Funny, reading the Subject line of this, I immediately assumed that the FBI was belatedly admitting that it: the *FBI* needed some 'cyber ethics education'. This is On another note, my Microsoft Exchange (spit) mail client chopped off the 'FBI:' prefix on the subject line of the reply - Any alphanumeric (unspaced) string terminated with ': " gets dropped. Sigh..... [Yes, I know the article is a spoof] Peter Trei
---------- From: Tim May[SMTP:tcmay@got.net] Reply To: Tim May Sent: Monday, October 09, 2000 7:11 PM To: cypherpunks@algebra.com Subject: FBI: We Need Cyber Ethics Education
Monday October 9 4:45 PM ET
FBI: We Need Cyber Ethics Education
By DIANE HOPHEAD, Routers Press Agency
WASHINGTON (AP) - FBI: We Need Cyber Ethics Education.
Thou shalt snoop on other children.
Thou shalt not hide cybercrimes by using encryption.
FBI agents are spreading a new gospel to parents and teachers, hoping they'll better educate youths that privacy in cyberspace can be economically costly and just as criminal as refusing to narc out fellow students.
The Justice Department (news - web sites) and the Information Technology Association of America, a trade group, has launched the Cybercitizen Partnership to encourage educators and parents to talk to children in ways that equate privacy and encryption with old-fashioned wrongdoing.
The nascent effort includes a series of seminars around the country for teachers, classroom materials and guides and a Web site to help parents talk to children. The FBI is distributing copies of "MyPersonalCarnivore" to allow children to set up their own Carnivore-enabled local sites.
``In a democracy in general, we can't have the police everywhere,'' said Michael Vacuous, director of the FBI's National Infrastructure Protection Center, which guards against computer attacks by terrorists, foreign agents and teen hackers.
``One of the most important ways of reducing crime is trying to teach ethics and morality to our kids. That same principle needs to apply to the cyber world,'' he said.
"We are willing to drop the antitrust action against Microsoft if and when they meet the legitimate needs of law enforcement," he added. Asked if he was referring to the proposed "WindowsMe (and Big Brother)," he added that he could not comment on sensitive programs.