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EFFector Online Volume 09 No. 10 Aug. 1, 1996 editors@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
IN THIS ISSUE:
ALERT: Congress Rushing to Enact Anti-Privacy Bill - Call Congress NOW!
Introduction
What you can do now
Background
Participating organizations
NewsNybbles
EFF Web Site Now Features "What's Hot" News Updates and Search Engine
Upcoming Events
Quote of the Day
What YOU Can Do
Administrivia
* See http://www.eff.org/Alerts/ or ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/ for more
information on current EFF activities and online activism alerts! *
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: ALERT: Congress Rushing to Enact Anti-Privacy Bill - Call Congress NOW!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
**** Last minute update ****
Just before ye editor was about to send this issue out, reports are
filtering in that negotiations on the bill that is the subject of the
alert below, have collapsed.
CNN reports: "Key members of the Senate blamed House conservatives for the
failure, saying they had insisted on linking proposed new
wiretapping authority for the FBI to an expansion of privacy laws."
CNN quotes Rep. Charles Schumer (D-NY) as saying that House Republican
leaders "have come up with this smokescreen called privacy". You may
wish to let Rep. Schumer know how you feel about your right to privacy
being labelled "a smokescreen":
9th Dist. NY Schumer, Charles E. (D)
1-202-225-6616 (voice), 1-202-225-4183 (fax)
The full text of the CNN article is available at:
http://www.cnn.com/US/9608/01/wh.terror.bill/index.html
The article also reports that "lawmakers said there is hope for
agreement after the month long" Congressional recess beginning at the end
of this week.
THIS MEANS THAT THE ALERT BELOW IS STILL URGENT, and still important.
We just have a short breathing space now.
- mech@eff.org
____ _____ ____ ___ _ _____ ____ _____
| _ \| ____| _ \ / _ \| | | ____| _ \_ _| CONGRESS RUSHING TO
| |_) | _| | | | | | |_| | | | _| | |_) || | ENACT SURVEILLANCE
| _ <| |___| |_| | | _ | |___| |___| _ < | | LEGISLATION. CALL
|_| \_\_____|____/ |_| |_|_____|_____|_| \_\|_| CONGRESS NOW! 8/1/96
REPOST THIS ALERT WHERE APPROPRIATE
DO NOT REDISTRIBUTE AFTER AUGUST 7, 1996
______________________________________________________________________
Table of contents
Introduction
What you can do now
Background
Participating organizations
______________________________________________________________________
* INTRODUCTION
Late Wednesday, Congress and the Clinton Administration reached a
preliminary agreement on a sweeping new surveillance initiative. The
President and several Congressional leaders are pushing for a vote on the
measure BEFORE CONGRESS RECESSES ON AUGUST 2.
If enacted, parts of the proposal would dramatically impact privacy and
security on the Internet and other advanced communications technologies.
Of particular concern are provisions which:
1. Allows law enforcement to wiretap "suspected terrorists" for up to
48 hours BEFORE obtaining a court order
2. Provide funding for the Digital Telephony Proposal without any public
accountability over how the FBI spends the funds
Other provisions are also circulating that would:
3. Threaten to impose new restrictions on encryption technologies
4. Seek to criminalize the distribution of 'bomb-making' information on
the Internet that is legal in print.
Congress needs to hear from you. Congress will rush through the passage
of massive new surveillance plans with privacy risks unless you
show them there is support for slow, deliberate, reasoned thought on
the issue.
______________________________________________________________________
* WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
CALL KEY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IMMEDIATELY!
NO LATER THAN FRIDAY (8/2/96)
Please contact as many elected officials on the list below as you can.
Urge them to "go slow" and carefully consider the impact these
surveillance proposals will have on the privacy and security of
all Internet users.
Tell them while you appreciate their concern about combating terrorism,
the measures being proposed have many potential side effects which must be
carefully considered.
1. Call the key members of Congress below and ask them to "go slow" and
examine the issues before rushing into changing the delicate balance
of law enforcement surveillance and the public.
2. If you are at a loss for words, use the following sample communique:
SAMPLE COMMUNIQUE
Dear _________,
Please do not rush the passage of counter terrorism legislation;
I'm concerned that Congress is rushing without carefully
considering the implications of privacy. I'm from .
Thanks,
You should call the following members of Congress because they
are steering this legislation and need to hear there is support
for slow, deliberate, thoughtful consideration of this issue.
Some of thee members *have publicly expressed reservations* about this
legislation, and we should support them in their efforts.
Senate members:
P ST Name and Address Phone Fax
= == ======================== ============== ==============
R MS Lott, Trent 1-202-224-6253 1-202-224-2262
D DE Biden Jr., Joseph R. 1-202-224-5042 1-202-224-0139
D SD Daschle, Thomas A. 1-202-224-2321 1-202-224-2047
R UT Hatch, Orrin G. 1-202-224-5251 1-202-224-6331
R PA Specter, Arlen 1-202-224-4254 1-717-782-4920
D VT Leahy, Patrick J. 1-202-224-4242 1-202-224-3595
House members:
Dist ST Name, Address, and Party Phone Fax
==== == ======================== ============== ==============
6 GA Gingrich, Newt (R) 1-202-225-4501 1-202-225-4656
3 MO Gephardt, Richard A. (D) 1-202-225-2671 1-202-225-7452
6 IL Hyde, Henry J. (R) 1-202-225-4561 1-202-226-1240
14 MI Conyers Jr., John (D) 1-202-225-5126 1-202-225-0072
President William Clinton:
White House Comment Line: 1-202-456-1414
3. If you get a response, take a moment and send mail to vtw@vtw.org
with "feedback" in the subject line.
$ Mail vtw@vtw.org
Subject: my feedback from calling Congress
They said they're not going to pass most of Clinton's package,
because it upsets the delicate balance between law enforcement and
the public.
^D
Mail sent!
______________________________________________________________________
* BACKGROUND
Among other things, the law enforcement proposals circulating on Capitol
Hill include provisions which:
o WIRETAPPING WITHOUT COURT ORDER ALLOWED FOR 48 HOURS
Congress and the President have already agreed to provisions which
would dramatically expand law enforcement surveillance authority. Both
of these provisions were proposed by the President as part of the 1995
counter-terrorism legislation, but were dropped from the final bill
after Republicans and civil liberties advocates objected.
The current proposal would expand law enforcement surveillance
authority in two ways:
- Emergency 48 Hour Wiretap Authority: Current law requires law
enforcement officials to get the affirmative consent of a judge
before installing a wiretap.
The current proposal would expand law enforcement authority to
wiretap "suspected terrorists" for up to 48 hours before obtaining a
court order, limiting a critical 4th amendment safeguard.
- Multi-Point "Roving" Wiretaps: Current law allows law enforcement to
tap only specific LOCATIONS (i.e., a telephone number). In certain
very limited circumstances, law enforcement can tap a specific
INDIVIDUAL if it can be shown to a judge that the suspect is moving
from place to place with the specific intent of thwarting law
enforcement.
The current proposal would expand this so-called "roving" wiretap
authority by making it much easier for law enforcement to tap specific
INDIVIDUALS as opposed to specific physical locations. This change
would dramatically effect the balance between 4th Amendment privacy
rights and public safety which has existed for nearly 30 years, and
should not be enacted without careful consideration of the
implications.
o FUNDING FOR DIGITAL TELEPHONY WITHOUT PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY
The Administration and Congress are seeking funding to implement the
Digital Telephony Law in a way which eliminates any opportunity for
public oversight of law enforcement surveillance ability.
The controversial law, known officially as the Communications
Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), granted the FBI new
authority to influence the design of telecommunications networks. At
the same time, the law provided substantial public oversight over the
FBI's surveillance ability by requiring the FBI to state, on the
public record, what its surveillance needs are.
The FBI has faced stiff resistance from civil liberties groups and some
members of Congress and has not yet been able to obtain funding to
implement the requirements of the law.
As part of the current proposal, the FBI is seeking a mechanism which
will provide funding for CALEA in a way which skirts the public
oversight provisions of the law. This is an extremely troubling move
by law enforcement which, if enacted, would allow law enforcement
essentially unlimited authority to influence the design of
telecommunications networks without any accountability.
Other provisions which could show up in legislation in the next 72 hours are:
o BOMB MAKING MATERIAL ON THE INTERNET
In the wake of the recent public concern about terrorism, Senators
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Joseph Biden (D-DE) have renewed their
efforts to pass legislation to restrict the availability of 'bomb-
making' information on the Internet.
The Feinstein/Biden amendment was added to the Senate Defense
Appropriations bill (S. 1762) in early July, and is not currently part
of the new law enforcement initiative. However, the amendment poses a
serious threat to chill the the free flow of information on the
Internet.
o THREATEN TO IMPOSE NEW RESTRICTIONS ON ENCRYPTION TECHNOLOGIES:
While no specific legislation has been proposed, the Clinton
Administration has circulated an outline to Congress which states:
"We will seek legislation to strengthen our ability to
prevent terrorists from coming into the possession of the technology
to encrypt their communications and data so that they are beyond the
reach of law enforcement."
This statement marks the first time that the Administration has
suggested legislation to restrict encryption. This is especially
troubling because it comes at a time of growing Congressional support
for legislation to promote privacy and security tools for the Net.
Of even more concern, the Administration is clearly attempting to use
the recent suspected terrorist incidents to push for a new and more
restrictive encryption policy.
If the Administration succeeds in passing new restrictions on
encryption as part of the new surveillance legislation, the future
of the Internet as a secure and trusted platform for commerce and
private communication will be threatened.
Some or all of these provisions may be included in a package voted
on by both houses by August 3rd. It is not clear what a final bill
will look like, and some of these provisions may not be considered by
Congress until later this summer.
______________________________________________________________________
* PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS
The following organizations all urge you to take this action to combat the
surveillance initiatives. Check their pages for more background
information on these issues.
American Civil Liberties Union (http://www.aclu.org)
American Communication Association
Center for Democracy and Technology (http://www.cdt.org)
Electronic Frontier Foundation (http://www.eff.org)
EFF-Austin (http://www.eff-austin.org/)
Electronic Privacy Information Center (http://www.epic.org)
Feminists for Free Expression (freedom@well.com)
National Libertarian Party (http://www.lp.org)
National Writers Union (http://www.nwu.org/nwu/)
People For the American Way (http://www.pfaw.org)
Voters Telecommunications Watch (http://www.vtw.org)
Wired Ventures Ltd. (http://www.hotwired.com)
------------------------------
Subject: NewsNybbles
--------------------
* EFF Web Site Now Features "What's Hot" News Updates and Search Engine
To help you navigate our award-winning web site more easily, EFF has
installed a set of "What's Hot" buttons near the top of our front page.
These buttons take you to news pages with summaries of important events
on encryption, privacy & surveillance, censorship & online free
speech, and intellectual property & fair use rights as they relate to the
Net.
We've also instituted a search engine that allows you to quickly locate
keywords in our archive index. The EFF archives hold over 20,000 files.
All of this is at http://www.eff.org
For those new to our unique archive, there's a short help file available
at http://www.eff.org/howtouse.html
------------------------------
Upcoming Events
---------------
This schedule lists EFF events, and those we feel might be of interest to
our members. EFF events (those sponsored by us or featuring an EFF speaker)
are marked with a "*" instead of a "-" after the date. Simlarly, government
events (such as deadlines for comments on reports or testimony submission,
or conferences at which government representatives are speaking) are marked
with "!" in place of the "-" ("!?" means a govt. speaker may appear, but
we don't know for certain yet.) And likewise, "+" in place of "-"
indicates a non-USA event. If it's a foreign EFF event with govt. people,
it'll be "*!+" instead of "-". You get the idea.
The latest version of the full EFF calendar is available from:
ftp: ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/calendar.eff
gopher: gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF, calendar.eff
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/calendar.eff
See also our new Now-Up-to-Date HTML calendar at:
http://events.eff.org
Aug. 5- * Progress and Freedom Foundation; annual summit held in Aspen,
6 Colorado, will feature EFF Chairman Esther Dyson, Alvin Toffler
and Congressman Rick White and Senator Bill Bradley; "An
exploration of the Electronic Frontier's impact on American
society."
Info: +1 202 289 8928 Email to: mail@pff.org
Aug. 5-
9 + International Conference on Computational Linguistics;
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Email: coling96@nttkb.ntt.jp
Aug. 8 - Registration deadline for SAB96, Sep. 9, 1996.
Aug. 8-
10 - Conference on Computing and Philosophy; Carnegie Mellon
University, Pittsburgh, PA. Deadline for submissions: Feb. 19.
Contact: +1 412 268 7643
Email: rc2z@andrew.cmu.edu
URL: http://www.lcl.cmu.edu/CAAE/CAPpage.html
Aug. 14-
16 + Information Seeking in Context: an International Conference on
Information Needs, Seeking and Use in Different Contexts; Tampere,
Finland. Deadline for submission of abstracts: October 15, 1995.
Contact: +358 31 215 7039 (voice), +358 31 215 6560 (fax)
Email: inf@uta.fi
Aug. 14-
17 - 7th Macintosh Summit Conference; learn the latest tips, tricks
and techniques of the Mac platform from the Mac giants.
University of California, Santa Barbara.
Contact: Fati Erdogan
Tel: 805 893 2811
Fax: 805 893 4943
URL's: http://www.metatools.com/metauniv
http://www.xlrn.ucsb.edu
Aug. 21-
23 + China-U.S. Meeting on Global Information Access: Challenges and
Opportunities; Beijing, China.
Email: leeh@ohiou.edu
Aug. 26 - ACM SIGCOMM '96: Applications, Technologies, Architectures and
Protocols for Computer Communication; Stanford University,
Stanford, CA
URL: http://www.acm.org/sigcomm/sigcomm96/
------------------------------
Subject: Quote of the Day
-------------------------
"All fear of 'offensive' speech is bourgeois and reactionary.
Historically, profane or bawdy language was common in both the upper
and the lower classes, who lived together in rural areas amid the
untidy facts of nature. Notions of propriety and decorum come to the
fore in urbanized periods ruled by an expanding middle class, which is
obsessed with cleanliness, respectability, and conformism."
- Camille Paglia, From "Language and the Left," in _The_Advocate_ (March
7, 1995)
Find yourself wondering if your privacy and freedom of speech are safe
when bills to censor the Internet are swimming about in a sea of of
surveillance legislation and anti-terrorism hysteria? Worried that in
the rush to make us secure from ourselves that our government
representatives may deprive us of our essential civil liberties?
Concerned that legislative efforts nominally to "protect children" will
actually censor all communications down to only content suitable for
the playground? Alarmed by commercial and religious organizations abusing
the judicial and legislative processes to stifle satire, dissent and
criticism?
Join EFF!
http://www.eff.org/EFFdocs/join_eff.html (or send any message to info@eff.org).
Even if you don't live in the U.S., the anti-Internet hysteria will soon
be visiting a legislative body near you. If it hasn't already.
------------------------------
Subject: What YOU Can Do
------------------------
* The Communications Decency Act & Other Censorship Legislation
The Communications Decency Act and similar legislation pose serious
threats to freedom of expression online, and to the livelihoods of system
operators. The legislation also undermines several crucial privacy
protections.
Business/industry persons concerned should alert their corporate govt.
affairs office and/or legal counsel. Everyone should write to their own
Representatives and Senators, letting them know that such abuses of
public trust will not be tolerated, that legislators who vote against
your free speech rights will be voted against by you in the next elections.
Join in the Blue Ribbon Campaign - see http://www.eff.org/blueribbon.html
PARTICIPATE IN BLUE RIBBON ACTIVISM EFFORTS:
http://www.eff.org/blueribbon/activism.html
Support the EFF Cyberspace Legal Defense Fund:
http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/cyberlegal_fund_eff.announce
For more information on what you can do to help stop this and other
dangerous legislation, see:
ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/
gopher.eff.org, 1/Alerts
http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/
If you do not have full internet access (e.g. WWW), send your request
for information to ask@eff.org.
IMPORTANT! KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR LOCAL LEGISLATURE. All kinds of wacky
censorious legislation is turning up at the US state and non-US
national levels. Don't let it sneak by you - or by the online activism
community. Without locals on the look out, it's very difficult for the
Net civil liberties community to keep track of what's happening locally
as well as globally.
* New Crypto-Privacy Legislation
Urge your Represenatitives to support the Pro-CODE crypto export bill
(and to fix the few remaining bugs in it).
For years US export controls on encryption have hampered the development
of secure communications online. This technology is vital for online
commerce, for national security, and for YOUR electronic privacy.
The new Pro-CODE legislation will go a long way to rectifying the situation.
Join in the Golden Key Campaign - see http://www.eff.org/goldkey.html
PARTICIPATE IN GOLDEN KEY ACTIVISM EFFORTS:
http://www.eff.org/goldkey/activism.html
Support the EFF Cyberspace Legal Defense Fund:
http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/cyberlegal_fund_eff.announce
See also:
http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/
http://www.privacy.org/ipc/
http://www.crypto.com/
for more info.
* Digital Telephony/Comms. Assistance to Law Enforcement Act
The FBI has been seeking both funding for the DT/CALEA wiretapping
provisions, and preparing to require that staggering numbers of citizens be
simultaneously wiretappable.
To oppose the funding, write to your own Senators and Representatives
urging them to vote against any appropriations for wiretapping.
In the wake of the Olympics bomb, the US government, both legislative and
executive branches, are hot to pass new wiretapping laws, and fund the
DT/CALEA wiretapping provisions. SPEAK OUT NOW. There is not a moment to
lose! See lead article in this issue for more information.
See http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/Surveillance/ for more info.
* Anti-Terrorism Bills
Several bills threatening your privacy and free speech have been introduced
recently. One passed, but none of the rest of them are close to passage at
this very moment - however, this status may change. Urge your
Congresspersons to oppose these unconstitutional and Big-Brotherish
bills, which threaten freedom of association, free press, free speech,
and privacy. One such bill passed some time ago, stripped of some of the
more onerous provisions. It could have been worse, and could yet still
be worse: A new anti-terrorism bill posing many threats to YOUR privacy
is nearing passage. SPEAK OUT NOW. There is not a moment to
lose! See lead article in this issue for more information.
Keep up the pressure. Write to your legislators: No
secret trials and deportations, no expansion of wiretapping scope or
authority, no national or "smart-card" ID systems!
For more information on some of this legislation, see
http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/Terrorism_militias/
* The Anti-Electronic Racketeering Act
This bill is unlikely to pass in any form, being very poorly drafted, and
without much support. However, the CDA is just as bad and passed with
flying colors [the jolly roger?] in Congress. It's better to be safe
than sorry. If you have a few moments to spare, writing to, faxing, or
calling your Congresspersons to urge opposition to this bill is a good
idea.
* Medical Privacy Legislation
Several bills relating to medical privacy issues are floating in Congress
right now. Urge your legislators to support only proposals that *truly*
enhance the medical privacy of citizens.
More information on this legislation will be available at
http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/Medical/ soon. Bug mech@eff.org to make
it appear there faster. :)
* Child Privacy Legislation
A new bill to protect children from unethical marketing practices (e.g.
tricking kids into revealing personal information by offering prizes or
games) has been introduced. EFF and other civil liberties organizations
like, and dislike, various points in this bill. The legislators
sponsoring the bill appear interested in resolving the problems in the
statutory language they have proposed. More information on this will be
provided soon.
* Find Out Who Your Congresspersons Are
Writing letters to, faxing, and phoning your representatives in Congress
is one very important strategy of activism, and an essential way of
making sure YOUR voice is heard on vital issues.
EFF has lists of the Senate and House with contact information, as well
as lists of Congressional committees. These lists are available at:
ftp.eff.org, /pub/Activism/Congress_cmtes/
gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Issues/Activism/Congress_cmtes
http://www.eff.org/pub/Activism/Congress_cmtes/
The full Senate and House lists are senate.list and hr.list, respectively.
Those not in the U.S. should seek out similar information about their
own legislative bodies. EFF will be happy to archive any such
information provided to us, so pass it on!
If you are having difficulty determining who your US legislators are,
try contacting your local League of Women Voters, who maintain a great
deal of legislator information, or consult the free ZIPPER service
that matches Zip Codes to Congressional districts with about 85%
accuracy at:
http://www.stardot.com/~lukeseem/zip.html
Computer Currents Interactive has provided Congress contact info, sorted
by who voted for and against the Communcations Decency Act:
http://www.currents.net/congress.html
* Join EFF!
You *know* privacy, freedom of speech and ability to make your voice heard
in government are important. You have probably participated in our online
campaigns and forums. Have you become a member of EFF yet? The best way to
protect your online rights is to be fully informed and to make your
opinions heard. EFF members are informed and are making a difference. Join
EFF today!
For EFF membership info, send queries to membership@eff.org, or send any
message to info@eff.org for basic EFF info, and a membership form.
------------------------------
Administrivia
=============
EFFector Online is published by:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
1550 Bryant St., Suite 725
San Francisco CA 94103 USA
+1 415 436 9333 (voice)
+1 415 436 9993 (fax)
Membership & donations: membership@eff.org
Legal services: ssteele@eff.org
General EFF, legal, policy or online resources queries: ask@eff.org
Editor: Stanton McCandlish, Online Activist, Webmaster (mech@eff.org)
This newsletter is printed on 100% recycled electrons.
Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged. Signed
articles do not necessarily represent the views of EFF. To reproduce
signed articles individually, please contact the authors for their express
permission. Press releases and EFF announcements may be reproduced individ-
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To subscribe to EFFector via email, send message body of "subscribe
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Back issues are available at:
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To get the latest issue, send any message to effector-reflector@eff.org (or
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------------------------------
End of EFFector Online v09 #10 Digest
*************************************
$$