December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Re: Presidential decrees and emergency powers
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

There's a list of Executive Orders from 1970-96 on emergency powers at: http://jya.com/eo-export.txt A related Presidential Notice is at: http://jya.com/no081496.htm Some of the latest Executive Orders related to export administration are listed under "background" at: http://jyacom/eartoc.htm The range of consequences of "emergency power" is vast, and traces of its affect is found in many governmental regulations and legislation. We're adding documents to our site as we find them, from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce: http://jya.com/crypto.htm

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Counterintel Center
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The National Counterintelligence Center (NACIC) announced today in the Federal Register a new system of records. There's an explanation of the NACIC and what it tries to do, reciting the James Angleton/Aldrich Ames myrrh mantra. http://jya.com/ncc022797.txt The new records system includes: "6. Compromised Names Database. The purpose of the database is to notify US intelligence community personnel whose names were potentially compromised as a result of espionage or other foreign intelligence collection activity. NACIC reviews pertinent reports to determine documents that were possibly passed in a particular case and then reviews those documents for names. The database contains the names of persons potentially compromised, date of the memo sent to the person or their employer informing them, the document number of where the person's name came from, document title, and document date."

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Re: Presidential decrees and emergency powers
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

We've put the full 50USC Chapter 35 -- International Emergency Economic Powers at: http://jya.com/50usc35.txt (284K) Section 1701 is the great bulk of it, and describes the purpose of emergency economic power. And lists the current enemies -- rogue nations and terrorists -- used, as were predecessors, to justify its never-ending renewal.

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No Subject
by Voters Telecommunications Watch 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

======================================================================== PRO-CODE BILL ANNOUNCED TODAY BILL WOULD LIBERATE ENCRYPTION FROM ANTIQUATED COLD-WAR REGULATIONS February 27, 1997 Please widely redistribute this document with this banner intact until March 15, 1997 From the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and the Voters Telecommunication Watch (VTW) ________________________________________________________________________ CONTENTS The Latest News What You Can Do Now Background On Pro-CODE What's At Stake For More Information / Supporting Organizations ________________________________________________________________________ THE LATEST NEWS Today, a bi-partisan group of seventeen United States Senators, led by Conrad Burns (R-MT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), introduced the "Promotion of Commerce Online in the Digital Era (Pro-CODE) Act", a bill designed to promote privacy and security on the Internet by relaxing government controls on encryption technologies. Encryption technologies are the locks and keys of the Information age -- enabling individuals and businesses to protect sensitive information as it is transmitted over the Internet. Pro-CODE aims to enable this by removing some of the regulations that currently prevent Americans from using this technology. A short summary of the bill and background on the encryption policy debate are attached below, along with information on what you can do to help ensure that Congress takes action on this important issue. ________________________________________________________________________ WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW 1. CALL THE Pro-CODE SPONSORS AND THANK THEM FOR THEIR EFFORTS Members of Congress tend to hear from their constituents only when they do something constituents don't like. Today however, several Senators have taken a stand on an issue of critical importance to Internet users. It's crucial that we encourage them with phone calls of support. If you live in any of the states listed below, please take a moment to give these Senators a call. Allard (R-CO) Ashcroft (R-MO) Boxer (D-CA) Brownback (R-KS) Burns (R-MT) Craig (R-ID) Dominici (R-NM) Dorgan (D-ND) Faircloth (R-NC) Grahms (R-MN) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhoffe (R-OK) Kempthorne (R-ID) Leahy (D-VT) Lott (R-MS) Murray (D-WA) Nickles (R-OK) Thomas (R-WY) Wyden (D-OR) Please take a moment to give these Senators a call. <Dial 1-202-224-3121> <ring ring!> You:Senator Mojo's office please! Sen:Hello, Senator Mojo's office! You: SAY I heard that the Senator introduced Pro-CODE to add more privacy on THIS-> the Internet. Please thank the Senator for me and I support efforts to fix antiquated encryption export laws. I live in <your state>. Sen:Ok, thanks!<click> 2. ADOPT YOUR LEGISLATOR If you were one of the thousands of people that have adopted their legislator at http://www.crypto.com/, you would have received a personalized letter telling you that your legislator announced his or her sponsorship of Pro-CODE today. These personalized letters contain all the phone numbers you need, and we'll send them to you any time your legislator takes any action that would have a significant impact on the net. The Adopt Your Legislator campaign is the most effective method of mobilizing grass-roots support available today. Since late last year, VTW and CDT have been building a network of thousands of Internet users who are active and engaged in the fight for privacy and security on the Internet. By focusing our efforts on the constituents of specific legislators as well as on the net as a whole, we can ensure that members of Congress know that they have support within their district as well as throughout the Internet community. You can adopt your legislator at http://www.crypto.com/adopt/ ________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND ON THE PRO-CODE BILL The Promotion of Commerce Online in the Digital Era (Pro-CODE) Act is similar to a bill introduced by Senators Burns (R-MT) and Leahy (D-VT) last year (then S.1726). Pro-CODE enjoyed broad bi-partisan support in the Senate and was the subject of 3 hearings, including 2 which were cybercast live on the Internet. This year's Pro-CODE bill (no bill number yet available) is designed to encourage the widespread availability of strong, easy-to-use encryption technologies to protect privacy and security on the Internet. Specifically, Pro-CODE would: 1. Encourage the widespread availability of strong privacy and security products by relaxing export controls on encryption technologies that are already available on the mass market or in the public domain. This would include popular programs like Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) and World Wide Web browsers like those made by Netscape and Microsoft. Current US encryption policy restricts export of encryption products with key-lengths of more than 40 bits. A recent study by renowned cryptographers including Whit Diffie (one of the fathers of modern cryptography), Matt Blaze, and others concluded that 40 bits is "woefully inadequate" to protect personal and business communications. Over the last eighteen months, several examples of the weakness of 40-bit encryption have been demonstrated by college students with spare personal computers. 2. Prohibit the federal government from imposing mandatory key-escrow or key-recovery encryption policies on the domestic market and limit the authority of the Secretary of Commerce to set standards for encryption products. 3. Require the Secretary of Commerce to allow the unrestricted export of other encryption technologies if products of similar strength are generally available outside the United States. For more information on the Pro-CODE bill, background information on efforts to pass encryption policy reform legislation last year, and other materials please visit: For more information, see the Encryption Policy Resource Page at http://www.crypto.com/ ________________________________________________________________________ WHAT'S AT STAKE Encryption technologies are the locks and keys of the Information age -- enabling individuals and businesses to protect sensitive information as it is transmitted over the Internet. As more and more individuals and businesses come online, the need for strong, reliable, easy-to-use encryption technologies has become a critical issue to the health and viability of the Net. Current US encryption policy, which limits the strength of encryption products US companies can sell abroad, also limits the availability of strong, easy-to-use encryption technologies in the United States. US hardware and software manufacturers who wish to sell their products on the global market must either conform to US encryption export limits or produce two separate versions of the same product, a costly and complicated alternative. The export controls, which the NSA and FBI argue help to keep strong encryption out of the hands of foreign adversaries, are having the opposite effect. Strong encryption is available abroad, but because of the export limits and the confusion created by nearly four years of debate over US encryption policy, strong, easy-to-use privacy and security technologies are not widely available off the shelf or "on the net" here in the US. Because of this policy problem, US companies are now at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace. All of us care about our national security, and no one wants to make it any easier for criminals and terrorists to commit criminal acts. But we must also recognize encryption technologies can also aid law enforcement and protect national security by limiting the threat of industrial espionage and foreign spying. What's at stake in this debate is nothing less than the future of privacy and the fate of the Internet as a secure and trusted medium for commerce, education, and political discourse. ________________________________________________________________________ FOR MORE INFORMATION / SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS This alert was brought to you by the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Voters Telecommunications Watch. http://www.cdt.org http://www.eff.org http://www.vtw.org There are many excellent resources online to get up to speed on the crypto issue including the following WWW sites: http://www.crypto.com http://www.privacy.org Please visit them often. Press inquiries should be directed to: Jonah Seiger of CDT at jseiger(a)cdt.org or +1.202.637.9800 Stanton McCandlish of EFF at mech(a)eff.org or +1.415.436.9333 Shabbir J. Safdar of VTW at shabbir(a)vtw.org or +1.917.978.8430 (beeper). ________________________________________________________________________ End alert ========================================================================

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GCHQ On Escrow Sham
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The GCHQ spook heading the EU's group on crypto policy admits that law enforcement demand for key escrow is just a cover for foreign intelligence: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~daw/GCHQ/ There's also a lengthy description of E-mail security for Her Majesty's Government.

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Re: Senate spams
by dlv＠bwalk.dm.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

ichudov(a)algebra.com (Igor Chudov @ home) writes: > adam and others, > > sorry i was not able to read the list before and did not know > about the senate spam. > > i vaguely recall the us senate voting in droves to elect david c > lawrence <tale(a)uunet.uu.net> kook of the month june 1996... but the > truth prevailed. They voted from their accounts on algebra.com, didn't they? --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

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Re: "Suspected of purchasing diesel fuel"
by dlv＠bwalk.dm.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

das(a)razor.engr.sgi.com (Anil Das) writes: > On Feb 25, 10:47pm, Alan Olsen wrote: > > > > "We have met the Enemy and they is us." > > > > Er.. I thought the discussion of cypherpunks list moderation is over. > > -- > Anil Das > I think not. I think a weekly FAQ regarding the reputation of John Gilmore (spit), Sameer Pareekh (spit), Sandy Sandfort (spit), Greg Broils (spit) and C2Net (spit) is in order. --- Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps

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New Breakthrough!
by JGarrett 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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Re: SigFile
by Toto 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

And this precious gem came from mark green. | ,@ __|-. ,_~o/ \/ | Through the router, off the switch, |/ | down the cable, nothing but net. / > | ' ` | The @Home slam dunk | __________________| -- Toto ----------------------------- "The Xenix Chainsaw Massacre" http://bureau42.base.org/public/xenix/xenbody.html

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More EI Public Comments
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

BXA has listed two more public comments on encryption transfers at its Web site: 44. Electronic Messaging Association 45. American Electronics Association BXA's PDF versions at: http://www.bxa.doc.gov/44-.pdf (420K) http://www.bxa.doc.gov/45-.pdf (339K) Our HTML conversions at: http://jya.com/bxapc44.htm (17K) http://jya.com/bxapc45.htm (16K)

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