878 lines
39 KiB
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878 lines
39 KiB
Plaintext
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Computer underground Digest Wed Jan 16, 1996 Volume 8 : Issue 05
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ISSN 1004-042X
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Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@MVS.CSO.NIU.EDU
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Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
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Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
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Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
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Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
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Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
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Ian Dickinson
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Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
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CONTENTS, #8.05 (Wed, Jan 16, 1996)
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File 1--Cryptography and Privacy
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File 2--Justice Dept. press release: no PGP prosecution (fwd)
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File 3--FLASH: Phil Zimmermann case dropped!
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File 4-- CompuServe poetry
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File 5--Compuserve: "Shooting the Cyber-Messenger"
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File 6--Letter to Wiesenthal Cente in re "hate speech" ban
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File 7--News Release >> Child Safe Ratings on the Internet (fwd)
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File 8--AP/NYT: Jewish Groups Call for Internet Censorship
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File 9--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 16 Dec, 1995)
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CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN
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THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
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---------------------------------------------------------------------
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Date: Wed, 27 Dec 1995 15:00:46 -0600
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From: Zachariah P. Babayco <address@missing>
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Subject: File 1--Cryptography and Privacy
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((MODERATORS' NOTE: Mr. Babayco's was accidentally deleted from
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the forward. We apologize for the error. Although
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Phil Zimmerman no longer faces charges (see below), the following
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article provides a helpful background for those who've forgotten
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the central issues in cryptology controversy)).
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This work is Copyright (C) Zachariah P. Babayco 1995.
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Cryptography and Privacy
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During the past few years, the debate concerning electronic privacy
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has intensified greatly. As more and more information is being
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transmitted over electronic channels such as the Internet, the
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chances of interception become greater and greater. The main defense
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against this is the use of computer encryption products, which
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scramble the contents of a document so that only certain people can
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read it. A popular encryption program is Pretty Good Privacy, or
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P.G.P. Phillip Zimmermann, the creator of P.G.P., is currently under
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investigation by the government for exporting the program.
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Zimmermann gave his program away because he believes that people have
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the right to encryption, but government officials take the position
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that encryption is all right, but only if the they can read the
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private information if they need to. As computers are used more and
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more, electronic privacy will become extremely important.
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Cryptography is the science of creating codes that enable you and
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another person to communicate privately. It uses special
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mathematical formulas, called keys, that enable two or more people to
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communicate privately. The science of cryptography dates back to the
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time of Julius Caesar, who used a simple substitution method (letting
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the letter A equal C, B equal to D, and so on) to send messages to
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his generals in the field (Schwartau, 149). A more recent example of
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the use of cryptography is in World War Two, where both the Allied
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and the Axis forces employed codes to keep their secrets safe from
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the other side.
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There are numerous types of encryption methods, ranging from the
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simple substitution mentioned above, to complex mathematical formulas
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which would take supercomputers years to decode, but only two that
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concern this debate.
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The first widely used encryption system was the Data Encryption
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Standard, or DES. DES was created in the late 1970's, due to a
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growing concern over the security of electronic fund transfers and
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the confidentiality of government files (Encyclopedia Britannica).
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However, it is now showing its age and vulnerability. DES is a
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single key encryption system, where a single code key is used to
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encrypt a message. This means that whoever has a copy of the key can
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decrypt the message, so the legitimate users must take care not to
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let the key fall into the wrong hands. The only safe way to exchange
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a key between two people is to use a secure channel, such as a secure
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phone line, but as Phillip Zimmermann states, "If you have a secure
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channel for exchanging keys, then why do you need cryptography in the
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first place" (P.G.P. User's Guide)? DES is also vulnerable to
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advances in technology, as Winn Schwartau states in his book
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Information Warfare: Chaos on the Electronic Superhighway:
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(the following is an indented quote)
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In fact, the battle may be over now, because DES is breakable. At the
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March 1993 Data Security Conference, Dr. Martin Hellman presented a
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theoretical approach to cracking DES . . . .On August 20, 1993,
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Michael Wiener of Bell-Northern Research in Canada published a paper
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"showing how to build an exhaustive DES key search machine for $1
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million that can find a key in 3.5 hours on average." (152)
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(the quote ends here)
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The second type, public key cryptography systems such as P.G.P., work
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differently than DES. With P.G.P., a person has two keys: a public
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key and a private key. The private key is kept on the person's home
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computer, while the public key can be given to whomever the person
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pleases. To send a private message to a friend with P.G.P., for
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example, the sender would encrypt the message with his friend's
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public key. The message is now unreadable except to his friend
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because only she has the corresponding private key (P.G.P. User's
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Guide).
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P.G.P. is a relatively new computer program, designed to provide
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privacy for its users. It works on the same principle that public
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key systems use, but has many more features. For example, a user can
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select the amount of security that P.G.P. provides - a small key is
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faster, but less secure; a large key provides the best security, but
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is slower. A user can also sign a message with his own secret key,
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making it impossible for someone to change the message.
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P.G.P. has had a short but eventful history. On April 16, 1993,
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Phillip Zimmermann, the creator of P.G.P., was preparing to release
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the initial version of P.G.P. when the government announced its own
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cryptographic product, the Clipper Chip. The Clipper Chip is also
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based on the public key system, but unlike P.G.P., it requires a copy
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of each secret key to be held in escrow, for use by law enforcement
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agents if they could demonstrate a need for it. Zimmermann completed
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P.G.P. and released it, hoping that it would be seen as a better
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alternative to Clipper. Within a short time however, somebody
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uploaded a copy of the program to the Internet, where it spread
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across the country, and around the world. Not too long after that,
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Zimmermann was visited by federal agents who informed him that he was
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now under investigation for "illegal export of munitions." (Holmes
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56a). As of November 1995, Zimmermann is waiting for a decision.
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If he is indicted, he would have to serve a mandatory four to five
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year prison sen tence, and be fined $1 million.
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To the federal investigators, P.G.P. is seen as a violation of United
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States export law. The law, which was passed during the Cold War in
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the early 1950's, classified strong encryption products as munitions,
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like a bomb or an air-to-air missile, and placed heavy restrictions
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on their export. The law is still in place 40 years later, even
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though the Soviet Union is no longer a threat to our national
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security. When somebody made P.G.P. available on the Internet, the
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program was seen as a violation of this law (Holmes 56a).
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Federal officials are also concerned about P.G.P. because of its
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strength. While designing the program, Zimmermann decided to use an
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encryption algorithm called IDEA. Cryptographers have repeatedly
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tested the IDEA algorithm for years, and have found it, for the
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present, unbreakable (P.G.P. User's Guide). Law enforcement
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officials are concerned that if powerful cryptography is made widely
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available, criminals will take advantage of it. FBI assistant
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director James Kallstrom states that "We're in the business of
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criminal information . . . if we're closed off from that
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information, it will alter the balance between us and the criminals."
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(Levy 55).
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When the Clinton administration announced the Clipper Chip, one of
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their main points was that since encryption could be used by
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criminals, people and businesses should use Clipper because law
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enforcement agents would be able to listen in on the conversations if
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they suspected a crime was being committed. However, due to
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manufacturing problems with the chips themselves, lack of interest in
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the marketplace, and protest from over 40,000 Internet users (Levy
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56), the proposal was withdrawn.
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The Clipper Chip is not the only governmental proposition concerning
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privacy. In 1991, several years before the Clipper proposal, the
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Senate Judiciary Committee considered attaching the following onto
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Bill 266, an anti-crime bill:
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(the following is an indented quote)
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It is in the sense of Congress that providers of electronic
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communications services and manufacturers of electronic
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communications service equipment shall ensure that communications
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systems permit the government to obtain the plain-text contents of
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voice, data, and other communications when appropriately authorized
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by law. (Schwartau 153-154).
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(the quote ends here)
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The Committee had apparently anticipated the arrival of the Clipper
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Chip, and attempted to make sure that future products would be able
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to use it immediately. Before the modified bill could me made into
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law though, the addition was removed because of protest by several
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civil liberty groups.
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Government officials also cite recent arrests that, in their eyes,
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justify the need for restrictions on strong cryptography. In
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September 1995, several people were arrested on America OnLine, an
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Internet provider. The people had been under investigation for
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several years and were suspected to be exchanging pornographic files
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through the service. When they were arrested and had their
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belongings searched, FBI agents found encrypted files on their
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computers. In a speech before the International Cryptography
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Institute on September 21, 1995, FBI Director Louis Freeh stated that
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". . . We've seen this problem . . . the obstacle of encrypted
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records standing in the way of our lawful grand jury access
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procedures . . . ". Freeh also states that he is not suggesting that
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the government regulate cryptography, but simply be able to serve
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search warrants and court orders as they always have: "If we are
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foreclosed from these areas . . . the safety of this country will be
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impaired" (Freeh 9/21/95)
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At the other end of the spectrum are the pro-privacy and civil liberty
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groups. Some of these groups argue against governmental restrictions
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on cryptography by citing the First Amendment, the right to free
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speech, or the Fourth Amendment, the right to privacy. One
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organization, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, takes a legal
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approach to the issue. The EFF's goal is ". . . to ensure that the
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principles embodied in the Constitution and Bill of Rights are
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protected as new communications technologies emerge." (EFF World Wide
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Web Homepage) The EFF investigates civil rights cases involving
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computers, and argues against the cryptography issues and
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restrictions. The EFF was one of the main protestors that caused the
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Clipper Chip proposal to fail. Recently, the EFF has set up a
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defense fund for Phillip Zimmermann, and will soon be taking the
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federal government to court to argue against the export laws.
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For the present, the debate over encryption and privacy is going
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favorably for the activist's side. The Clipper proposal has been
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withdrawn, and the government is not planning to introduce another
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product anytime soon. However, Phillip Zimmermann could still go to
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jail, and the FBI is pushing for the ability to tap one out of every
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100 telephone lines in every major American city. This debate is not
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over yet.
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Works Cited
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Andrews, Edmund L. "U.S. Plans to Push Giving F.B.I. Access in
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Computer Codes." New York Times (Late New York Edition) 5 February
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1994: 1+.
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Arthur, Charles. "Identity Crisis on the Internet." New Scientist 11
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March 1995: 14-15.
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"Cryptology." Encyclopedia Britannica. 1987 ed.
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"EFF to Defend Crypto Rights Legally." Electronic Frontier Foundation
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Home Page. October 1995: http://www.eff.org/
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Freeh, Louis. "Speech Before The International Cryptography
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Institute." Federal Bureau of Investigation World Wide Web Site. 21
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September 1995: http://www.fbi.gov/crypto.htm
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Grossman, Wendy. "Internet Encryption Ban Violates Free Speech." New
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Scientist 15 April 1995: 22.
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Holmes, Stanley. "A Question of Privacy." Rocky Mountain News 10
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June 1995: 56a.
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Levy, Steven. "The Encryption Wars: Is Privacy Good or Bad?".
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Newsweek 24 April 1995: 55-6.
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Lewis, Peter H. "Software Author Focus of U.S. Inquiry." The New
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York Times (Late New York Edition) 10 April 1995: D6.
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---, "Between a Hacker And a Hard Place." The New York Times (Late
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New York Edition) 10 April 1995: D1.
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"Privacy, Business, and the Internet." The New York Times (Late New
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York Edition 23 April 1995: 16.
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Quittner, Joshua. "Unmasked on the Net." Time 6 March 1995: 72-73.
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Schwartau, Winn. Information Warfare: Chaos on the Information
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Superhighway. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 1994.
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Sussman, Vic S. "Lost in Kafka Territory." U.S. News & World Report
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3 April 1995: 32-3.
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Wayner, Peter. "Picking the Crypto Locks." Byte Oct. 1995: 77-80.
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Zimmermann, Phillip. PGP User's Guide. MIT: MIT Press, 1994.
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------------------------------
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Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1996 22:56:57 -0600 (CST)
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From: David Smith <bladex@BGA.COM>
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Subject: File 2--Justice Dept. press release: no PGP prosecution (fwd)
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San Jose Office (408) 535-5061
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280 South First Street, Suite 371
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San Jose, California 95113 FAX: (408) 535-5066
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PRESS RELEASE
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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January 11, 1995
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Michael J. Yamaguchi, United States Attorney for the
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Norther District of California, announced today that his office
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has declined prosectution of any individuals in connection with
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the posting to USENET in June 1991 of the encryption program
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known as "Pretty Good Privacy." The investigation has been
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closed. No further comment will be made by the U.S. Attorney's
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office on the reasons for declination.
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Assistant U.S. Attorney William P. Keane of the U.S.
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Attorney's Office in San Jose at (408) 535-5053 oversaw the
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government's investigation of the case.
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------------------------------
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Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1996 14:36:09 -0800 (PST)
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From: Declan McCullagh <declan@EFF.ORG>
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Subject: File 3--FLASH: Phil Zimmermann case dropped!
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This is FABULOUS news! Please distribute widely!
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-Declan
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// declan@eff.org // My opinions are not in any way those of the EFF //
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Subject--Zimmermann case is dropped.
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Date--Mon, 8 Jan 1996 03:35:46 -0700 (MST)
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From--Philip Zimmermann <prz@acm.org>
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
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My lead defense lawyer, Phil Dubois, received a fax this morning from
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the Assistant US Attorney in Northern District of California, William
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Keane. The letter informed us that I "will not be prosecuted in connection
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with the posting to USENET in June 1991 of the encryption program
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Pretty Good Privacy. The investigation is closed."
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This brings to a close a criminal investigation that has spanned the
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last three years. I'd like to thank all the people who helped us in
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this case, especially all the donors to my legal defense fund. Apparently,
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the money was well-spent. And I'd like to thank my very capable defense
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team: Phil Dubois, Ken Bass, Eben Moglen, Curt Karnow, Tom Nolan, and Bob
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Corn-Revere. Most of the time they spent on the case was pro-bono. I'd
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also like to thank Joe Burton, counsel for the co-defendant.
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There are many others I can thank, but I don't have the presence of mind
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to list them all here at this moment. The medium of email cannot express
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how I feel about this turn of events.
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-Philip Zimmermann
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11 Jan 96
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-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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Version: 2.6.2
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iQCVAwUBMPDy4WV5hLjHqWbdAQEqYwQAm+o313Cm2ebAsMiPIwmd1WwnkPXEaYe9
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pGR5ja8BKSZQi4TAEQOQwQJaghI8QqZFdcctVYLm569I1/8ah0qyJ+4fOfUiAMda
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Sa2nvJR7pnr6EXrUFe1QoSauCASP/QRYcKgB5vaaOOuxyXnQfdK39AqaKy8lPYbw
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MfUiYaMREu4=
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=9CJW
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-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
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------------------------------
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From: "David Gersic" <A02DAG1@NOC.NIU.EDU>
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Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1996 23:27:22 CDT
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Subject: File 4-- CompuServe poetry
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THOUGHTS
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THE THOUGHT POLICE ARE COMING
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THEY'RE COMING TO TAKE ME AWAY
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IT SEEMS THAT CONGRESS DOESN'T LIKE
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WHAT I HAD TO SAY
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THEY READ MY MAIL AND SCANNED MY FILES
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AND WATCHED WHERE I HAD BEEN
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THEY CRAWLED THE WEB AND PEERED WITHIN
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THEY SAID MY SPEECH WAS SIN
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IT ALL BEGAN WITH A SIMPLE REQUEST
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"DO YOU LIKE SEX AS MUCH AS I?'
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BIG BROTHER SMILED HIS KNOWING SMILE
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AND HE BEGAN TO SPY
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THEY KNEW MY EVERY THOUGHT
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THEY KNEW MY EVERY DESIRE
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|
IT SEEMS MY CRIME FROM THEIR POINT OF VIEW
|
||
|
WAS SENDING IT OVER THE WIRE
|
||
|
|
||
|
YOU CANNOT FIGHT A MONSTER
|
||
|
THAT IS MORE POWERFUL THAN YOU
|
||
|
SO EVEN IF YOU WANT TO
|
||
|
DON'T ASK SOMEONE TO SCREW
|
||
|
|
||
|
THE THOUGHT POLICE ARE COMING
|
||
|
THEY'RE COMING TO TAKE ME AWAY
|
||
|
THE THOUGHT POLICE ARE COMING
|
||
|
THEY DIDN'T LIKE WHAT I HAD TO SAY
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
======================================================================
|
||
|
David Gersic a02dag1@noc.niu.edu
|
||
|
Do not believe in miracles; rely on them.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Sun, 14 Jan 1996 15:20:50 -0500 (EST)
|
||
|
From: "Declan B. McCullagh" <declan+@CMU.EDU>
|
||
|
Subject: File 5--Compuserve: "Shooting the Cyber-Messenger"
|
||
|
|
||
|
This article has some interesting information on how Compuserve went far
|
||
|
beyond what was legally necessary. A German official says:
|
||
|
|
||
|
He said the prosecutor, Manfred Wick, acting on his own volition is
|
||
|
investigating pornography on the Net and during his investigation
|
||
|
discussed the situation with CIS's management, whose offices are in
|
||
|
Munich, but issued no threats, orders or warnings.
|
||
|
|
||
|
-Declan
|
||
|
|
||
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
From http://www.d-comm.com/
|
||
|
|
||
|
SHOOTING THE CYBER-MESSENGER
|
||
|
|
||
|
Has the Internet really become so much a reality that it is where
|
||
|
World War III will be fought? And has the world become so small that
|
||
|
the main combatants will be the cybernauts of the US and the
|
||
|
government of Germany? Well, if Rambo-types in the US have their way,
|
||
|
that is exactly what may be happening and it all began as a Christmas
|
||
|
Eve surprise. The first many of us heard of it was that night in the
|
||
|
following message in alt.censorship from Phil Reed:
|
||
|
|
||
|
"Effective this weekend (apparently Friday night), CompuServe (CIS)
|
||
|
has apparently begun blocking access ... to 'indecent' newsgroups,
|
||
|
including the alt.sex.* hierarchy, alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.*,
|
||
|
and other groups such as alt.politics.homosexuality. The timing is
|
||
|
obvious; by doing it late on Friday before a long holiday weekend,
|
||
|
they hope to slow the uprise of outrage."
|
||
|
|
||
|
As we were to learn within the next few day, CIS banned some 200
|
||
|
newsgroups. Outrage against the company was immediate. A campaign to
|
||
|
cancel accounts with the American company was begun. Theory had it,
|
||
|
that CIS had caved in to the proposed Net censorship called for in the
|
||
|
"Communications Decency Act" the US Congress looks ready to enact
|
||
|
soon. However, a day or two later a press release from CIS appeared.
|
||
|
It claimed, "The access to certain newsgroups was blocked by order of
|
||
|
the German Government. They issued an ultimatum to block the
|
||
|
newsgroups on THEIR list or get out of Germany."
|
||
|
|
||
|
Within hours anti-German hatred was sprouting from all over the US as
|
||
|
the Rambos came out from under their rocks. And within days (during
|
||
|
which we learnt that the German authority referred to in CIS's
|
||
|
statement was the Munich prosecutor), at least one such bigot was
|
||
|
shouting, "This affair with the German (or Bavarian, as has been
|
||
|
noted) government and CompuServe's immediate bowing to pressure cannot
|
||
|
be tolerated. Protests should be lodged to *every* German-oriented
|
||
|
newsgroup and web page you can find. If this goes unchallenged, we
|
||
|
have lost the first battle in the coming war. Time now to pick up your
|
||
|
guns and start fighting."
|
||
|
|
||
|
While another shouted, "We will be leading an organised attack to take
|
||
|
the city of Munich electronically next week -- mail-bombing by
|
||
|
Americans is perfectly legal, and will be coordinated by the Viet-Nam
|
||
|
veterans. If you have any good mail-bombs or viruses, drop me a note,
|
||
|
and I will give you the anon address for the retired general who is
|
||
|
doing this. It is all perfectly legal, and we are getting help from
|
||
|
the Canadian and Australians. The AMERICAN REVOLUTION is NOW HERE!
|
||
|
American ISPs against the Munich City Government! This is WAR! To
|
||
|
protect the FatherLand and FREEDOM OF SPEECH!"
|
||
|
|
||
|
Thomas Wulfing, a spokesman at the German Embassy, London, told
|
||
|
d.Comm, "There have been no comments on the situation from the German
|
||
|
national or the Bavarian governments. My latest information is that it
|
||
|
was the Munich prosecutor who authorised this action. It's good that
|
||
|
we clarify this thing. As far as I know the prosecutor has taken up
|
||
|
that issue. He wants a way of banning the free access to pornography
|
||
|
on the Internet and within that plan has informed CIS. And CIS as far
|
||
|
as I know has agreed because it has no interest whatsoever in
|
||
|
promoting pornography."
|
||
|
|
||
|
He said the prosecutor, Manfred Wick, acting on his own volition is
|
||
|
investigating pornography on the Net and during his investigation
|
||
|
discussed the situation with CIS's management, whose offices are in
|
||
|
Munich, but issued no threats, orders or warnings. Asked why Wick
|
||
|
would be investigating porn on the Net considering Germany's more
|
||
|
relaxed attitude towards sexually explicit material, Wulfing noted,
|
||
|
"The limit in Germany is the age and of course the promotion of
|
||
|
violence of child pornography. These types of things are strictly
|
||
|
prohibited. The Age of Consent for sexual activities is 16, but to
|
||
|
distribute that in print or film or whatever, it is 18."
|
||
|
|
||
|
Asked about the threat of e-mail bombs and virus attacks from net nuts
|
||
|
in the States, Wulfing told us, "I wasn't aware of these threats from
|
||
|
the US. So I don't think the Munich or German authorities have taken
|
||
|
action so far. Of course, if that story is going to be verified the
|
||
|
German government takes it very seriously. Indeed it sounds very
|
||
|
scary."
|
||
|
|
||
|
So what's the real story? Just how did CIS, one of the world's largest
|
||
|
Internet service providers come to ban 200 newsgroups? Detlef
|
||
|
Borchers, a reporter in Germany, says according to a 22 November 1995
|
||
|
press release from the Munich Police Department, "the police were at
|
||
|
the CompuServe office and they found material for further
|
||
|
investigations. This is more than just Usegroups. It could be
|
||
|
considerably more; some sources are claiming that a CompuServe
|
||
|
employee was posting child porn."
|
||
|
|
||
|
According to Borchers, CIS issued a statement the next day, 23
|
||
|
November. He says, "The relevant passage is the first: 'CompuServe and
|
||
|
the police discussed and found a solution'. No legal action threat is
|
||
|
mentioned in this statement. The solution was 'cleaning' the
|
||
|
Newsgroups. Unfortunately, this worked only on one of the seven
|
||
|
newsgroups servers CompuServe has -- the one which is serving the
|
||
|
CIM-Software."
|
||
|
|
||
|
Borchers adds that in the interim, "the German CompuServe management
|
||
|
resigned. The new manager is supposed to be Mitch Wolfsson, now
|
||
|
European Manager of MSN, who is not too eager to comment."
|
||
|
|
||
|
So who's to be believed? The Munich and German authorities who claim
|
||
|
to have only informed CIS that it was investigating kiddieporn on the
|
||
|
Net, or CIS? It's difficult to know yet, but one does have to wonder.
|
||
|
If CIS was told Mr Wick was investigating child pornography, why did
|
||
|
it ban such newsgroups as alt.binaries.erotic.senior-citizens,
|
||
|
alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.pregnant, alt.recovery.addiction.sexual
|
||
|
and alt.recovery.sexual-addiction (both therapy groups),
|
||
|
alt.sex.fetish.wrestling, alt.sex.reptiles, alt.sexy.bald.captains
|
||
|
(about Star Trek's Capt Pecard), among many others which appear
|
||
|
unlikely to deal in kiddieporn?
|
||
|
|
||
|
The implications of CompuServe's capitulation go far beyond the
|
||
|
boundaries of Germany's jurisdiction. The Internet is an ever changing
|
||
|
medium with new sites and newsgroups appearing all the time. A service
|
||
|
provider cannot guarantee that it has successfully denied access to
|
||
|
all illegal sites. It may have identified all of these sites an hour
|
||
|
ago, and successfully banned access to them, but since then, several
|
||
|
may have moved locations while ten new sites may have been placed on
|
||
|
the Web.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The problem is worse still: what exactly must the service providers
|
||
|
restrict access to? What about pornographic sites that should not be
|
||
|
accessed by minors -- already highlighted by the German authorities as
|
||
|
an important issue.? There is no way of knowing whether the user of
|
||
|
the service is fifty or five years of age. The nett result: ban all
|
||
|
access to pornographic material.
|
||
|
|
||
|
If this approach were to be taken by the service providers, what would
|
||
|
be the reaction of magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse, both of
|
||
|
which have Web sites? The publishing houses would probably attempt to
|
||
|
get a court order forcing service providers to allow access to their
|
||
|
sites (except in a few notable countries where the magazines are still
|
||
|
considered illegal).
|
||
|
|
||
|
For the service provider, the whole process of providing access is
|
||
|
becoming far too complex. The service provider is simply the
|
||
|
messenger, not the provider of content, and as such there is no reason
|
||
|
why the messenger should be shot.
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 96 22:15:33 PST
|
||
|
From: jblumen@interramp.com
|
||
|
Subject: File 6--Letter to Wiesenthal Cente in re "hate speech" ban
|
||
|
|
||
|
This is the text of a letter I sent to the Wiesenthal center in response
|
||
|
to their letter to Internet service providers, asking them to
|
||
|
ban hate speech.
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
I believe that the Center's letter to 2,000 Internet service providers
|
||
|
(ISP's),
|
||
|
as reported in yesterday's New York Times, represents an unfortunate
|
||
|
choice by the Center to engage in activities harmful to free speech
|
||
|
in this country.
|
||
|
|
||
|
I am a Jewish businessman and attorney, resident in New York City. Since
|
||
|
January 1995, I have used my leisure time to create and operate a Web
|
||
|
site called The Ethical Spectacle (http://www.spectacle.org)
|
||
|
which covers the intersection
|
||
|
(or collision) of ethics, law and politics in our society.
|
||
|
In June 1995, I published "An Auschwitz Alphabet"
|
||
|
(http://www.spectacle.org/695/ausch.html) as a special issue
|
||
|
of the Spectacle. It is a collection of resources and essays
|
||
|
pertaining to Auschwitz, including quotations from Primo Levi,
|
||
|
Elie Wiesel, Hannah Arendt and Tadeusz Borowski, photographs,
|
||
|
a portion of the Passover service, and my own essay, "What I
|
||
|
Learned From Auschwitz." In the months since then, I have
|
||
|
received mail from several hundred people in the US, Sweden,
|
||
|
England, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, thanking
|
||
|
me for the "Alphabet", reminiscing about family members who
|
||
|
were victims of the Holocaust, and generally proving the
|
||
|
potency of the Internet as a force for education and freedom.
|
||
|
|
||
|
I am not in agreement with your request to ISP's to censor
|
||
|
hate speech on their systems. Any censorship of speech
|
||
|
ultimately boomerangs to injure good speech, and one
|
||
|
of the tenets of what I call the "free speech rulebook" is that
|
||
|
no-one--not the government, not Netcom, not the Wiesenthal
|
||
|
Center--is godlike enough to decide for other people what speech
|
||
|
may be heard. A few years ago, the Canadian Supreme Court
|
||
|
accepted Professor Catharine MacKinnon's arguments that
|
||
|
pornography not merely encourages, but IS, the oppression of
|
||
|
women. I believe MacKinnon is correct in principle (as I
|
||
|
very much believe the Wiesenthal Center is correct in principle)
|
||
|
but look at the application: Canadian Customs now enforces the
|
||
|
law selectively to ban gay speech and the angry feminist writings
|
||
|
of MacKinnon colleague Andrea Dworkin, while the pornography
|
||
|
business continues on as before.
|
||
|
|
||
|
I understand that the First Amendment only protects speech against
|
||
|
government action. Rabbi Hier's speeches, and his testimony to the
|
||
|
Senate on the bomb recipe bill, contain at least pro forma
|
||
|
recognition that the First Amendment protects hate speech. But
|
||
|
by calling on ISP's to band together to ban hate, you are asking
|
||
|
them to constitute themselves a private government. The First
|
||
|
Amendment no longer means anything when private action ensures
|
||
|
that disfavored views cannot gain access to the means of
|
||
|
communication.
|
||
|
|
||
|
I make a distinction for access providers such as Compuserve,
|
||
|
Prodigy, and America Online. They are the electronic equivalent
|
||
|
of bookstores, as the Cubby v. Compuserve case established,
|
||
|
and have a right to decide what "books" to carry. But
|
||
|
ISP's such as Netcom and Interramp provide nothing more
|
||
|
than a wire to the Internet. The inevitable direction the
|
||
|
law must take, if we value free speech in this country, is
|
||
|
to treat these ISP's as common carriers. Contrary to your request
|
||
|
that they "edit" the speech they carry, it is imperative that
|
||
|
they have no right whatever to do so.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The development of telegraphy in this country provides a significant
|
||
|
precedent. Western Union abused its monopoly by refusing to carry
|
||
|
cables from reporters to their newspapers, seeing them as
|
||
|
competition for its own wire service business. The Congress
|
||
|
responded by declaring Western Union a common carrier,
|
||
|
forbidding it from determining which speech can be carried
|
||
|
over the wire.
|
||
|
|
||
|
If ISP's respond to your letter and get in the habit of shutting
|
||
|
off hate speech, history and human nature dictates that
|
||
|
this authority will later be used to ban speech about
|
||
|
feminism, abortion, radical politics or whatever else is the
|
||
|
"bete noir" of the moment. An ISP which has the right to
|
||
|
refuse to carry the Institute for Historical Review can exercise
|
||
|
that right just as easily to refuse the Wiesenthal Center access
|
||
|
to the Internet.
|
||
|
|
||
|
To paraphrase Count Talleyrand, your request to ISP's was not
|
||
|
only morally wrong, but also a mistake. Hate speech on the
|
||
|
Internet, though vile and distressing, is fragmented and in
|
||
|
plain sight, where it can be monitored and answered. Numerous
|
||
|
Internet sites, like yours, the Nizkor Project and the Ethical
|
||
|
Spectacle, exist to answer hate speech. If ISP's
|
||
|
comply with your request, one of two things will happen. Either
|
||
|
hate speech will go completely underground, becoming more mysterious,
|
||
|
attractive and powerful to its audience because forbidden. Or, what
|
||
|
is even more likely, hate groups will simply band together to create
|
||
|
their own ISP, providing all their foul ideas from one easily
|
||
|
accessible menu. You will then be in the position of having to
|
||
|
fall back to a call for government censorship.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Free speech is the cornerstone of liberty. The only security
|
||
|
lies in John Milton's stand, taken in The Aeropagitica,
|
||
|
his essay to Parliament about
|
||
|
the licensing of printing presses and books: "Prove all things,
|
||
|
hold fast that which is good."
|
||
|
|
||
|
-----------------------------
|
||
|
Jonathan Blumen
|
||
|
The Ethical Spectacle
|
||
|
http://www.spectacle.org
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Thu, 11 Jan 1996 22:41:08 -0600 (CST)
|
||
|
From: Avi Bass <te0azb1@corn.cso.niu.edu>
|
||
|
Subject: File 7--News Release >> Child Safe Ratings on the Internet (fwd)
|
||
|
|
||
|
---------- Forwarded message ----------
|
||
|
Date--Thu, 11 Jan 1996 20:41:41 -0400
|
||
|
From--ted resnick <tedres@mckinley.com>
|
||
|
Subject--News Release >> Child Safe Ratings on the Internet
|
||
|
|
||
|
THE MCKINLEY GROUP SAYS GREEN LIGHT MEANS GO
|
||
|
|
||
|
New Green Light Icon to Appear on all Web Sites Not Containing
|
||
|
Material Apparently Intended for Mature Audiences
|
||
|
|
||
|
SAUSALITO, CA (January 9, 1996) - In response to the increasing
|
||
|
concern over the accessibility of Internet sites containing offensive
|
||
|
or inappropriate content for the broader audience, The McKinley Group
|
||
|
announced today that it has positioned a Green Light icon to appear
|
||
|
next to descriptions of all the reviewed Web sites in its Magellan
|
||
|
Internet Directory <http://www.mckinley.com> that were free of
|
||
|
adult-only material at the time of review. Magellan is the first
|
||
|
Internet Directory to offer this "safe sites" screening feature.
|
||
|
|
||
|
"The Green Light category is a valuable extension of the unique rating
|
||
|
and evaluation system that has been developed by the McKinley Group,"
|
||
|
said Sandra Treacy, director of San Francisco School Volunteers.
|
||
|
"Given the unregulated nature of Internet content, this feature will
|
||
|
prove to be a widely used indicator for parents, teachers, children
|
||
|
and the average user."
|
||
|
|
||
|
In addition to the Green Light designation, Magellan gives users a
|
||
|
thorough review of individual Internet sites and rates them using a
|
||
|
unique system. Rated sites are awarded one to four stars for overall
|
||
|
quality, based on depth, organization, and 'net appeal' (is it
|
||
|
innovative, funny, hip, cool or thought-provoking).
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
Please bookmark The Magellan for future reference. You can also find
|
||
|
a more in-depth account of our Green Light Sites at
|
||
|
|
||
|
http://www.mckinley.com/mckinley-txt/246.html#greenlight
|
||
|
|
||
|
Have a good one!
|
||
|
Ted Resnick
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 1996 07:33:47 -0800 (PST)
|
||
|
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@WELL.COM>
|
||
|
Subject: File 8--AP/NYT: Jewish Groups Call for Internet Censorship
|
||
|
|
||
|
Now that the cravens at Compuserve have acquiesced to one censorship
|
||
|
attempt, more will be forthcoming. Not a slippery slope as much as a
|
||
|
domino effect.
|
||
|
|
||
|
I'm amused that Mr. Giles from Compuserve has had a sudden change of heart.
|
||
|
|
||
|
-Declan
|
||
|
|
||
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Jan 9 -- BOSTON (AP) -- White supremacist groups that once spread their
|
||
|
racist messages at rallies and in leaflets are now going high-tech
|
||
|
on the Internet -- a trend a leading Jewish human rights group wants
|
||
|
to stop.
|
||
|
The Simon Weisenthal Center on Tuesday began sending hundreds of
|
||
|
letters to Internet access providers asking them to refuse to carry
|
||
|
messages that ``promote racism, anti-Semitism, mayhem and
|
||
|
violence.''...
|
||
|
The Internet allows users to ``show the whole world what's wrong
|
||
|
about what the hate speakers are saying,'' said Mike Godwin, staff
|
||
|
counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties
|
||
|
group dealing with computer communications.
|
||
|
``The correct place to try and put pressure is on the people who
|
||
|
create the content, not the person who provides access to it,''
|
||
|
said CompuServe spokesman William Giles.
|
||
|
The roughly 250 hate groups in the United States, whose previous
|
||
|
methods reached a limited audience, now ``have a magnificent
|
||
|
marketing technology dumped in their laps,'' said Rabbi Abraham
|
||
|
Cooper, associate dean of the Weisenthal center, based in Los
|
||
|
Angeles. ``They are able to dress up their message in a way that
|
||
|
looks ... presentable.''...
|
||
|
Prodigy spokesman Brian Ek said the service does employ systems
|
||
|
operators who monitor content on its proprietary bulletin boards
|
||
|
and can remove any messages with ``blatant expressions of bigotry,
|
||
|
racism or hate.''
|
||
|
|
||
|
---------------------------------------------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
Forwarded from IP:
|
||
|
|
||
|
UNITED STATES 3 Wednesday, Jan. 10, 1996
|
||
|
Jewish Group Seeks Internet Restraints
|
||
|
|
||
|
Citing "the rapidly expanding presence of organized hate groups on the
|
||
|
Internet,'' a leading Jewish human rights group Tuesday began sending
|
||
|
letters to hundreds of Internet access providers and universities asking
|
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|
them to refuse to carry messages that "promote racism, anti-Semitism,
|
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|
may-hem and violence.'' The letter from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a
|
||
|
425,000-member organization based in Los Angeles, is the latest in a
|
||
|
growing effort by legislators and private interest groups to censor
|
||
|
offensive material on the global data network, which now connects millions
|
||
|
of computer users worldwide. "Internet providers have a First Amendment
|
||
|
right and a moral obligation not to provide these groups with a platform
|
||
|
for their destructive propa-ganda, '' Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the center's
|
||
|
associate dean, wrote in the letter that was sent to Internet service
|
||
|
providers. Rabbi Cooper said the group's target was not the many discussion
|
||
|
forums where individuals debate such topics as whether the Holocaust
|
||
|
actually oc-curred, but rather the Internet's World Wide Web. Dozens of
|
||
|
groups, from white supremacists to anarchists, have pub-lished documents on
|
||
|
the Web about their points of view. Some are revi-sionist histories
|
||
|
questioning whether there was a Holocaust and some are racist tracts
|
||
|
denigrating blacks, Jews, homosexuals and other minorities. By PETER H.
|
||
|
LEWIS
|
||
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|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
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||
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Date: Sun, 16 Dec 1995 22:51:01 CDT
|
||
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From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu>
|
||
|
Subject: File 9--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 16 Dec, 1995)
|
||
|
|
||
|
Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are
|
||
|
available at no cost electronically.
|
||
|
|
||
|
CuD is available as a Usenet newsgroup: comp.society.cu-digest
|
||
|
|
||
|
Or, to subscribe, send post with this in the "Subject:: line:
|
||
|
|
||
|
SUBSCRIBE CU-DIGEST
|
||
|
Send the message to: cu-digest-request@weber.ucsd.edu
|
||
|
|
||
|
DO NOT SEND SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE MODERATORS.
|
||
|
|
||
|
The editors may be contacted by voice (815-753-0303), fax (815-753-6302)
|
||
|
or U.S. mail at: Jim Thomas, Department of Sociology, NIU, DeKalb, IL
|
||
|
60115, USA.
|
||
|
|
||
|
To UNSUB, send a one-line message: UNSUB CU-DIGEST
|
||
|
Send it to CU-DIGEST-REQUEST@WEBER.UCSD.EDU
|
||
|
(NOTE: The address you unsub must correspond to your From: line)
|
||
|
|
||
|
Issues of CuD can also be found in the Usenet comp.society.cu-digest
|
||
|
news group; on CompuServe in DL0 and DL4 of the IBMBBS SIG, DL1 of
|
||
|
LAWSIG, and DL1 of TELECOM; on GEnie in the PF*NPC RT
|
||
|
libraries and in the VIRUS/SECURITY library; from America Online in
|
||
|
the PC Telecom forum under "computing newsletters;"
|
||
|
On Delphi in the General Discussion database of the Internet SIG;
|
||
|
on RIPCO BBS (312) 528-5020 (and via Ripco on internet);
|
||
|
and on Rune Stone BBS (IIRGWHQ) (203) 832-8441.
|
||
|
CuD is also available via Fidonet File Request from
|
||
|
1:11/70; unlisted nodes and points welcome.
|
||
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|
||
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EUROPE: In BELGIUM: Virtual Access BBS: +32-69-844-019 (ringdown)
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||
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Brussels: STRATOMIC BBS +32-2-5383119 2:291/759@fidonet.org
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In ITALY: ZERO! BBS: +39-11-6507540
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In LUXEMBOURG: ComNet BBS: +352-466893
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||
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|
||
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UNITED STATES: etext.archive.umich.edu (192.131.22.8) in /pub/CuD/
|
||
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ftp.eff.org (192.88.144.4) in /pub/Publications/CuD/
|
||
|
aql.gatech.edu (128.61.10.53) in /pub/eff/cud/
|
||
|
world.std.com in /src/wuarchive/doc/EFF/Publications/CuD/
|
||
|
wuarchive.wustl.edu in /doc/EFF/Publications/CuD/
|
||
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EUROPE: nic.funet.fi in pub/doc/cud/ (Finland)
|
||
|
ftp.warwick.ac.uk in pub/cud/ (United Kingdom)
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
The most recent issues of CuD can be obtained from the
|
||
|
Cu Digest WWW site at:
|
||
|
URL: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest/
|
||
|
|
||
|
COMPUTER UNDERGROUND DIGEST is an open forum dedicated to sharing
|
||
|
information among computerists and to the presentation and debate of
|
||
|
diverse views. CuD material may be reprinted for non-profit as long
|
||
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as the source is cited. Authors hold a presumptive copyright, and
|
||
|
they should be contacted for reprint permission. It is assumed that
|
||
|
non-personal mail to the moderators may be reprinted unless otherwise
|
||
|
specified. Readers are encouraged to submit reasoned articles
|
||
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relating to computer culture and communication. Articles are
|
||
|
preferred to short responses. Please avoid quoting previous posts
|
||
|
unless absolutely necessary.
|
||
|
|
||
|
DISCLAIMER: The views represented herein do not necessarily represent
|
||
|
the views of the moderators. Digest contributors assume all
|
||
|
responsibility for ensuring that articles submitted do not
|
||
|
violate copyright protections.
|
||
|
|
||
|
------------------------------
|
||
|
|
||
|
End of Computer Underground Digest #8.05
|
||
|
************************************
|
||
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