December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

IP: ISPI Clips 6.39: Fed May Give FBI Access to Your Internet Voice Calls & Email.
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: "Ama-gi ISPI" <Offshore(a)email.msn.com> Subject: IP: ISPI Clips 6.39: Fed May Give FBI Access to Your Internet Voice Calls & Email. Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 00:51:34 -0800 To: <Undisclosed.Recipients(a)majordomo.pobox.com> ISPI Clips 6.39: Fed May Give FBI Access to Your Internet Voice Calls & Email. News & Info from the Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) Friday November 13, 1998 ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This From: CNET news, November 12, 1998 http://www.news.com Fed mulls wiretap access to Net http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,28695,00.html By John Borland, jborland(a)cnet.com Staff Writer, CNET News.com Federal regulators are struggling over a decision that could give the FBI and other law enforcement officials wiretap access to Internet voice calls, and possibly access even to the content of data messages such as email. The Federal Communications Commission [ http://www.fcc.gov/ ] released a proposal http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Notices/1998/fcc98282.txt ] last week for implementing the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), a measure that requires telephone companies to provide law enforcement with access to digital call information. But the report left untouched the issue of whether the FBI http://www.fbi.gov/ ] would get new powers to tap Net calls. An FCC staffer, who asked to remain anonymous, said the question of how Net calls will be treated remains wide open, and may be decided during another round of public comments. Congress passed CALEA in 1994, after law enforcement officials complained that digital technology undermined their ability to tap telephone lines. The bill was intended to give the FBI and other police agencies the same access to digital communications, that they already have to traditional phone lines. Yet the technological landscape has changed since Congress' action. Voice transmissions using Internet technologies have moved from hobbyists' basements and into the corporate mainstream. Companies like Qwest are building whole business strategies around Net-based telephony, while the amount of data traffic on public networks has soared. The FBI wants access to these Net calls, and the leading industry proposal being reviewed by the FCC allows this. But civil liberties groups warn that this access goes beyond the original law's bounds, which don't apply well to Internet communications. "Congress said very explicitly that the CALEA law was not intended to apply to Internet communications," said Barry Steinhardt, president of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "Over the long term this is the ability to get packet-switched data, not just voice information." The sticking point lies in the way that law enforcement gets its power to tap lines, and in the way that permission fails to translate into the world of the Internet. Many people associate a wiretap with a listening post able to overhear the entire content of a call. This type of tap requires a law enforcement agency to meet a fairly high standard of evidence, to show it needs access to a certain phone line. But the vast majority of wiretaps fall into a category known as "tap and trace," in which phone companies give up information about a call's origin and destination without giving officials access to the actual call. This type of access is much easier for law enforcement officials to obtain, as they don't require evidence as strong as what is needed for standard wiretaps. The "tap-and-trace" system doesn't carry over well to Net calls, which are broken down and transmitted in individual packets of information. Telephone company officials say it is impossible, at today's level of technology, for telephone carriers to hand over the header information in these packets--which would identify the call's origin and destination--without also handing over the actual content of the call itself. "For us it's impossible to do just the one thing," said Grant Seiffert, vice president of governmental relations for the Telecommunications Industry Association [ http://www.tiaonline.org/ ]. "Once you've opened the can of worms, the whole can stays open." The EFF, along with the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the Electronic Privacy Information Center(EPIC), have lobbied the FCC hard to keep Net calls out of the wiretapping law for this reason. "The FBI is saying, 'Trust us, give us the whole message and we'll strip out the call content,'" Steinhardt said. "We just don't trust them." For its part, the FBI says it needs access to the Net calls, or criminals will be able to hide in the telecommunications loophole. Officials have repeatedly said they will not violate court orders to look at the content of calls or data messages The argument doesn't sway civil liberties groups. "If it's not feasible, the telcos shouldn't have to hand the information over," Steinhardt said. "[The FBI] shouldn't be given access to information they're not entitled to." Comments on the issue of tapping Net calls, as well as the rest of the FCC's digital wiretapping plan, are due December 14. Telephone companies are not required to comply with the CALEA provisions until June 30, 2000. Related news stories Dutch ISPs could face wiretap law April 14, 1998 http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,21084,00.html?st.ne.ni.rel FBI wiretap plan scrutinized February 16, 1998 http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,19177,00.html?st.ne.ni.rel Dutch ISP won't tap email November 14, 1997 http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,16395,00.html?st.ne.ni.rel Watchdogs howl at FBI wiretap plans August 11, 1997 http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,13264,00.html?st.ne.ni.rel Copyright © 1995-98 CNET, Inc. --------------------------------NOTICE:------------------------------ ISPI Clips are news & opinion articles on privacy issues from all points of view; they are clipped from local, national and international newspapers, journals and magazines, etc. Inclusion as an ISPI Clip does not necessarily reflect an endorsement of the content or opinion by ISPI. In compliance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed free without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISPI Clips is a FREE e-mail service from the "Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues" (ISPI). To receive "ISPI Clips" on a regular bases (up to 3 - 8 clips per day) send the following message "Please enter [Your Name] into the ISPI Clips list: [Your e-mail address]" to: ISPIClips(a)ama-gi.com . The Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) is a small contributor-funded organization based in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada). ISPI operates on a not-for-profit basis, accepts no government funding and takes a global perspective. ISPI's mandate is to conduct & promote interdisciplinary research into electronic, personal and financial privacy with a view toward helping ordinary people understand the degree of privacy they have with respect to government, industry and each other and to likewise inform them about techniques to enhance their privacy. But, none of this can be accomplished without your kind and generous financial support. If you are concerned about the erosion of your privacy in general, won't you please help us continue this important work by becoming an "ISPI Supporter" or by taking out an institute Membership? We gratefully accept all contributions: Less than $60 ISPI Supporter $60 - $99 Primary ISPI Membership (1 year) $100 - $300 Senior ISPI Membership (2 years) More than $300 Executive Council Membership (life) Your ISPI "membership" contribution entitles you to receive "The ISPI Privacy Reporter" (our bi-monthly 12 page hard-copy newsletter in multi-contributor format) for the duration of your membership. For a contribution form with postal instructions please send the following message "ISPI Contribution Form" to ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com . We maintain a strict privacy policy. Any information you divulge to ISPI is kept in strict confidence. It will not be sold, lent or given away to any third party. **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************

1 0

IP: ISPI Clips 6.38: NAI [PGP] FlipFlop Back to Pro Key Recovery Group
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: "Ama-gi ISPI" <Offshore(a)email.msn.com> Subject: IP: ISPI Clips 6.38: NAI [PGP] FlipFlop Back to Pro Key Recovery Group Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 00:50:46 -0800 To: <Undisclosed.Recipients(a)majordomo.pobox.com> ISPI Clips 6.38: NAI [PGP] FlipFlop Back to Pro Key Recovery Group News & Info from the Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) Friday November 13, 1998 ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This From: WIRED News, November 12, 1998 http://www.wired.com NAI Back in Key Recovery Group http://www.wired.com/news/print_version/technology/story/16219.html?wnpg=al l Wired News Report Computer-security giant Network Associates Inc. has quietly rejoined a global coalition promoting a controversial technology that could give the US government access to encrypted data. Network Associates [ http://www.nai.com/ ], which owns cryptography software firm PGP and firewall vendor Trusted Information Systems, dropped out of the Key Recovery Alliance [ http://www.kra.org/ ] last December to protect the PGP brand, which some civil-liberties advocates say was tainted by its association with the alliance. Activists charge that the alliance promotes technology that poses a threat to civil liberties. The alliance says it is not a lobbying group but does support the concept of key recovery, a system in which a copy of the secret key that unlocks scrambled data is placed in escrow. "We would assume that the acquisition of Trusted Information Systems would be a contributing factor with the change of that policy," said David Sobel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "TIS is widely regarded as the originator of the whole concept of key escrow," Sobel said. Several executives are former employees of the National Security Agency, which is believed to be a prime advocate of key recovery in Washington. Currently, the Clinton administration bars the export of strong encryption products that do not include a key-recovery component. The policy has long irked security software companies who see the policy as giving foreign competition an unfair advantage. Civil liberties advocates dislike key recovery because they feel it is the start of a slippery slope toward so-called mandatory key recovery, which would give the government access to private data. While the Key Recovery Alliance says it is not a political action committee or lobbying group, the group is often held up by politicians as an example of industry support for the administration's policy. Last December, a Network Associates executive said the Key Recovery Alliance created a misunderstanding about the company's position on the issue. "We want people to understand that Network Associates' position and PGP's position is to encourage the government and industry to move towards a policy that allows export of strong cryptography without mandatory key recovery," Gene Hodges, director of product management at Network Associates, told Wired News last December. An attorney with the Center for Democracy and Technology said that Network Associates opposes mandatory key recovery, but that the company may be hedging its bets against future shifts in Administration policy. "There are other companies in the Key Recovery Alliance who are steadfastly opposed to the administration's policy and mandatory key recovery, yet I think they are part of the alliance because they feel they need to be," said Alan Davidson Lynn McNulty, director of government affairs for RSA [ http://www.rsa.com/ ] Data Security, said the company is likely not expecting negative political fallout, one year after the PGP acquisition. "The commercial [version of] PGP has kind of been absorbed [into Network Associate's product line]," McNulty said. "The personal verison kind of enjoys folklore status among the civil libertarians." No representative from either Network Associates or the Key Recovery Alliance was available for comment Thursday. Related Wired Links: Another Network Associates U-Turn on Key Recovery? 25.Feb.98 http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/10530.html Network Associates Disavows Key Recovery Tie: 8.Dec.97 http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/9010.html Pretty Good Privacy Not Looking So Great: 3.Dec.97 http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/8906.html Copyright © 1994-98 Wired Digital Inc. --------------------------------NOTICE:------------------------------ ISPI Clips are news & opinion articles on privacy issues from all points of view; they are clipped from local, national and international newspapers, journals and magazines, etc. Inclusion as an ISPI Clip does not necessarily reflect an endorsement of the content or opinion by ISPI. In compliance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed free without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISPI Clips is a FREE e-mail service from the "Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues" (ISPI). To receive "ISPI Clips" on a regular bases (up to 3 - 8 clips per day) send the following message "Please enter [Your Name] into the ISPI Clips list: [Your e-mail address]" to: ISPIClips(a)ama-gi.com . The Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) is a small contributor-funded organization based in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada). ISPI operates on a not-for-profit basis, accepts no government funding and takes a global perspective. ISPI's mandate is to conduct & promote interdisciplinary research into electronic, personal and financial privacy with a view toward helping ordinary people understand the degree of privacy they have with respect to government, industry and each other and to likewise inform them about techniques to enhance their privacy. But, none of this can be accomplished without your kind and generous financial support. If you are concerned about the erosion of your privacy in general, won't you please help us continue this important work by becoming an "ISPI Supporter" or by taking out an institute Membership? We gratefully accept all contributions: Less than $60 ISPI Supporter $60 - $99 Primary ISPI Membership (1 year) $100 - $300 Senior ISPI Membership (2 years) More than $300 Executive Council Membership (life) Your ISPI "membership" contribution entitles you to receive "The ISPI Privacy Reporter" (our bi-monthly 12 page hard-copy newsletter in multi-contributor format) for the duration of your membership. For a contribution form with postal instructions please send the following message "ISPI Contribution Form" to ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com . We maintain a strict privacy policy. Any information you divulge to ISPI is kept in strict confidence. It will not be sold, lent or given away to any third party. **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************

1 0

IP: Meteorites swarming toward us
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Meteorites swarming toward us Date: Sat, 14 Nov 1998 11:35:17 -0600 To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: Connecticut Post http://www.connpost.com/local3.html Meteorites swarming toward us Saturday, November 14, 1998 By MARIAN GAIL BROWN Staff writer Early next week you might switch on your television only to be greeted by a big blank screen. When you pick up the phone to blast the place that sold you the thing, the line is dead. You get in your car to return that worthless object. You want the quickest route, so you hit a switch that displays a map, using a global positioning satellite, to direct you. Nothing happens. Is this Armageddon? Have aliens from outer space finally taken over? Well, the truth is out there. Cue the X-Files music. It's the peak of the Leonid meteor storm, arriving in our hemisphere early Tuesday and astronomers say it promises to be this millennium's last great pyrotechnic pageant in space . Thousands of meteors -remnants of comet Temple-Tuttle - will bombard upper levels of the Earth's atmosphere. While these shooting stars are expected to put on quite a light show, there is a down side. The meteors are the single greatest natural threat to 500-plus Earth-orbiting satellites. And some scientists say they could play havoc with satellites that deal with communication, navigation and spy technology. When the last major Leonid meteor shower took place in 1966, there were only a handful of satellites in space. Some 350 of the 500-plus orbiting satellites have a 5 percent chance of being struck by meteors or knocked out of service, according to projections. "It's like firing a thin shotgun blast into a really big flock of geese," says Ernie Hildner, director of the Space Environment Center, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that provides weather reports on space. "Everyone knows some of them are going to get killed or hurt. It's just a matter of waiting and seeing because we know it's going to happen, but we don't know which satellites it will affect." With plans by government and commercial industry to launch 1,200 additional satellites within the next 10 years, "space is definitely getting crowded," says Greg Hughes, a spokesman for The Aerospace Corp. The company, based in El Segundo, Calif., provides primary engineering, oversight and scientific expertise for all Department of Defense space launches. "And there's supposed to be another meteor shower next November. So, the question is: will this factor into satellite launches? We hope it will, because space is gradually becoming more crowded and the next time a major Leonid shower comes around in another 33 years, we may not be so lucky." To protect their multibillion- dollar investment in space, satellite owners have tilted many of their satellites so their solar panels don't take a direct hit. For instance, the Hubble telescope, made in Connecticut, will be shifted so that it faces away from the meteor showers. "The satellites that are up there are changing their orientation, especially if they have sensitive instrumentation," says Russell Patera, senior engineering specialist with the Center for Orbital Re-entry and Debris Studies. "That means that these satellites will be facing with their edges out. So, that if they are hit, hopefully, it will only be a glancing blow." More troublesome than a direct hit, perhaps, is the damage the space debris from comet Temple- Tuttle does. "It can vaporize into a thin plasma that short-circuits the electrical impulses of a satellite," Patera says, adding that such a disturbance also could knock out satellite transmissions. And what happens in the minutes after such an event could be critical to whether a satellite can be repaired, Patera says. "That's why satellite engineers everywhere will be constantly on call to protect their company's investments. There has already been a lot of pre-planning as to what to do [in a worst-case scenario], he says. "But everybody will be on the alert." The particles, burned off from comet Temple-Tuttle's 33-year orbit around the sun, will drizzle down on any spacecraft or satellites orbiting high up in Earth's atmosphere as close as 200 to 24,000 miles from Earth. Instead of seeing a smattering of meteors or, as they are more commonly known, shooting stars, stargazers in some parts of the world could see as many as 200 to 5,000 an hour, a veritable galactic fireworks display. The best viewing will be in Asia for this shower. For his part, Bob Crelin, 39, a graphic designer from Branford, is looking forward to the shooting-star show. "All you need is a blanket, some heavy clothes, something warm to drink and a really dark sky, away from the city lights," says Crelin of the Astronomical Society of New Haven. "It's best viewed without a telescope or binoculars because meteor showers occur across a vast distance. So you want to be able to see the whole sky, not an isolated part of it," Crelin says. "That's the best way to appreciate a shooting star, seeing it streak across the horizon." Crelin recalls the excitement of seeing a Perseid meteor shower as a child growing up in the 1960s as though it were yesterday. "I was on Cape Cod with my parents and we were driving back from someplace for dinner," Crelin says. "I looked out [of the window] and it was like literally raining stars all around us. They were streaking across the sky. And I remember thinking that this was some kind of giant fireworks show at first because this was the summer. I was just totally jazzed." Perhaps, that's what fuels his interest in astronomy. These days, Crelin owns four telescopes, some so powerful that they enable him to see beyond the Milky Way and our own galaxy. "I have one that lets me see things that are 50 million light years away," says Crelin, adding that for the Leonid shower he will take his own advice and leave all his telescopes at home. For his part, Michael Dzubaty, a medical office manager from West Haven, plans to camp out in a nearby park from midnight to about dawn. "This is the peak part of the Leonid period, which occurs only once every 33 years. Usually, what happens is you have a double shot of intense meteor showers" in two consecutive Novembers, Dzubaty says. No one is really sure whether this year's Leonid shower will be better than the 1999 one. "So, you don't want to take any chances missing either of them." But if you've seen one batch of shooting stars haven't you seen them all? "It's hard to put into words, but nah," says the 51-year-old amateur astronomer. "Imagine a series of shooting stars and then every once in a while a colossal fire ball like from out of 'Deep Impact' or 'Armageddon.'" Connecticut Post 410 State Street Bridgeport, CT 06604 203-330-6456 © 1998 Connecticut Post. ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************

1 0

IP: Text: Clinton Continues Nat'l Emergency on WMD
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Text: Clinton Continues Nat'l Emergency on WMD Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 01:18:44 -0600 To: believer(a)telepath.com Source: USIA http://www.usia.gov/current/news/latest/98111212.tlt.html?/products/washfile /newsitem.shtml 12 November 1998 TEXT: CLINTON CONTINUES EMERGENCY ON WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION (They continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat) (280) Washington -- President Clinton November 12 extended the national emergency regarding weapons of mass destruction that he originally declared on November 14, 1994 with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States posed by the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons ("weapons of mass destruction") and the means of delivering such weapons. Following is the White House text: (begin text) THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary November 12, 1999 NOTICE CONTINUATION OF EMERGENCY REGARDING WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION On November 14, 1994, by Executive Order 12938, I declared a national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States posed by the proliferation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons ("weapons of mass destruction") and the means of delivering such weapons. Because the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the means of delivering them continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States, the national emergency first declared on November 14, 1994, and extended on November 14, 1995, November 12, 1996, and November 13, 1997, must continue in effect beyond November 14, 1998. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622 (d)), I am continuing the national emergency declared in Executive Order 12938. This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress. WILLIAM J. CLINTON THE WHITE HOUSE November 12, 1998 (end text) ----------------------- NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ----------------------- **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************

1 0

IP: ISPI Clips 6.37: Privacy Group Pushes For Hearings on ECHELON
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: "Ama-gi ISPI" <Offshore(a)email.msn.com> Subject: IP: ISPI Clips 6.37: Privacy Group Pushes For Hearings on ECHELON Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 00:49:50 -0800 To: <Undisclosed.Recipients(a)majordomo.pobox.com> ISPI Clips 6.37: Privacy Group Pushes For Hearings on ECHELON News & Info from the Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) Friday November 13, 1998 ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This From: WorldNetDaily, November 12, 1998 http://www.worldnetdaily.com Push for hearings on Echelon: Global spy system needs scrutiny, says rights group http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_exnews/19981112_xex_push_hearing.shtml A WorldNetDaily Exclusive Copyright 1998 WorldNetDaily.com By Stephan Archer In an effort to create some accountability between the country's citizens and the National Security Agency's top-secret global surveillance system known as Echelon, the Free Congress Foundation is urging that congressional hearings be held concerning the NSA's use of the system. Originally, Echelon was designed to spy on the Communist Bloc during the Cold War. However, since the end of the Cold War, the NSA has used it for other questionable purposes that include spying on the citizens of U.S. allies as well as the citizens of other countries, commercial spying, and even domestic spying. In essence, Echelon works through a series of high-tech spy facilities located primarily in five countries: the United States, Canada, England, New Zealand, and Australia. These countries, which are sworn to secrecy about the project in a secret agreement known as UKUSA, all actively take part in this encroachment of privacy into the lives of the people of the world by collecting virtually all fax transmissions, e-mails, and phone calls. Not even cellular phone calls escape the grasp of the Echelon system. "Obviously, we need to have these capabilities," said Wayne Madsen, who worked in the National COMSEC Assessment Center at the NSA's Fort Meade, Maryland, facility back in the 1980s and is currently a senior fellow at the Electronic Privacy Information Center. As an example of our country's need for the system, Madsen said, "No one can argue about using the system to counter terrorism. Where people will have a problem is where Echelon is used for political and business interests." The Echelon system gets most of its data by collecting all transmissions handled by the Intelsat and Inmarsat satellites, which are responsible for much of the electronic communication that takes place between countries. Earth-bound communication is sucked up and absorbed by other spy satellites that the NSA has launched into space. "It's a huge vacuum cleaner," said Madsen. Once these spy facilities collect the phone calls, e-mails, and faxes, of virtually everyone on earth, the Echelon system sorts them through a kind of filter system known as the Echelon dictionary. This dictionary looks for "flag" words in all of the transmitted communication. While it lets a majority of all collected material pass through its filter, it tags those that may pose a threat and tracks all subsequent communication coming from the source of the original "flagged" message. Concerning Echelon's inherent intrusion on people's privacy, Patrick Poole, the deputy director for the Center of Technology Policy at the Free Congress Foundation, said, "While we understand the need for the intelligence power embodied by Echelon, the indiscriminate use of Echelon presents major threats to liberty not only to U.S. citizens but to citizens around the world." And this threat is real. The foundation's report states that U.S. leaders have, in fact, already abused this awesome technology. For example, the report states the following: "In September 1993, President Clinton asked the CIA to spy on Japanese auto manufacturers that were designing zero-emission cars and to forward that information to the Big Three U.S. car manufacturers: Ford, General Motors and Chrysler." "You can assume that all major U.S. corporations are fed items of interest (via Echelon) from time to time to give them a leg up on international competitors," said Madsen. Although this may be seen as a strategic corporate weapon for American businesses, in reality, it's an example of technology that can get out of hand. For example, former Canadian spy Mike Frost stated in his book, "Spyworld," that in 1981, there was an "accidental" cell phone intercept of the American ambassador to Canada that resulted in the U.S. getting outbid by the Canadians in a grain deal with China. The deal brought in $2.5 billion for the Canadian Wheat Board. With this kind of abuse of Echelon's power, the question as to whether or not the U.S. government has been using this power for political purposes can be easily raised. This question is seemingly answered in the foundation's report. "The discovery of domestic surveillance targeted at American civilians for reasons of 'unpopular' political affiliation -- or for no probable cause at all -- in violation of the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution is regularly impeded by very elaborate and complex legal arguments and privilege claims by the intelligence agencies and the U.S. government," the report says. When asked if the system has been used by the U.S. government to spy on its citizens, Madsen told WorldNetDaily that he was sure it has been. "I don't believe that the NSA or the current Administration would hesitate to use this system on American citizens for their own agendas," he said. Outraged by this flagrant abuse of power illustrated by our country's elected officials, Poole said, "While the U.S. is the prime mover behind the Echelon system, it's shameful that the European Parliament is the body holding the constitutional debate in regards to Echelon today." A September 1998 report for the European Parliament by the Omega Foundation said, "Within Europe, all e-mail, telephone, and fax communications are routinely intercepted by the United States National Security Agency. According to the Omega Foundation report, it is this ability of the NSA that brings major concern to the European Parliament. In an effort to bring the issues surrounding Echelon to the forefront of American politics, the Free Congress Foundation plans to send out a report about Echelon to all of the 500 policy organizations in the U.S. as well as to select members of Congress. These select individuals include members from both the House and Senate intelligence committees as well as House and Senate Constitution subcommittees. Copies of the report will also be sent to the congressional leadership of both parties. Although the foundation is hoping to get some action out of these members of Congress, Poole said that support at the grassroots level of our nation's political structure will be a must if this issue isn't to end up buried by the intelligence committees. "For there to be any account and oversight to the Echelon system, the American people are going to have to contact their elected representatives in order to investigate the abuses that we know have occurred in regards to the Echelon system," Poole said. See Free Congress Foundation's report on Echelon at: http://www.freecongress.org/ctp/echelon.html © 1998 Western Journalism Center --------------------------------NOTICE:------------------------------ ISPI Clips are news & opinion articles on privacy issues from all points of view; they are clipped from local, national and international newspapers, journals and magazines, etc. Inclusion as an ISPI Clip does not necessarily reflect an endorsement of the content or opinion by ISPI. In compliance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed free without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ISPI Clips is a FREE e-mail service from the "Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues" (ISPI). To receive "ISPI Clips" on a regular bases (up to 3 - 8 clips per day) send the following message "Please enter [Your Name] into the ISPI Clips list: [Your e-mail address]" to: ISPIClips(a)ama-gi.com . The Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) is a small contributor-funded organization based in Victoria, British Columbia (Canada). ISPI operates on a not-for-profit basis, accepts no government funding and takes a global perspective. ISPI's mandate is to conduct & promote interdisciplinary research into electronic, personal and financial privacy with a view toward helping ordinary people understand the degree of privacy they have with respect to government, industry and each other and to likewise inform them about techniques to enhance their privacy. But, none of this can be accomplished without your kind and generous financial support. If you are concerned about the erosion of your privacy in general, won't you please help us continue this important work by becoming an "ISPI Supporter" or by taking out an institute Membership? We gratefully accept all contributions: Less than $60 ISPI Supporter $60 - $99 Primary ISPI Membership (1 year) $100 - $300 Senior ISPI Membership (2 years) More than $300 Executive Council Membership (life) Your ISPI "membership" contribution entitles you to receive "The ISPI Privacy Reporter" (our bi-monthly 12 page hard-copy newsletter in multi-contributor format) for the duration of your membership. For a contribution form with postal instructions please send the following message "ISPI Contribution Form" to ISPI4Privacy(a)ama-gi.com . We maintain a strict privacy policy. Any information you divulge to ISPI is kept in strict confidence. It will not be sold, lent or given away to any third party. **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************

1 0

0/1 knapsack
by Bernardo B. Terrado 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hey guys, I found this in a web site. |---v A knapsack that holds a total....and N indivisible objects.... My quetion is does indivisible means that the object cannot be divided as dividing a grain of rice? Does this imply I can divide an array of integers but not the integers? -------------------------------------------- If I'm going to use 0/1 knapsack algo then I'll just place a tag on each element let us say 1 for true and 0 for false? which ever element satisfy the condition? What is dynamic programming approach (wavefront calculation)? Is it with the use of pointers? or different concept? Thanks. Bernie

2 2

Itchy Trigger-Fingers in DC
by HyperReal-Anon 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

D.C. police top list of fatal shootings 'We shoot too often' November 15, 1998 Web posted at: 8:54 p.m. EST (0154 GMT) WASHINGTON (AP) -- Police in the nation's capital fire their weapons at a rate more than double those in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago or Miami and kill a higher proportion of people than comparable police forces elsewhere in the country. An investigation by The Washington Post showed that throughout the 1990s, more people were killed by District of Columbia police officers per resident than in any other large American city. "We shoot too often, and we shoot too much when we do shoot," Terrance W. Gainer, the executive assistant police chief, told the newspaper. In the last five years, the Post said, Washington's officers fatally shot 57 people, three more than police in Chicago, where the police force is three times as large and the population is five times larger. Deaths and injuries from police shootings have resulted in almost $8 million in court settlements and judgments against the district in the last six months, the report said. "The spate of police shootings in the district this decade is closely tied to the training and supervision of officers and the way the department investigates cases and holds officers accountable," the newspaper said. It said police shootings began to rise at the same time the department added a large number of new, ill-prepared recruits and adopted the light-trigger, highly advanced Glock 9 mm handgun as the department's service weapon. On the other side of the coin, eight district police officers were slain in Washington from 1990 to 1997, a number the Post said was surpassed in only a half-dozen other U.S. cities, each much bigger than the district. After meeting last week with Post reporters to discuss their findings, Police Chief Charles Ramsey, who took office this year, tightened the department's policy on using force. He also announced that in January, the department will begin additional training for all officers in firearms and alternatives to the use of deadly force. Copyright 1998 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

1 0

Re: Escrow - news
by Steve Mynott 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

cc: added to cypherpunks On Sat, Nov 14, 1998 at 03:42:26PM +0000, Ross Anderson wrote: > On his most recent speaking tour of Europe, at which he promoted > PGP v 6, Phil Zimmermann assured us categorically that NAI had at > his insistence withdrawn from the KRA. > > It now appears that either (1) he lied to us (2) he was himself > lied to by NAI management or (3) NAI has rejoined. I assume you are refering to the meeting at Cambridge University that you chaired. My subjective impressions of that meeting were that PZ was certainly sincere. I seem to recall he told us that he was unware NAI had even orginally been a member of KRA until he was telephoned by a journalist in his car and was opposed to this. Presumably this was before NAI bought TIS and rejoined (?) I would add an option (4) PZ didn't know -- cockup not conspiracy But all this leads to a lack of confidence in the future of the PGP product, which is too precious to be left in the hands of one (American) company, whose policy is in doubt. I am not currently convinced by their actions that NAI are serious about strong crypto and I believe that a truly free and open version of PGP (GPG?) would be superior. -- 1024/D9C69DF9 steve mynott steve(a)tightrope.demon.co.uk http://www.pineal.com/ i would rather have my ignorance than another man's knowledge, because i have got so much more of it. -- mark twain

1 0

RE: SIGH... NOT!! THC tainted oranges
by Brown, R Ken 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Closest ciommon relative of hemp is of course hop (*Humulus lupulus* IIRC) which is, as you all know, widely used to flavour beer. I believe it already has some THC content, or something very similar. Ken Brown Bill Frantz wrote: > > always thought that crabgrass would be a better carrier for > THC genes, and give the DEA maximum fits. However, > given that 5 states have passed medical pot initiatives, > one over the attempts of their legislature to destroy the > previous initiative, perhaps the DEA has enough problems. :-)

3 2

Black Book Source
by inform＠what2read.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

www.WHAT2READ.COM Your on-line source for books by African Americans and other prominent blacks. Find books to help you with your holiday cooking and entertaining; Beautiful gift books, books for children and books for sheer reading enjoyment. We also have book reviews and books listed by category including bestsellers biographies fiction--popular and literary inspirational Over 400,000 titles available and all at DISCOUNT prices. COME VISIT US! www.what2read.com LIST UNSUBSCRIBE ***************************************** You can unsubscribe from this list at: http://www.bidwhist.com:81/guest/RemoteListSummary/What2ReadGeneral What2Read, Inc. 5310 S. Cornell Ave. Suite 3 Chicago, IL 60615

1 0