This messages makes some good points about scary provisions being discussed for the "NII" National Information Infrastructure. I had not see the language included about "Developing electronic cash systems that would maintain the privacy of individuals from merchants and banks, but would allow law enforcement to trace the flow of the electronic cash, given proper court orders." Mix this in with Digital Telephony, Software Key Escrow (GAK), the deals being cut with the telecom suppliers, the weird goings on between RSADSI and Cylink, the surge in talk about national ID cards (immigration, jobs, Cuba, etc.), and you get a strange brew indeed. --Tim Newsgroups: comp.org.cpsr.talk,comp.org.eff.talk,misc.legal.computing From: mkj@world.std.com Subject: Check out IITF.DOC.GOV Message-ID: <CwyM4E.220@world.std.com> Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA Date: Fri, 30 Sep 1994 20:26:37 GMT Everybody knows that Al Gore is hot on this "National Information Infrastructure" thing. What many people may not fully appreciate -- or at least, what I'm just discovering myself -- is the sheer enormity of the disaster going on as we speak, under the banner of the "Information Infrastructure Task Force" (IITF). If you haven't already done so, I highly recommend an enlightening browse on the iitf.doc.gov site (ftp & gopher at standard ports, http at port 70). ^^^^^^^^^^^^ (NOTE: Individuals in fragile health should always consult a physician before exposing themselves to detailed information about their government's activities. Have you ever felt like an ant in the path of a steamroller? YOU WILL ...) Although I've barely scratched the surface, I've already run across a number of items which might be of interest to folks here. The DOE, for instance, reports that they are working on "Developing electronic cash systems that would maintain the privacy of individuals from merchants and banks, but would allow law enforcement to trace the flow of the electronic cash, given proper court orders." Other spectacularly dubious achievements include the report of the Privacy Working Group, which never once acknowledges any individual right to privacy, and in fact devotes most of their report to various ways to increase the "willingness" of the public to divulge personal data; and the draft report of the Intellectual Property Working Group, which with a straight face characterizes most current Internet activity as illegal, and then goes on to outlaw the rest of it, while blandly noting that the public will require "education" in these matters. Also, of course, there are any number of hints of NII projects involving various intelligence agencies. Enjoy. --- mkj