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Computer underground Digest Wed Dec 15 1994 Volume 5 : Issue 94
ISSN 1004-042X
Editors: Jim Thomas and Gordon Meyer (TK0JUT2@NIU.BITNET)
Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
Ian Dickinson
Copy Editor: Craig Shergold, III
CONTENTS, #5.94 (Dec 15 1994)
File 1--EFF Policy on Cryptography and Privacy / 8 Dec '93
File 2--CPSR Clipper Letter to Clinton
File 3--EFF Statement on Markey Infrastructure Bill
File 4--Child Porn Bust in North Carolina
File 5--Complaints prompt Patent Office hearings on SOFTWARE PATENTS
File 6--Edited ASIS '94 Mid Year Meeting Announcement
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 93 12:13:24 -0800
From: ygoland@HURRICANE.SEAS.UCLA.EDU
Subject: File 1--EFF Policy on Cryptography and Privacy / 8 Dec '93
EFF ANNOUNCES ITS OFFICIAL POLICY ON CRYPTOGRAPHY AND PRIVACY
Strongly opposes original Clipper/Skipjack plan,
reiterates the need to lift restrictions on encryption
December 8, 1993
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is pleased to announce its
formal policy on encryption.
This is particularly timely, because yesterday the New York Times
announced that the Digital Privacy and Security Working Group had
proposed to trade support for the administration's proposed Clipper
Chip for a lifting of the long-standing export embargo on robust
domestic encryption.
This was a misunderstanding of what the DPSWG offered the
administration in this proposal, leading to the belief that both the
DPSWG (a coalition of over 50 computer, communications, and privacy
organizations and associations) and it's principal coordinating
organization, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have offered to ease
their opposition to Clipper.
We see it as a pragmatic effort to get the government to wiggle on
these issues: one step in the right direction, with many more to
follow. This step is that we insist that use of Clipper and key
escrow must be completely voluntary. It's not voluntary if users of
the Skipjack algorithm are forced to use key escrow. It's not
voluntary if users who do choose escrow are forced to use the
government's choice of escrow agents. It's not voluntary if
manufacturers such as AT&T are pressured into withdrawing competing
products. It's not voluntary when competing products can't be sold in
a worldwide market. It's not voluntary if the public can't see the
algorithm they are "volunteering" to use. It's not voluntary if the
government will require anyone to use Skipjack or escrow, even when
communicating with the government.
The Working Group chose to state this in a diplomatic fashion by
applauding "repeated statements by Administration officials that there
is no intent to make the clipper chip mandatory". They were diplomatic
for two reasons. First, they believe the Administration has gotten this
message. Clipper was announced in April and was supposed to be
available in the Summer. It is December, the escrow system is still
uncertain, and the Administration is still drafting a report which was
due in July. If they still don't get it, the coalition has a 100 page
white paper documenting the case against clipper and the case for
lifting export controls, which they will release in response to any
Administration position favoring Clipper.
The second reason is that the coalition was trying to use the
introduction of the Rep. Cantwell's bill eliminating many export
controls on crypto to try, one more time, to urge the Administration
to make voluntariness meaningful by unilaterally lifting export
controls. Even if the Working Group and the Administration can't
agree on Clipper, EFF and the Working Group needed to continue
pressing the export issue.
But NSA is digging in, and a legislative fight looks more likely.
If diplomacy fails, EFF must fight for our rights. Thus, we are
going to need all the allies we can find, from IBM, Apple, Lotus,
and Sun, to cryptographers, cypherpunks, and folks on the net.
EFF wants the public and the Administration to know (as we have
frequently stated to them face to face) that the Electronic Frontier
Foundation would fight to the end any attempt by the Administration to
do any more than let companies use Clipper if they want and to let people
buy it if they want -- and only in a market which has other strong
encryption schemes available because export controls have been lifted.
Under truly voluntary conditions, the EFF would be proud to say, "We
have expressed ... tentative acceptance of the Clipper Chip's
encryption scheme ... only if it is available as a voluntary
alternative to widely-available, commercially-accepted encryption
programs and products." We would applaud the Government for employing
NSA's substantial expertise to devise improved encryption schemes --
like DES and Skipjack -- and deploying them to improve our society's
privacy and security.
We hope that the Clinton Administration can agree to take this single
step. Here is the whole journey we'd like to begin. If you share our
path, we need your help and support -- please join EFF. Send the end of
this document for details.
Electronic Frontier Foundation Policy on Cryptography & Privacy
(Approved November 11, 1993)
Digital technology is rapidly rendering our commercial activities and
communications -- indeed, much of our personal lives -- open to scrutiny by
strangers. Our medical records, political opinions, personal financial
transactions, and intimate affairs now pass over digital networks where
governments, employers, insurance companies, business competitors, and
others who might turn our private lives against us can examine them with
increasing ease and detail.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation believes that Americans must be allowed
access to the cryptographic tools necessary to protect their own privacy.
We will work toward making the following principles the official policies
of the U. S. Government:
1. Private access to cryptography must be unhindered:
* There must be no laws restricting domestic use of cryptography.
* There must be no restrictions on the export of products, services,
or information because they contain cryptographic algorithms.
2. Cryptography policy and technical standards must be set in open,
public forums:
* All participants in the policy debate on these issues, particularly
law enforcement and national security agencies, must submit their arguments
to public scrutiny.
* Any civilian encryption standard must be published and exposed to
rigorous public challenge.
3. Encryption must become a part of the information infrastructure to
provide security, to protect privacy, and to provide each individual
control over his or her own identity.
* Each user must be free to choose whether or not to use key escrow,
and who should have copies of their keys, if anyone.
* Government at all levels should explore cryptography's potential to
replace identity-based or dossier-based systems, such as driver's licenses,
credit cards, checks, and passports with less invasive technology.
4. New technologies must not erode constitutional protections,
particularly the right to speak, publish, and assemble, and to be free from
unreasonable searches and seizures .
* There must be no broadening of governmental access to private
communications and records, through wiretap law or otherwise, unless there
is a public consensus that the risks to safety outweigh the risks to
liberty and that our safety will actually be increased by the broadened
access.
***
The Electronic Frontier Foundation recognizes that the combination of
digital communications and encryption technology does indeed threaten
some of law enforcement's current investigative techniques.
We also recognize that encryption will prevent many of the online
crimes that will likely occur without it. We further believe that
these technologies will create new investigative tools for law
enforcement, even as they obsolete old ones. Entering this new
environment, private industry, law enforcement, and private citizens
must work together to balance the requirements of both liberty and
security. But technology halts for no one, not even the law.
***
For Electronic Frontier Foundation membership info, send email to
membership@eff.org. For basic EFF details, send email to info@eff.org.
Other queries should be sent to ask@eff.org.
--
Stanton McCandlish mech@eff.org 1:109/1103 EFF Online Activist & SysOp
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1993 11:21:50 EST
From: David Sobel <dsobel@WASHOFC.CPSR.ORG>
Subject: File 2--CPSR Clipper Letter to Clinton
Clipper Letter to Clinton
On December 6, the Digital Privacy and Security Working Group, a
"coalition of over 50 communications and computer companies and
associations, and consumer and privacy advocates" coordinated by the
Electronic Frontier Foundation, sent a letter to President Clinton
concerning cryptography policy. The letter states, "In our
discussions with Administration officials, we have expressed the
Coalition's tentative acceptance of the Clipper Chip's encryption
scheme (as announced on April 16, 1993), but only if it is available
as a voluntary alternative to widely-available, commercially-accepted,
encryption programs and products."
The Washington Office of Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility (CPSR) has sent the following letter to the President.
We believe that the position stated in this letter continues to
represent the views of the vast majority of network users, as
reflected in the overwhelmingly critical comments submitted to the
National Institute of Standards and Technology in response to its
recent solicitation of public comments on the Clipper proposal.
==================================================================
December 8, 1993
The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
We are writing to you regarding the Clipper cryptography
proposal now under consideration by the White House and a
letter you may have received about the proposal from a group
called the "Digital Privacy and Security Working Group."
This group wrote to you recently and expressed their
"tentative acceptance" of the Clipper Chip encryption scheme.
We disagree with their views. This group has made a grave
mistake and does not speak for the many users of computer
networks and developers of network services who have
vigorously opposed this proposal.
We are very much concerned about the Clipper proposal.
At its core is the dubious premise that the government
should have the authority to design communications networks
that facilitate wire surveillance. The plan was developed in
secret by the National Security Agency over the objection
of U.S. firms, professional associations and public interest
organizations. Key details about the proposal remain
classified.
This proposal must not be endorsed. The development of
open, unclassified standards is critical for the future of the
nation's communications infrastructure. Progress and
innovation depend on the free exchange of scientific and
technical information. It is essential to the integrity of
the scientific process that standards are openly created and
available for public review.
There is also a great need to ensure that future networks
are designed with the highest levels of privacy and security
possible. As our country becomes ever more dependent on the
high-speed network, the need for secure systems will only
increase. The Clipper proposal purposefully cripples the
security of the network and reduces the privacy protection
that users could otherwise obtain.
There is another still more serious problem with the
Clipper proposal. An agency with the authority to conduct
wiretaps must not be allowed to impose technical standards to
facilitate wire surveillance. The threat to Constitutional
democracy is clear. A system of checks and balances is
essential to ensure that the powerful investigative tools of
government are properly controlled.
We have followed the development of this proposal with
great concern. We have testified before Congressional
committees. We have appeared before agency panels, provided
reports on wire surveillance, and debated the former FBI
Director on national television. We have also sponsored
conferences with full participation from across the federal
government. We believe that the best policies will result from
an open and unrestricted exchange of views.
It is our assessment that you must not permit adoption of
the Clipper technical standard, even on a voluntary basis. At
a time when the country should be moving toward open standards
designed for commercial networks, the Clipper proposal asks
future users of the nation's information infrastructure to
accept a standard intended for the Cold War era. It is a
backward-looking plan that serves neither the interests of the
American people nor American business.
The adoption of the Clipper proposal would also ratify an
unlawful process that has undermined the authority of Congress
and weakened the mechanisms of government accountability. The
proper authority for the development of this standard never
rested with the NSA. Under the Computer Security Act of 1987,
it was a civilian agency that was to develop appropriate
standards for the nation's commercial networks. Through a
series of secret executive orders, the NSA usurped the
authority of the National Institute of Standards and
Technology, substituted its own proposal for those of NIST,
and effectively derailed this important policy process.
When the computer user community had the opportunity to
voice its position on this proposal, it rejected the plan
overwhelmingly. The notice and comment process conducted by
the Department of Commerce earlier this year resulted in
nearly uniform opposition to the Clipper proposal. It would be
hard to find a technical standard more disliked by the
potential user community.
While we support the relaxation of export controls on
cryptography, we are not willing to concede to the NSA the
right to develop secret standards. It is only because the
National Security Agency also exerts influence on export
control policy that the Digital Privacy coalition is prepared
to endorse the Clipper standard in exchange for new
opportunities to market products. It may be a good deal for
the coalition members, but it is a terrible outcome for the
rest of the country.
We very much appreciate your efforts on behalf of open
government, and your work with the Vice President and the
Secretary of Commerce to develop the nation's information
infrastructure. We believe that these efforts are sending our
country in the right direction, helping to develop advanced
technologies appropriate for a democratic nation and to
preserve open and accountable government.
But the Clipper proposal was not a creation of your
administration. It is a relic from a period that is now
moving rapidly into the history books, a time when secret
agencies made secret decisions and when backroom deals with
powerful, private interests sustained these arrangements.
It is time to end this cynical form of policy making.
We ask you to reject the deal put forward by the Digital
Privacy and Security Working Group. The Clipper proposal
should not go forward.
We would be pleased to meet with members of your
administration to discuss this matter further.
Sincerely yours,
Marc Rotenberg, Director
David Sobel, Legal Counsel
Dave Banisar, Policy Analyst
CPSR Washington office
cc: The Vice President
Secretary Ron Brown, Department of Commerce
Anthony Lake, National Security Council
Computer System Security and Privacy Advisory Board
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 1993 11:19:32 EST
From: Electronic Frontier Foundation <eff@eff.org>
Subject: File 3--EFF Statement on Markey Infrastructure Bill
((Reprinted from EFFector On-Line, #6.07 - 10 December, '93))
EFF Position Statement on and Summary of Bill HR-3636
National Communications Competition and Information Infrastructure Act
of 1993 Introduced by Reps. Markey, Fields and Boucher
On Monday, November 22, 1993, House Telecommunications and Finance
Subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey (D-Mass.), Minority Chairman Jack
Fields (R-Tex.), and other cosponsors introduced the "National
Communications Competition and Information Infrastructure Act of
1993." The legislation, which incorporates EFF's Open Platform
philosophy, is built on four concepts: open platform services, the
entry of telephone companies into video cable service, universal
service, and competition in the local telephone market.
Of all pending telecommunications legislation, Markey's bill is the
only one with a vision of an open, accessible network which supports a
true diversity of information sources. The legislation proposes a
major restructuring of the Communications Act of 1934 in order to
account for changes in technology, market structure, and people's
increasingly advanced information access needs.
EFF recommends strong support for the bill. For the bill to realize
its goals however, the following key changes are necessary: