December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Crypto News
by John Young 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

25 June 1997: A Canadian company claims it has a unique product that can spur acceptance of biometric encryption. The Touchstone device, from Mytec Technologies Inc. of Toronto, includes a patented technology called Bioscrypt-a coded key or personal identification number that can be decoded only when the user's finger slides across a scanner. Mytec says it adds a layer of security to the fingerprint scanning methods typical at other vendors. "What we do is slide a finger across a scanner, which takes the information in the finger pattern and allows it to descramble the encrypted key," said George Tomko, chairman and co-founder of Mytec. The finger itself becomes essentially an encryption key and can be used in place of a personal identification number at a keyboard, automated teller machine, telephone, or to scramble data over the Internet. "With this kind of technology, everyone's finger is a potential encryption key," said Mr. Tomko. ---------- NetDox, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Department of Commerce has granted export approval for NetDox ePackage, a secure Internet document delivery service. This makes NetDox the first U.S. company authorized to offer businesses a global digital delivery service protected by 128-bit encryption over the Internet without providing clear text access to key recovery agents. ---------- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. decided Tuesday not to regulate stored-value cards. ---------- Two long reports on Netscape/Verisign's and Microsoft's approval for 128-bit products export. ---------- Above reports in full: http://jya.com/cn062597.txt ---------- For those who've not seen it we offer the bill introduced on June 19 by Representative Markey, "The "Communications Privacy and Consumer Empowerment Act": http://jya.com/hr1964.txt It has a provision for data security and pre-emption of government regulation of domestic encryption.

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Re: Flag Burning...
by David Downey 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>>You Crazy Americans . . . I dont think anyone else in the world >>would >>give a fuck someone burnt their countries flag, certainly not in >>Australia. What is it about your country? >>My friend is a New Zealander. When she was in school for a short >>while in America, she was beaten up for not reciting the "Pledge of >>Allegiance" in class everymorning. >>Pete Nicol >>Global Media Magnet >>nicol(a)iap.net.au ==================================================================== Although I agree that the U.S flag should not be burned (and yes I am also a veteran having served 8 years in the U.S Armed Forces), I can see other floks points in allowing the flag to be burned. I will never support it, yet since I served to keep the ability to choose a freedom that we enjoy, I do not oppose that sentiment. As to the Aussie that asked what the "fuck" we Americans give about whether or not our flag is burnt obviously does not understand how deep the grain of patriotism runs in American blood. It is something anomolous to riding a Harley. If we have to explain it to you, you wouldn't understand. In my mind it shows how little value the Aussies (or at least this particular one) place on their solidarity as a nation and belief in their own country. I place a HIGH value on my country and countrymen. (women too :-) ) That is why I get so upset when I see the degradation that is eating this country alive. All the values that made this country as powerful and great as it is are slowly being rotted away by some sort of malignant cancer that I can not fathom. I understand that The Cleavers are a concept that can never truly be lived up to, yet even if we came as close as Family Ties, I'd be happy! Some folks say that this is a symptom of too much freedom. I am inclined to agree to a certain extent, we Americans seem to have lost the ability to control ourselves and severely overindulge our whims sometimes. Yet, that is something that we have fought long and hard for, losing many a brother, father, sister, mother, uncle, aunt, and so on. Let me ask you this? Why are there so many individuals from other countries killing themselves to come live here, like the Cambodians, Vietnamese, Russians, and such? I'll tell you why. Because this country has potential, and strength. What strentgh? The strength of it's countrymen. The strength of ideals that are worth living and fighting for. Privacy is one of those ideals. That is why this channel exists! To unite us together, to try to stop the loss of one of the central themes to America. The ability to be private. To maintain a sense of individualism not found in many, many parts of the world. We stand together for the right to be human! For the right to be individuals, not clones! I for one, shall never be a clone. Neither government nor fellow human shall force me to bend my knee in deference, when that deference has not been earned. The government is trying to do that right now. That is why they are trying to take our privacy, if the know all that goes on, then control is easier. Whether through fear or through willingness, they do not care. They only want control. And we can not, should not, and many will not allow that to happen! I have seen what happens in countries where total control over their people has been achieved. The results are not pretty. Listen, Look, Learn, Aussie! You just might understand!! David Downey Case(a)EarthCorp.com digital_matrix(a)hotmail.com http://www.earthcorp.com/case I am a human first, an American 2nd, and free most of all! --------------------------------------------------------- Get Your *Web-Based* Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------

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Re: Internet knuckle-dragging from the New York Times
by lucifer＠dhp.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Declan McCullagh wrote: > > It was the New York Times, which had front-paged a scaremongering > above-the-fold article by Christopher Wren: > http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/062097drug.html > > Then the Boston Globe's technology reporter, Hiawatha Bray, leaped in... > > Every time a journalist > writes a story about the seamier side of the Net, somebody complains that > this will give outsiders the wrong idea. Nonsense. I think what really > worries you is that such stories give people the RIGHT idea--that there are > sex fiends, dope smokers and would-be Unabombers on-line. Well, there > are. And as long as there are, journalists will write about the fact. "And when somebody's mother gets machine-gunned in the street, we'll send some joker with a Brownie (camera) so you'll see it all complete." - Frank Zappa, "I Am the Slime" (That crawls out of your TV set) A person unfamiliar with technology might have trouble knowing if they have hit the correct button to switch from the "snuff-flick" video they were watching to the news channel. Take pity on the Times and the Globe. After all, they have to compete with headlines such as "I Cut Out My Baby's Heart and Stomped On It!" (National Enquirer) for the public's hard-earned dollars. As far as Bray's view that journalists know the RIGHT idea of how things should be viewed, I would be the last one to suggest that he is a FUCKING FASCIST JOURNA-PROPA-GANDIST who attributes RIGHT ways of viewing an issue as a divine right of journalists. Most journalists are similar to lawyers, it may be their job to take one stance/view today and another one tomorrow. If Timothy McVeigh's actions had resulted in sweeping government changes which led to the halting of all government abuses, then we might be seeing stories reflecting McVeigh's regrets about the children present. {cut to picture of Timothy playing with neighbor's child} Journalists have to maintain a facade of self-importance in order to be able to live with the fact that the eloquent expose they have worked on for a month might get thrown in the crapper if Elvis is spotted on the internet shortly before press time. TruthMonger

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NYT article on Kerrey bill (LONG)
by Ariel Glenn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Encryption Bill Would Restrain Next Generation of the Internet By PETER WAYNER The users of the next generation of the Internet will be forced to turn over the keys to their encrypted computer data to government authorities if a bill currently before the Senate passes. Senator Bob Kerrey, the Nebraska Democrat who cosponsored the measure, said in an interview Monday that the bill would require that the authorities be able to recover such keys in the next generation network, called Internet 2, an advanced, high-speed research project that is being carried out in more than 100 universities across the country. The bill does not mention Internet 2 specifically but simply refers to data traveling on all networks created "with the use of Federal funds for transaction of government business." Users of the current Internet would have the freedom to choose whether to notify the authorities of the keys. Key recovery is a controversial proposal aimed at giving fast access to encrypted data to the branches of the government responsible for law enforcement and national defense. These branches worry that widely deployed, easy-to-use encryption technology will make it simple for criminals and terrorists to cloak their communications and make it impossible for the police to use surveillance to gather evidence. Others, including computer scientists, civil libertarians and even some law enforcement officials, worry that such a proposal would concentrate too much power in the key recovery centers and that this makes the nation vulnerable to both attack by terrorists and abuse by those entrusted with the power. A government-approved key-recovery system, as imagined by the bill, would be created by an organization that would store the keys to unlock the data encrypted by members of the organization. It could be either a corporation, a university or a group of private citizens. The key recovery official for the organization, known as the "agent," would be responsible for decrypting the data and providing a "plaintext" version to the police in response to a subpoena, a court order, a warrant or a letter from an attorney general. The bill would remove the civil and criminal liability from the agents for responding to such queries but would impose penalties of up to $100,000 on those who fail to comply. The bill, called the Kerrey/McCain act after its sponsors, Kerrey and John McCain, the Arizona Republican who is chairman of the Commerce Committee, is officially known as the Secure Public Networks Act. It would require all new federally financed networks or computer systems to use government-approved key-recovery technology. The Internet 2 is a cooperative effort involving 109 universities to build a demonstration version of a very-high-speed Internet in order to aid scientific research and to push the state of network technology. Its current embodiment is financed by a mixture of grants from the National Science Foundation and President Clinton's Next Generation Internet initiative. The greatest problem facing the users of Internet 2 and other future federally financed networks will be defining where the government control begins and where it ends. In the interview, Kerrey admitted that this was a challenging problem and said that the government must be flexible in determining the answer. His legislation would create an Information Security Board that would ultimately be responsible for tuning the application of the law. "The law is written so we can get regular look-backs and decide what's not working," he said. "We know the current law isn't right. So let's change the law and get some good flexibility." The current law controls only the export of encryption technology. People in the United States have been free to use encryption to protect their secrets since before the days of the American Revolution. Thomas Jefferson, for instance, dabbled in cryptography and even personally specified the encryption system to be used by Lewis and Clark in their expedition. For this reason, Senator Kerrey expects that people will challenge the constitutionality of his bill, but he says that his office is working hard to ensure that they get the bill right the first time. The law could run afoul of the First Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits the "abridging of the freedom of speech." Requiring people to speak in a form that is understandable by the government in order to participate in government-financed network might be considered an abridgment. Donald Haines, legislative counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union said, "It's like asking: 'Can you make it illegal to commit a crime in French?' " A more likely challenge may come from the Second, Fourth and Fifth Amendments. The United States government has treated encryption technology as munitions in order to control its export. The Second Amendment, however, guarantees the right to "keep and bear arms." The Fourth Amendment guarantees "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." It is not clear how a court would view the requirement that a citizen disclose his or her encryption key to a key-recovery agent in order to participate in the next generation of the Internet. On one hand, the agent would act as an intermediary who would only disclose the data to the government in response to a valid request. On the other, the requirement for disclosure before any warrant is issued might be seen as a violation of the Fifth Amendment, which prohibits the possibility that someone "be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself." More obscure challenges may emerge from the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. The Tenth Amendment reserves "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution" to either the individual states or the people. Representative Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican and a sponsor of competing legislation in the House, asserts that Kerrey's bill is unconstitutional and that it amounts to a "dramatic erosion of the people's rights" to allow access to someone's data without the oversight of a court. He points out that Kerrey bill would allow foreign governments to request access to anyone's files in the United States through the office of the Attorney General. To a large extent, the constitutional question may depend upon just how voluntary the key-recovery process turns out to be. The current draft of the bill contains language that explicitly guarantees that participation in the program is voluntary, but it then enumerates all the conditions under which federal financing will make it mandatory. The first to feel the requirements will be universities and colleges, because they rely heavily on government financing. Kerrey said he remained willing to consider any language that would help give the universities the flexibility they need to continue to do research effectively, but added that he remained committed to pushing key-recovery technology. Some members of the university community expressed doubt that any compromise would be possible. Gregory A. Jackson, the associate provost of the University of Chicago and a member of the Internet 2 steering committee, said that the record-keeping burden would be onerous and that the gains would be to slim when measured against the cost. "I can understand the FBI's point," Jackson said. "There are times when we want access to some communications on campus and we can't get it." In his work at the University of Chicago and in his previous job at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Jackson said, he was often called on to deal with disciplinary problems involving misuse of the campus networks. "We had to use different leverage over people on campus," he said. "Ultimately, the FBI is probably going to reach the same conclusion." Besides, Jackson said, it is virtually impossible even to define what encryption is. While the law requires that the key-recovery agents deliver "plaintext," it is impossible to control how people speak or what data they exchange. He went on to predict that the Internet 2 project would find a way to migrate into a completely private entity if it became necessary to avoid government regulation. "Even the most optimistic estimates of what the federal contribution will be are still a small fraction of the costs of Internet 2," he said. "It's serious money, and its important for making it go forward quickly, but it's not the lion's share." George Cybenko, a professor at Dartmouth, said that his use of the Internet 2 could drop to simple e-mail and Web browsing because of the overhead imposed by keeping track of the keys. "If someone shows up and says, 'This packet came out of your office at 4 p.m. What does it mean?' it will be a nightmare," Cybenko said. Many of the new uses of the Internet involve packing new and different forms of communication into complicated data structures. Determining the difference between data that are encrypted and data that are merely unconventional is difficult and could lead to problems. Some Internet correspondents have predicted that the FBI will be able to find a Senator to add an amendment to Kerrey's bill to make key recovery mandatory for all Americans. Kerrey himself suggested that this amendment may be offered by the Judiciary committee or on the floor of the Senate in coming weeks. On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary committee will begin holding meetings to investigate the technology. Some expect that the committee chairman, Senator Orrin Hatch, Republican of Utah, will offer his own version of the legislation. In the House, however, a different story continues to unfold. Goodlatte has sponsored his SAFE legislation (Security and Freedom through Encryption) that would relax export controls and not require key-recovery provisions for anyone. His bill would deal with the problem of criminals hiding their actions by extending the sentences of anyone who uses encryption in furtherance of a felony. His legislation has enjoyed wide, bipartisan support. Cosponsors range from conservative Republicans like Tom DeLay of Texas, to liberal Democrats like Maxine Waters of California. In the last two days, six more members of the House have signed on as co-sponsors, bringing the total to 131. Copyright 1997 The New York Times Company ----- Ariel Glenn / AcIS R&D / Columbia University ariel(a)columbia.edu #include <stddisclaimer.h>

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Re: Flag Burning...
by nobody＠huge.cajones.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

"David Downey" <digital_matrix(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > Although I agree that the U.S flag should not be burned (and yes I am >also a veteran having served 8 years in the U.S Armed Forces), I can see >other floks points in allowing the flag to be burned. I will never >support it, yet since I served to keep the ability to choose a freedom >that we enjoy, I do not oppose that sentiment. "If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." - Noam Chomsky "We are willing enough to praise freedom when she is safely tucked away in the past and cannot be a nuisance. In the present, amidst dangers whose outcome we cannot foresee, we get nervous about her, and admit censorship." - E. M. Forster "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Voltaire The question that needs to be asked is, what does that flag represent that is being burned? Does it represent the constitutional republic and respect for individual liberty that America was founded upon? Or does it represent the socialist democracy and the arbitrary herd mentality view of "freedom" into which America has devolved? If the latter, then pass me the gasoline and the matches. An American

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No Subject
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hello, I was told that CBS or some other station air'd a story on Sweden. "Sweden" ( not sure who? ) stated that they had knowledge of how to enter ANY system that was conected to the internet. Firewalls, etc... were useless. Has anyone else seen /or know this and is this true? or complete mis-information?

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Re: Comparing Cryptographic Key Sizes II
by Peter Trei 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

There is still quite a bit of confusion about the difficulty of factoring 512 bit moduli. I'll try to clear that up. Adam writes: > > For example, 40 bit RC4 (a symmetric key cipher) can be broken in a > few hours with a few hundred workstations but 40 bit RSA (a public key > cipher) can be broken in a fraction of a second on one PC. A 350 bit > RSA key is roughly equivalent in strength to 40 bit RC4, and 512 bit > RSA key is thought to cost roughly the same to break as a 56 bit DES > key. > > (That last comparison (DES vs 512 bit RSA) glosses over many issues. > Here's a summary if you're interested: no one's broken a 512 RSA bit > key yet, and you need lots of memory to break RSA at that key size, a > PC with 128 Mb would be required to participate. In contrast, you > need hardly any memory to break DES, any PC will do. The internet > based breaking of a DES key in answer to RSA DSI's challenge involved > many participants, and included some participants with low end 486 PCs > with 1Mb of memory. Theoretically 512 bit RSA could be broken more > quickly than DES, but, as you need more memory than typical > workstations have, a distributed internet attack with the same group > of participants as for the DES break would clearly take longer. There > are a number of other factors also.) Here's the sequence of events: We cracked a DES key, searching about 1/2 the keyspace. I used the published speeds of the clients, and my own knowledge of the Pentium processor, to estimate that this search used about 457,000 MIPS years. In his usenet note announcing the factoring of RSA-130 using GNFS, (General Number Field Sieve) Lenstra estimates that the effort was about 500 MIPS years, '1/10th of the effort for RSA-129, using QS (Quadratic Seive)'. Bruce Schneier, in AC2, has a table giving 28,000 MIPS years as the time to factor a 512 bit number using GNFS. I wrote to Lenstra, asking him how big a modulus he thought could be factored with 1000x the power he used for RSA-130. Lenstra responded that that power should be able to factor a 600 bit modulus using GNFS, but that the sieving clients would need about 128 M of memory, and that the matrix problem would be 'very big' (he did NOT say impossible). RSA-129 was factored using QS, on clients with as low as 8M of memory. In the paper "The Magic Words Are Sqeamish Ossifrage", in which the factorization of RSA-129 using QS is described, the authors (including Lenstra) estimate the QS could factor a 512 bit modulus in about 500,000 MIPS years. I wrote to Lenstra, asking if QS could be used instead, to deal with the memory and matrix problems. Lenstra responded to the effect that it could. So, to summarize: Using GNFS, on clients with 128M of memory, you could factor a 512 bit modulus in 28,000 MIPS years. With 500,000 MIPS years, you could factor a 600 bit modulus. Using QS, in 500,000 MIPS years you could factor a 512 bit modulus on machines with modest memory requirements. The effects of memory speed and bandwidth would slow things down somewhat. ----------------------------- One of the things that is bothering me about the reports I've been seeing is 'they took 6 months to break the key using thousands of machines.' This is inaccurate - heavy work on the DES challenge did not start for several months after the challenge was announced, and the number of machines grew gradually as the work was done. Lets crunch some numbers: Suppose an average client can test 500,000 keys/sec (this is a conservative figure). Suppose we had 18,000 clients, 24x7, 100% utilized for this work. (there were 14,000 in DESCHALL, 3000 in SolNet, 1000 misc(last is a conservative guess) That's 9x10^9 keys/sec To search 1/2 the keyspace, we need to test 2^55 keys = 3.6x10^16 keys. ->about 4,000,000 seconds = 46 days. ----------------------- Peter Trei trei(a)Process.com

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The Fix is In--Freeh to Brief Congressvermin
by Tim May 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

The push is on to undercut the remaining terrible bill, SAFE, and clear the way for the Security for Big Brother Act of 1997. Freeh will be giving certain congressvermin the "If you only knew what we know" classfied briefing. Here's an excerpt from Reuters: "Wednesday June 25 9:57 AM EDT Clinton officials move to quash encryption bills By Aaron Pressman WASHINGTON - The Clinton administration this week is stepping up its campaign to block Congressional efforts to ease strict U.S. export controls on computer encoding technology. A House International Relations Committee subcommittee easily approved legislation on Tuesday to lift most of the restrictions on encryption programs, software that scrambles information and renders if unreadable without a password or software "key." Top administration officials, including Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Louis Freeh, will visit Capitol Hill Wednesday and Thursday to make the case against relaxing export controls. Freeh will testify at an open hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday and provide House lawmakers with a classified briefing on Thursday. " ^^^^^^^^^ (end of snipped portion)

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Novel Recommendation: "Black Cipher"
by tcmay＠got.net 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

(A copy of this message has also been posted to the following newsgroups: sci.crypt, alt.cypherpunks) I just read a fine novel, a "crypto-thriller," called "Black Cipher." Payne Harrison, 1994. It was being remaindered at SuperCrown in hardback for $4.99. I assume it may be out in paperback by now. It's about a British-Pakistani cryptanalyst named Faisal Shaikh, the top cryptanalyst at GCHQ, Cheltenham. He stumbles across a cipher he's never seen before, using 7 letter code groups, and sets out to crack it. The portrait of how he works, how he applies math and tricks ("cribs") to make the cipher more amenable to computer analysis is wonderful. (Little mention of public key cryptosystems, save for a piece of local color where Shaikh is starting to read a new paper by Shor and Rivest! The author clearly did his homework.) The novel paints vivid pictures of GCHQ, and of the politics within GCHQ and NSA, making it a wonderful complement to Bamford's drier "Puzzle Palace." (It's apparent that Harrison has read PP, and much more, and probably talked to several current or past GCHQ and NSA folks.) Never having been to Cheltenham, I had no real feel for it...now I feel I've been there. Dramatic, too, with interesting twists. Touches of financial thriller, war thriller, and exotic locales (including a trip to Alice Springs, a single engine aircraft ride to Ascencion Island in the remote Atlantic, and even a look inside the KGB equivalent of the NSA. Several weeks ago I recommended Joseph Finder's "The Zero Hour," which also had some crypto in it. This is even better, both as a novel and in terms of the amount of crypto and cryptanalysis portrayed. (Public key cryptosystems play no significant role, and the novel repeats the common oversight of ignoring the fact that ordinary computer networks are perfectly fine for sending small messages with almost no chance of either detection or decryption. A radio signal plays a key role in the novel, a signal that could have been sent any number of ways, including by posting in conventional code (codebook) form in any Usenet newsgroup! But don't let this small oversight, which may have been for dramatic reasons, stop you from reading this novel.) The portrait of the mathematician Faisal Shaikh is compelling. Highly recommended. --Tim May -- There's something wrong when I'm a felon under an increasing number of laws. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay(a)got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^1398269 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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'EU ROT OP': 607 ARRESTS FOR SOME BROKEN FLAG-POLES
by tank 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

We would like you to spread this information in your own country among groups that are interested in what happened. 'EU ROT OP': 607 ARRESTS FOR SOME BROKEN FLAG-POLES On June 16 and 17 Amsterdam was host for a European Summit that should result in the Treaty of Amsterdam. This treaty can be considered to be even a worsening compared to the Maastricht Treaty, and therefor a threat to workers, unemployed, and immigrants inside and outside the EU. Because of this, a very big number of demonstrations was organised. The municipality of Amsterdam wanted to use the opportunity to work on a new image. We must admit the towm succeeded. Before the summit the police and the mayor of Amsterdam every time again stressed that Amsterdam should show itself as it is: demonstrations and other actions would be tolerated as long as they were held outside the security zones. Strange enough the police seemed very worried about the announcement of the 'Days of Chaos': in an internationally spread pamphlet it was announ- ced that those days (that caused big riots in Hannover, BRD, last year) should be celebrated in Amsterdam in the weekend before the summit. Activists didn't take the announcement very serious, but the police did. The police started an investigati- on to the producers of the pamphlet and started visiting a number of (squatted) houses to warn the occupiers not to give shelter to visitors from outside the Netherlands. >From Friday 13th onward, we have been confronted with police conducts that were unknown in the Netherlands so far. An overview on four days of police terror: Friday 13.06 Although the summit will begin on the 16th of June, protests against it are already heard. The alternative summit has started on Thursday. The police in Den Haag is offering a fortaste of things to come; participants in the Marches that want to travel by train from Den Haag to Leiden are beaten up at the station because they refuse to buy a ticket (in a protest against growing poverty). One person breaks him arm, some other are wounded as well. This Friday the 'Days of Chaos' will start at 18.00. As all expected nothing happens. Only some punks are lying in the sun, drinking beer. They are being watched by a lot of policemen and international press. When those leave, the about 200 punks decide to do the same and start walking in the direction of the Dutch Bank. On their way some flag-poles with summit flags and one window of the French consulate are broken. Police and press react immediately. An enormous amount of riot police and police vans arrive and a lot of people are arrested very roughly. What remains of the group is being chased over town. The police later declares that 17 arrests were made; eyewitnesses say that much more were arrested, probably fifty. Saturday 14.06 50.000 people demonstrate against poverty, social exclusion and unemployment. The police tries to control the peaceful demon- stration: on the Central Station they seize a red/black flag because 'it is forbidden to be Anarchist during the summit'. The demonstration is so big that the whole centre of town is filled with it. On it's way again flag-poles with summit-flags are being broken. A group of some hundred demonstrators disag- rees with the official route and make a half-hearted attempt to go to the Dutch Bank. The police very easily can prevent this. Just as the group is about to continu the official route, the police tries to arrest someone. A small 'riot' is the conse- quence. Some moments later the windows of a bank at the Leidse- plein are smashed and one police van is pushed over. The police decides that it has been enough: near the head quarters of police they make a square attack on the demonstration, in which they very roughly beat 300 people out of the demonstration. The riot police seems especially interested in the heads of demon- strators. People start throwing with everything they can lay their hands on; also observers start attacking the police. It looks as if the police wants to surround a part of the demon- stration, but for a reason unknown to us they decide not to complete their action. The demonstration therefor goes on to the Dam square, breaking the remaining flag-poles on its way. When the demonstration arrives at the Dam square it turns out that a group of 131 Italians is being held hostage at the Central Station. They were part of a group of 3000 Italians that wanted to join the demonstration. All of them have been prohibited to leave the train. Directly after the demonstartion about most Italians are allowed to leave the train. Almost 200 must stay in the train. They are being held at the station because they are accused of damaging the train that brought them to Amsterdam. After a few hours the group is being hand- cuffed and transferred to a prison in Amsterdam. Near the station people that protest against this are being beaten up by the police. Later that night the Italians are put on the train back to Italy. In this period they got no water or food. In Germay the trains is stopped several times. It later shows that the Dutch and German authorities are putting pressure on Italy to arrest the group after arriving in Italy. The Italian authorities refuse to do so. The reason for the special treatment of the Italians is not clear. Officialy it is said that they damaged the train; on the other hand there are statements by the prosecutor that the police wanted to prevent that the Italians would join the German and Dutch 'autonomous blocks' in the demonstration. The funniest statement by the prosecutor: "If you saw what was coming out of this train, than you know what could have happe- ned". In a television interview later this evening the mayor tells to be very pleased with the demonstration: 'unique in the history of the EU', 'so may people from so many countries', 'a privili- ge for Amsterdam'. On questions about the incidents during the demonstration he answers that compared to the amount of demon- strators nothing really happened; just some broken windows of a bank and one police van pushed over is neglectable, especially compared to what happens in other countries in demonstrations like this. According to the mayor, Amsterdam has shown that it can be host for opponents of the EU as well. Not a word on the treatment of the Italians. The people that joined the Marches, and who arrived from all over Europe on Friday, were given a hospitable reception by the municipality of Amsterdam. They can shake hands with the mayor on Friday afternoon and get shelter in a school in Amsterdam- west. After the demonstration on Saturday they are tired and want to go to bed. An unpleasant surprise: the municipality has decided that its hospitality will last till Saturday evening. Under the device "your demonstration is over" the marchers are thrown on the street in the middle of the night. A part of them is angry about this treatment and refuses to leave the school. The police beats them out. So far the proverbial Dutch hospita- lity. Sunday 15.06 Three demonstrations: a streetrave (Legalize!) against the EU drug policy; the Ero summit for sexual diversity; a demonstra- tion at the homo-monument for the rights of lesbians and gays. The route of the Legalize!-demonstration was planned in consul- tation with the police. At the begin of the demonstration the police orders another route. The organisers agree, the 2000 demonstrators don't. They dance their planned route, reminding the police of the words of the mayor: demonstrations outside the security zones will not be obstructed. Police provocations during the streetrave are not answered. The Ero summit and the gay and lesbian demonstration are a big success because of the omnipresent press. In the morning there already is a high police activity near Vrankrijk, one of the information points for demonstrators against the EU. The streets are almost blocked by police and in front of Vrankrijk the police is filming people with a special video-van. People throw paint at the van to make the filming impossible. In the evening it becomes clear why the police has been fil- ming. People that leave Vrankrijk are arrested and charged on the accusation of being 'member of a criminal organisation' (section 140, Penal law). After 18.00h people who have visited Vrankrijk are arrested all over the centre of town; some of them by a police unit dressed in civil clothes, blindfolding the people they arrested and transporting them in a black Mercedes. At 21.00h a group of 350 people leaves Vrankrijk for a demon- stration at the headquarters of police, to show their solidari- ty with those arrested before. It will be the shortest demon- stration of their lifes: after 20 meters they are surrounded by riot police. The group sits down on the street to wait for what will happen; the police 'cleans' the area around Vrankrijk. Also the press is kept at a big distance. Press that can come closer is obstructed when taking pictures of ill-treatment and other violations by the police. All 350 people are arrested on the charge of 'membership of a criminal organisation' (section 140). Also spectators that protest are arrested as members of the same organisation. It is the biggest mass-arrest since 1966. After the transport of the arrested people the police raises their cordons. New demonstrators and other people that are curious about what happened fill the bar in Vrankrijk: the birth of a second criminal organisation. Again the neighbour- hood is fenced off by the police, and it becomes clear that they are planning a raid on Vrankrijk to arrest all inside. People that leave the bar are arrested, handcuffed and trab- sported as member of a criminal organisation. The arrested people are transported to prisons all over the Netherlands. In the first comments on the police operation in which 382 people have been arrested, a lot of people show their disbelie- ve on what happened. It is clear that the accusation of mem- bership of a criminal organisation is only meant to keep people from the streets for a few days, till after the summit. It also becomes clear that the operation was planned long before the summit. Monday 16.06 The actual start of the summit. In the centre of Amsterdam the police control is absolute. Vans and riot police are everywhe- re, raid vans are crossing through town and observation units are working overtime. Everywhere people are arrested, arbitrary and only because of their appearance. In 'de Pijp', an area far away from all political activity, 7 people are arrested for 'violation of the prohibition of gathering'. In the afternoon there will be a demonstration against the European migration policy. The organisors mean to go by bicycle to the refugee prison in Amsterdam South East, and pass by the Dutch Bank as near by as possible. On the Heineken square, were the demonstration will start at 16.00h, there is a lot of police ativity at 15.30 pm. Journalists are forced to leave the square, people who are drinking beer on the pavement outside bars are ordered to go inside. All bikes on the square have to be removed. When people start gathering at 16.00h, there is already a lot of police. However, it is still possible for bikers to go into the direction of the Dutch Bank. When the head of the demonstration starts forming (directed towards the bank) suddenly al lot of riot police is out of their vans and prevents the demonstration to leave in the direction it wanted to. Because the riot police is obviously aiming at directing the demonstration of about 800 bikers awy from the centre, the demonstration decides to cycle through the narrow streets near the Heineken square. Because the police can not easily follow the demonstration, the head of the demonstra- tion can reach the bridge near the Dutch Bank. Panic within the omnipresent police force: the head of the demonstration is only 150 meters away from the bank! The police decides to split the demonstration. The back part of the demonstration can not join the 500 people that are on the brifge. After shouting at the bank and the policelines for 15 minutes the splitted groups reunite again in another street. During the demonstration itself nothing happens anymore, due to the route. The chosen route made it almost impossible for the police to follow it with vans. The demonstration at the prison is calm. In a creative way the 1200 demonstrators try to communicate with prisoners (by shooting tennis balls on the inner court, digging a tunnel, climb up the fences with ladders etc). However, the police thinks it is too calm. Just before the planned end of the demonstration the police radio announces the description of a man they want to arrest. The man concerned is warned by others, but he says that he has nothing to fear because he didn't do anything wrong. When the demonstration is ended at 21.00h, suddenly two arrest-units jump on the man and arrest him. A lot of people run to the place where it happens, things are getting out of hand, but just in time people realise that that was the only purpose of the arrest. At 22.00h some hundreds of people gather at the Nieuwmarkt for a demonstration. They want to walk to the hotels where the ministers are staying, and cheer very loudly to thank them for the splendid work they have been doing. It is clear that it will be a demonstration with a very playful character. The organisers begin the demonstration with offering a cake to Chirac. After having delivered the cake at the entrance of the hotel Chirac is staying, the group walks to the next hotel. The jolly march is stopped by the riot police. The demonstration walks back but is soon completely surrounded by police. After 30 minutes it becomes clear that there will be another mass- arrest. Some people can escape using a boat that passes by. On the other side of the water people are visibly disagreeing on the second mass-arrest in two days. They also are about to be surrounded. They can leave just in time, taking (again) some flag-poles. Ten others are arrested on the other side of the water while watching what is happening and transported together with the others. In the meantime the demonstrators keep on cheering, but this time for the police. They applaud for the riot police and civil police. People start collecting money to contribute a little to this money swallowing police operation. When the busses arrive to take arrested people awy a lot of people show their tickets in order to pay for the service. One journalist is also arre- sted, her accreditation is seized. All 143 arrested people are searched and handcuffed with plastic strips. Some of them are told by the police that they have been arrested on .... section 140. They have to sit in the busses, that are not leaving for one hour. When the busses start driving, they take a very special route. After three hours (!) the busses arrive at the prison: a route that can be done in 15 minutes. After having spend several hours on the cold floor, the people who told their name are released. They get a fine of 125 guilders. The arrested people that refused to give their names are released after 6 hours. After their release they cab read in the newspapers that they were involved in riots and that they tried to enter a security zone. The police says that they made this clear by warning the demonstration and charging at it. None of those arrested nor journalist have heard the warnings nor have they seen a police charge. The spokesman of the police later says that the demon- strators violated the restriction in zone 3. When a reporter asks him how one can know that he or she is entering zone 3, because there are no signs indicating this, the spokesman says that zone 3 can easily be recognized because of the amount of policemen one can see. One of the arrested demonstrators is immediately arrested after his release, because he unpacks his belongings from his search- packet. The police officer involved feels provocated by that. He decides to let the man go, but not after fining him with 40 guilders for disturbing public order. Tuesday 17.06 Trial against the State in order to have the 343 arrested people from Sundaynight released. The judge decides to realease three of the four persons that are proceeding because there is no proof for their individual contribution to the 'criminal organisation' Vrankrijk. The judge declares that the verdict also applies for others in the same position. The Ministry of Justice and the public prosecu- tor have their own interpretation: in the verdict they read that they don't have to release the others because the judge said that mebership should be proved individually. With this argumentation the arrested people are kept in detention till after the summit. In the morning the authorities start deporting the foreigners amongst the ones arrested. Some of them are delivered to the national police (in Germany, Belgium), to avoid long lasting extradiction procedures. Many of them have been deported without getting back their personal belongings that were seized when they were arrested. Passports and money were missing. Some of those persons have again been arrested for not having identity papers. It lasted untill Thursday before it was clear that there were a lot of passports and other things at the headquarters of police. Untill now the police refuses to hand over the passports to the lawyers; the police says that people can come and get them theirselves. In the afternoon there is a planned 'autonomous' demonstration against a capitalist unified Europe, from the Dam square to the theatre Carr,, where the Dutch prime-minister will have a press conference to announce the results of the summit. The authorities decide to take a firm stand. The demonstration, scheduled for two o'clock, is prohibited one hour before. Wit- hout success: 2000 people gather at the Dam square, not only to protest against the unification of Europe, but also against the police brutalities during the summit. The demonstration is guarded by an overwhelming amount of police. Uniformed ('normal') police is aware that the demon- stration has a peaceful character and tries to keep away the riot police, but they fail. At several points the riot police has blocked the streets. When the demonstration wants to enter a 19th century neighbourhood, far from the security zones, it is stopped by the riot police. The uniformed police tries to negociate with the riot police, because the prohibition of a demonstartion so far away from the security zones is ridicu- lous. Without result. The demonstration decides to return to the Dam square where the flower-bed, that was created for the official guests of the summit and that forms the european flag, is complety destroyed by demonstrators. At night there are two smaller actions. At midnight there is a second 'cheer'demonstration. About 100 people go to the house of the mayor to thank him for the creative way he showed his hospitality, by giving shelter to hundreds of opponents to the EU. Policemen on horses try to run over people, around the corner a police force is waiting that outnumbers the demonstration. After one hour the demonstrators go to bed. Later that night, at around 4.30, the official press conference starts in the heavily guarded theatre Carr,. Ten journalists show their discontent with this Europe by unfolding banners and shouting against the exclusion of environmental issues and human rights in the Amsterdam treaty. Because they do this one after another, it takes 15 minutes before the journalists are arrested and taken away. The arrests are very rough. Funny is the conversation during the action between prime minister Kok abd minister of Foreign Affais van Mierlo. Kok (annoyed and cynical): "Well, this has been very well organised again in here". Van Mierlo (serious): "They could have been armed with handgranates". Of course. Journalists have a reputation for that. Balance According to police figures, 609 arrests have been made. This number does not include the arrested and deported Italians on Saturday. It also does not include those arrests that were not registered. None of the ones arrested got a summons. The only ones who got a fine are people that were arrested during the 'cheer'demon- stration on Monday. The public prosecutor says he is still considering individual charges. The lawyers are convinced that no-one will be prosecuted. The international press is very surprised on the extreme safety measures. Foreign journalists are angry with the fact that they were kept away from the ministers and from the inhabitants of Amsterdam. It is clear that this has been the most extreme guarded summit in the history of the EC/EU. Even delegates of officials have been complaining abouit the safety measures. The use of section 140 in this way is without precedent in the Netherlands and, as it seems, without precedent within the EU. Maybe it is a fortaste of what groups of people can expect when Europol advices in the future what to do with events that can be a threat to public order (concerts, demonstrations, sport events). It was used before against political groups, but always after things happened and with a more specific definiti- on of proof and charges. Nevertheless it has of course been used against left groups that could not be prosecuted in other ways. In over 90% of the cases in which it has been used it never came to any conviction, and people were only prosecuted under section 140 because it allows the police to use much more criminal investigation techniques than in prosecutions under other sections. This has been the first time that is has been used to prevent possible disturbing of public order and security. It has become clear that this has been organised very well by police, Justice and Home Affairs. The facts that there were no massive riots, no violent demonstrations and that in fact nothing happened that could possibly justify the move of Justice, confirm the general idea that the arrests on Sunday night were planned before the summit. Also the use of section 140 as legal ground for the arrest must have been discussed within the justice department. It is therefor not only a means to prevent people from exercising their basic rights on demonstrations, but also a means to extend the use of section 140 to groups within society that the state is not very pleased with. The government has been discussing the use of section 140 on groups of foot- ball supporters before. The council of Amsterdam has discussed what happened during the summit, on Tuesday 24th of June. Only Green Left clearly disapproves of the actions by the police. Most other parties agree, because (as the chairman of the 'social democrats' said) 'it is better to have an investigation to why to police arre- sted innocent people than to have an investigation to the question why half the city was burned'. Also the mayor said that it is good to arrest people that have done nothing wrong if in this way one can prevent riots. The public prosecutor stated that all arrests were legal because it was clear that 'we were not dealing with school children on their way to a silent procession'. The Dutch parliament will discuss the police action on Thursday 26. We don't expect anything to come out. One member of the social democrate party was very critical in an article in their own weekly paper, but later said he was misquoted. 'Black'book. The Autonoom Centrum, the Arrestment Group and Buro Jansen & Janssen decided to publish a 'black'book on what happened. It will be published at the end of June, and will be used to demand an independent investigation into what happened. Untill now 150 complaints have been registered. From the complaints the following shoes in general: - a lot of arrested demonstrants have been beaten after being handcuffed; - people were not told why they were arrested; - most people (and all foreigners) have been denied access to a lawyer. They should have had one after 6 hours; some only saw their lawyer when the decision to release them had already been made; - female prisoners have all been sexually intimidated or molested; - people did not get water and food for almost 24 hours; - people were detained in tents on the court yards of prison and not given blankets in the first night; - a big group had to wait for six hours in the busses before they could enter the prison, in this period they were handcuf- fed; - most foreigners have been deported without giving them back their personal belongings and documents; - people who take physics were refused their medicine. Meanwhile, the lawyers are preparing new proceedings to get compensation for their clients. They expect that people will get about 400 or 500 guilders for every day they were impriso- ned, because their arrest was illegal. This could cost the ministry about 200.000 guilders. Peanuts, compared to the 70 million it needed to organise the summit in Amsterdam. The total repressive way the Dutch government decided to treat all demonstrations lead to the remark on national television by a professor Penal Law at the University of Amsterdam that, overviewing all that happened, he could only see one criminal organisation. It is formed by the mayor, the public prosecutor and the head of police, who have structuraly been working for some months on organising the deliberate and illegal arrest of demonstrators and passers-by who didn't do anything. Actions outside the Netherlands Also in other EU-countries people reacted on the police vio- lence in Amsterdam. In Copenhagen 17 people were arrested who, according to thepolice, planned to attack theDutch consulate. Dutch consulates were attacked in Stockholm,London, Brighton, Milan, Gent and Rome. In Hamburg and Vienna the consulate was occupied for some time. In Denmark the issue has been raised in parliament by the- Red-Green Alliance. They complain about the treatment of 29 Danes that were arrested in Amsterdam 12 of them were send back by military plane, escorted by a Dutch fighterbomber the first part of the way. Nodoubt just for training, but what a scene. Also a lot of Danes were deported without their belongings. They can not pick them up themselves because the police told them they will not be allowed to enter the Netherlands for some time. The Danish consul in Amsterdam was furious because she was not allowed to visit the arrested Danes. The Red Green Alliance wants to know from the government if danish authori- ties gave information to Europol, Interpol or dutch authori- ties, what exactly the role of Europol has been in this case, and what will happen to the fingerprints and photgraphs that have been made.

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