 13-
- 15 - IDT 95 - 12th Congress on Information Markets and Industries;
- Paris, France. Organized by ADBS (a society of information
- professionals), ANRT (National Association of Technological
- Research), and GFII (French association of information industries).
- Contact: +33 1 43 72 25 25 (voice), +33 1 43 72 30 41 (fax)
-
- June 17-
- 19 - NECC'95: Emerging Technologies and Lifelong Learning: 16th Annual
- National Educational Computing Conf., sponsored by International
- Society for Technology in Education; Baltimore, Maryland.
- VP Gore and Sec'y. of Labor Robert Reich invited as keynote
- speakers. Other speakers include: John Phillipo (CELT), Frank
- Knott (MGITB)
- Contact: +1 503 346 2834 (voice), +1 503 346 5890 (fax)
- Email: necc95@ccmail.uoregon.edu
-
- June 18-
- 21 - ED-MEDIA'95; Graz, Austria. A world conference on educational
- multimedia and hypermedia. Sponsor: The Association for the
- Advancement of Computing.
- Contact: +1 804 973 3987 (voice)
- Email: aace@virginia.edu.
-
- June 24-
- 28 - Workshop on Ethical & Professional Issues in Computing;
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, NY. Deadline for submissions:
- Apr. 15.
- Contact: +1 518 276 8503 (voice), +1 518 276 2659 (fax)
- Email: cherkt@rpi.edu
-
- June 27-
- 29 - Women in Technology Conference: Channels for Change; Santa Clara
- Conv. Ctr., Santa Clara, Calif. Speakers include: Gloria Steinem.
- Sponsored by Int'l. Network of Women in Technology (WITI).
- Contact: +1 818 990 1987 (voice), +1 818 906 3299 (fax)
- Email: witi@crl.com
-
- June 28-
- 30 - INET '95 Internet Society 5th Ann. International Networking
- Conf.; Honolulu, Hawaii. Sponsored by Internet Society (ISoc).
- See Jan. 13 for proposal deadline
- Contact: +1 703 648 9888 (voice)
- FTP: ftp.isoc.org, /isoc/inet95/
- Gopher: gopher.isoc.org, 1/isoc/inet95
- WWW: http://www.isoc.org/inet95.html
- Email: inet95@isoc.org
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
- Subject: Quote of the Week
- --------------------------
-
- "I think there are certainly going to be lots of debates about the
- Internet. My hunch is that the First Amendment rights are going to
- prevail, and that in fact this is an astonishingly free country and pretty
- much intends to remain that way, and the Internet will just be one more
- expression of our freedom... I think [with encryption] you have a
- different set of questions. I think clearly no American wants terrorists
- to be able to have a level of secrecy which enables them to organize ways
- of killing people, on the other hand people do want the right to
- confidentiality. I think that is a very...that is going to take some
- time to explore."
-
- - Speaker of the US House of Representatives Newt Gingrich in response
- to questions about free speech and crypto by Jeff Ubois at the opening
- ceremony for the Smithsonian institution WWW site, May 1995.
-
- Disagree with Newt? Think encryption is the 'same question' - a matter of
- privacy and free speech? Join EFF!
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
- Subject: What YOU Can Do
- ------------------------
-
- * ITAR Export Restrictions on Encryption
-
- The U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations classify encryption
- algorithms and products as "munitions" (weapons of war), and the State
- Department and NSA thereby restrict distribution of encryption technology -
- technology vital to the networking security and your personal privacy.
- Companies making encryption products are forced to produce good versions
- for domestic use and crippled versions for export. Or, more likely, to
- simply produce a crippled version, since maintaining two versions is
- often prohibitively expensive. The ITAR export controls are the primary
- ace in the hole the Administration is using to push key "escrow" schemes
- such as Clipper. Help EFF defeat the unconstitutional ITAR crypto export
- restrictions but supporting the EFF Cyberspace Legal Defense Fund, the
- fund fuelling the Bernstein v. Dept. of State case.
- For more information, see:
- http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/cyberlegal_fund_eff.announce
- gopher.eff.org, 1/Alerts, cyberlegal_fund_eff.announce
- ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/cyberlegal_fund_eff.announce
-
-
- * The Exon Bill (Communications Decency Act)
-
- The Communications Decency Act poses serious threats to freedom of
- expression online, and to the livelihoods of system operators. The
- legislation also undermines several crucial privacy protections.
-
- Business/industry persons concerned should alert their corporate govt.
- affairs office and/or legal counsel. Everyone should write to their own
- Senators and ask them to oppose this bill. Explain, quickly and
- clearly, why this bill is dangerous, and urge efforts to stop this
- legislation or remove it from the larger bill it is a part of.
-
- S.652, the Senate telecom deregulation bill, now contains Sen. Exon's
- "Communications Decency Act" (formerly S.314.) The House version, even
- more dangerous to system operators, is H.R.1004.
-
- For more information on what you can do to help stop this dangerous
- legislation, see:
-
- ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/s314_hr1004_s652.alert
- gopher.eff.org, 1/Alerts, s314_hr1004_s652.alert
- http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/
-
- If you do not have full internet access, send a request for this action
- alert to ask@eff.org.
-
-
- * Find Out Who Your Congresspersons Are
-
- Writing letters to, faxing, and phoning your representatives in Congress
- is one very important strategy of activism, and an essential way of
- making sure YOUR voice is heard on vital issues.
-
- EFF has lists of the Senate and House with contact information, as well
- as lists of Congressional committees. These lists are available at:
- ftp.eff.org, /pub/Activism/Congress_cmtes/
- gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Issues/Activism/Congress_cmtes
- http://www.eff.org/pub/Activism/Congress_cmtes/
-
- The full Senate and House lists are senate.list and hr.list, respectively.
- Those not in the U.S. should seek out similar information about their
- own legislative bodies. EFF will be happy to archive any such
- information provided.
-
-
- * Join EFF!
-
- You *know* privacy, freedom of speech and ability to make your voice heard
- in government are important. You have probably participated in our online
- campaigns and forums. Have you become a member of EFF yet? The best way to
- protect your online rights is to be fully informed and to make your
- opinions heard. EFF members are informed and are making a difference. Join
- EFF today!
-
- For EFF membership info, send queries to membership@eff.org, or send any
- message to info@eff.org for basic EFF info, and a membership form.
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
- Administrivia
- =============
-
- EFFector Online is published by:
-
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation
- 1667 K St. NW, Suite 801
- Washington DC 20006-1605 USA
- +1 202 861 7700 (voice)
- +1 202 861 1258 (fax)
- +1 202 861 1223 (BBS - 16.8k ZyXEL)
- +1 202 861 1224 (BBS - 14.4k V.32bis)
- Membership & donations: membership@eff.org
- Legal services: ssteele@eff.org
- Hardcopy publications: pubs@eff.org
- General EFF, legal, policy or online resources queries: ask@eff.org
-
- Editor:
- Stanton McCandlish, Online Services Mgr./Activist/Archivist (mech@eff.org)
-
- This newsletter printed on 100% recycled electrons.
-
- Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged. Signed
- articles do not necessarily represent the views of EFF. To reproduce
- signed articles individually, please contact the authors for their express
- permission. Press releases and EFF announcements may be reproduced individ-
- ually at will.
-
- To subscribe to EFFector via email, send message body of "subscribe
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-
- Back issues are available at:
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-
- To get the latest issue, send any message to effector-reflector@eff.org (or
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- time for a copy of the current issue. HTML editions available at:
- http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/HTML/
- at EFFweb.
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
-
-
-
- End of EFFector Online v08 #05 Digest
- *************************************
-
- $$
-