The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998

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<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>EFFector 09.10</TITLE></HEAD><BODY><PRE> ========================================================================= ________________ _______________ _______________ /_______________/\ /_______________\ /\______________\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/ ||||||||||||||||| / //////////////// \\\\\________/\ |||||________\ / /////______\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\/____ |||||||||||||| / ///////////// \\\\\___________/\ ||||| / //// \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/ ||||| \//// ========================================================================= EFFector Online Volume 09 No. 10 Aug. 1, 1996 editors@eff.org A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424 IN THIS ISSUE: ALERT: Congress Rushing to Enact Anti-Privacy Bill - Call Congress NOW! Introduction What you can do now Background Participating organizations NewsNybbles EFF Web Site Now Features "What's Hot" News Updates and Search Engine Upcoming Events Quote of the Day What YOU Can Do Administrivia * See http://www.eff.org/Alerts/ or ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/ for more information on current EFF activities and online activism alerts! * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: ALERT: Congress Rushing to Enact Anti-Privacy Bill - Call Congress NOW! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- **** Last minute update **** Just before ye editor was about to send this issue out, reports are filtering in that negotiations on the bill that is the subject of the alert below, have collapsed. CNN reports: "Key members of the Senate blamed House conservatives for the failure, saying they had insisted on linking proposed new wiretapping authority for the FBI to an expansion of privacy laws." CNN quotes Rep. Charles Schumer (D-NY) as saying that House Republican leaders "have come up with this smokescreen called privacy". You may wish to let Rep. Schumer know how you feel about your right to privacy being labelled "a smokescreen": 9th Dist. NY Schumer, Charles E. (D) 1-202-225-6616 (voice), 1-202-225-4183 (fax) The full text of the CNN article is available at: http://www.cnn.com/US/9608/01/wh.terror.bill/index.html The article also reports that "lawmakers said there is hope for agreement after the month long" Congressional recess beginning at the end of this week. THIS MEANS THAT THE ALERT BELOW IS STILL URGENT, and still important. We just have a short breathing space now. - mech@eff.org ____ _____ ____ ___ _ _____ ____ _____ | _ \| ____| _ \ / _ \| | | ____| _ \_ _| CONGRESS RUSHING TO | |_) | _| | | | | | |_| | | | _| | |_) || | ENACT SURVEILLANCE | _ <| |___| |_| | | _ | |___| |___| _ < | | LEGISLATION. CALL |_| \_\_____|____/ |_| |_|_____|_____|_| \_\|_| CONGRESS NOW! 8/1/96 REPOST THIS ALERT WHERE APPROPRIATE DO NOT REDISTRIBUTE AFTER AUGUST 7, 1996 ______________________________________________________________________ Table of contents Introduction What you can do now Background Participating organizations ______________________________________________________________________ * INTRODUCTION Late Wednesday, Congress and the Clinton Administration reached a preliminary agreement on a sweeping new surveillance initiative. The President and several Congressional leaders are pushing for a vote on the measure BEFORE CONGRESS RECESSES ON AUGUST 2. If enacted, parts of the proposal would dramatically impact privacy and security on the Internet and other advanced communications technologies. Of particular concern are provisions which: 1. Allows law enforcement to wiretap "suspected terrorists" for up to 48 hours BEFORE obtaining a court order 2. Provide funding for the Digital Telephony Proposal without any public accountability over how the FBI spends the funds Other provisions are also circulating that would: 3. Threaten to impose new restrictions on encryption technologies 4. Seek to criminalize the distribution of 'bomb-making' information on the Internet that is legal in print. Congress needs to hear from you. Congress will rush through the passage of massive new surveillance plans with privacy risks unless you show them there is support for slow, deliberate, reasoned thought on the issue. ______________________________________________________________________ * WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW CALL KEY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IMMEDIATELY! NO LATER THAN FRIDAY (8/2/96) Please contact as many elected officials on the list below as you can. Urge them to "go slow" and carefully consider the impact these surveillance proposals will have on the privacy and security of all Internet users. Tell them while you appreciate their concern about combating terrorism, the measures being proposed have many potential side effects which must be carefully considered. 1. Call the key members of Congress below and ask them to "go slow" and examine the issues before rushing into changing the delicate balance of law enforcement surveillance and the public. 2. If you are at a loss for words, use the following sample communique: SAMPLE COMMUNIQUE Dear _________, Please do not rush the passage of counter terrorism legislation; I'm concerned that Congress is rushing without carefully considering the implications of privacy. I'm from <city, state>. Thanks, <click> You should call the following members of Congress because they are steering this legislation and need to hear there is support for slow, deliberate, thoughtful consideration of this issue. Some of thee members *have publicly expressed reservations* about this legislation, and we should support them in their efforts. Senate members: P ST Name and Address Phone Fax = == ======================== ============== ============== R MS Lott, Trent 1-202-224-6253 1-202-224-2262 D DE Biden Jr., Joseph R. 1-202-224-5042 1-202-224-0139 D SD Daschle, Thomas A. 1-202-224-2321 1-202-224-2047 R UT Hatch, Orrin G. 1-202-224-5251 1-202-224-6331 R PA Specter, Arlen 1-202-224-4254 1-717-782-4920 D VT Leahy, Patrick J. 1-202-224-4242 1-202-224-3595 House members: Dist ST Name, Address, and Party Phone Fax ==== == ======================== ============== ============== 6 GA Gingrich, Newt (R) 1-202-225-4501 1-202-225-4656 3 MO Gephardt, Richard A. (D) 1-202-225-2671 1-202-225-7452 6 IL Hyde, Henry J. (R) 1-202-225-4561 1-202-226-1240 14 MI Conyers Jr., John (D) 1-202-225-5126 1-202-225-0072 President William Clinton: White House Comment Line: 1-202-456-1414 3. If you get a response, take a moment and send mail to vtw@vtw.org with "feedback" in the subject line. $ Mail vtw@vtw.org Subject: my feedback from calling Congress They said they're not going to pass most of Clinton's package, because it upsets the delicate balance between law enforcement and the public. ^D Mail sent! ______________________________________________________________________ * BACKGROUND Among other things, the law enforcement proposals circulating on Capitol Hill include provisions which: o WIRETAPPING WITHOUT COURT ORDER ALLOWED FOR 48 HOURS Congress and the President have already agreed to provisions which would dramatically expand law enforcement surveillance authority. Both of these provisions were proposed by the President as part of the 1995 counter-terrorism legislation, but were dropped from the final bill after Republicans and civil liberties advocates objected. The current proposal would expand law enforcement surveillance authority in two ways: - Emergency 48 Hour Wiretap Authority: Current law requires law enforcement officials to get the affirmative consent of a judge before installing a wiretap. The current proposal would expand law enforcement authority to wiretap "suspected terrorists" for up to 48 hours before obtaining a court order, limiting a critical 4th amendment safeguard. - Multi-Point "Roving" Wiretaps: Current law allows law enforcement to tap only specific LOCATIONS (i.e., a telephone number). In certain very limited circumstances, law enforcement can tap a specific INDIVIDUAL if it can be shown to a judge that the suspect is moving from place to place with the specific intent of thwarting law enforcement. The current proposal would expand this so-called "roving" wiretap authority by making it much easier for law enforcement to tap specific INDIVIDUALS as opposed to specific physical locations. This change would dramatically effect the balance between 4th Amendment privacy rights and public safety which has existed for nearly 30 years, and should not be enacted without careful consideration of the implications. o FUNDING FOR DIGITAL TELEPHONY WITHOUT PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY The Administration and Congress are seeking funding to implement the Digital Telephony Law in a way which eliminates any opportunity for public oversight of law enforcement surveillance ability. The controversial law, known officially as the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), granted the FBI new authority to influence the design of telecommunications networks. At the same time, the law provided substantial public oversight over the FBI's surveillance ability by requiring the FBI to state, on the public record, what its surveillance needs are. The FBI has faced stiff resistance from civil liberties groups and some members of Congress and has not yet been able to obtain funding to implement the requirements of the law. As part of the current proposal, the FBI is seeking a mechanism which will provide funding for CALEA in a way which skirts the public oversight provisions of the law. This is an extremely troubling move by law enforcement which, if enacted, would allow law enforcement essentially unlimited authority to influence the design of telecommunications networks without any accountability. Other provisions which could show up in legislation in the next 72 hours are: o BOMB MAKING MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET In the wake of the recent public concern about terrorism, Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Joseph Biden (D-DE) have renewed their efforts to pass legislation to restrict the availability of 'bomb- making' information on the Internet. The Feinstein/Biden amendment was added to the Senate Defense Appropriations bill (S. 1762) in early July, and is not currently part of the new law enforcement initiative. However, the amendment poses a serious threat to chill the the free flow of information on the Internet. o THREATEN TO IMPOSE NEW RESTRICTIONS ON ENCRYPTION TECHNOLOGIES: While no specific legislation has been proposed, the Clinton Administration has circulated an outline to Congress which states: "We will seek legislation to strengthen our ability to prevent terrorists from coming into the possession of the technology to encrypt their communications and data so that they are beyond the reach of law enforcement." This statement marks the first time that the Administration has suggested legislation to restrict encryption. This is especially troubling because it comes at a time of growing Congressional support for legislation to promote privacy and security tools for the Net. Of even more concern, the Administration is clearly attempting to use the recent suspected terrorist incidents to push for a new and more restrictive encryption policy. If the Administration succeeds in passing new restrictions on encryption as part of the new surveillance legislation, the future of the Internet as a secure and trusted platform for commerce and private communication will be threatened. Some or all of these provisions may be included in a package voted on by both houses by August 3rd. It is not clear what a final bill will look like, and some of these provisions may not be considered by Congress until later this summer. ______________________________________________________________________ * PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS The following organizations all urge you to take this action to combat the surveillance initiatives. Check their pages for more background information on these issues. American Civil Liberties Union (http://www.aclu.org) American Communication Association Center for Democracy and Technology (http://www.cdt.org) Electronic Frontier Foundation (http://www.eff.org) EFF-Austin (http://www.eff-austin.org/) Electronic Privacy Information Center (http://www.epic.org) Feminists for Free Expression (freedom@well.com) National Libertarian Party (http://www.lp.org) National Writers Union (http://www.nwu.org/nwu/) People For the American Way (http://www.pfaw.org) Voters Telecommunications Watch (http://www.vtw.org) Wired Ventures Ltd. (http://www.hotwired.com) ------------------------------ Subject: NewsNybbles -------------------- * EFF Web Site Now Features "What's Hot" News Updates and Search Engine To help you navigate our award-winning web site more easily, EFF has installed a set of "What's Hot" buttons near the top of our front page. These buttons take you to news pages with summaries of important events on encryption, privacy & surveillance, censorship & online free speech, and intellectual property & fair use rights as they relate to the Net. We've also instituted a search engine that allows you to quickly locate keywords in our archive index. The EFF archives hold over 20,000 files. All of this is at http://www.eff.org For those new to our unique archive, there's a short help file available at http://www.eff.org/howtouse.html ------------------------------ Upcoming 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, or conferences at which government representatives are speaking) are marked with "!" in place of the "-" ("!?" means a govt. speaker may appear, but we don't know for certain yet.) And likewise, "+" in place of "-" indicates a non-USA event. If it's a foreign EFF event with govt. people, it'll be "*!+" instead of "-". You get the idea. The latest version of the full EFF calendar 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 See also our new Now-Up-to-Date HTML calendar at: http://events.eff.org Aug. 5- * Progress and Freedom Foundation; annual summit held in Aspen, 6 Colorado, will feature EFF Chairman Esther Dyson, Alvin Toffler and Congressman Rick White and Senator Bill Bradley; "An exploration of the Electronic Frontier's impact on American society." Info: +1 202 289 8928 Email to: mail@pff.org Aug. 5- 9 + International Conference on Computational Linguistics; University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Email: coling96@nttkb.ntt.jp Aug. 8 - Registration deadline for SAB96, Sep. 9, 1996. Aug. 8- 10 - Conference on Computing and Philosophy; Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. Deadline for submissions: Feb. 19. Contact: +1 412 268 7643 Email: rc2z@andrew.cmu.edu URL: http://www.lcl.cmu.edu/CAAE/CAPpage.html Aug. 14- 16 + Information Seeking in Context: an International Conference on Information Needs, Seeking and Use in Different Contexts; Tampere, Finland. Deadline for submission of abstracts: October 15, 1995. Contact: +358 31 215 7039 (voice), +358 31 215 6560 (fax) Email: inf@uta.fi Aug. 14- 17 - 7th Macintosh Summit Conference; learn the latest tips, tricks and techniques of the Mac platform from the Mac giants. University of California, Santa Barbara. Contact: Fati Erdogan Tel: 805 893 2811 Fax: 805 893 4943 URL's: http://www.metatools.com/metauniv http://www.xlrn.ucsb.edu Aug. 21- 23 + China-U.S. Meeting on Global Information Access: Challenges and Opportunities; Beijing, China. Email: leeh@ohiou.edu Aug. 26 - ACM SIGCOMM '96: Applications, Technologies, Architectures and Protocols for Computer Communication; Stanford University, Stanford, CA URL: http://www.acm.org/sigcomm/sigcomm96/ ------------------------------ Subject: Quote of the Day ------------------------- "All fear of 'offensive' speech is bourgeois and reactionary. Historically, profane or bawdy language was common in both the upper and the lower classes, who lived together in rural areas amid the untidy facts of nature. Notions of propriety and decorum come to the fore in urbanized periods ruled by an expanding middle class, which is obsessed with cleanliness, respectability, and conformism." - Camille Paglia, From "Language and the Left," in _The_Advocate_ (March 7, 1995) Find yourself wondering if your privacy and freedom of speech are safe when bills to censor the Internet are swimming about in a sea of of surveillance legislation and anti-terrorism hysteria? Worried that in the rush to make us secure from ourselves that our government representatives may deprive us of our essential civil liberties? Concerned that legislative efforts nominally to "protect children" will actually censor all communications down to only content suitable for the playground? Alarmed by commercial and religious organizations abusing the judicial and legislative processes to stifle satire, dissent and criticism? Join EFF! http://www.eff.org/EFFdocs/join_eff.html (or send any message to info@eff.org). Even if you don't live in the U.S., the anti-Internet hysteria will soon be visiting a legislative body near you. If it hasn't already. ------------------------------ Subject: What YOU Can Do ------------------------ * The Communications Decency Act & Other Censorship Legislation The Communications Decency Act and similar legislation pose 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 Representatives and Senators, letting them know that such abuses of public trust will not be tolerated, that legislators who vote against your free speech rights will be voted against by you in the next elections. Join in the Blue Ribbon Campaign - see http://www.eff.org/blueribbon.html PARTICIPATE IN BLUE RIBBON ACTIVISM EFFORTS: http://www.eff.org/blueribbon/activism.html Support the EFF Cyberspace Legal Defense Fund: http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/cyberlegal_fund_eff.announce For more information on what you can do to help stop this and other dangerous legislation, see: ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/ gopher.eff.org, 1/Alerts http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/ If you do not have full internet access (e.g. WWW), send your request for information to ask@eff.org. IMPORTANT! KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR LOCAL LEGISLATURE. All kinds of wacky censorious legislation is turning up at the US state and non-US national levels. Don't let it sneak by you - or by the online activism community. Without locals on the look out, it's very difficult for the Net civil liberties community to keep track of what's happening locally as well as globally. * New Crypto-Privacy Legislation Urge your Represenatitives to support the Pro-CODE crypto export bill (and to fix the few remaining bugs in it). For years US export controls on encryption have hampered the development of secure communications online. This technology is vital for online commerce, for national security, and for YOUR electronic privacy. The new Pro-CODE legislation will go a long way to rectifying the situation. Join in the Golden Key Campaign - see http://www.eff.org/goldkey.html PARTICIPATE IN GOLDEN KEY ACTIVISM EFFORTS: http://www.eff.org/goldkey/activism.html Support the EFF Cyberspace Legal Defense Fund: http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/cyberlegal_fund_eff.announce See also: http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/ http://www.privacy.org/ipc/ http://www.crypto.com/ for more info. * Digital Telephony/Comms. Assistance to Law Enforcement Act The FBI has been seeking both funding for the DT/CALEA wiretapping provisions, and preparing to require that staggering numbers of citizens be simultaneously wiretappable. To oppose the funding, write to your own Senators and Representatives urging them to vote against any appropriations for wiretapping. In the wake of the Olympics bomb, the US government, both legislative and executive branches, are hot to pass new wiretapping laws, and fund the DT/CALEA wiretapping provisions. SPEAK OUT NOW. There is not a moment to lose! See lead article in this issue for more information. See http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/Surveillance/ for more info. * Anti-Terrorism Bills Several bills threatening your privacy and free speech have been introduced recently. One passed, but none of the rest of them are close to passage at this very moment - however, this status may change. Urge your Congresspersons to oppose these unconstitutional and Big-Brotherish bills, which threaten freedom of association, free press, free speech, and privacy. One such bill passed some time ago, stripped of some of the more onerous provisions. It could have been worse, and could yet still be worse: A new anti-terrorism bill posing many threats to YOUR privacy is nearing passage. SPEAK OUT NOW. There is not a moment to lose! See lead article in this issue for more information. Keep up the pressure. Write to your legislators: No secret trials and deportations, no expansion of wiretapping scope or authority, no national or "smart-card" ID systems! For more information on some of this legislation, see http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/Terrorism_militias/ * The Anti-Electronic Racketeering Act This bill is unlikely to pass in any form, being very poorly drafted, and without much support. However, the CDA is just as bad and passed with flying colors [the jolly roger?] in Congress. It's better to be safe than sorry. If you have a few moments to spare, writing to, faxing, or calling your Congresspersons to urge opposition to this bill is a good idea. * Medical Privacy Legislation Several bills relating to medical privacy issues are floating in Congress right now. Urge your legislators to support only proposals that *truly* enhance the medical privacy of citizens. More information on this legislation will be available at http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/Medical/ soon. Bug mech@eff.org to make it appear there faster. :) * Child Privacy Legislation A new bill to protect children from unethical marketing practices (e.g. tricking kids into revealing personal information by offering prizes or games) has been introduced. EFF and other civil liberties organizations like, and dislike, various points in this bill. The legislators sponsoring the bill appear interested in resolving the problems in the statutory language they have proposed. More information on this will be provided soon. * 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 to us, so pass it on! If you are having difficulty determining who your US legislators are, try contacting your local League of Women Voters, who maintain a great deal of legislator information, or consult the free ZIPPER service that matches Zip Codes to Congressional districts with about 85% accuracy at: http://www.stardot.com/~lukeseem/zip.html Computer Currents Interactive has provided Congress contact info, sorted by who voted for and against the Communcations Decency Act: http://www.currents.net/congress.html * 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 1550 Bryant St., Suite 725 San Francisco CA 94103 USA +1 415 436 9333 (voice) +1 415 436 9993 (fax) Membership & donations: membership@eff.org Legal services: ssteele@eff.org General EFF, legal, policy or online resources queries: ask@eff.org Editor: Stanton McCandlish, Online Activist, Webmaster (mech@eff.org) This newsletter is 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 effector-online" (without the "quotes") to listserv@eff.org, which will add you to a subscription list for EFFector. Back issues are available at: ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/ gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/ To get the latest issue, send any message to effector-reflector@eff.org (or er@eff.org), and it will be mailed to you automagically. You can also get the file "current" from the EFFector directory at the above sites at any time for a copy of the current issue. HTML editions available at: http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/HTML/ at EFFweb. HTML editions of the current issue sometimes take a day or longer to prepare after issue of the ASCII text version. ------------------------------ End of EFFector Online v09 #10 Digest ************************************* $$