Escrowing Viewing and Reading Habits with the Government
At 2:59 AM 1/28/96, Lucky Green wrote:
Of course the V-Chip transmits the ID number of the program to be rated upstream. Since all programs will be rated by the chip, regardless if you choose to use the rating or not, the exact channel you are watching will be tracked and logged.
Have fun,
This is a serious misstatement of the proposal! I am shocked, simply shocked. If Lucky only knew what I know... The logged information is only available to law enforcement if they have a legitimate need to know, as evidenced by a valid court order, an authorization from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a request by a regional or local police department, or upon suspicion that a sex offender or pedophile is displaying too much interest in children's shows or "Baywatch." The "Library Awareness Program," administered by the Justice Department, is designed to identify potential criminals before they have a chance to commit their deeds. The visits to libraries made by the FBI are used to determine who is reading subversive or dangerous material. According to Director Freeh, "If we had had this program in place when Timothy McVeigh was a child, we could have detected his interest in ANFO and picked him up for reeducation, or at least recruited him for the CIA's Lockerbie team." Finally, I am confidant the the viewing habits "escrowed" with the government will only be used for good purposes. The policeman is our friend. --Klaus! Boycott espionage-enabled software! We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed. ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@got.net 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1 | black markets, collapse of governments. "National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- In list.cypherpunks, Klaus! writes:
The "Library Awareness Program," administered by the Justice Department, is designed to identify potential criminals before they have a chance to commit their deeds. The visits to libraries made by the FBI are used to determine who is reading subversive or dangerous material.
Well, then, I s'pose I'm doomed. I had Applied Cryptography out of the library 5 times last year, and returned it overdue twice. - -- Roy M. Silvernail -- roy@cybrspc.mn.org will do just fine, thanks. "Does that not fit in with your plans?" -- Mr Wiggen, of Ironside and Malone (Monty Python) PGP public key available upon request (send yours) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: 2.6.2 iQEVAwUBMQukjmCl9Uka85MxAQHCEQf5AUHJVUy8qjkuEAS1pm8/V2hKhpZrbq/m Y9dBalNyqXs3LIaFAv1Yehd/R5fxqJps2hMubCcr2Fb8ks3Yp20LdAeuMTMfoj7T Hq6ZniKEXHI6H3tzIEobzS9uYrccW2DFbiRWQqxkz6E/gjxqKu6JuQ7/6ykiz4JT S1Rd4VDdN4uGGl2Sw+C/EkRUcqyA2C5gcieHDb+pVN7Dc6A1ioqTVYZvnHEXyEsP nZMd+E9cpYOIIFAwBcd4U1xQM+6Y1Dkmv06JBXye7whzn/P6zy9uAZlpIwa1uADZ usAP/8LIHI5Qyzyd66DevMeLNAuF5Sbit5LEIZM3/2naM5MpT/JTig== =THjm -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
The "Library Awareness Program," administered by the Justice Department, is designed to identify potential criminals before they have a chance to commit their deeds. The visits to libraries made by the FBI are used to determine who is reading subversive or dangerous material.
Do you really think the FBI believes that asking librarians to keep records of customer useage is an efficient way to read the customers minds? Do you really think that the FBI foreign counter-intelligence squad has nothing better to do than keep a database of who is reading Che Guevara memoirs? When someone is being obtained as an asset by an intelligence organization, they are very very carefully led down a path of increasingly serious crimes that they are directed to commit (in return for the sex or the paying off of their debts, which are the two standard hooks) by the controller ("foreign spy"). The first event is something quite minor. The aim is, from the very beginning, to put the asset into a compromised status, so that he believes he cannot turn to his own security people and confess - with the chance that he'll agree to become a double-agent, so that the DOD can put disinformation into Soviet hands, and the FBI can build up a dossier of admissable evidence against the foreign controller. Remember, you can't get your own guys out of the Russian Gulag unless you've got a GRU man to trade for. One of the early stages is, being directed to steal a technical book from a library and deliver it to the controller. Now do you see the signifigance of the Library Awareness Program? When I worked in the Route 128 area (suburban Boston), we were briefed to be especially suspicious about folks who would befriend us in local bars after work and, for no identifiable reason, start giving us little tiny favors; over time they would become real "angels" that saved our asses when we were having financial/marriage problems. The day might come when they would start asking for "a little favor in return". Something quite innocuous. Then there would arrive a request that we hesitated to do, but we knew we could get away with it without a problem. Then a few weeks later....
Do you really think the FBI believes that asking librarians to keep records of customer useage is an efficient way to read the customers minds? Do you really think that the FBI foreign counter-intelligence squad has nothing better to do than keep a database of who is reading Che Guevara memoirs?
My understanding of the Library Awareness Program, was that is was originally targeted at "suspicious users" (e.g., people with funny names, or that looked kind of foreign, or spoke with an accent -- say somebody like Henry Kissinger) that were using technical libraries. After all, they might find something there that they could use against the US of A. Certain librarians or assitants were approached to see if they would be snitches. Often times this took place without the head librarians even being notified of the program. There is a book about this written by a librarian. It has "Library Awareness Program" somewhere in its title. Eric
participants (4)
-
Alan Horowitz -
Eric Blossom -
roy＠sendai.cybrspc.mn.org -
tcmay＠got.net