December 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

Senator to review "voluntary" privacy guidelines
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

[So much for the privacy code being "voluntary." It's precisely as voluntary and ill-advised as the Vchip or PICS. All illustrate one point: if corporations don't self-regulate, the government will do it for them. --Declan] ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 08 Dec 1997 18:11:38 -0500 From: Aaron Pressman <aaron.pressman(a)reuters.com> US lawmaker to review info industry's privacy code WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Commerce Committee chairman John McCain said Monday he planned to review voluntary industry efforts to protect the privacy of people using the Internet. The Arizona Republican made the statement in a letter to the head of the Information Technology Industry Council, a group of computer manufacturers that unveiled on Monday a code of conduct for respecting privacy on their sites on the Internet's World Wide Web. "I look forward to reviewing these standards at the Commerce Committee," McCain said. McCain called the group's eight privacy principles "a good first step," adding that he was "pleased the industry took it upon itself to attempt to deal with this important issue." Council officials said the voluntary guidelines were, in part, intended to address the concerns of lawmakers and President Bill Clinton, who in July challenged the industry to come up with practices to protect privacy. The council included major personal computer makers such as Dell Computer Corp <DELL.O> and Compaq Computer Corp <CPQ.N>, chipmakers like Intel Corp <INTC.O> and Motorola Inc <MOT.N> and manufacturers of related gear like AMP Inc <AMP.N> and Lexmark International Group Inc <LXK.N>. The guidelines recommend that a company notify consumers of what personal data are being collected on a Web site and allow them some degree of choice over how the data are used. Technological solutions should be employed "enabling individual data providers to exercise choice and control over their personal data," the guidelines said. Companies should also limit the collection of data to what is needed for valid business reasons and to ensure the data's accuracy and security. One aspect of the guidelines that could draw fire from the White House and Capitol Hill concerns the protection of children's privacy. In July, Clinton said protecting children, who might be unable to make "informed choices" about revealing personal information, could justify some legislation. The new guidelines recommend only that parents teach their children appropriate behavior. "Individuals should use their powers of choice in the marketplace to safeguard their personal data and that of the children," the guidelines said in the only explicit reference to youngsters.

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Encrypted InterNet DEATH THREAT!!! / ATTN: Ninth District Court Judges / PASSWORD: sog
by TruthMailer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

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ABCnews/Nightline on Cyber Terror 8-Dec-97
by x4＠juno.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Last night, ABC news once again stroked the fires of fear and raised the boogieman of "Hackers" destroying the goverment, banks, power plants, ad nauseum. Of course, the main guest was from the US Govt's new trumpeter of CyberTerrorizm, "the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection". A full transcript is available. _______________________________________________________ Revolution in a Box -- Cyber Terror -- AIR DATE: Monday, Dec. 8, 1997 http://www.abcnews.com/onair/nightline/html_files/transcripts/ntl1208.html ABC technology correspondent Gina Smith investigates the vulnerability of our nations computer systems and what is being done to protect them from the threat of hackers. Guest: Jamie Gorelick, co-chair, Advisory Committee of the Presidents Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection Jamie Gorelick: Well, there are a number of things we can do. I mean, the effort that has been started already is one to build a partnership between the government and the private sector to work together to know when were being attacked, to share information, to ensure that we have the right research and eventually to be in a position to respond to an attack with the best efforts we can.

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Re: [RePol] ABCnews/Nightline on Cyber Terror 8-Dec-97
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

X Four wrote: > > Last night, ABC news once again stroked the fires of fear and raised the > boogieman of "Hackers" destroying the goverment, banks, power plants, ad > nauseum. Of course, the main guest was from the US Govt's new trumpeter > of CyberTerrorizm, "the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure > Protection". A full transcript is available. > _______________________________________________________ > > Revolution in a Box -- Cyber Terror -- AIR DATE: Monday, Dec. 8, 1997 > http://www.abcnews.com/onair/nightline/html_files/transcripts/ntl1208.html > > Jamie Gorelick: Well, there are a number of things we can do. I mean, the > effort that has been started already is one to build a partnership > between the government and the private sector to work together Is it not funny how this theme of the "government and the private sector" working together is becoming a worldwide theme, just as the theme of "cooperation between governments" is also becoming a universal theme? Can you say, "Fascism?" Sure you can... Can you say, "New World Order?" Sure you can... Can you say, "Bend me over and stick a crowbar up my ass?"...

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[Censored] Quote of the Day
by bureau42 Anonymous Remailer 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

From: Fyodor <fygrave(a)freenet.bishkek.su> Reply-To: fygrave(a)usa.net ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 03:50:03 -0700 From: Quote of the day <qotd-request(a)ensu.ucalgary.ca> "Free Speech, Democracy" - complete text of a sign put up on a roadside fence in Vancouver by university law student Craig Jones. Jones was arrested for doing so by Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who were protecting dictators attending the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) meeting in Vancouver, November 1997 from dissent. He was released without being charged after 14 hours in custody. Submitted by: Terry Labach Dec. 1, 1997 -------------------------------------------------------------- Send quotation submissions to qotd(a)ensu.ucalgary.ca Send list changes or requests to qotd-request(a)ensu.ucalgary.ca

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Re: Cato forum tomorrow: should money laundering be a crime?
by Mix 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Lucky Green wrote: >If the feds can *kill* you for any reason or no reason at all, they >certainly can throw you into the slammer for whatever you may choose to >utter. >From Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience": "Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison." [...] "If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth, -certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn."

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Re: Encrypted InterNet DEATH THREAT!!! / ATTN: Ninth District Court Judges / PASSWORD: sog
by nobody＠REPLAY.COM 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

John <spit> Gilmore <fart> wrote: >The problem: Criminals with a simple >encryption program can scramble their data >beyond even the government's ability to read it. >http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/content/zdnn/1208/261695.html > Fuck the lame LEA pricks who whine about not being able to >stop someone bringing in a planeload of drugs without being >able to invade the privacy of every person on the face of >the earth. > Am I supposed to believe that I have knowledge of when and >where major drug shipments are taking place, simply by virtue >of hanging out as a musician, yet the LEA's are incapable of >finding out the same information by being competent in their >profession? Barf City... If memory serves me correctly then the above was written by the John Gilmore cleverly disguised as TruthMonger who railed mightily against the LEAs for claiming lack of resources and manpower for battling the 4 Horsemen despite the fact that LEAs always seem to have all the time and energy needed to attempt to imprison the grandmothers of our great nation who dare to plug a stranger's parking meter for him or her. I am always amazed that the LEA pleas for increased funding are generally based upon their own lack of effectiveness. i.e. "We are so lame that even with the current mountain of money and resources at our fingertips we cannot catch criminals who are much smarter than us." Perhaps the solution to crime is to fire the current LEAs and hire the criminals to replace them. Not that I am a troublemonger... !TroubleMonger

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Staff changes at the Center for Democracy and Technology
by Declan McCullagh 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

-- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Graeme Browning voice: 202-637-9800, ext. 275 email: gbrowning(a)cdt.org JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR GRAEME BROWNING JOINS THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY AS COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR JONAH SEIGER TO ESTABLISH CAMPAIGN CONSULTING FIRM Washington, DC, December 9, 1997 -- The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), a leading online civil liberties group, today announced that Graeme Browning, a former reporter for some of the country's most prominent newspapers and magazines, as well as author of a recent book on using the Internet to transform politics, has become the group's new Communications Director. Browning replaces Jonah Seiger, who is leaving to form a Washington-based Internet campaign consulting company with Shabbir J. Safdar, former director of the Voters Telecommunications Watch, a public interest group in New York City. With Browning's help the Center for Democracy and Technology will broaden its efforts to promote democratic values, free speech and privacy in the Digital Age. "Graeme's years of experience with both the print and the electronic media will be a valuable resource for us as we build on Jonah's excellent work and reach out to the rapidly expanding audience of citizens who use the Internet," said Jerry Berman, CDT's executive director. "Graeme shares our vision of the Net as the medium best able to nurture the many voices of a democracy. Her ability to articulate that vision will be of critical value to CDT." Browning, who holds a law degree from Vanderbilt University, joins CDT after six years covering Congress and high-tech issues for National Journal, one of the most respected political magazines in Washington. She has also been a reporter with the Washington Post, the Chicago Sun-Times, the (Baltimore) Sun, the (Nashville) Tennessean, and United Press International, and was also legal affairs reporter for the ABC network affiliate in Nashville. Last year Browning established herself as an authority in the Internet policy area with the publication of Electronic Democracy: Using the Internet to Influence American Politics (Pemberton Press, 1996), a guide to computer-based grassroots organizing that the Washington Times called "an essential book for anyone who wants to navigate the political dimensions of the Internet." Seiger, who has been a key staff member of the Center for Democracy and Technology since its founding in late 1994, "played a crucial role in developing CDT's pioneering use of the 'Net as a means of grassroots organizing and public education," Berman said. "Jonah was instrumental in positioning CDT as the leading voice on issues impacting civil liberties on the Internet. He has been a tremendous asset for us from the start." "I am confident that Jonah and Shabbir will be successful at bringing their considerable online organizing skills to a wider audience," Berman added, "and CDT looks forward to collaborating with them in their new venture." In the past three years, Berman said, Seiger has made major contributions to a number of CDT accomplishments, including: * the defeat of an important anti-encryption proposal before the House Commerce Committee, * the "blacken your Web page" protest of the Communications Decency Act in December 1996, * and the recruitment of more than 57,000 Internet users to a coalition supporting CDT's ultimately successful efforts to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Act. * Seiger also organized CDT's production of the first live cybercast of a congressional hearing on the Internet, * and launched democracy.net, a Web site devoted to cybercasting live "Town Hall" meetings with Members of Congress as well as hearings on such issues as encryption and the right to privacy online. Seiger and Safdar's new firm will provide strategic consulting and online advocacy management and campaign design services to help non-profits, associations and candidates use the Internet to advance public policy goals. Safdar founded the Voters Telecommunications Watch in 1994 and has collaborated with CDT on several major online campaigns. The Center for Democracy and Technology, a non-profit public interest organization based in Washington, D.C., works to advance civil liberties and democratic values on the Internet and in other interactive media. # # # # #

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bernstein case hits appeals court
by Vladimir Z. Nuri 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

------- Forwarded Message Date: Tue, 09 Dec 1997 12:59:41 To: believer(a)telepath.com From: believer(a)telepath.com Subject: IP: Encryption case hits U.S. appeals court Encryption case hits U.S. appeals court Copyright © 1997 Reuters SAN FRANCISCO (December 8, 1997 9:47 p.m. EST http://www.nando.net) - Lawyers for a software developer argued Monday in federal appeals court that government controls on distribution of computer encryption code constitute an unlawful prior restraint of free speech. In the closely watched case pitting national security interests against the right to free speech, a government attorney countered that the software in question was a sensitive product and that its distribution should be limited by the government. At issue is whether a code developed by Daniel Bernstein, now a professor at the University of Illinois, constitutes a form of speech and should therefore be protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Encryption software allows computer data to be scrambled in order to ensure the confidentiality of information. Current federal law prohibits the export of strong encryption software because of concerns over national security, even though powerful encryption codes are already available overseas or on the Internet from foreign manufacturers. Monday's hearing before a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was prompted after U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ruled in August that the Constitution prevented the government from placing export restrictions on the code. The government appealed. Scott McIntosh, an attorney representing the Department of Commerce, told the judges the code should be viewed not as a form of speech but as a product that in the wrong hands could jeopardize national security. The three justices grilled McIntosh during his allotted 20 minutes, often preventing him from finishing his sentences. "They asked probing questions and beyond that I don't want to characterize," McIntosh told reporters after the hearing. Bernstein sued several government agencies in 1995 after he was told that he would need to be licensed as an arms dealer to post his software encryption code, called Snuffle 5.0, on the Internet. Cindy Cohn, who headed Bernstein's legal team, argued that Snuffle was an expression of free speech and should be protected from the kind of scheme that the government uses to regulate code. "The basic flaw with the government's position is that they use a pre-publication licensing scheme," Cohn said. "That's exactly the point -- when the government sets up a bureaucrat to decide who gets to speak and who does not, that's a form of prior restraint." Compared with the harried questioning of McIntosh, the justices questioned Cohn fewer times, allowing her to finish her sentences more often. Cohn later told reporters she was pleased with the hearing, although she declined to comment on the outcome. A decision by the court could come at any time over the next few weeks. By GREG FROST, Reuters Copyright © 1997 Nando.net ********************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo(a)majordomo.pobox.com with the message: subscribe ignition-point email@address or unsubscribe ignition-point email@address ********************************************** http://www.telepath.com/believer ********************************************** ------- End of Forwarded Message

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Re: Remailer Trivia / Re: Singapore & Freedom (fwd)
by Jim Choate 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Forwarded message: > Date: Tue, 9 Dec 1997 15:57:15 -0500 (EST) > From: Jrbl Pookah <lists(a)castle5.castlec.com> > Subject: Re: Remailer Trivia / Re: Singapore & Freedom (fwd) > > Hmm. Excuse the interruption into your conversation here, but > I've signed up (in the past) for long-distance service under an assumed > name, on a telephone line that I held in a different assumed name. At > least in Cincinnati, OH, the phone company didn't (doesn't?) really care, > as long as they had a place to send the bills. When they asked for my > SSN, I simply told them I wouldn't give it to them, and offered my > date-of-birth - which I lied about. They didn't mind. > Was the identity 'anonymous'? The other issues are irrelevant to this discussion. ____________________________________________________________________ | | | | | We built your fort. We will not have it used against us. | | | | John Wayne - Allegheny Uprising | | | | | | _____ The Armadillo Group | | ,::////;::-. Austin, Tx. USA | | /:'///// ``::>/|/ http://www.ssz.com/ | | .', |||| `/( e\ | | -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- Jim Choate | | ravage(a)ssz.com | | 512-451-7087 | |____________________________________________________________________|

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