Time: Sun Sep 21 17:55:58 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id RAA21282; Sun, 21 Sep 1997 17:43:38 -0700 (MST) by usr05.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id RAA00815; Sun, 21 Sep 1997 17:40:31 -0700 (MST) Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 17:40:13 -0700 To: burro@panama.gulf.net From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: Online Groups Mount an Effort To Fight Clinton on Encryption-NYTimes Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Dear Bull, Take this: 00010101010011010101011110001010101010100100101111110101010110!!! /s/ Paul Mitchell At 07:27 PM 9/21/97 -0500, you wrote: > trigger.panama.gulf.net (8.8.6/8.7.3) with SMTP id GAA13405 for <burro@panama.gulf.net>; Sun, 21 Sep 1997 06:56:58 -0500 (CDT) >Delivered-To: cas-outgoing@majordomo.pobox.com > by majordomo.pobox.com with SMTP; 21 Sep 1997 11:56:41 -0000 > (Netscape Mail Server v2.02) with SMTP id AAA149 > for <cas@majordomo.pobox.com>; Sun, 21 Sep 1997 07:56:18 -0400 >Message-ID: <34250BF6.45E9@mail.ameritel.net> >Date: Sun, 21 Sep 1997 07:58:46 -0400 >From: tmulkern@mail.ameritel.net (Trent C Mulkern) >Organization: none >MIME-Version: 1.0 >To: cas@majordomo.pobox.com >Subject: Online Groups Mount an Effort To Fight Clinton on Encryption-NYTimes > >September 21, 1997 > > > > Online Groups Mount an Effort > To Fight Clinton on Encryption > > By JERI CLAUSING > > WASHINGTON — Online civil liberties groups, >increasingly alarmed by the momentum that the Federal > Bureau of Investigation has been building in the >Congressional battle over encryption, will mount a > telephone lobbying campaign next week. > > On Monday, thousands of people are being asked to place calls >to members of a key House committee, urging > them to reject a proposal that the groups fear will lay the >infrastructure for widespread surveillance of citizens by > the United States government. > > "Stop the government from building Big Brother into the >Internet," states an alert that went out on Thursday to > more than 200,000 people on the Internet, urging them to call >members of the House Commerce Committee. > > "In 1948, George Orwell described a future world in which Big >Brother peaked over the shoulder of every citizen > -- watching every move and listening to every word," the alert >states. "Now, in 1997, the FBI is pushing the United > States Congress to pass legislation which would make George >Orwell's frightening vision a reality." > > The alert, published by the Center for Democracy and >Technology, the Voters > Telecommunications Watch, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, >Wired Magazine and > Americans for Tax Reform, is just the latest in a yearlong >campaign to fight the Clinton > administration's attempts to gain the keys to data-scrambling >communications technology > like the software that keeps e-mail private and secures online >commerce. > > But the tone of the campaign is getting more urgent as the >House Commerce Committee prepares to take a key > vote Thursday on the Safety and Freedom Though Encryption act. > > That bill was drafted by Representatives Bob Goodlatte, >Republican of Virginia, and Zoe Lofgren, Democrat of > California, to thwart the Clinton Administration's efforts by >outlawing any key-recovery systems for encryption > technology and by relaxing current export restrictions on >encryption software. It was passed by the House > International Relations and Judiciary committees earlier this >summer and picked up more than 250 co-sponsors. > > In recent weeks, however, it has fallen victim to intense >pressure from President Clinton's top crime fighters in the > FBI and National Security Agency who claim they need immediate >access to online and other communications to > catch terrorists and drug dealers. > > After a series of classified briefings on Capitol Hill, the >National Security Committee added an amendment that > would actually tighten current export controls, and the >Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence added an > amendment that would ban any domestic technology that does not >provide law enforcement officials with > "immediate access" to the plain text of encrypted information. > > An amendment similar to the >Intelligence Committee's proposal has been > drafted by two Commerce Committee >members, Michael Oxley, an Ohio > Republican, and Thomas Manton, a >New Jersey Democrat, making the > Commerce vote a tie-breaker that >will be key in determining which version of > the bill gets sent to the full >House. > > "This is not the end game, but it >is a crucial vote," said Jonah Seiger of the > Center for Democracy and >Technology. "We are hoping Monday that we at > least make some noise." > > Seiger added, "The committee >members should be aware that constituents are > watching and following this issue >and have concerns, and factor that into their > decision." > > After the votes in the Intelligence >and National Security committees, the House > Commerce Committee won a two-week >extension of its deadline for acting on > the bill, saying it hoped to use the time to find a balance >between law enforcement and privacy concerns. > > Both sides said Friday that talks were continuing but that >little progress was being made. > > "It appears we are headed for gridlock, and I think we need to >call time out here," Seiger said. "Everyone needs to > focus on what the real issues are. The FBI needs to make its >case. They have not yet publicly described what their > problems are. That needs to happen before any law passes." > > Seiger said the Oxley-Manton amendment is the "equivalent of >requiring that all new homes built in the U.S. contain > surveillance cameras that would be turned on remotely by law >enforcement if you were suspected committing a > crime." > > The amendment, Seiger's Internet alert asserts, "is a serious >threat to your privacy and represents the first and final > step in the construction of a National Surveillance >Infrastructure." > > However, Peggy Peterson, a spokeswoman for Oxley, insisted >that the amendment was being misrepresented. > > "The notion that it would allow the FBI to browse through your >personal communications is way off base," > Peterson said. "The FBI would have to obtain a court order to >conduct any type of surveillance, just like they > would now in a wiretap case. That's the only type of >surveillance that could occur. So to say they could just sit > there and browse through your e-mail is way off base." > > Peterson defended the FBI's secret briefings as necessary for >protecting crime-fighting secrets. > > "Mr. Oxley came away from that meeting alarmed at the notion >that pedophiles, organized crime, terrorists, illegal > militias could be and likely are operating on the Internet >right now, beyond the reach of law enforcement," Peterson > said. > > But Lofgren has questioned the need for classified briefings, >implying that the FBI has not said anything it couldn't > reveal publicly and is really using the meetings to spread >misinformation. > > "A lot of members don't understand what is at stake," said a >Lofgren aide, David Brown. "This is about the privacy > of your medical records, your banking records, your personal >letters. If they understood that, if they got the extent > of it, I think they would come screaming into this debate." > > > Related Sites > Following are links to the external Web sites mentioned in >this article. These sites are not part of The New York Times on the > Web, and The Times has no control over their content or >availability. When you have finished visiting any of these sites, you > will be able to return to this page by clicking on your Web >browser's "Back" button or icon until this page reappears. > > Federal Bureau of Investigation > > Center For Democracy and Technology > > Voters Telecommunications Watch > > Electronic Frontier Foundation > > Wired > > Americans for Tax Reform > > Representative Bob Goodlatte > > Representative Zoe Lofgren > > Representative Michael G. Oxley > > Representative Thomas Manton > > > Jeri Clausing at jeri@nytimes.com welcomes your comments and >suggestions. > > >This mailing list is for discussion of Clinton Administration Scandals. If >you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list, send electronic mail to >majordomo@majordomo.pobox.com. In the message body put: unsubscribe cas > > ======================================================================== Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine tel: (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night email: [address in tool bar] : using Eudora Pro 3.0.3 on 586 CPU website: http://www.supremelaw.com : visit the Supreme Law Library now ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice. We shall not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal. ======================================================================== [This text formatted on-screen in Courier 11, non-proportional spacing.]
Return to Table of Contents for
Supreme Law School: E-mail