SF Chronicle on Sen. Dianne Feinstein: "Feinstein Offline"
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 19 Feb 1998 12:52:39 -0800 (PST) From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> To: politech@vorlon.mit.edu Subject: SF Chronicle on Sen. Dianne Feinstein: "Feinstein Offline" **** Feinstein Offline Her law-and-order stance irks tech industry Jon Swartz, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, February 19, 1998 URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1998/02/19... Despite Silicon Valley's growing economic and political clout, a chorus of high-tech executives have complained that U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein is unresponsive and, at times, hostile to their interests -- especially when it comes to the Internet. ``She is in the forefront of senators voting against the Internet,'' said Jerry Berman, executive director of the liberal Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, D.C. ``On a scale of 1 to 10, in terms of being on the side of Internet freedom, she gets a 1.'' Feinstein voted in favor of bills banning the distribution of bomb-making instructions, pornography and personal information over the Internet. She wants to impose fines and jail terms for people who gamble online. She supports strict export controls on encrypted software. And she has joined the move to ban laptop computers on the Senate floor. ``Isn't it ironic that the senator from California and the former mayor of San Francisco appears to be running against the Internet?'' said Stanton McCandlish, program director at The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil libertarian organization in San Francisco. David Sobel, legal counsel at the nonpartisan Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., said Feinstein is ``perceived to be less supportive of the Internet and the computer industry than one would expect.'' Feinstein -- a rumored vice presidential candidate in 2000 -- dismisses the criticism as ``nonsense'' and says her record is ``replete'' with technology-friendly legisla tion in securities litigation reform, R&D tax credits and education. In September 1996, Feinstein was one of the few Democrats to override President Clinton's veto of the securities-litigation reform legislation that the high-tech industry desperately wanted. She also pushed hard for the permanent extension of R&D tax credits in both the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 and the 1996 Small Business Job Protection Act. Both bills were passed into law. But Feinstein's strong law enforcement stance works ``to the detriment'' of the Internet, Sobel said. ``She accepts, without question, law enforcement's claims about the dangers of the Internet.'' In Feinstein's view, ``This whole cyberspace is moving so fast that one has to be sure that kids are protected,'' she said. ``I'm concerned when kids blow themselves up by building bombs (they learned to make) over the Internet, when Social Security card numbers are made available online and when pedophiles punch up children's names. There is a philosophy that anything goes. ``I recognize the primacy of the First Amendment,'' she added. ``But privacy goes two ways. I think prudent laws to protect children may well be necessary. There should be a balance.'' Feinstein's most controversial stand is on encryption, the technology that allows digital information to be scrambled and sent securely over the Internet. Strong encryption is used within the United States to protect the transmission of credit-card numbers, trade secrets and other confidential information. But national security laws stretching back to the Cold War prohibit the export of software with strong encryption. Law enforcement officials want to be able to crack the code in case it's used by terrorists, drug traffickers, economic saboteurs or others plotting against the United States. High-tech companies say they want to be able to export software with strong encryption because they're losing billions of dollars in potential sales to foreign competitors who aren't subject to the same restrictions. A bill called the Security and Freedom Through Encryption (SAFE) Act, co-sponsored by Representative Anna Eshoo, D-Atherton, would relax export controls. But a rival bill co-written by Senators John McCain, R-Ariz., and Bob Kerry, D- Neb., titled the Secure Public Network Act would go the other way and impose controls on use of encrypted software domestically. Feinstein favors the latter bill but doesn't think it goes far enough. She thinks anyone who uses encrypted software should make a key to unlock their code available to law enforcement authorities. During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on encrypted software last fall, Feinstein said that nothing short of mandatory domestic control of encrypted software would be acceptable. She added that no high-tech CEO had contacted her about the issue. Feinstein's comments caused a furor. A January 15 letter from 26 high-tech executives sent exclusively to Feinstein stated: ``We were disappointed by your comments. . .implying that California companies are ambivalent regarding your position on encryption policy. ``California companies and industries nationwide are united in opposition to domestic and export controls,'' the letter stated. It closed with the names of chief executives from Netscape Communications, America Online, Pacific Bell, 3Com, Sun Microsystems, Autodesk, Adobe Systems, RSA Data Security and others. ``I was nothing short of shocked,'' said RSA Data Security CEO Jim Bidzos. ``For someone to take such an extreme position on such an important issue without touching base with her constituency is unbelievable.'' Explaining her position in an interview, Feinstein said, ``When a particular situation involves public safety, there should be some means for recovery of encrypted information by law enforcement that falls within the strict confines of due process of law. ``If industry can come up with a way to provide the same law enforcement access without a mandatory key-recovery system, I would support it,'' she said. [...]
At 12:53 PM -0800 2/19/98, Declan McCullagh wrote:
Feinstein Offline Her law-and-order stance irks tech industry Jon Swartz, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday,ÝFebruary 19, 1998
Or the version her innermost self expressed:
In Feinstein's view, ``This whole information thing is moving so fast that one has to be sure that kids are protected,'' she said. ``I'm concerned when kids blow themselves up by building bombs (they learned to make) by reading things in the encyclopedia. There is a philosophy that anything goes. This is why I support the repeal of the First Amendment and prison terms for thought criminals."
She's a buffoon who is probably the first one who'll be sent to the wall if there's ever a Second American Revolution. As for her concern about Social Security numbers being posted online, did it ever occur to her and her ilk that perhaps the problem is the widespread use of SS numbers by increasing numbers of government agencies, by requirements that banks use them, by requirements that motor vehicle departments use them, and so on? "Duh." The solution is not a new set of laws to felonize information like this, but the elimination of the SS number as a universal identifier. Far too late for that, of course, but Fineswine's laws won't help anybody. In fact, law enforcement will continue its abuse of SS numbers, its role in falsifying records and official documents, and so on. Let's try to be sure DiFi is in D.C. when Abu Nidal makes his move. --Tim May Just Say No to "Big Brother Inside" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^3,021,377 | black markets, collapse of governments.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- In <v03102809b11253ad78b7@[207.167.93.63]>, on 02/19/98 at 01:36 PM, Tim May <tcmay@got.net> said:
At 12:53 PM -0800 2/19/98, Declan McCullagh wrote:
Feinstein Offline Her law-and-order stance irks tech industry Jon Swartz, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, February 19, 1998
Or the version her innermost self expressed:
In Feinstein's view, ``This whole information thing is moving so fast that one has to be sure that kids are protected,'' she said. ``I'm concerned when kids blow themselves up by building bombs (they learned to make) by reading things in the encyclopedia. There is a philosophy that anything goes. This is why I support the repeal of the First Amendment and prison terms for thought criminals."
She's a buffoon who is probably the first one who'll be sent to the wall if there's ever a Second American Revolution.
Third. We had a Second American Revolution and we lost.
As for her concern about Social Security numbers being posted online, did it ever occur to her and her ilk that perhaps the problem is the widespread use of SS numbers by increasing numbers of government agencies, by requirements that banks use them, by requirements that motor vehicle departments use them, and so on?
"Duh."
The solution is not a new set of laws to felonize information like this, but the elimination of the SS number as a universal identifier. Far too late for that, of course, but Fineswine's laws won't help anybody. In fact, law enforcement will continue its abuse of SS numbers, its role in falsifying records and official documents, and so on.
Well this goes back to the "privacy rights" debate that has been going off and on the list for quite awhlie now. The key to the whole thing is not more bad laws and government regulation but removing the power of the State to collect the information in the first place. (If we didn't have the corrupt and bankrupt SS program then we wouldn't have to worry about how SS #'s were used would we?)
Let's try to be sure DiFi is in D.C. when Abu Nidal makes his move.
I figure the best time for a strike is during a Presidential Inagural Address or a State of the Union when all the players are in DC in one convenient location. - -- - --------------------------------------------------------------- William H. Geiger III http://users.invweb.net/~whgiii Geiger Consulting Cooking With Warp 4.0 Author of E-Secure - PGP Front End for MR/2 Ice PGP & MR/2 the only way for secure e-mail. OS/2 PGP 2.6.3a at: http://users.invweb.net/~whgiii/pgpmr2.html - --------------------------------------------------------------- Tag-O-Matic: "Luke! I'm your father!" Bill Gates, 1980 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.3a-sha1 Charset: cp850 Comment: Registered_User_E-Secure_v1.1b1_ES000000 iQCVAwUBNOy5/49Co1n+aLhhAQGZKgQAqO2SySNPUNbBc+PUmDTGljm9u7v1dIgk rlNn7A6+Sr6Gz9C+5LmtsS8Fg1d9U70kKLsgiMvFY1wE6XLgRFEkrg6Z/OEaOaer dfdPGgLP2YGylE0nNFPaWOTIQ/gZzf+RhRBfRG/7DLQNLwrDLfirMgf5wNhwEAMI 6w49b/CoOA8= =z4Od -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
At 2:55 PM -0800 2/19/98, William H. Geiger III wrote:
She's a buffoon who is probably the first one who'll be sent to the wall if there's ever a Second American Revolution.
Third. We had a Second American Revolution and we lost.
You're quite right...I stand corrected. Though in some sense it was a "secessionist movement," which is subtly different from a revolution. As with Quebec, whose secession the USG opposes. As with Kurdistan, whose secession the USG sometimes supports and sometimes doesn't, depending on geopolitical calculations and on the party in power. As with the Basque region, whose secession the USG emphatically does not support, to the point of sending intelligence experts to Spain to help crush the secessionists. As with the outlying regions of the former Soviet Union, which the USG attempted to destabilize by dropping agents in, assassinating politicians, etc. --Tim May Just Say No to "Big Brother Inside" ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^3,021,377 | black markets, collapse of governments.
Tim May <tcmay@got.net> said...
=snip=
In Feinstein's view, ``This whole information thing is moving so fast that one has to be sure that kids are protected,'' she said. ``I'm concerned when kids blow themselves up by building bombs (they learned to make) by reading things in the encyclopedia. There is a philosophy that anything goes. This is why I support the repeal of the First Amendment and prison terms for thought criminals."
She's a buffoon who is probably the first one who'll be sent to the wall if there's ever a Second American Revolution.
As for her concern about Social Security numbers being posted online, did it ever occur to her and her ilk that perhaps the problem is the widespread use of SS numbers by increasing numbers of government agencies, by requirements that banks use them, by requirements that motor vehicle departments use them, and so on?
"Duh."
The solution is not a new set of laws to felonize information like this, but the elimination of the SS number as a universal identifier. Far too late for that, of course, but Fineswine's laws won't help anybody. In fact, law enforcement will continue its abuse of SS numbers, its role in falsifying records and official documents, and so on.
Along similar lines, the state of texas recently (last year) made it illegal to post information such as drivers license numbers and whatnot on the net. The company that was doing so promptly moved its web server from dallas to antigua. Gee, seems like they had an effective law eh? The problem is, the company was getting the information from the state in the first place. Anyone with a bit of cash can buy the entire drivers license database from the state of texas on CD-rom. Rather than criminalizing private actions, it would have been much better for the state to just =stop selling the information=! The databases already held would quickly become stale, and the problem would pretty much go away. The state sees such things as revenue streams they are intitled to. Even though citizen-units cannot opt out of the database, they will sell it to anyone who has the $$$ they are asking for it. This is a great example of exactly how much respect a government agency has for your privacy. For instance, here is the information contained on George Bush's drivers license... Name: BUSH,GEORGE HERBERT License number: 000173204 Address: 9 S West Oak Dr Date of birth: 6/12/24 City/Zip code:> HOUSTON 77056-2121 Gender: MaleRace: White Height: 6.01 Weight: 190 pounds Eye color: Gray Hair: Brown Last transaction date: 3/30/93 Last transaction: Renewal
Let's try to be sure DiFi is in D.C. when Abu Nidal makes his move.
Let's hope it takes place during a state of the union speech. ---------------End of Original Message----------------- ------------------------ Name: amp E-mail: amp@pobox.com Date: 02/21/98 Time: 13:45:57 Visit me at http://www.pobox.com/~amp == -export-a-crypto-system-sig -RSA-3-lines-PERL #!/bin/perl -sp0777i<X+d*lMLa^*lN%0]dsXx++lMlN/dsM0<j]dsj $/=unpack('H*',$_);$_=`echo 16dio\U$k"SK$/SM$n\EsN0p[lN*1 lK[d2%Sa2/d0$^Ixp"|dc`;s/\W//g;$_=pack('H*',/((..)*)$/) == 'Drug Trafficking Offense' is the root passphrase to the Constitution. Have you seen http://www.public-action.com/SkyWriter/WacoMuseum ------------------------
At 04:33 PM 2/19/98 -0800, Tim May wrote:
At 2:55 PM -0800 2/19/98, William H. Geiger III wrote:
She's a buffoon who is probably the first one who'll be sent to the wall if there's ever a Second American Revolution. Third. We had a Second American Revolution and we lost. You're quite right...I stand corrected.
Though in some sense it was a "secessionist movement," which is subtly different from a revolution.
We've had bunches of local ones - Shay's Rebellion, the Whiskey Rebellion. There was a big secession followed by a reconquest, but that wasn't really a revolution. There were a bunch of events like Wounded Knee in which our conquered neighbors tried to fight back and lost. Thanks! Bill Bill Stewart, bill.stewart@pobox.com PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF 3C85 B884 0ABE 4639
participants (5)
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Bill Stewart -
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William H. Geiger III