129 lines
5.5 KiB
Plaintext
129 lines
5.5 KiB
Plaintext
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
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1001 G Street NW, Suite 950 E
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Washington DC 20001 USA
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+1 202 347 5400 (voice)
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+1 202 393 5509 (fax)
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+1 202 638 6120 (BBS)
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Internet: ask@eff.org
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* EFF Wants You (to add your voice to the crypto fight!) *
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The Electronic Frontier Foundation needs your help to ensure privacy rights!
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* DISTRIBUTE WIDELY *
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Monday, February 7th, 1994
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From: Jerry Berman, Executive Director of EFF
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jberman@eff.org
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Dear Friends on the Electronic Frontier,
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I'm writing a personal letter to you because the time has now come for
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action. On Friday, February 4, 1994, the Administration announced that it
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plans to proceed on every front to make the Clipper Chip encryption scheme
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a national standard, and to discourage the development and sale of
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alternative powerful encryption technologies. If the government succeeds
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in this effort, the resulting blow to individual freedom and privacy could
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be immeasurable.
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As you know, over the last three years, we at EFF have worked to ensure
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freedom and privacy on the Net. Now I'm writing to let you know about
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something *you* can do to support freedom and privacy. *Please take a
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moment to send e-mail to U.S. Rep. Maria Cantwell (cantwell@eff.org) to
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show your support of H.R. 3627, her bill to liberalize export controls on
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encryption software.* I believe this bill is critical to empowering
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ordinary citizens to use strong encryption, as well as to ensuring that
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the U.S. software industry remains competitive in world markets.
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Here are some facts about the bill:
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Rep. Cantwell introduced H.R. 3627 in the House of Representatives on
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November 22, 1993. H.R. 3627 would amend the Export Control Act to move
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authority over the export of nonmilitary software with encryption
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capabilities from the Secretary of State (where the intelligence community
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traditionally has stalled such exports) to the Secretary of Commerce. The
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bill would also invalidate the current license requirements for
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nonmilitary software containing encryption capablities, unless there is
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substantial evidence that the software will be diverted, modified or
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re-exported to a military or terroristic end-use.
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If this bill is passed, it will greatly increase the availability of
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secure software for ordinary citizens. Currently, software developers do
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not include strong encryption capabilities in their products, because the
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State Department refuses to license for export any encryption technology
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that the NSA can't decipher. Developing two products, one with less secure
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exportable encryption, would lead to costly duplication of effort, so even
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software developed for sale in this country doesn't offer maximum
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security. There is also a legitimate concern that software companies will
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simply set up branches outside of this country to avoid the export
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restrictions, costing American jobs.
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The lack of widespread commercial encryption products means that it will
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be very easy for the federal government to set its own standard--the
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Clipper Chip standard. As you may know, the government's Clipper Chip
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initiative is designed to set an encryption standard where the government
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holds the keys to our private conversations. Together with the Digital
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Telephony bill, which is aimed at making our telephone and computer
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networks "wiretap-friendly," the Clipper Chip marks a dramatic new effort
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on the part of the government to prevent us from being able to engage in
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truly private conversations.
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We've been fighting Clipper Chip and Digital Telephony in the policy arena
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and will continue to do so. But there's another way to fight those
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initiatives, and that's to make sure that powerful alternative encryption
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technologies are in the hands of any citizen who wants to use them. The
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government hopes that, by pushing the Clipper Chip in every way short of
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explicitly banning alternative technologies, it can limit your choices for
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secure communications.
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Here's what you can do:
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I urge you to write to Rep. Cantwell today at cantwell@eff.org. In the
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Subject header of your message, type "I support HR 3627." In the body of
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your message, express your reasons for supporting the bill. EFF will
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deliver printouts of all letters to Rep. Cantwell. With a strong showing
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of support from the Net community, Rep. Cantwell can tell her colleagues
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on Capitol Hill that encryption is not only an industry concern, but also
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a grassroots issue. *Again: remember to put "I support HR 3627" in your
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Subject header.*
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This is the first step in a larger campaign to counter the efforts of
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those who would restrict our ability to speak freely and with privacy.
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Please stay tuned--we'll continue to inform you of things you can do to
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promote the removal of restrictions on encryption.
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In the meantime, you can make your voice heard--it's as easy as e-mail.
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Write to cantwell@eff.org today.
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Sincerely,
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Jerry Berman
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Executive Director, EFF
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jberman@eff.org
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P.S. If you want additional information about the Cantwell bill, send
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e-mail to cantwell-info@eff.org. To join EFF, write membership@eff.org.
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For introductory info about EFF, send any message to info@eff.org.
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The text of the Cantwell bill can be found on the Internet with the any of
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the following URLs (Universal Resource Locators):
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ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/Legislation/cantwell.bill
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http://www.eff.org/ftp/EFF/Policy/Legislation/cantwell.bill
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gopher://gopher.eff.org/00/EFF/legislation/cantwell.bill
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It has been posted to CompuServe (go EFFSIG; hr3627.bil in Library #2),
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and GEnie (Public Forum*Non-Profit Connection library; keyword PF, page 545).
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It is also available on AOL (keyword EFF).
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