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Dachau Concentration Camp Entrance. The literal translation is Work makes you free. A better translation might be Trust me, I'm your government |
Big BrotherGovernment, Clipper, Key Escrow, Electronic Frontier, Communications Decency Act, PGP Also see Outlaws, Social Construction, Electronic Frontier, Electronic Property and Economics
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To understand this important story, you have to understand how the telephone company works. Your telephone is connected to a local computer, which is in turn connected to a regional computer, which is in turn connected to a loudspeaker the size of a garbage truck on the lawn of Edna A. Bargewater of Lawrence, Kan. Whenever you talk on the phone, your local computer listens in. If it suspects you're going to discuss an intimate topic, it notifies the computer above it, which listens in and decides whether to alert the one above it, until finally, if you really humiliate yourself, maybe break down in tears and tell your closest friend about a sordid incident from your past involving a seedy motel, a neighbor's spouse, an entire religious order, a garden hose and six quarts of tapioca pudding, the top computer feeds your conversation into Edna's loudspeaker, and she and her friends come out on the porch to listen and drink gin and laugh themselves silly. -- Dave Barry, "Won't It Be Just Great Owning Our Own Phones?" |
This reminder of the extent to how far citizens can safely trust their government was triggered by the anti-cryptographic initiatives government has been pursuing of late, including their heavy-handed treatment of Phil Zimmerman, the author of PGP (Pretty Good Privacy). And don't forget the raids on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco Texas and Randy Weaver's home on Ruby Ridge. And the FBI's recent confiscation of 1% of the nation's telephone capacity in order to tap telephone conversations from any central location they please. With a court order, of course.
Is this page an extremist overaction? I most certainly hope so. But government's insistence on technologies that could only be used to snoop on honest citizens who think they've nothing to hide, raises very serious questions as to what they really have in mind with all this. For example, see NSA Shortcircuiting Future Crypto Capabilities in the June 1995 issue of Computer Fraud & Security. On the other hand...
Your worst fears just came true: CALEA: In this Further
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Further NPRM), we address alleged deficiencies in
industry-developed technical requirements for wireline, cellular, and broadband Personal
Communications Services (PCS) carriers to comply with the assistance
capability requirements prescribed by the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement
Act of 1994 (CALEA, or the Act).
MIT distribution site for PGP
(Pretty Good Privacy) FLASH: PGP 5.0 Freeware is now
available for Windows '95, Windows NT and Macintosh (System 7.5+).PGP or Pretty Good
(TM) Privacy is a high-security cryptographic software application that allows people
to exchange messages with both privacy and authentication. Privacy means that
only those intended to receive a message can read it. By providing the ability to
encrypt messages, PGP provides protection against anyone eavesdropping on the network.
Even if a packet is intercepted, it will be unreadable to the snooper. Authentication
ensures that a message appearing to be from a particular person can have originated
from that person only, and that the message has not been altered. In addition to
its support for messages, PGP also enables you to encrypt files stored on your computer.
MIT distributes PGP free for non-commercial use. This distribution is done in cooperation
with Philip Zimmermann, the author of PGP, PGP Incorporated
and with RSA Data Security, Inc., which licenses patents to the public-key encryption
technology on which PGP relies.
BIG BROTHER INCORPORATED PRIVACY INTERNATIONAL A Report on the International Trade in Surveillance Technology and its Links to the Arms Industry. London November 1995 This report presents a detailed analysis of the international trade in surveillance technology. Its' primary concern is the flow of sophisticated computer-based technology from developed countries to developing countries - and particularly to non-democratic regimes. It is in this environment where surveillance technologies become technologies of political control.
Jackboots on the Infobahn by John Perry Barlow
Decrypting the Puzzle Palace by John Perry Barlow
9Oct95: Infowar and Disinformation: From the Pentagon to the Net by Daniel Brandt From NameBase NewsLine, No. 11, October-December 1995: In 1967, a satire was published under the title "Report From Iron Mountain on the Possibility and Desirability of Peace." This analysis soberly reflected, in think-tank style, on the importance to society of waging war. Leonard Lewin, who pretended that the secret report was leaked and did not claim authorship until five years later, argued forcefully that war provides a type of social and psychological glue, without which society cannot function.
About Arrangements For Enforcing Legal Order In The Area Of Development, Production, Sales And Use Of Cryptographic Instruments, As Well As Rendering Services In Information Encryption by Boris Yeltsin In order to secure unconditional fulfillment of the Law of the Russian Federation "About federal bodies for government communications and information", as well as to intensify the struggle against organized crime and to enhance protection of information and telecommunication systems of the bodies of state power, Russian structures for banking and finance, enterprises and organizations I decree:
Germany Doesn't German Minister of Justice: Governments' attempts to regulate the internet on their own are nonsensical, technically and economically. National states are obsolete. A crypto ban cannot be enforced.
HWEB Project Thanks to the Herculean efforts of Ken McVay between 1991 and present, there are now over 4,000 files of information concerning the Holocaust and the rise of modern-day fascism at Nizkor's ftp site. These files are stored as "plaintext" Enter the World-Wide Web. In what appears to be the fastest growth of an informational technology in recorded history, the Web is sweeping the globe with almost incredible popularity. Growing faster than the telephone or even the television, the Web has gone from insignificant in 1993 to what is now the single-most popular means of sending data across the Internet, having surpassed email in April 1995. By the end of this year, the Web will be the Internet to millions of people. The goal of the HWEB Project is to bring the valuable knowledge stored in those 4,000 plaintext files onto the planet-spanning Web of information.
Holocaust Pictures Exhibition Stuff about the Holocaust. Each poster contains one picture, a comment on it and the source. For the convenience of all visitors, I reduced the size of the pictures (I filtered them and sometimes I reduced the width and the height).
30Aug94 Digital Telephony Resistance Status of the bills Five things you can do RIGHT now to stop Digital Telephony Records of legislators supporting/opposing/wavering on DT Digital Telephony bill FAQ The VTW Press Release Sample Letter To The Editor Who are we and how can you contact us?
Digital Telephony Bill of 1994 by Jim Warren (jwarren@well.sf.ca.us) $500,000,000.00 Allocated To Make United States Telecomm "Wiretap Ready" Appropriately in the dark of the night, Congress passed HR 4922, the national wiretap bill, about 9:30 pm on Oct. 7th. Half a billion tax dollars was authorized to begin making your, and my, and every previously- presumed-innocent citizen and business in Amerika undetectably wire-tappable by a remote keystoke, by whichever incumbent politicians and bureaucrats are willing to use their control of the system. Bill language implies that telecomm rate-payers will get to pay for the rest of the work to make their phones trivially tapable. .
Epic Alert Volume 2.05 March 26, 1995 Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) [1] Senate Committee Approves "Decency" Bill [2] EPIC Statement on Communications Decency Act [3] Caller ID Snafus Continue: FCC Delays Implementation [4] Security Policy Board Criticized: FCSM Letter to OMB [5] Commerce Dept. to Recommend Relaxing Crypto Export Control [6] Maryland Debates Online Privacy [7] Reminder: Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events
Digital Telephony Bill Analysis Electronic Frontier Foundation Analysis of the above bill and the following freedom of information article by Brock Meeks of Cyberwire Dispatch. EFF issued this statement on the passage of this atrocity.
FCC regulation by Daniel J. Weitzner; EFF During the final hours before the Senate telecommunications bill (S.1822) was marked-up by the Senate Commerce Committee, a provision was added which would expand the current FCC regulation on obscene and indecent audiotext (900 number) services to virtually all electronic information services, including commercial online service providers, the Internet, and BBS operators.
EFF Seeks Release of FBI Wiretap Data by Dave Banisar of EPIC EPIC calls Proposed Surveillance Legislation Unnecessary
Rsa And Eit Joint Venture Will Make Internet Transactions Secure RSA Data Security Inc. (RSA) and Enterprise Integration Technologies Corp. (EIT) today announced the formation of Terisa Systems, a joint venture that will market, license and support technologies that make secure Internet transactions possible. The new company will provide toolkits and support to developers of Internet applications for the World Wide Web (WWW) and NCSA Mosaic.
EFF Statement on Digital Telephony Bill by Stanton McCandlish Leahy and Edwards introduce a narrow Digital Telephony bill with major new privacy protections. Also see response from Mark Stahlman: Well, what a fine kettle of fish you've gotten yourselves into this time. EFF "supports" a Digital Telephony (wiretap) bill. Quick, who's got the smelling salts?
Group Seeks Release of FBI Wiretap Data; Calls Proposed Surveillance Legislation Unnecessary by EPIC Alert A leading privacy rights group today sued the Federal Bureau of Investigation to force the release of documents the FBI claims support its campaign for new wiretap legislation. The documents were cited by FBI Director Louis Freeh during testimony before Congress and in a speech to an influential legal organization but have never been released to the public.
Ten Good Reasons for the Wiretap Bill by Dorothy Denning [bjc: From the governments most eager, ever willing, ever trusting supporter.]
Strong cryptography with a back door to which Big Brother holds the key. Also called Key Escrow Cryptography.
Can Wiretaps Remain Cost Effective? by Robin Hanson Until recently, technology has happened to allow for cheap wiretaps. New digital telephone technologies, however, may soon make wiretaps more difficult, and new encryption technologies may soon make them almost impossible. This may be good news to privacy buffs, but it worries U.S. police agencies -- since 1968 the law has explicitly allowed police wiretaps. And it worries U.S. spy agencies -- since 1978 the law has explicitly allowed them to wiretap foreigners. So in early-1992, the FBI proposed a bill to require all telecommunication and computer companies to do whatever it takes to preserve cheap police wiretaps. This bill evolved, became somewhat weaker, and acquired a provision to pay phone companies up to $500 million for costs incurred. In late-1994 it passed.
The Future of Cryptography by Dorothy Denning A few years ago, the phrase crypto anarchy was coined to suggest the impending arrival of a Brave New World in which governments, as we know them, have crumbled, disappeared, and been replaced by virtual communities of individuals doing as they wish without interference. [[bjc: fundamental clash here. To Denning government's the solution. To others government the problem. With such disparate premises there's little surprise at the disagreement.]
Industry Group Rebuffs U.S. on Encryption The campaign by the Clinton Administration to create a standard for data encryption acceptable to industry, civil liberties and law enforcement groups broke down yesterday when a group including some of the nation's most powerful technology companies rejected a compromise proposal.
CHANGES IN US CRYPTOGRAPHY POLICY In BillWatch (Issue #14) we described the background surrounding the announcement of the government's new "Key Escrow" proposal. Details are still sketchy, probably because they haven't been worked out yet. However detractors are calling the plan "Clipper II" while proponents are hoping it will strike a balance between industry, law enforcement, and the public. NIST has distributed two discussion drafts to guide presentations on the workshops on Sep. 6th and 7th. Because this is not a public-friendly process (few of your elected representatives are likely to be involved in this process) we have re-published these papers here for your perusal. VTW would like to publicly thank NIST for providing this information.August 25, 1995
Fbi Files: Clipper Must Be Mandatory WASHINGTON, DC - Newly-released government documents show that key federal agencies concluded more than two years ago that the "Clipper Chip" encryption initiative will only succeed if alternative security techniques are outlawed. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) obtained the documents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation under the Freedom of Information Act. EPIC, a non-profit research group, received hundreds of pages of material from FBI files concerning Clipper and cryptography.
Summary of NYC Clipper Seminar Good news re: Clipper?
Response to Blaze Attack by NIST: The following material was released by NIST in response to recent articles regarding AT&T/Matt Blaze and the key escrow chip. A second more technical response follows.
Clipper Testimony by Jerry Berman, EFF
Information on electric utilities by Rick Crawford: While monopoly power is a problem in any sector, the major threat from electric utilities getting into the NII construction business is that of SURVEILLANCE and the gradual degradation of PRIVACY.
K-12 Student Records: Privacy at Risk CPSR Policy Fact Sheet The U.S. education system is rapidly building a nationwide network of electronic student records. This computer network will make possible the exchange of information among various agencies and employers, and the continuous tracking of individuals through the social service, education and criminal justice systems, into higher education, the military and the workplace.
UnivAccessTimeIsGone.html by John Browning Politicians love to give it lip service, but universal service is a 1930s solution to a 21st century problem. The problem is an excess (not shortage) of bandwidth, and the solution is called Open Access.
FCC Regulation Stephanie Faul This "news report" is total bullshit. You've been had.
Dorothy Denning Answers Clipper Chip Critics by Dorothy Denning [bjc: I'm beginning to wonder if there's anything the government might do that this woman might disagree with. "Trust me, I'm the government" seems to be all the safeguards she requires.]
Letter to Phil Zimmerman from the Balkans A spine-tingling note from Central Europe [[bjc: Dorothy, what is your response?]
Sign the Petition against the Exxon Communication Decency Act.
Communications Decency Act Passes Senate Commerce Committee Electronic Frontier Foundation - March 25, 1995 Senate Commerce Committee passed telecom legislation that included an amended version of the Communications Decency Act of 1995, commonly known as "the Exon Amendment." This draft was introduced by Sen. Slade Gorton (R-VT). The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) opposes the inclusion of the "decency" provisions in this legislation for the following reasons:
Communications Decency Act EFFector Online Volume 08, No. 03 March 20, 1995A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundatio ALERT - Join Us in Opposing Exon Censorship Bill - ACT NOW! EFF Legal Services Needs Your Help: The Cyberspace Defense Fund Zimmermann, Borg, Ware to Receive EFF Pioneer Awards Scotland and Italy Crack Down on "Anarchy Files" Bay-Area EFF Meeting, Mar. 31: Sovereignty of Cyberspace, CoS v Inet Calendar of Events What YOU Can Do
Intelligent Transportation Systems in the United States Serious Privacy Issues -- Opportunity for Public CommentIntelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) is a very large program organized by industry and government to apply computer and communications technologies to transportation. If ITS lives up to its proponents' hopes then it will eventually affect virtually everybody. ITS systems are already implemented in many American states and other countries, particularly for automated toll collection, and numerous others can be expected soon. Architectures, standards, and regulatory frameworks for US national ITS systems are being formulated through a long, complex private-public partnership process that is already well under way. Although ITS promises to bring many benefits, if implemented incorrectly it can also pose a grave threat to personal privacy by making extensive information on individuals' travels available to governments, marketing organizations, and others.
DMV And 2D Bar Codes On the surface, the bar code looks like a 3D random dot pattern stereogram with a set of ordinary bar code-looking start and end sequences. That is envision a rectangular bar code whose center has been replace by random dots leaving the first two or three bars on the left and on the right sides.
The Network Observer 2(2)VOLUME 2, NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY 1995 This month: The industrial organization of public debate How can we make Free-Nets free? Democratic politics in a networked society Newt-O-Rama
Epic AlertVolume 2.04 March 9, 1995 [1] EPIC Files Suit Against National Security Council [2] Supreme Court Rules on Use of Inaccurate Computer Records [3] Caller ID Privacy Protection Fails in Two More States [4] Industry Groups Urge Pervasive Crypto Implementation [5] IRS Issues "Correction' Notice on Compliance 2000 [6] Caller ID Study Finds FCC Out of Step [7] Wiretap Watch: FBI Issues Wiretap Notice, Questionnaire [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events
Omnibus Counterterrorism Bill S. 390 and H.R. 896 New FBI Charter to Investigate Political Groups February 10, 1995 the Omnibus Counterterrorism Bill was introduced as S. 390 into the Senate and as H.R. 896 in the House. It was initiated by the FBI, and passed on by the Justice Department and the White House. Senators Biden (D-DE) and Specter (R- PA) initiated it in the Senate, Rep. Schumer (D-NY) and Dicks (D-WA) in the House. It has bipartisan support and could get expedited.
