news you can use: EFF CALL TO ACTION

citizenQ citizenQ at ziplip.com
Tue Sep 18 08:50:42 PDT 2001


(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 at leahy.senate.gov Ernest
Hollings (SC), 6121, 4293, none Daniel Inouye (HI), 3934, 6747,
senator at inouye.senate.gov Barbara Mikulski (MD), 4654, 8858,
senator at mikulski.senate.gov Herb Kohl (WI), 5653, 9787,
senator_kohl at kohl.senate.gov Patty Murray (WA), 2621, 0238,
senator_murray at murray.senate.gov Jack Reed (RI), 4642, 4680,
jack at reed.senate.gov Robert Byrd (WV), 3954, 0002,
senator_byrd at byrd.senate.gov Judd Gregg (NH), 3324, 4952,
mailbox at gregg.senate.gov Ted Stevens (AK), 3004, 2354,
senator_stevens at stevens.senate.gov Pete Domenici (NM), 6621, none,
senator_domenici at domenici.senate.gov Mitch McConnell (KY), 2541, 2499,
senator at mcconnell.senate.gov Kay Hutchison (TX), 5922, 0776,
senator at hutchison.senate.gov Ben Campbell (CO), 5852, 1933, none Thad
Cochran (MS), 5054, 9450, senator at 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 at eff.org +1 415-436-9333 x108

Lee Tien, EFF Senior First Amendment Attorney tien at eff.org +1
415-436-9333 x102





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