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9th Cir. lets prisoners get books, rejects "encrypted" claim
by Declan McCullagh 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

TODD LEWIS ASHKER, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS; JAMES GOMEZ; G. BONNIE GARIBAY; S. BONACCORSO; M. JENSEN; S. CAMBRA; S. STEINBERG, M.D.; WINSLOW; DR. ASTORGA; C. GOLLIHAR; S. RICCI, M.T.A.; K. BUTCHER; B. PATTON; M. BILLINGTON; B. GRINSTEAD; JOE MCGRATH, Warden, Defendants-Appellants. No. 02-17077 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT October 7, 2003, Argued and Submitted, San Francisco, California November 18, 2003, Filed PRIOR HISTORY: [*1] Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. D.C. No. CV 97-1109 CW. Claudia Wilken, District Judge, Presiding. ... OPINION: TASHIMA, Circuit Judge: Defendants-Appellants, the California Department of Corrections and various prison officials (collectively, "CDC"), appeal an order of the district court granting summary judgment in favor of Plaintiff-Appellee, Todd Lewis Ashker, and issuing a permanent injunction against CDC. Ashker, a state prisoner housed in the Security Housing Unit ("SHU") at Pelican Bay State Prison ("PBSP"), challenged a prison policy requiring books and magazines mailed to the prison to have an approved vendor label affixed to [*2] the package. In a published opinion, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of Ashker because the policy unreasonably burdened Ashker's <http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>First Amendment rights and was not rationally related to a legitimate penological objective. <http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>Ashker v. Cal. Dep't of Corr.<http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>, 224 F. Supp. 2d 1253, 1262 (N.D. Cal. 2002). The court further held that Ashker was entitled to injunctive relief and issued a permanent injunction enjoining PBSP from enforcing the book label requirement. <http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>Id.<http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…> at 1263-64. Our jurisdiction is pursuant to <http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>28 U.S.C. '' 1291<http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…> and 1292(a). n1 We affirm. ... Glen Rodman, a sergeant at PBSP in Receiving and Release ("R&R"), explained that the majority of SHU inmates are involved in gang activity and are therefore likely to receive contraband in the mail, such as books containing drugs or encrypted with gang messages. All items received by PBSP are inspected for contraband and may further be inspected by a fluoroscope machine. Because such machines cannot detect encrypted material, the book label requirement is an additional security measure designed "to help ensure that reading material comes directly from the vendor, as opposed to passing through an unknown third party." According to Rodman, "an additional purpose served by the book label requirement is to reduce the amount of material that is required to be individually screened by" the three R&R staff members who are responsible for tracking the mail, searching it for contraband, and delivering approved materials to inmates. ... We agree with the district court that the evidence submitted by both Ashker and CDC "refutes any common-sense connection between the book label policy and PBSP's legitimate goals of ensuring against contraband and providing prison safety." <http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>Ashker<http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>, 224 F. Supp. 2d at 1260. When the inmate presents such evidence, the state is required to "'present enough counter-evidence to show that the connection is not so remote as to render the policy arbitrary or irrational.'" <http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>Prison Legal News<http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>, 238 F.3d at 1150 (quoting <http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>Frost<http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>, 197 F.3d at 357). CDC has failed to do so. First, CDC already [*12] requires that books be sent directly from approved vendors. As the district court reasoned, prison staff can easily determine whether packages have been sent directly by vendors or have been sent to a third party first by checking address labels and invoices. See <http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>Ashker<http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>, 224 F. Supp. 2d at 1261. If the package had been sent to a third party, who then sent the package to the prisoner, the vendor's address label and invoice would indicate that fact. Requiring R&R staff to check the address label seems no more burdensome than requiring them to check for the vendor label and the vendor stamp in the appropriate box on the label. CDC has presented no evidence or argument to refute this reasoning. Second, all personal property received by inmates in the mail is searched prior to delivery. CDC contends that these searches are not always effective, pointing out that contraband has been missed due to human error. However, "CDC [has] articulated no scenario in which the book label policy provides a measure of security not afforded by these routine and mandatory searches." <http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>Id. CDC further argues that the fluoroscope machine does not detect weapons or encrypted messages. [*13] That the lack of a book label can act as a sort of "red flag," alerting prison staff to books sent by non-vendors when their routine search may have missed this fact may be a legitimate concern, but it is a concern that is quite lacking in substantial evidentiary support. The district court pointed out that Sergeant Rodman "provided absolutely no specific facts regarding the alleged incident" in which drugs escaped the detection of the fluoroscope machine, id., and, on appeal, CDC has pointed to no evidence in the record regarding the efficacy of the book label policy. Finally, at least with respect to contraband, there is no rational basis for CDC to impose an approved vendor label requirement on books, but not on tennis shoes, thermal clothing, or appliances. CDC has made no effort to explain why books are more susceptible to being used to deliver contraband than other items. "Common sense would dictate that PBSP's concern would extend to such items." <http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>Id.<http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…> at 1262. Because the book label policy fails the first Turner factor, we do not address the other factors. n4 <http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>Morrison<http://www.lexis.com/research//research/buttonTFLink?_m=f301d9b0bbfb87b5626…>, 261 F.3d at 901.

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Re: Ashcroft's bake sale, no questions allowed, gvt-issued photo ID required
by privacy.at Anonymous Remailer 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

Declan McCullagh (declan(a)well.com) wrote on 2003-11-19: > There will be no questions and answers. To a non native speaker, this phrase seems to imply a scary level of control over the media people. "There will be no questions. Dissenters will be shot on the spot."

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secure cellphones go commericial, part II
by Major Variola (ret.) 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

Yes, from /. New Cellphone Offers Big Shots Eavesdrop-Proof Call Tue Nov 18,10:23 AM ET Add Technology - Reuters to My Yahoo! By Lucas van Grinsven, European Technology Correspondent AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A German company launched a new mobile handset on Tuesday targeted at business executives that secures lines are free from eavesdroppers, sparking criticism that it could also make criminals harder to catch. Missed Tech Tuesday? Find the perfect tricked-out cell phone, plus best hybrid phones and great phone games. Berlin-based Cryptophone, a unit of privately held GSMK, developed the phone by inserting an encryption software inside a standard handheld computer phone. This ensures that calls can only be decoded by a similar handset or a computer running the software. But the phone is seen as a mixed blessing in some European countries. While the benefits for business managers exchanging sensitive information are obvious, such a device could potentially have the side effect of helping criminals. Security specialists in the Netherlands said the device could threaten criminal investigation by the Dutch police, which is one of the world's most active phone tappers, listening in to 12,000 phone numbers every year. But privacy lobbyists say the new handset is a "freedomphone" much more than a "terrorphone." "It's a tremendous step forward, because the level of surveillance by authorities is breathtaking," said Simon Davies, director of Privacy International in Britain. Cryptophone says unlike rivals such as Sweden's Sectra, Swiss Crypto AG and Germany's Rohde & Schwarz, it has no ties to national security and defense organizations and that there is no back door for government agencies. "We allow everyone to check the security for themselves, because we're the only ones who publish the source code," said Rop Gonggrijp at Amsterdam-based NAH6. Gonggrijp, who helped develop the software, owns a stake in Germany's GSMK. <snip> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20031118/tc_nm/tech_cellp…

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How The Wright Brothers Blew It
by R. A. Hettinga 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

For the better part of a decade, now, I've compared David Chaum to the Wright Brothers... Read the article, and try to keep from laughing -- or blushing in the shock of recognition. National monopolies only worked for dynamite. The Chaum patents expire in less than a year. Cheers, RAH ----- <http://www.forbes.com/2003/11/19/1119aviation_print.html> Forbes A Century Of Flight How The Wright Brothers Blew It Phaedra Hise, 11.19.03, 7:00 AM ET The Flyer takes off from Kill Devil Hill, with Orville Wright at the controls, while his brother Wilbur looks on, on Dec. 17, 1903. In 1905 the Wright brothers enjoyed a complete monopoly on heavier-than-air aviation. They had the world's only working airplane, were the only two pilots able to fly it, and had applied for a formidable patent that would cover any plane with three-axis control. Yet within five years they would regularly be surpassed by competitors at home and abroad, and before what was remembered as the Golden Age of Aviation arrived in the 1920s, they would be out of the aircraft business entirely. What happened? <Snip...> -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah(a)ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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OpenLinux: Key validity bug in GnuPG 1.2.1 and earlier (fwd)
by Thomas Shaddack 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2003 10:56:58 -0800 Subject: OpenLinux: Key validity bug in GnuPG 1.2.1 and earlier From: security(a)sco.com To: announce(a)lists.caldera.com, bugtraq(a)securityfocus.com, full-disclosure(a)lists.netsys.com, security-alerts(a)linuxsecurity.com

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Ashcroft's bake sale, no questions allowed, gvt-issued photo ID required
by Declan McCullagh 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

PRESS GUIDANCE WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2003 ATTORNEY GENERAL WASHINGTON, D.C.- Attorney General John Ashcroft will deliver welcoming remarks at the Department of Justice Fallfest at 11:10 A.M. EST. Local farmers will offer herbs, jams, baked goods, and fresh-from-the-farm seasonal vegetables for purchase. CFC charities that work to reduce hunger in our community will be present. There will be no questions and answers. WHO: Attorney General Ashcroft WHAT: Remarks at the Department of Justice Fallfest WHEN: 11:10 A.M. EST Media arrival and registration BY 10:00 A.M. EST due to extra security measures WHERE: The Great Hall Main Justice Building Constitution Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20530 NOTE: Media must enter the Department at the center entrance on Constitution Avenue, N.W., between Ninth and Tenth Street. ALL media MUST PRESENT GOVERNMENT-ISSUED PHOTO ID (such as driver's license) as well as VALID MEDIA CREDENTIALS. A mult-box will be available. Press inquiries regarding logistics should be directed to Heather Cutchens at (202) 532-5403. Attorney General John Ashcroft will hold a photo-op with Solicitor General of Canada Wayne Easter at 12:00 P.M. EST. There will be no questions and answers.

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New PGP Universal beta: PGP and S/MIME
by Lucky Green 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

Cpunks, I spent the last few months working at PGP on a nifty new solution to an old problem: how to get email encryption deployed more widely without requiring user education. Since ideas for solving this problem have been discussed on this mailing list for over 10 years now, some of you might wish to take a peek at the solution that we came up with. The public beta of PGP Universal 1.1 is now yours to download for free from http://www.pgp.com/products/beta1.1.html One of the many interesting features of our approach is the ability to secure all users of a mail server, without the users needing to understand what encryption is or does, no need for MUA-specific plugins, interchangeable use of PGP keys or S/MIME, and much more. And yes, you can still keep your 4096-bit RSA key on your PC only. I am using PGP Universal myself. It is really cool. Note that the download of PGP Universal is 322MB in size and requires a dedicated x86 server to install. Have fun, --Lucky Green <shamrock(a)cypherpunks.to>

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EDRI-gram: RFID-blocker wins German idea-contest
by Thomas Shaddack 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 16:26:40 +0100 (CET) Subject: EDRI-gram newsletter - Number 22, 19 November 2003 From: EDRI-gram newsletter <edrigram(a)edri.org> To: edri-news(a)edri.org <snip> ================================================================== 6. RFID-DETECTOR WINS GERMAN IDEA-CONTEST ================================================================== The German civil rights and privacy-organisation FoeBuD is the winner of an idea-contest for a national awareness campaign about the infringement of civil liberties through new technologies. With the price of 15.000 Euro, FoeBuD wants to develop a 'Dataprivatizer', a tool to detect RFID's, minuscule spy-chips that are increasingly built into consumer goods. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) are tiny computer chips with an antenna that can be read without touching or even seeing it. These transponders can be built into every yoghurt cup or piece of clothing. The chips can secretly divulge information about the buyer. With these data firms can set up profiles about the shopping behaviour and leisure activities of their customers. This is not a remote future. The German chain of supermarkets and DIY-stores Metro AG already won a Big Brother Award last month for implementing this technology. Idea contest (winner announced 06.11.2003) http://www.bridge-ideas.de <snip>

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Re: [silk] bloody hell. (fwd from udhay@pobox.com)
by Eugen Leitl 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

----- Forwarded message from Udhay Shankar N <udhay(a)pobox.com> -----

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[linux-elitists] STANFORD LOCAL: Wednesday 19 November 2003: Microsoft will claim that Palladium is good for you, Richard Stallman asks your help in telling the truth (fwd from jays@panix.com)
by Eugen Leitl 19 Nov '03

19 Nov '03

----- Forwarded message from Jay Sulzberger <jays(a)panix.com> -----

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