Forwarded: Electronic Privacy -- A Call to Action

[Chris Goolsby <goolsby -at- DG-RTP -dot- DG -dot- COM>]

A little off the subject of the list, but certainly of interest
to those interested in communications and other denizens of the
internet:

----------------------------------------------------------------

From mail Fri Mar 11 12:05 EST 1994
Received: from dg-rtp by monarch (5.4R3.00/rtp-s04)
        id AA23170; Fri, 11 Mar 1994 12:05:31 -0500
Received: from dg-webo.us.dg.com by dg-rtp.dg.com (5.4R2.01/dg-rtp-v02)
        id AA00088; Fri, 11 Mar 1994 12:05:05 -0500
Received: from ruby.ils.unc.edu by dg-webo.webo.dg.com (5.4.1/dg-webo-v1)
        id AA00287; Fri, 11 Mar 1994 09:45:18 -0500
Received: by ruby.ils.unc.edu (5.57/TAS/11-16-88)
        id AA17844; Fri, 11 Mar 94 09:42:00 -0500
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 94 09:42:00 -0500
Message-Id: <9402117634 -dot- AA763407525 -at- psi -dot- wilmer -dot- com>
Errors-To: server -at- ils -dot- unc -dot- edu
Reply-To: wdesalvo -at- psi -dot- wilmer -dot- com
Originator: alumni-l -at- ils -dot- unc -dot- edu
Sender: alumni-l -at- ils -dot- unc -dot- edu
Precedence: bulk
From: wdesalvo -at- psi -dot- wilmer -dot- com (DeSalvo, William)
To: Multiple, recipients, of, list, <alumni-l -at- ils -dot- unc -dot- edu>
Subject: Electronic Privacy -- A Call to Action
X-Listserver-Version: 6.0 -- UNIX ListServer by Anastasios Kotsikonas
Content-Type: text
Content-Length: 9115





Sender: subscribers-owner -at- wired -dot- com

(Sorry for those of you who have seen this before.)




-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=PLEASE REDISTRIBUTE THIS MESSAGE WIDELY!!=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
-=-=-=-For copyright information, please see the end of this file.-=-=-=-=-
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

To: WIRED, Online, Information, Services, <hotwired -at- wired -dot- com>
Subject: Electronic Privacy -- A Call to Action


This is a pivotal moment in history.

The national security state, with the backing of the Clinton-Gore
administration, is attempting a stealth strike on our rights. If they
succeed, we could shortly find ourselves under a government with the
automated ability to log the time, origin, and recipient of every call and
e-mail message, to monitor our most private communications, to track our
physical whereabouts continuously, and to keep better account of our
financial transactions than we do -- all without a warrant.

Fact: On Friday, February 4, 1994, the Clinton administration announced
support for the Clipper Chip and SKIPJACK encryption scheme as national
standards.

Fact: Federal security agencies have been meeting with telecommunications
companies to design back doors into the entire National Information
Infrastructure (NII), including every telephone and data network, even
including fax machines. In other words, any system connected to the NII
would be required to include a "back door" in order to facilitate
monitoring by government agencies.

We at WIRED Online believe that the adoption of these administration
initiatives could result in a profound infringement of individual freedom
and privacy, ours as well as yours. We urge you to read the rest of this
letter, to examine the available materials, to consider these important
issues for yourself, and to act to preserve the Bill of Rights in
cyberspace.

The proposed encryption scheme, which uses the SKIPJACK encryption
algorithm and the Clipper Chip, relies on a "key escrow" system with a
built-in "back door" so that security agents can decrypt and monitor even
supposedly "secure" communications. While the administration claims that
there will be "safeguards," the technology was developed by the virtually
insular National Security Agency, and its algorithms remain classified.

The scope of Clipper is significantly broader than any previous
surveillance strategy. The Clipper Chip will be installed directly into
telecommunications devices such as telephones, computers, and digital set-
top boxes for interactive TV. Since the system can be used to encrypt any
communications that pass across telecommunications lines (including text,
sound and images), ANY AND ALL communication that passes through your
system has the possibility of being intercepted.

In addition, the administration's Information Infrastructure Task Force
Working Group on Privacy is attempting to "front load" the NII with
trapdoor technologies that would allow security agencies easy access to
digitial conversations, including capturing electronic communications
midstream. No communication system would be exempt from this effort, from
the national telephone network to your local office computer network.

Of course, the administration claims that these trapdoors will be used only
to catch criminals and that your privacy will be protected. But, as John
Perry Barlow has put it, "trusting the government with your privacy is like
trusting a Peeping Tom to install your window blinds."

These government inititatives, taken together, constitute one of the most
grievous threats to our constitutional liberties in modern times. The
security agencies and the administration are involved in a stealth strike
at our freedoms that could effectively abrogate the Bill of Rights in
cyberspace, where we and our descendants will be spending increasingly
larger parts of lives.

The Clipper initiative and the plans to require "back doors" throughout the
NII demands immediate critical assessment. WIRED encourages you to
seriously consider how these proposals might affect you. To help inform
your decision, WIRED Online has set up a Clipper information archive
through our Infobot mail server, Internet Gopher, World Wide Web, and other
online sites.

The WIRED Online Clipper Archive features crucial essays written for WIRED
by John Perry Barlow and Brock N. Meeks. If you do nothing else, read these
stories. You can have them sent to you immediately by electronic mail by
copying the following three lines into the body of an electronic mail
message addressed to infobot -at- wired -dot- com:

   send clipper/privacy.meeks
   send clipper/privacy.barlow
   end

The WIRED Online Clipper Archive also includes re-posted comments from
Jerry Berman (of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)) and Dorothy
Denning (encryption expert and Clipper proponent), a copy of the EFF's
_EFFector Online_ newsletter documenting the Clipper controversy, and an
electronic anti-Clipper petition circulated by the Computer Professionals
for Social Responsibility (CPSR). We have also set up links to other
valuable sources of information on Clipper, including those maintained by
the EFF and CPSR.

You can access our archive via the following WIRED Online services:

  o WIRED Infobot e-mail server     send e-mail to infobot -at- wired -dot- com,
                                    containing the words "send
                                    clipper/index" on a single
                                    line inside the message body

  o WIRED Gopher                    gopher to gopher.wired.com
                                    select "Clipper Archive"

  o WIRED on World Wide Web         http://www.wired.com
                                    select "Clipper Archive"

  o WIRED on America Online         keyword: WIRED

  o WIRED on the WELL               type "go wired" from any "OK" prompt
                                    type "clipper" to access the menu


WIRED Online encourages you to take the time to familiarize yourself with
these issues, beginning with the tools and access we've provided. Then take
the next step -- ACT!!!

Support the Cantwell bill. Write cantwell -at- eff -dot- org and put "I support HR
3627" in the Subject header. This bill is designed to give rise to a mass-
market in cryptographic software, which is a necessary step to beating
Clipper. Feel free to include in your letter to Rep. Maria Cantwell your
reasons for supporting the growth of the encryption industry and reasons
for opposing Clipper.

To call for Senate hearings on Clipper, write Sen. Patrick Leahy to
leahy -at- eff -dot- org and express your concern that the Clipper process has been
closed to the public.

Express your sentiments to Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Indiana, the House
Committee on Foreign Affairs chair, by e-mailing hamilton -at- eff -dot- org -dot- 

Sign the CPSR petition against Clipper.

Call or write your Congressional representatives and let them know how you
feel about the Clipper and NII "backdoor" initiatives, BEFORE a decision is
made for you that will have a profound effect on the future of your freedom
and privacy.

Please do not reply to this message directly. To discuss these issues with
WIRED readers and staff members, please use discussion areas on the WELL,
America Online, and USENET (alt.wired). If you have questions or comments
about Clipper that are not answered in the online archives or these
discussion spaces, please address them to online -at- wired -dot- com and be sure to
include the word "clipper" in the subject line.

If you would like to receive future WIRED-related bulletins, you can
subscribe to our new Hotwired mailing list. To do so, just send an e-mail
message to infobot -at- wired -dot- com containing the line

   subscribe hotwired

This low-volume moderated list is a great way to keep abreast of important
issues on the Digital Frontier and to find out about new services offered
here at WIRED Online.

Thanks for your attention.

-- The staff of WIRED Online


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=WIRED Online Copyright Notice=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

           Copyright 1993,4 Wired Ventures, Ltd.  All rights reserved.

  This article may be redistributed provided that the article and this
  notice remain intact. This article may not under any circumstances
  be resold or redistributed for compensation of any kind without prior
  written permission from Wired Ventures, Ltd.

  If you have any questions about these terms, or would like information
  about licensing materials from WIRED Online, please contact us via
  telephone (+1 (415) 904 0660) or e-mail (info -at- wired -dot- com).

       WIRED and WIRED Online are trademarks of Wired Ventures, Ltd.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=