---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 30 Aug 1994 09:18:10 -0700 From: email list server <listserv@Sunnyside.COM> To: cpsr-announce@Sunnyside.COM Subject: Wiretap Bill Alert Wiretap Bill Alert Voter's Telecommunications Watch (VTW) has issued the attached alert on the pending FBI Wiretap Bill. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) is working in conjunction with VTW and other organiza- tions to educate the public on this legislation. Your involvement is crucial -- please contact Rep. Jack Brooks IMMEDIATELY. EPIC is a project of the Fund for Constitutional Government and Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. =================================================================== Subject: INFO: Status of the Digital Telephony bills (SB 2375 & HR 4922) From: shabbir@panix.com (Shabbir J. Safdar) Date: 29 Aug 1994 23:28:26 -0400 Message-ID: <33u90q$8mk@panix2.panix.com> [updated August 29, 1994 shabbir] ********************************************************************* DISTRIBUTE WIDELY ********************************************************************* Table of contents: Status of the bills Five things you can do RIGHT now to stop Digital Telephony Records of legislators supporting/opposing/wavering on DT Digital Telephony bill FAQ The VTW Press Release Sample Letter To The Editor Who are we and how can you contact us? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STATUS OF THE BILLS (updated 8/10/94) Aug 18, 94 HR 4922 reported back to committee (write to Rep. Jack Brooks!) Aug 11, 94 Sen. Leahy & Rep. Edwards hold a joint hearing on the bills in Wash. DC at 1pm in Rayburn 2237. Aug 10, 94 HR 4922 referred to Subcomm. on Civil and Constitutional Rights Aug 10, 94 SB 2375 referred to Subcomm. on Technology and the Law Aug 9, 94 Rep. Hyde officially cosponsors HR 4922 Aug 9, 94 HR 4922 referred to House Judiciary Committee Aug 9, 94 SB 2375 referred to Senate Judiciary Committee Aug 9, 94 Identical House and Senate bills are announced by their respective sponsors, Rep. Don Edwards (D-CA) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) EFF states the legislation is "not necessary". VTW will be monitoring this legislation in the same way that we monitored the Cantwell bill, with the blow by blow, day to day updates that cost us significant long distance bills. :-) We're not asking for money though. Don't send us money; we don't want it and it causes us bookkeeping work. Call/write your legislator instead and relay to them the sample communiques below. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FIVE THINGS YOU CAN DO *RIGHT* NOW (in their order of importance) 1. Write to the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Jack Brooks (D-TX) and ask him to oppose the Digital Telephony bill. (HR 4922) 2. Fax/mail a copy of the VTW press release to your local newspaper, tv station, call-in show (everything from NPR to Rush Limbaugh), etc. 3. Write to your legislator (especially if s/he is on the Judiciary Committee (House or Senate) and ask that they oppose the Digital Telephony bills. (SB 2375/HR 4922) 4. Forward a copy of this FAQ to three friends who don't know about it. Or, print it out and place it on a bulletin board at work, at school, hand it out, etc. 5. Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, opposing the Digital Telephony bill. 1. CALL/WRITE TO REP. JACK BROOKS, HOUSE JUDICIARY COMM. CHAIRMAN Sample phone Communique: Rep. Jack Brooks Phone: (202) 225-6565 Dear Mr. Brooks, The recent Digital Telephony bills (HR 4922 & SB 2375) disturb me greatly. The FBI has not yet made their case that justifies building wiretap functionality into the telephones of 250 million people to justify the privacy intrusion. Please oppose HR 4922 and SB 2375. Sincerely, _______________________ Sample fax/letter Communique: Rep. Jack Brooks 2449 RHOB Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (202) 225-6565 Fax: (202) 225-1584 The Honorable Jack Brooks, Please oppose Senator Leahy's and Representative Edwards' Digital Telephony bills (HR 4922 & SB 2375). This legislation asks us, the American public, to trade our privacy to ensure law enforcement's future ability to continue to perform wiretaps. Unfortunately, the FBI has yet to make its case to the public to prove that it is unable to administer significant numbers of wiretaps. Telecommunications technology is very new and the change of pace in it is very rapid. The Digital Telephony bills are premature and should not be considered until: -the standards bodies are appointed and include privacy rights groups (not just the Electronic Frontier Foundation) at both the technical and policy levels -the standards are defined and accepted by the three stakeholders (law enforcement, common carriers, and privacy rights groups) -an adequate oversight agency has been given the authority previously allocated to the FCC -the technology has advanced to a point where the effect of such a broad ruling on the undustry can be ascertained. Please oppose HR 4922 & SB 2375. Sincerely, _______________________ If you want to help make legislators responsible for their actions, report this information back to vtw@vtw.org. We'll add their position to our database. 2. Take the press release attached and fax/mail/email it to local tv stations, radio stations, callin shows, newspapers, etc. Drop a note to vtw@vtw.org, where we'll track the coverage. 3. Forward this file to your friends and coworkers. Use it when you phone call-in shows; educate everyone you know. This is literally a "net" effort. Few people outside of the Internet know about this legislation; they would be horrified to discover its existence. Help educate them. 4. Call/write your legislator and ask them to oppose the Digital Telephony bill. Use the sample communiques above. To find your own legislator, contact the League of Women Voters in your area. 5. Write a letter to your local newspaper's editorial page about the Digital Telephony bill. We have attached a sample editorial page letter that you might base your letter upon. Feel free to use significant license. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LIST OF LEGISLATORS SUPPORTING/OPPOSING/WAVERING ON DIGITAL TELEPHONY -REPRESENTATIVES All addresses are Washington, D.C. 20515 Dist ST Name, Address, and Party Phone Fax ==== == ======================== ============== ============== 16 CA Edwards, Donald (D) 1-202-225-3072 1-202-225-9460 2307 RHOB House sponsor of the 1994 Digital Telephony bill 6 IL Hyde, Henry J. (R) 1-202-225-4561 1-202-226-1240 2110 RHOB Cosponsor of the 1994 Digital Telephony bill -SENATORS P ST Name and Address Phone Fax = == ======================== ============== ============== D VT Leahy, Patrick J. 1-202-224-4242 na 433 RSOB Washington, D.C. 20510 Senate sponsor of the 1994 Digital Telephony bill ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DIGITAL TELEPHONY BILL FAQ What are the (DT) Digital Telephony bills and where did they come from? The DT bills were initially introduced by the Bush administration presumably at the request of the FBI. The initial proposals were very unpopular and met with great opposition, preventing them from moving through Congress. The current incarnations of the legislation (SB 2375 & HR 4922) have several features, but basically require the same thing: common carriers must be able to provide law enforcement officers with court orders access to personal communications. (eg, if the FBI presents a court order for a wiretap on your phone calls to NYNEX, NYNEX should be able to provide the FBI with the ability to intercept your communications under the terms of the court order.) To do this will require changes in the telephone equipment we use today. Since this will obviously cost money, the bill appropriates $500 million in Federal money to these carriers to compensate them for the changes. Does this include bulletin boards and Internet sites like Netcom, America OnLine? No, the legislation specifically identifies common carriers. Information Services, such as these above, are not common carriers. How will this affect me? Imagine there's a giant socket on the side of the phone company's equipment that says "FOR FBI USE ONLY" in giant red letters. Imagine if the fine for not implementing that socket was $10,000 per day for the phone company. How many communications carriers do you think will make any noise about the privacy of their customers' communications? Now imagine that you were asked to pay the bill for this. The proposed budget for implementing this functionality is $500 million dollars for 1995-1998. Just how many wiretaps per year are there? In 1992 there were less than 1,000 wiretaps performed. It is important to note that the legislation is targeted towards wiretaps that the government says they cannot implement. Since there is thus far no published evidence of unimplementable wiretaps, turning the nation's phone system into a giant eavesdropping device to prevent a problem which has not yet been documented or become widespread, sacrifies too much privacy for too little gain. Is there ever a legitimate need for law enforcement to conduct wiretaps? Yes, according to the 1992 Government Accounting Office's "Report on Applications for Orders Authorizing or Approving the Interception of Wire, Oral, or Electronic Communications (Wiretap Report)", there were 919 wiretaps authorized in 1992 (there were no requests denied). There were 607 individuals convicted as a result of these wiretaps. Although this is not an excessive amount, it is not ignorable either. However 607 convictions is infinitesmally small when one considers the number of people convicted yearly in the US. Furthermore, the report does not specify if any wiretaps were unimplementable because of advancing technology. The FBI maintains that advancing technology will prevent this, though this has not yet been documented. VTW feels that until the the FBI makes their case to the public, this bill should not be considered as legislation. Why should I be worried about this bill? THE BILL IS VAGUE REGARDING STANDARDS SETTING The bill requires industry standards groups to be formed to work with law enforcement to create technical standards for this functionality. There are a number of problems with this. First is that these standards bodies may not have even been appointed yet, giving incredible power to a presently unnamed group that will be responsible for appointing those bodies. Secondly, these standards bodies do not currently include any public input. There is a delicate balance involved in wiretapping vs. a citizen's privacy. The standards bodies that are proposed do not have any provisions for public input. Public-interest and/or privacy groups should be included at every level (including the technical level) in order to ensure that this balance is found. Without such input, the standards are likely to sacrifice privacy while giving more functionality than is needed by law enforcement to do its job. THE STANDARDS SHOULD BE ACCEPTED BEFORE THE LEGISLATION IS PROPOSED The DT legislation is vague regarding the standards for wiretapping functionality. Many of the questions and problems we have with this legislation stem from the vagueness of the details regarding the standards. The standards body should be appointed (with representatives from law enforcement, industry, and the public at both the technical and high level) and the standards accepted before the legislation is proposed. THE BILL PUTS GREAT POWER INTO STANDARDS AND COMMITTEES THAT DO NOT EXIST YET By empowering standards bodies that do not exist, and mandating standards that do not yet exist, great power is given to those individuals who can appoint the members of the standards bodies. Furthermore, no process is mandated for the appointment of the members of these standards bodies. THE BILL DOES NOT APPOINT AN ADEQUATE OVERSIGHT AUTHORITY In many situations the (FCC) Federal Communications Commission is appointed to be the final arbiter if industry standard bodies cannot agree on technical standards. The FCC currently serves the interest of industry in regulating the communication carriers. Because the Commission serves the interest of both groups, there is a conflict of interest. A different ageny should be appointed and given the FCC's oversight authority. TELECOMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY IS NOT MATURE Telecommunications is a very new technology. Within the last twenty years, we have seen amazing advances in the technology. Ordering the implementation of such a broad privacy- sensitive function will have far-reaching effects on the future of the technology. This legislation should wait until the technology is more stable. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRESS RELEASE [Please fax this to your local newspaper] Voter's Telecommunications Watch invites fellow citizens to join its media awareness campaign by emailing or faxing this press release to one of two media institutions. East of the Mississippi: Burlington Times email: _________ fax: ___________ West of the Mississippi: San Jose Mercury-News email: _________ fax: ___________ VTW is also experimenting with a fax/email chain letter. The document "An Open Letter on Digital Telephony" is currently circulating the Internet. VTW has also prepared an FAQ for Digital Telephony. Point your gopher to panix.com (port 70) and check under the VTW main menu entry, or use the URL: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEW YORK, NY -- 08/22/94 -- Contrary to popular belief, not all online civil libertarians support the Government's attempts to ensure the FBI can wiretap every citizen. Voter's Telecommunications Watch (VTW), a New York-based online activism group, working in conjunction with the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and other privacy advocates, is working to energize and focus the grassroots opposition to the recently introduced Leahy-Edwards Digital Telephony Bill (H.R. 4922, S. 2375). The Digital Telephony Bill would require telecommunications service providers to design all their equipment to allow FBI agents and other government officials to wiretap any telephone conversation -- only if there is a court order permitting it, of course, the FBI promises. Adding this feature to the telecommunications system is costly -- so costly that the bill appropriates $500 million taxpayer dollars to reimburse phone companies for their "reasonable" expenses. "It's objectionable for the FBI to try to make us pay for invading our own privacy," says Alexis Rosen, co-founder of Public Access Networks Corporation, a regional public Internet provider. According to FBI Director Louis Freeh, there were 183 wiretaps in 1993 that would have been facilitated by the digital telephony mandates. "Should we really spend half a billion dollars for a couple of hundred wiretaps that compromise the privacy of two hundred million Americans?" asks Simona Nass, President of the Society for Electronic Access, a New York-based organization devoted to issues of civil liberties and public access. VTW is spearheading a drive to defeat the bill. Using the Internet to keep millions of electronically-connected citizens informed, VTW workers have put together summaries and analyses of the legislation and are tracking the bill's movements through the byzantine halls of Congress. Using this informations, citizens can inundate their representatives at optimum moments. VTW is tracking each influential legislators' position on the Digital Telephony initiative, and periodically publishes a scorecard summary of their positions, party, districts and contact information. To access VTW's anti-Digital Telephony effort, join the VTW electronic mailing list by sending Internet e-mail to vtw-list-request@panix.com. Information is also available via Internet Gopher in the VTW area of gopher.panix.com (port 70). For further information, contact Steven Cherry at 718-596-2851. PRESS CONTACT: Steven Cherry (718) 596-2851(voice mail) stc@acm.org (electronic mail) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SAMPLE LETTER TO THE EDITOR [Note, this is Steven Cherry's "Open Letter" on Digital Telephony. Please do not submit it to the New York Times. -Shabbir] An Open Letter Regarding Digital Telephony Digital Telephony, embodied in bills entered into Congress by Sen. Leahy (S.B. 2375) and Rep. Edwards (HR. 4922), would require that telecommunications carriers alter their equipment so as to allow wiretaps and similar surveillance to be performed at the companies' offices, or the offices of law enforcement. In a word, to make telecommunications equipment, "wiretap friendly"; to make a wiretap order executable "at the press of a button." With the help of some civil liberties activists, the bill admirably distinguishes between common carriers and information services. Only the former are subject to its provisions. But the distinction, while clear in the abstract, is hard to make in practice. The mom-and-pop neighborhood bulletin board service or Internet provider is excluded, but even if it is providing store-and-forward message-passing for an individual or other small provider? Indeed, the very definition of common carrier in the proposed legislation is problematic, as the definition relies on that used in the Communications Act of 1934, when just now that Act is being overhauled finally, after sixty years. The bill's authors have sensibly and cleverly left out of the legislation all the details of implementation. It is impossible to object to the bill on the grounds of being unworkable. It is also difficult to object on grounds of the risks to individual privacy, insofar as the risks are largely unquantifiable by virtue of being largely unknown. The very clever lack of any practical detail, however, leads the prudent citizen to question the public expenditure of $500,000,000 -- the figure is likely far too high, or far too low. Indeed, all we know is it is unlikely to be correct, and we therefore object to it as being unrealistic to the needs of the enterprise. In point of fact, one other thing is known about this figure -- it is but a fraction of the total expenditures resulting from the mandates of the bill. The balance will be borne by the common carriers, who, in turn, will either have to raise rates, reduce services, or restrict investment and expansion of their business at the very moment in the history of telecommunications that calls for them to do just the opposite. Indeed, the very forces of technological change that caused law enforcement to request this bill demand that it be defeated. We would like to return to the issue of increased risks for a moment. While unquantifiable, they are equally undeniable. The more facile the system, the more it will be overused and error-ridden. We must of course balance risk with reward. Who would refuse an extra paycheck for fear of getting a papercut? We must ask, what are the rewards of digital telephony? The FBI Director has variously stated the number of cases where a wiretapping was subverted by a digital switch or signal, offering contradictory figures from a low of 80 to a high of 183. The Director has not said all of them, or even any of them, were cases where a conviction was not obtained, or where a conviction could have been obtained with the wiretap, or could only have been attained with a wiretap. Of course, only these last possible instances really lend any justification to digital telephony. It is quite clear that digital technology offers more challenges to law enforcement than digital switches and signals. The object of a wiretap can easily use unbreakable encryption to protect the privacy of his or her communications. While the transmission of a message would be intercepted, the content would still evade the eyes and ears of law enforcement. Indeed, any, or all, of these 80 or 183 cases could have been subsequently frustrated by encryption even had digital telephony solved the initial digital barrier. Let us state the potential rewards as generously as possible -- or even more generously than possible. There were approximately 1000 wiretaps in 1993. Let us imagine, contrary to actual fact, all of these to be subverted by digital technology. Let us imagine the number to double in coming years. (Any or all of which could remain private through encryption.) 2000 cases. Weighed against these are the 200 million Americans whose security and privacy are compromised by digital telephony. Well, what if the number of wiretaps doubles again, and again and again? Don't 20,000 or 30,000 wiretaps, hypothetically, justify? Perhaps. But what kind of society needs so many police listening in on the private lives of so many people? At what point do we regret the lack of a public policy debate on mass wiretapping of the American citizenry? We do not live in a police state nor will we. And so we are back to supposing a massive technological effort at great expense to achieve a modest wiretapping program of small, perhaps almost nonexistent, benefit. To sum up, it is as if the entire city of population 25,000, were to have its telephone system restructured, its citizen's phone privacy compromised, all to make effective a wiretap on a single alleged drug peddler or gangster, which wiretap may or may not help in convicting the offender, if indeed he or she is guilty. All at a cost of $62,500 to the taxpayers, and more to the local telephone companies and their ratepayers. For all these reasons, the unclarity, the expense, the risks to privacy, and the lack of substantive benefits, separately and together, we oppose this bill. Steven Cherry stc@acm.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTACT INFORMATION The Voters Telecomm Watch is a volunteer organization dedicated to monitoring federal legislation that affects telecommunications and civil liberties. We are based primarily out of New York, though we have volunteers throughout the US. Voters Telecomm Watch keeps scorecards on legislators' positions on legislation that affects telecommunications and civil liberties. If you have updates to a legislator's positions, from either: -public testimony, -reply letters from the legislator, -stated positions from their office, please contact vtw@vtw.org so they can be added to this list. Voice mail: (718) 596-2851 General questions: vtw@vtw.org Mailing List Requests: vtw-list-request@vtw.org Press Contact: stc@vtw.org Gopher URL: gopher://gopher.panix.com:70/11/vtw WWW URL: We're working on it. :-) --- CPSR ANNOUNCE LIST END --- To alter or end your subscription to this mailing list, write to listserv@cpsr.org. For general information send the message: HELP To unsubscribe, send the message: UNSUBSCRIBE CPSR-ANNOUNCE You need to do this from the same machine you subscribed from. In both cases, leave the subject blank, or at least not resembling an error message.