-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- On Fri, 21 Jul 95 8:46:26 -0600, Paul Elliott <paul.elliott@hrnowl.lonestar.org> wrote:
Many of the leaders of the major net civil liberties organizations have made statements concerning SB 974. They seem to agree that no action alert or coalition on SB 974 should be formed at this time. [...]
I remain concerned about this bill and am not satisfied with the response to this bill.
Your points are well taken, but I'm still in favor of concentrating on the Exon bill until such time as SB 974 shows any signs of support from other politicians. Both bills are preposterous, of course: unconstitutional and unenforceable. There's one particularly absurd aspect to SB 974 that I haven't seen mentioned on the Cypherpunks list, possibly because it goes without saying. I'll say it anyway, first quoting the relevant portion of the bill: `Sec. 1030A. Racketeering-related crimes involving computers `(a) It shall be unlawful [...(1) snipped -- ADW] `(2) to distribute computer software that encodes or encrypts electronic or digital communications to computer networks that the person distributing the software knows or reasonably should know, is accessible to foreign nationals [...] One area where the U.S. has retained strong international competitiveness is its colleges and universities. The number of these institutions that have no foreign nationals enrolled is *damn* small, and largely comprises "Ace's Truck Driving College" and the like. Foreign nationals who are in this country to attend college are exempt from the usual I-9 employment restrictions; hence, many are also employed at full-time summer jobs, internships (in government or the private sector), teaching assistantships, or work-study positions, which may involve access to computer networks. (Many foreign nationals complete medical residencies in U.S. hospitals, for example.) Preventing these people from having access to crypto software is simply impossible. This bill would make criminals out of thousands of network administrators and MIS types, simply for having crypt() or Norton Diskreet around. If the bill gains any momentum whatsoever, I expect howls of protest from the academic world. I'm not sure a megabuck lobbying effort by private industry will be necessary: letters from Computing Services honchos at some prestigious schools/hospitals/corporations should induce even the most technically clueless congressdroids to pull their heads out of their asses on this issue...(OK, maybe not Jamf-^H^Hes Exon, but enough of 'em to prevent the bill's passage.) Anyway, I'm glad nobody's suggested a Cypherpunk SB 974 infomercial, financed "by each according to his ability to pay," as happened during the Clipper debate...maybe the list *is* evolving...:-) OK, back to your regularly scheduled Trans- and Cross-Continental Realtime Virtual Kneecapping & Interface Flamefest, a perennial Cypherpunk favorite! Alan Westrope <awestrop@nyx10.cs.du.edu> __________/|-, <adwestro@ouray.cudenver.edu> (_) \|-' 2.6.2 public key: finger / servers PGP 0xB8359639: D6 89 74 03 77 C8 2D 43 7C CA 6D 57 29 25 69 23 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQCVAwUBMBAh3FRRFMq4NZY5AQGDswP+KwtgTTnZszFOsHAUIqM/UEftkBLmnKJs kyFnhnqyYk+Oe2CS7pqjrV36O3XqvnFvJx6RzPdCgcR1J97ytjP7izACLoYHSjVR Fzsedf5SxynppZqAlTMz1dWozyO28F0RcTvmPG+Aid0EtXOgdii90MCH93Z7XC4o iViIX46al84= =519b -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----