(In the interest of self-consistency note that this also includes the "warrantless wiretapping" and "emergency powers for computer crimes" concerns which I don't think have been argued persuasively enough or with enough weight to overcome the proposal and which I don't think constitute the worst threats. But there's more here of much value.) FYI: Electronic Frontier Foundation ACTION ALERT (Issued: Monday, September 17, 2001 / Deadline: Friday, September 21, 2001) Introduction: San Francisco, California - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today urged governmental officials to act deliberately in the coming days and to approve only measures that are effective in preventing terrorism while protecting the freedoms of Americans. Your urgent action is needed TODAY. In a press conference earlier today, Attorney General John Ashcroft indicated that he would be asking Congress to expand the ability of law enforcement officers to perform wiretaps in response to the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Ashcroft asked Congress to pass anti-terrorism legislation including "expanded electronic surveillance" by the end of this week. Ashcroft's comments come in the wake of the Senate's hasty passage of the "Combating Terrorism Act" on the evening of September 13 with less than 30 minutes of consideration on the Senate floor. EFF believes this broad legislation would result in unintended negative consequences for civil liberties of law-abiding citizens by making it unnecessary for law enforcement officers to obtain a court wiretap order before requiring Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to release e-mail message header information and Internet browsing patterns of their subscribers. The bill would also authorize local U.S. attorneys to authorize certain surveillance orders. The Combating Terrorism Act is presently a Senate-passed amendment to a House appropriations bill. It is expected to be voted on in joint conference committee this week, or early next week at the latest. The House has already passed the "base" bill, while the Senate has passed it plus the wiretapping amendment. The House delegates several Representatives to meet with several Senators, who will collectively decide what amendments the final, joint version will include. This final version is then voted on by the full House and Senate. This only real pressure point is the conference committee; whatever emerges will almost certainly pass both houses near-unanimously. What YOU Can Do Now: * Contact the conference committee members and your legislators about this issue AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Call them, and fax and/or email the EFF letter below today. Postal mail will be too slow on this issue. Feel free to use this letter verbatim, or modify it as you wish. Let them know that you do not believe liberty must be sacrificed for security. Please be polite and concise, but firm. For information on how to contact your legislators and other government officials, see EFF's "Contacting Congress and Other Policymakers" guide at: http://www.eff.org/congress.html * Join EFF! For membership information see: http://www.eff.org/support/ Sample Letters: There are two sample letters below, one to the conference committee members, and one to your own legislators. Use this sample letter below to conference committee members or modify it, and send to all of the following: Representatives: To be determined; conferees not publicly announced yet. Check the web-posted version of this alert for an update tomorrow: http://www.eff.org/alerts/20010917_eff_wiretap_alert.html Senators: Name (State), Phone (202-224-####), Fax (202-224-####), Email Patrick Leahy (VT), 4242, 3479, senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov Ernest Hollings (SC), 6121, 4293, none Daniel Inouye (HI), 3934, 6747, senator@inouye.senate.gov Barbara Mikulski (MD), 4654, 8858, senator@mikulski.senate.gov Herb Kohl (WI), 5653, 9787, senator_kohl@kohl.senate.gov Patty Murray (WA), 2621, 0238, senator_murray@murray.senate.gov Jack Reed (RI), 4642, 4680, jack@reed.senate.gov Robert Byrd (WV), 3954, 0002, senator_byrd@byrd.senate.gov Judd Gregg (NH), 3324, 4952, mailbox@gregg.senate.gov Ted Stevens (AK), 3004, 2354, senator_stevens@stevens.senate.gov Pete Domenici (NM), 6621, none, senator_domenici@domenici.senate.gov Mitch McConnell (KY), 2541, 2499, senator@mcconnell.senate.gov Kay Hutchison (TX), 5922, 0776, senator@hutchison.senate.gov Ben Campbell (CO), 5852, 1933, none Thad Cochran (MS), 5054, 9450, senator@cochran.senate.gov Dear Sen./Rep. [Surname] and Other H.R. 2500 Conference Committee Members: I write to express my gravest concern over aspects of the Congressional response to the tragedies of September 11. While I share your grief and anger in no uncertain terms, I do not believe that sacrificing essential liberties in a vain hope of improving security is good for America or the world. Security can be improved without privacy invasion, and we cannot win an attack on freedom by attacking that freedom ourselves. I specifically object to H.R. 2500 amendment S.A. 1562 sections 816, 832, 833, and 834, and any similar measures, such as those proposed by Attorney General Ashcroft, as well as recent calls for measures that would thwart Americans' use of secure encryption. I also object to provisions being passed in response to terrorism but which have nothing to do with terrorism, such as "emergency" wiretaps against simple computer crime incidents. I urge you to vote AGAINST incorporating the above-mentioned sections of S.A. 1562 into the final version of H.R. 2500, and to vote against any similar amendments expanding wiretap powers, online monitoring, warrantless pen register or trap and trace authority, censorship, or restrictions on encryption. The United States should not take steps toward becoming a police state, or otherwise undermine our own freedom in the name of defending that freedom from terrorist attack, or the terrorists have already won. This is a time for careful consideration, not passing legislation without debate or careful consideration of the consequences. Sincerely, [Your name & address] (Be sure to correct the salutation - use EITHER Sen. or Rep., and use the correct name.) If one of the conference committee members if your Rep. or Sen., mention that you are a constituent, as in the letter below.) Use this sample letter to YOUR legislators or modify it, and send to their Washington fax and e-mail, which you can get this from Project Vote Smart: http://www.vote-smart.org/vote-smart/data.phtml?dtype=C&style= or the House: http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html and Senate: http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm websites. Dear Sen./Rep. [Surname] I write as a constituent to express my gravest concern over aspects of the Congressional response to the tragedies of September 11. While I share your grief and anger in no uncertain terms, I do not believe that sacrificing essential liberties in a vain hope of improving security is good for America or the world. Security can be improved without privacy invasion, and we cannot win an attack on freedom by attacking that freedom ourselves. I urge you to vote AGAINST H.R. 2500 should it emerge from conference committee with amendment S.A. 1562 attached, and to vote against any similar legislation expanding wiretap powers, online monitoring, warrantless pen register or trap and trace authority, censorship, or restrictions on encryption. The United States should not take steps toward becoming a police state, or otherwise undermine our own freedom in the name of defending that freedom from terrorist attack, or the terrorists have already won. This is a time for careful consideration, not passing legislation without debate or careful consideration of the consequences. I specifically object to S.A. 1562 sections 816, 832, 833, and 834, and any similar measures, such as those proposed by Attorney General Ashcroft, as well as recent calls for measures that would thwart Americans' use of secure encryption. I also object to provisions being passed in response to terrorism but which have nothing to do with terrorism, such as "emergency" wiretaps against simple computer crime incidents. Sincerely, [Your name & address] (Be sure to correct the salutation - use EITHER Sen. or Rep., and use the correct name.) Non-US Activists Non-US readers can probably have little impact on the US Congress's votes on these matters, and could even affect them negatively. Your best course of action is to contact your own legislators/parliamentarians and urge them to avoid similar policies in your own country. Privacy Campaign: This drive to contact your legislators about unprecedented wiretap power expansion is part of a larger campaign to highlight how extensively companies and governmental agencies subject us to surveillance and share and use personal information online & offline, and what you can do about it. Check the EFF Privacy Now! Campaign website regularly for additional alerts and news: http://www.eff.org/privnow/ Background: During the Congressional session considering the Combating Terrorism Act, which was introduced as amendment S.A. 1562 to an omnibus appropriations bill, H.R. 2500, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) expressed concern that he was asked to vote so rapidly on such important legislation within minutes of receiving it and without conducting hearings in the Intelligence, Armed Services and Judiciary committees: Maybe the Senate wants to just go ahead and adopt new abilities to wiretap our citizens. Maybe they want to adopt new abilities to go into people's computers. Maybe that will make us feel safer. Maybe. And maybe what the terrorists have done made us a little bit less safe. Maybe they have increased Big Brother in this country. If that is what the Senate wants, we can vote for it. But do we really show respect to the American people by slapping something together, something that nobody on the floor can explain, and say we are changing the duties of the Attorney General, the Director of the CIA, the U.S. attorneys, we are going to change your rights as Americans, your rights to privacy? We are going to do it with no hearings, no debate. We are going to do it with numbers on a page that nobody can understand. EFF shares Senator Leahy's concerns in this time of national crisis. EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn commented, "These proposals significantly impact the civil liberties of Americans. We urge legislators to please slow down and consider the long-term consequences of your votes." "I believe that deep in their souls, Americans understand that the reason this country is so great--is so worth defending--is because it is free," explained EFF Executive Director Shari Steele. "We should be very careful to make sure that any legislation that passes is truly needed to address national security concerns." During World War I, the US Congress hastily passed the Espionage Act which was notorious for decreasing freedoms without improving the security of the American public, under which Congress granted the Postmaster General (who delegated it to 55,000 local postmasters) the authority to read any mail and remove any material that might "embarrass" the government in conducting the war effort. The Combating Terrorism Act (S1562) passed by the Senate: http://www.eff.org/sc/wiretap_bill.html Senator Leahy's testimony on the Combating Terrorism Act: http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2001/s091301.html EFF analysis of the Combating Terrorism Act [coming soon]: http://www.eff.org/sc/eff_wiretap_bill_analysis.html Why "backdoor" encryption requirements reduce security: http://www.crypto.com/papers/escrowrisks98.pdf EFF Surveillance Archive: http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/ About EFF: The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression, privacy, and openness in the information society. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most linked-to Web sites in the world: http://www.eff.org Contact: Cindy Cohn, EFF Legal Director cindy@eff.org +1 415-436-9333 x108 Lee Tien, EFF Senior First Amendment Attorney tien@eff.org +1 415-436-9333 x102