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- EFFector Online Volume 09 No. 16 Dec. 30, 1996 editors@eff.org
- A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
-
- IN THIS ISSUE:
-
- Bernstein Takes on New Crypto Regs - Asks for Constitutional Review
- Press Release
- WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
- 6th Annual EFF Pioneer Awards - Call for Nominations
- Upcoming Events
- Quote of the Day
- What YOU Can Do
- Administrivia
-
- Have a happy New Year!
-
- * See http://www.eff.org/hot.html or ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/ for more
- information on current EFF activities and online activism alerts! *
-
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
-
- Subject: Bernstein Takes on New Crypto Regs - Asks for Constitutional Review
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- * Press Release *
-
- PROFESSOR ASKS FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW OF NEW ENCRYPTION REGS
- "Shell Game" Attempts to Continue Unconstitutional Rules
-
- December 30, 1996
-
- Electronic Frontier Foundation Contacts:
-
- Shari Steele, Staff Attorney
- +1 301 375 8856, ssteele@eff.org
-
- John Gilmore, Founding Board Member
- +1 415 221 6524, gnu@toad.com
-
- Cindy Cohn, McGlashan & Sarrail
- +1 415 341 2585, cindy@mcglashan.com
-
- San Francisco - Laywers for Professor Dan Bernstein today asked the
- Government to delay enforcement of new encryption restrictions until
- they can be reviewed by a court for Constitutionality. The new
- regulations contain the same features struck down earlier this month
- by Judge Marilyn Hall Patel.
-
- "The government apparently decided to ignore Judge Patel's findings.",
- said Cindy Cohn, lead attorney in the case. "Instead of listening
- to Judge Patel's analysis and attempting to fix the regulations, they
- simply issued new ones with the same problems. We are giving them a
- a chance to fix this before we bring the issue up in court."
-
- President Clinton ordered on November 15 that the regulations be moved
- from the State Department to the Commerce Department. Judge Patel's
- decision of December 6 (released December 16th) struck down the State
- Department regulations as a "paradigm of standardless discretion" that
- required Americans to get licenses from the government to publish
- information and software about encryption. Over Christmas, the
- Clinton Administration published its new Commerce Department
- regulations, containing all the same problems, and put them into
- immediate effect today.
-
- The new regulations once again put Professor Bernstein at risk of
- prosecution for teaching a class on encryption and publishing his
- class materials on the Internet. His class begins on January 13 at
- the University of Illinois at Chicago.
-
- Professor Bernstein's letter of today proposes that the Government
- agree to delay enforcement of the new regulations while Judge Patel
- reviews them for Constitutionality. Failing that, Professor Bernstein
- will ask the court for a temporary restraining order to block
- their enforcement.
-
- "The government is forcing us to go back to Judge Patel again to have
- the new regulations declared facially unconstitutional." said Ms.
- Cohn. "This time we believe that a nationwide injunction against
- their enforcement is merited."
-
- "The new encryption rules are a pointless shell game," said John
- Gilmore, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which
- backed the suit. "Industry and Congress had asked that the draconian
- State Department regulations be eliminated in favor of existing,
- reasonable, Commerce Department regulations. Judge Patel invalidated
- the State Department regulations because they were draconian. Rather
- than address the concerns of either, President Clinton moved the
- draconian regulations into the Commerce Department -- and made them
- tougher in the process. It's his political decision whether to ignore
- and anger industry leaders, but he can't ignore a federal district
- court judge."
-
- Civil libertarians have long argued that encryption should be widely
- deployed on the Internet and throughout society to protect privacy,
- prove the authenticity of transactions, and improve computer security.
- Industry has argued that the restrictions hobble them in building
- secure products, both for U.S. and worldwide use, risking America's
- current dominant position in computer and communications technology.
- Government officials in the FBI and NSA argue that the technology is
- too dangerous to permit citizens to use it, because it provides privacy
- to criminals as well as ordinary citizens.
-
- Background on the case
-
- The plaintiff in the case, Daniel J. Bernstein, Research Assistant
- Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, developed an
- "encryption algorithm" (a recipe or set of instructions) that he
- wanted to publish in printed journals as well as on the Internet.
- Bernstein sued the government, claiming that the government's
- requirements that he register as an arms dealer and seek government
- permission before publication was a violation of his First Amendment
- right of free speech. This was required by the Arms Export Control
- Act and its implementing regulations, the International Traffic in
- Arms Regulations. The new regulations have the same effect, using the
- International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Export Administration
- Regulations, and a "state of national emergency" that President
- Clinton declared in 1994 and has re-declared annually.
-
- In the first phase of this litigation, the government argued that
- since Bernstein's ideas were expressed, in part, in computer language
- (source code), they were not protected by the First Amendment. On
- April 15, 1996, Judge Patel rejected that argument and held for the
- first time that computer source code is protected speech for purposes
- of the First Amendment.
-
- On December 6, Judge Patel ruled that the Arms Export Control Act is a
- prior restraint on speech, because it requires Bernstein to apply for
- and obtain from the government a license to publish his ideas. Using
- the Pentagon Papers case as precedent, she ruled that the government's
- "interest of national security alone does not justify a prior
- restraint."
-
- Judge Patel also held that the government's required licensing
- procedure fails to provide adequate procedural safeguards. When the
- Government acts legally to suppress protected speech, it must reduce
- the chance of illegal censorship by the bureacrats involved -- in this
- case, the State Department's Office of Defense Trade Controls (ODTC).
- Her decision states, "Because the ITAR licensing scheme fails to
- provide for a time limit on the licensing decision, for prompt
- judicial review and for a duty on the part of the ODTC to go to court
- and defend a denial of a license, the ITAR licensing scheme as applied
- to Category XIII(b) acts as an unconstitutional prior restraint in
- violation of the First Amendment."
-
- She also ruled that the export controls restrict speech based on the
- content of the speech, not for any other reason. "Category XIII(b) is
- directed very specifically at applied scientific research and speech
- on the topic of encryption." The new regulations continue to insist
- that the Government is regulating the speech because of its function,
- not its content.
-
- The judge also found that the ITAR is vague, because it does not
- adequately define how information that is available to the public
- "through fundamental research in science and engineering" is exempt
- from the export restrictions. "This subsection ... does not give
- people ... a reasonable opportunity to know what is prohibited."
- Judge Patel also adopted a narrower definition of the term "defense
- article" in order to save it from unconstitutional vagueness.
-
-
- ABOUT THE ATTORNEYS
-
- Lead counsel on the case is Cindy Cohn of the San Mateo law firm of
- McGlashan & Sarrail, who is offering her services pro bono. Major
- additional pro bono legal assistance is being provided by Lee Tien of
- Berkeley; M. Edward Ross of the San Francisco law firm of Steefel,
- Levitt & Weiss; James Wheaton and Elizabeth Pritzker of the First
- Amendment Project in Oakland; and Robert Corn-Revere, Julia Kogan,
- and Jeremy Miller of the Washington, DC, law firm of Hogan & Hartson.
-
-
- ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION
-
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a nonprofit civil
- liberties organization working in the public interest to protect
- privacy, free expression, and access to online resources and
- information. EFF is a primary sponsor of the Bernstein case. EFF
- helped to find Bernstein pro bono counsel, is a member of the
- Bernstein legal team, and helped collect members of the academic
- community and computer industry to support this case.
-
- Full text of the lawsuit and other paperwork filed in the case is
- available from EFF's online archives at:
-
- http://www.eff.org/bernstein
-
- The full text of today's letter from Professor Bernstein to the
- Government, and proposed stipulation, are at:
-
- http://www.eff.org/bernstein/Legal/961230.letter
- http://www.eff.org/bernstein/Legal/961230_proposed.stipulation
-
- The new Commerce Department Export Administration Regulations are
- available at:
-
- http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/ITAR_export/961230_commerce.regs
-
-
- * WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
-
- Have a look at the regs, and make your voice heard. The Commerce Dept.
- is soliciting public feedback on these regulations, and needs to hear
- from a lot of people what the problems are. Written comments (six copies)
- should be sent to: Nancy Crowe, Regulatory Policy Division, Bureau of
- Export Administration, Department of Commerce, 14th Street and
- Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Room 2705, Washington, D.C.
- 20230 USA. DEADLINE: February 13, 1997.
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
- Subject: 6th Annual EFF Pioneer Awards - Call for Nominations
- -------------------------------------------------------------
-
- THE SIXTH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL EFF PIONEER AWARDS:
- CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
- Deadline: February 1, 1997
-
-
- * Please feel free to redistribute this notice in appropriate forums. *
-
-
- In every field of human endeavor,there are those dedicated to expanding
- knowledge,freedom,efficiency and utility. Along the electronic frontier,
- this is especially true. To recognize this, the Electronic Frontier
- Foundation established the Pioneer Awards for deserving individuals and
- organizations.
-
- The Pioneer Awards are international and nominations are open to all.
-
- In March of 1992, the first EFF Pioneer Awards were given in Washington
- D.C. The winners were: Douglas C. Engelbart, Robert Kahn, Jim Warren, Tom
- Jennings, and Andrzej Smereczynski. The 1993 Pioneer Award recipients were
- Paul Baran, Vinton Cerf, Ward Christensen, Dave Hughes and the USENET
- software developers, represented by the software's originators Tom
- Truscott and Jim Ellis. The 1994 Pioneer Award winners were Ivan
- Sutherland, Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman, Murray Turoff and Starr
- Roxanne Hiltz, Lee Felsenstein, Bill Atkinson, and the WELL. The 1995
- Pioneer Award winners were Philip Zimmermann, Anita Borg, and Willis Ware.
- The 1996 Pioneer Award winners were Robert Metcalfe, Peter Neumann,
- Shabbir Safdar and Matthew Blaze.
-
- The 6th Annual Pioneer Awards will be given in Burlingame, California, at
- the 7th Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy in March of 1997.
-
- All valid nominations will be reviewed by a panel of judges chosen
- for their knowledge of computer-based communications and the technical,
- legal, and social issues involved in computer technology and computer
- communications.
-
- There are no specific categories for the Pioneer Awards, but the
- following guidelines apply:
-
- 1) The nominees must have made a substantial contribution to the
- health, growth, accessibility, or freedom of computer-based
- communications.
-
- 2) The contribution may be technical, social, economic or cultural.
-
- 3) Nominations may be of individuals, systems, or organizations in the
- private or public sectors.
-
- 4) Nominations are open to all, and you may nominate more than one
- recipient. You may nominate yourself or your organization.
-
- 5) All nominations, to be valid, must contain your reasons, however
- brief, for nominating the individual or organization, along with a means of
- contacting the nominee, and your own contact number. Anonymous nominations
- will be allowed, but we prefer to be able to contact the nominating
- parties in the event that we need more information..
-
- 6) Every person or organization, with the single exception of EFF staff
- members, are eligible for Pioneer Awards.
-
- 7) Persons or representatives of organizations receiving a Pioneer
- Award will be invited to attend the ceremony at the Foundation's expense.
-
- You may nominate as many as you wish, but please use one form per
- nomination. You may return the forms to us via email to:
-
- pioneer@eff.org
-
- You may fax them to us at:
-
- +1 415 436 9993
-
- Just tell us the name of the nominee, the phone number or email address at
- which the nominee can be reached, and, most important, why you feel the
- nominee deserves the award. You may attach supporting documentation.
- Please include your own name, address, and phone number.
-
- We're looking for the Pioneers of the Electronic Frontier that have made
- and are making a difference. Thanks for helping us find them,
-
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation
-
- -------EFF Pioneer Awards Nomination Form------
-
- Please return to the Electronic Frontier Foundation the following
- information about your nominee for the Pioneer Awards:
-
- Nominee's name:
-
- Title:
-
- Company/Organization:
-
- Contact number or email address:
-
- Reason for nomination:
-
- Your name and contact information:
-
- Extra documentation attached:
-
- DEADLINE: ALL NOMINATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER
- FOUNDATION BY MIDNIGHT, US PACIFIC STANDARD TIME, FEBRUARY 1, 1997.
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
- 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
-
-
- 1997
-
- Jan. 10 - PHILADELPHIA - CALL FOR PAPERS!! - SIGIR '97 seeks original
- contributions (i.e. never before published) in the broad field
- of information storage and retrieval, covering the handling of
- all types of information, people's behavior in information
- systems, and theories, models and implementations of information
- retrieval systems. Subscribe now to SIGIR '97 mailing list by
- writing to <sigir97@potomac.ncsl.nist.gov> Information on
- SIGIR '97 will periodically be sent to the mailing list as well as
- posted at http://www.acm.org/sigir/conferences/sigir97/index.html
- The conference will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in
- Philadelphia, PA, USA, July 27 -- July 31, 1997
-
- Jan. 13 + LANCASTER, UK - ECSCW'97, the Fifth European Conference on
- Computer Supported Cooperative Work; deadline for paper
- submissions is January 13, 1997; papers must contain an abstract
- of not more than 100 words and not exceed 16 pages in length; full
- formatting instructions are available from
- http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/ecscw97/papers/
- queries: ecscw97-papers@comp.lancs.ac.uk
- for more information:
- snail mail: ECSCW'97 Conference Office
- Computing Department
- Lancaster University
- Lancaster LA1 4YR UK
- URL: http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/ecscw97/
- email: ecscw97@comp.lancs.ac.uk
-
- Jan. 15-
- 17 - WASHINGTON, DC - Universal Service '97: Redefining Universal
- Telecommunications Service for the Emerging Competitive
- Environment; for more information contact:
- tel: +1 800 822 MEET
- +1 202 842 3022 x317
- URL: http://brp.com
-
- Jan. 16-
- 17 - ARLINGTON, VA - NCSA International Virus Prevention Conference '97;
- event will investigate "the continuing, worrisome, costly
- problem of computer virus attacks, disasters and recovery;
- Crystal Gateway Marriott (+1 703 271 5212);
- more information:
- tel: +1 717 258 1816
- email: ivpc97@ncsa.com
-
- Jan. 19-
- 21 - PALM SPRINGS, CA - Upside Technology Summit; "Managing Digital
- Mania: An Extreme Sport for Technology Executives"; examining
- effective business models and strategies in the booming world of
- e-commerce; Al Franken has been invited to give a closing speech;
- La Quinta Resort & Club, Palm Springs, CA; for more info contact:
- URL: http://www.upside.com
- tel: +1 888 33 UPSIDE
-
- Jan. 21 *! CDA unconstitutionaly Supreme Court case: government brief due.
-
- Jan. 23-
- 25 - CAMBRIDGE, MA
- The Economics of Digital Information and Intellectual Property
- Harvard University symposium to broaden and deepen understanding
- of emerging economic and business models for global publishing
- and information access and the attendant transformation of
- international information markets, institutions, and businesses.
- First Announcement and Call for Papers; Prospective authors should
- submit short abstracts for review and comment as soon as possible.
- Acceptances of abstracts and outlines are conditional pending
- receipt of a satisfactory draft by December 15, 1996. Sponsored by
- Harvard Law School.
- email: iip@harvard.edu
- regular mail: Tim Leshan, Information Infrastructure Project,
- John F. Kennedy School of Government, 79 John F. Kennedy St.,
- Cambridge, MA 02138
- tel: 617-496-1389
- fax: 617-495-5776
-
- Jan. 28-
- 31 - RSA Cryptography Conference - Computerworld called last year's
- event the sine qua non event of the crypto community; at various
- facilities atop Nob Hill in San Francisco, the luminaries of
- cryptography will gather; Right now, preparations for this
- conference are underway. There are many exciting ways for
- corporations and individuals to participate. Read on for
- information about presenting, exhibiting, or just attending
- http://www.rsa.com/conf97/
-
- Feb. 10-
- 11 - Internet Society Symposium on Network and Distributed System
- Security; for those interested in the practical aspects of network
- and distributed system security, focusing on actual system design
- and implementation, rather than theory. Dates, final call for
- papers, advance program, and registration information will be
- available at the URL: http://www.isoc.org/conferences/ndss97
-
- Feb. 18-
- 20 - SAN JOSE, CA - DCI Internet Expo; the world's largest Internet,
- Web and email conference and exposition; comprehensive program
- will cover Web-enabled marketing, best practices for e-commerce
- and application development; San Jose Convention Center; also
- will be held April 22-24 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL;
- email: ExpoReg@dciexpo.com
- URL: http://www.dciexpo.com
-
- Feb. 20 *! CDA unconstitutionaly Supreme Court case: Appellee (ACLU/ALA/
- EFF/CIEC) brief due.
-
- Feb. 24-
- 28 + ANGUILLA, BRITISH WEST INDIES
- Financial Cryptography '97 - CALL FOR PAPERS; this is a new
- conference on the security of digital financial transactions.
- FC97 aims to bring together persons involved in both the
- financial and data security fields to foster cooperation and
- exchange of ideas. Send a cover letter and 9 copies of an extended
- abstract to be received by November 29, 1996 to the Program Chair
- at the address given below:
- Rafael Hirschfeld
- FC97 Program Chair
- CWI
- Kruislaan 413
- 1098 SJ Amsterdam
- The Netherlands
- email: ray@cwi.nl
- phone: +31 20 592 4169
- fax: +31 20 592 4199
- URL: http://www.cwi.nl/conferences/FC97
-
- Mar. 1-
- 5 - ACM97: The Next 50 Years of Computing; San Jose Convention
- Center, March 1-5, 1997; Registration information:
- URL: http://www.acm.org/acm97
- tel: +1 800 342 6626
-
- Mar. 3-
- 5 - NEW YORK CITY - Consumer Online Services TV; Jupiter
- Communications conference featuring Steve Case of AOL and
- Steve Perlman of WebTV; for more information contact:
- tel: +1 800 488 4345
- URL: http://www.jup.com
-
- Mar. 7 *! CDA unconstitutionaly Supreme Court case: govt. reply brief due.
-
- Mar. 11-
- 14 * 7th Conference on Computers, Freedom & Privacy (CFP97), San
- Francisco Airport Hyatt Regency Hotel in Burlingame, CA.
- The "cyberliberties" mega-event. Speakers will include EFF
- staff counsel Mike Godwin, and many others. EFF's annual Pioneer
- Awards ceremony will be held at CFP97. Early registration is
- advised (registration will probably open in Jan., and reg. info
- will appear on the CFP site listed below).
- Email: cfpinfo@cfp.org.
- URL: http://www.cfp.org
-
- Apr. 8-
- 11 - FRACTAL 97: Fractals in the Natural & Applied Sciences 4th
- International Working Conference; Denver Colorado. Sponsored by
- IFIP; paper submissions due by Aug. 5, 1996.
- Contact: Miroslav Novak, +44 181 547 2000 (voice),
- +44 181 547 7562 or 7419 (fax)
- Email: novak@kingston.ac.uk
-
- Apr. 22-
- 24 - CHICAGO, IL - DCI Internet Expo; the world's largest Internet,
- Web and email conference and exposition; comprehensive program
- will cover Web-enabled marketing, best practices for e-commerce
- and application development; San Jose Convention Center; also
- will be held February 18-20 at the San Jose Convention Center;
- email: ExpoReg@dciexpo.com
- URL: http://www.dciexpo.com
-
- June 2-
- 4 - American Society for Information Science 1997 Mid-Year Conference;
- gathering will focus on privacy and security issues online;
- Scottsdale Arizona; paper submissions due Nov. 1, 1996.
- Contacts:
- Gregory B. Newby, Co-Chair GSLIS/UIUC
- Tel: (217) 244-7365; Email: gbnewby@uiuc.edu
- Mark H. Needleman, Co chair UCOP
- Tel: (510) 987-0530; Email: mhn@stubbs.ucop.edu
- Karla Petersen, Panel Sessions
- Tel: (312) 508-2657; Email: kpeter1@luc.edu
- Richard Hill, Executive Director, ASIS
- Tel: (301) 495-0900; Email: rhill@cni.org
- URL: http://www.asis.org
-
- June 14-
- 19 + CALGARY, CANADA
- ED-MEDIA/ED-TELECOM 97--World Conference on Educational
- Multimedia and Hypermedia and World Conference on Educational
- Telecommunications are jointly held international conferences,
- organized by the Association for the Advancement of Computing
- in Education (AACE). These annual conferences serve as multi-
- disciplinary forums for the discussion and dissemination of
- information on the research, development, and applications on all
- topics related to multimedia/hypermedia and distance education.
- We invite you to attend ED-MEDIA/ED-TELECOM 97 and submit proposals
- for papers, panels, roundtables, tutorials, workshops,
- demonstrations/posters, and SIG discussions. Proposals may be
- submitted in either hard copy (send 5 copies or fax 1 copy)
- or in electronic form. Electronic proposals in the form of
- URL addresses or ASCII files (uncoded) are preferred.
- Submission Deadline: Oct. 25, 1996; Send to:
- Program Chairs
- ED-MEDIA 97/AACE
- P.O. Box 2966
- Charlottesville, VA 22902, USA
- E-mail: AACE@virginia.edu; Phone: 804-973-3987; Fax: 804-978-7449
- URL: http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia
-
- June 19-
- 20 - WASHINGTON, DC - CyberPayments '97
- Conference will investigate issues of online commerce including
- electronic cash and checks, credit cards, encryption systems
- and security products; Sheraton Washington Hotel, Washington, DC
- For more information contact:
- email: vinceiaboni@msn.com
- tel: +1 216 464 2618 x228
- +1 800 529 7375
-
- July 13-
- 17 - ACUTA 26th Annual Conference; Atlanta, Georgia.
- Contact: +1 606 278 3338 (voice)
-
- Sep. 7 -
- 11 + LANCASTER, UK - ECSCW'97, the Fifth European Conference on
- Computer Supported Cooperative Work; deadline for paper
- submissions is January 13, 1997; papers must contain an abstract
- of not more than 100 words and not exceed 16 pages in length; full
- formatting instructions are available from
- http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/ecscw97/papers/
- queries: ecscw97-papers@comp.lancs.ac.uk
- for more information:
- snail mail: ECSCW'97 Conference Office
- Computing Department
- Lancaster University
- Lancaster LA1 4YR UK
- URL: http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/ecscw97/
- email: ecscw97@comp.lancs.ac.uk
-
- Sep. 12-
- 14 SAN DIEGO - Association of Online Professionals Annual
- Conference; sysop trade association's yearly gathering to
- discuss issues of relevance to the industry
- URL: http://www.aop.org/confrnc.html
-
- Oct. 28-
- 31 - EDUCOM '97; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.
- Contact: +1 202 872 4200 (voice)
- Email: conf@educom.edu
-
- Dec. 1 - Computer Security Day (started by Washington DC chapter of the
- Assoc. for Computing Machinery, to "draw attention to computer
- security during the holdiay season when it might otherwise become
- lax."
-
- ------------------------------
-
-
- Subject: Quote of the Day
- -------------------------
-
- "At least one way of measuring the freedom of any society is the amount
- of comedy that is permitted, and clearly a healthy society permits more
- satirical comment than a repressive, so that if comedy is to function in
- some way as a safety release then it must obviously deal with these
- taboo areas. This is part of the responsibility we accord our licensed
- jesters, that nothing be excused the searching light of comedy. If
- anything can survive the probe of humour it is clearly of value, and
- conversely all groups who claim immunity from laughter are claiming
- special privileges which should not be granted."
- -- British comedian & satirist Eric Idle (of Monty Python's Flying Circus)
-
- 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/join (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. The CDA is likely to be found unconstitutional by the
- Supreme Court. But, bowing to pressure from theocratic organizations,
- Congress is likely to introduce and attempt to pass a slightly modified
- version. Let your legislators know you will not stand for censorship,
- nor for the wasting of millions of tax dollars on years of Supreme Court
- litigation over laws that should never have even been proposed much less
- passed in a democracy.
-
- Business/industry persons concerned should alert their corporate govt.
- affairs office and/or legal counsel about such censorship measures,
- TODAY, while there is still time to plan.
-
- Join in the Blue Ribbon Campaign - see http://www.eff.org/blueribbon.html
-
- Support the EFF Cyberspace Legal Defense Fund:
- http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/cyberlegal_fund_eff.announce
-
- 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.
-
-
- * Unconstitutional Restrictions on Encryption
-
- In an effort to evade a federal judge's finding that software is
- protected expression on the First Amendment, the Administration is
- playing a regulatory shellgame, scrapping old State Dept. crypto regs for
- "new" Commerce Dept. regs that are as bad, and in some cases worse. The
- Commerce Dept. is seeking input from the people on these regulations.
- Don't miss this opportunity to provide feedback to government in this
- vital area.
-
- The full text of the new regulations can be found at:
-
- http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/ITAR_export/961230_commerce.regs
-
- Have a look at the regs, and make your voice heard. The Commerce Dept.
- is soliciting public feedback on these regulations, and needs to hear
- from a lot of people what the problems are. Written comments (six copies)
- should be sent to: Nancy Crowe, Regulatory Policy Division, Bureau of
- Export Administration, Department of Commerce, 14th Street and
- Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Room 2705, Washington, D.C.
- 20230 USA. DEADLINE: February 13, 1997.
-
- The EFF-sponsored Bernstein case is making major headway in getting rid of
- the unconstitutional export restrictions against encryption software and
- publications. However, the case is only in its first phase. It will
- probably have to go all the way to the Supreme Court, and takes resources.
- Please support EFF's Cyberspace Legal Defense Fund
- (http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/cyberlegal_fund_eff.announce), and/or
- become a member of EFF (http://www.eff.org/join).
-
-
- * 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.
-
- 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 Communications Decency Act:
- http://www.currents.net/congress.html (NB: Some of these folks have,
- fortunately, been voted out of office.)
-
-
- * 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
- =============
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- EFFector Online is published by:
-
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation
- 1550 Bryant St., Suite 725
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- Editor: Stanton McCandlish, Online Activist, Webmaster (mech@eff.org)
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- at EFFweb. HTML editions of the current issue sometimes take a day or
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- ------------------------------
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-
-
-
-
- End of EFFector Online v09 #16 Digest
- *************************************
-
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-