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EFFector Online Volume 09 No. 05 May 2, 1996 editors@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
IN THIS ISSUE:
Big Day for Crypto: New Bill, New Campaign, New Coalition
Sen. Leahy Uses PGP in Open Letter to the Net on Crypto
NewsNybbles
New EFF Organizational Memberships
Georgia Online Trademark Law Passed
Upcoming Events
Quote of the Day
What YOU Can Do
Administrivia
* See http://www.eff.org/Alerts/ or ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/ for more
information on current EFF activities and online activism alerts! *
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Big Day for Crypto: New Bill, New Campaign, New Coalition
------------------------------------------------------------------
For Immediate Release May 2, 1996
EFF Helps Plant Seeds of 'Golden Key' Grassroots Campaign
For Secure Electronic Communications
Electronic Frontier Foundation Contact: Lori Fena, Exec. Dir.
+1 (415)436-9333
lori@eff.org
Using the symbols of a key and an envelope, the Electronic Frontier
Foundation (EFF), along with many other organizations concerned with the
security of electronic communication, is helping to spread the word about
a new international grassroots campaign promoting online privacy. The
purpose of the "Golden Key" Campaign for Private Communications Online is
to urge the online community, computer industry, government agencies and
lawmakers to support the protection of privacy and security on the
rapidly growing Internet
* About the Golden Key Campaign for Private & Secure Communications Online
Both the key and the envelope symbolize historic means for
communicating privately and protecting personal information. Today,
encryption tools provide this privacy in the electronic world.
"The importance of privacy as a common good in a society which
values democracy is not new," said Lori Fena, executive director of EFF.
"For the same reasons you would not send a love letter or your credit
card number through the mail on the back of a post card, we need to
ensure that encryption -- the electronic version of an envelope --
remains widely available and truly useful."
The Golden Key Campaign is being launched to raise awareness and
support for the preservation of the right to communicate privately and
the availability of new techniques which make it possible.
Privacy, a fundamental human right, has been affirmed by the U.S.
Supreme Court, the constitutions and laws of many countries, and the
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Privacy must be
preserved as we move from paper to electronic communications.
EFF is encouraging members of the online community to display the
Golden Key logo wherever possible and help educate legislators in the
U.S. and abroad about the importance of secure online communication. The
logo may be freely obtained and redistributed by downloading any one of
the several versions available on EFF's Golden Key site, at
http://www.eff.org/goldkey.html - and please link your Golden Key
encryption freedom icon to this URL or one of the ones mentioned below
(the IPC home page or the Crypto Policy Resource Page).
* Recent Events Highlight Importance of Electronic Encryption
While security and privacy of communication is an age-old value,
recent events in the courts and U.S. Congress (and elsewhere) have brought
new attention to the issue.
Just today, U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns, R-MT, introduced legislation that
would relax export controls on commercial & public domain products
containing technologies for privacy, such as encryption. Hearings on the
Burns bill are expected to take place in early June. The proposal has
already gathered support from a bipartisan coalition in Congress.
The name of the legislation is the "Promotion of Commerce Online in the
Digital Era (Pro-CODE) Act of 1996". Bill number: S. 1786.
Two other similar bills, the "Encrypted Communication Privacy
Act of 1996 (ECPA96)" (S. 1587) and the "Security And Freedom through
Encryption (SAFE) Act of 1996" (H.R. 3011), were introduced March 5, by Sen.
Patrick Leahy, D-VT, and Rep. Robert Goodlatte, R-VA, respectively.
The texts of these bills and various statements regarding them can be
found at http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/ITAR_export/Crypto_bills_1996/
Electronic communication security and export of encryption has
also been an important issue in Federal courts recently. In a landmark
decision two weeks ago, a U.S. District Judge in San Francisco denied the
government's motion to dismiss mathematician Daniel Bernstein's case in
which he seeks the ability to freely export his encryption algorithm,
"Snuffle." The decision was the first time that a U.S. court recognized
software as Constitutionally protected speech. See
http://www.eff.org/pub/Legal/Cases/Bernstein_v_DoS/ for more info.
On the down side, a case in some ways similar to Bernstein's - the Phil
Karn case - was dismissed with a largely opposite ruling, in a different
district. That dismissal is on appeal. And the State Department is even
sending legal threat letters to authors of software that does not include
encryption capabilities, but only software "hooks" to allow encryption
functions to be added. Crypto export overhaul could not come a moment
sooner.
Outside the US: France, Beligium, Russia and other coutries have cracked
down on even the use of encryption, while the United Kingdom is a step
closer to imposing an crypto key "escrow" system, in which all users'
private keys are duplicated and held by a third party or the government
itself, for the conveniece of law enforcement and intelligence agents.
For more information see:
http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/Key_escrow/Foreign_and_local/UK/
Users and organizations abroad are urged to create their own Golden Key
resource pages, to inform users in their own areas about crypto-privacy
action on the local front.
* EFF Joins EPIC, CDT, VTW & Others in Forming Internet Privacy Coalition
The Internet Privacy Coalition (IPC) is the first attempt to bring
together a broad base of companies, cryptographers and public interest
organizations around the central goals of promoting privacy and security
on the Internet and urging relaxation of export controls on encryption tools.
The coalition is maintaining a web page at http://www.privacy.org/ipc/
The site will serve as a central depository for information and discussion
regarding online encryption and secure electronic communication. There
is also a sister site that will be of interest, whether you are new to
the topic, or an active participant in the debate: the Encryption Policy
Resource Page at http://www.crypto.com
* The Electronic Frontier Foundation
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a nonprofit public
interest organization devoted to the protection of online privacy and
free expression. EFF was founded in 1990, and is based in San Francisco,
California. It maintains an archive of information on privacy and
cryptography at http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/
EFF has been involved for several years with the protection of
secure and private electronic communication. In 1993-4, EFF and other
civil liberties organizations successfully opposed implementation of the
U.S. Administration's "Clipper" or "Skipjack" system - hardware
encryption for voice and data communications in which all encryption keys
are held by government for the convenience of law enforcement and
intelligence agencies.
In 1994, EFF helped ensure that crypto export became a major
legislative topic, laying the groundwork for eventual liberalization of
the ITARs. In 1994 and 1995 EFF opposed implementation of and helped
defeat funding for the FBI's "Digital Telephony" scheme, in which up to
one person on every city block could be simultaneously wiretapped in some
areas.
------------------------------
Subject: Sen. Leahy Uses PGP in Open Letter to the Net on Crypto
----------------------------------------------------------------
[Note: The URL given below for the Senator's homepage appears to have
changed to http://www.senate.gov/member/vt/leahy/general/ or
http://www.senate.gov/~leahy (both of these work.)
This letter was sent by Sen. Leahy today, to various organizations and
mailing list forums, including EFF's "ACTION" list.]
From: Senator_Leahy@leahy.senate.gov
Date: Thu, 02 May 96 12:02:02 EST
Message-Id: <9604028310.AA831063527@smtpgwys.senate.gov>
Subject: Letter From Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) On Encryption
To: action@eff.org (action mailing list)
Please post where appropriate
- ---BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
LETTER FROM SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY (D-VT) ON ENCRYPTION
May 2, 1996
Dear Friends:
Today, a bipartisan group of Senators has joined me in supporting
legislation to encourage the development and use of strong,
privacy-enhancing technologies for the Internet by rolling back
the out-dated restrictions on the export of strong cryptography.
In an effort to demonstrate one of the more practical uses of
encryption technology (and so that you all know this message
actually came from me), I have signed this message using a
digital signature generated by the popular encryption program
PGP. I am proud to be the first member of Congress to utilize
encryption and digital signatures to post a message to the
Internet.
As a fellow Internet user, I care deeply about protecting
individual privacy and encouraging the development of the Net as
a secure and trusted communications medium. I do not need to
tell you that current export restrictions only allow American
companies to export primarily weak encryption technology. The
current strength of encryption the U.S. government will allow out
of the country is so weak that, according to a January 1996 study
conducted by world-renowned cryptographers, a pedestrian hacker
can crack the codes in a matter of hours! A foreign intelligence
agency can crack the current 40-bit codes in seconds.
Perhaps more importantly, the increasing use of the Internet and
similar interactive communications technologies by Americans to
obtain critical medical services, to conduct business, to be
entertained and communicate with their friends, raises special
concerns about the privacy and confidentiality of those
communications. I have long been concerned about these issues,
and have worked over the past decade to protect privacy and
security for our wire and electronic communications. Encryption
technology provides an effective way to ensure that only the
people we choose can read our communications.
I have read horror stories sent to me over the Internet about how
human rights groups in the Balkans have had their computers
confiscated during raids by security police seeking to find out
the identities of people who have complained about abuses.
Thanks to PGP, the encrypted files were undecipherable by the
police and the names of the people who entrusted their lives to
the human rights groups were safe.
The new bill, called the "Promotion of Commerce On-Line in the
Digital Era (PRO-CODE) Act of 1996," would:
o bar any government-mandated use of any particular
encryption system, including key escrow systems and affirm
the right of American citizens to use whatever form of
encryption they choose domestically;
o loosen export restrictions on encryption products so
that American companies are able to export any generally
available or mass market encryption products without
obtaining government approval; and
o limit the authority of the federal government to set
standards for encryption products used by businesses and
individuals, particularly standards which result in products
with limited key lengths and key escrow.
This is the second encryption bill I have introduced with Senator
Burns and other congressional colleagues this year. Both bills
call for an overhaul of this country's export restrictions on
encryption, and, if enacted, would quickly result in the
widespread availability of strong, privacy protecting
technologies. Both bills also prohibit a government-mandated key
escrow encryption system. While PRO-CODE would limit the
authority of the Commerce Department to set encryption standards
for use by private individuals and businesses, the first bill we
introduced, called the "Encrypted Communications Privacy Act",
S.1587, would set up stringent procedures for law enforcement to
follow to obtain decoding keys or decryption assistance to read
the plaintext of encrypted communications obtained under court
order or other lawful process.
It is clear that the current policy towards encryption exports is
hopelessly outdated, and fails to account for the real needs of
individuals and businesses in the global marketplace. Encryption
expert Matt Blaze, in a recent letter to me, noted that current
U.S. regulations governing the use and export of encryption are
having a "deleterious effect ... on our country's ability to
develop a reliable and trustworthy information infrastructure."
The time is right for Congress to take steps to put our national
encryption policy on the right course.
I am looking forward to hearing from you on this important issue.
Throughout the course of the recent debate on the Communications
Decency Act, the input from Internet users was very valuable to
me and some of my Senate colleagues.
You can find out more about the issue at my World Wide Web home
page (http://www.leahy.senate.gov/) and at the Encryption Policy
Resource Page (http://www.crypto.com/). Over the coming months, I
look forward to the help of the Net community in convincing other
Members of Congress and the Administration of the need to reform
our nation's cryptography policy.
Sincerely,
Patrick Leahy
United States Senator
- ---BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.2
iQCVAwUBMYjdVBM5YGSLu9/1AQGFwwQArk/HYG65cSOr3dsykvkDFonjISjur7xb
SEMCFLI3E4KSoXSy4+6cNogICGADxDnwI8j/29Gviu+d93eQ2veeNmKP43+r0R+S
Zcv86b3/pK6btq3QqVN6+x3G8CEA2MnDtuSWbNyANEdValtpOYTCzU2Sm6gNfg9Q
4QxUZ4R4+Ps=
=VJ87
- ---END PGP SIGNATURE-----
------------------------------
Subject: NewsNybbles
--------------------
* New EFF Organizational Memberships
EFF now has two new membership categories:
- Nonprofit/Educational/Library - $100/year
Open to any not-for-profit NGO, or similar organization (e.g. in
countries that don't have official non-profit categories, or
organizations denied such status for political reasons
by hostile governments). Also open to schools and to libraries.
- Corporate - $5000
Please pledge your support, and help us make a difference! This
category is for the large and small companies alike. If you'd like to
help out with larger contributions, donation of services or equipment, or
with project cooperation, please contact us at ask@eff.org or
+1 415 436 9333 (voice), +1 415 436 9993 (fax).
For an EFF membership for (for fax, snail mail, email or upload), please see:
http://www.eff.org/EFFdocs/join_eff.html
ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/join.eff (login: anonymous) or
gopher.eff.org, path: 1/EFF/join.eff
* Georgia Online Trademark Law Passed
The Georgia "Net Police" bill reported on last issue was signed into law,
despite objections from the public, the industry, and civil liberties
organizations. The bill poses many potential free speech and privacy
threats due to its poor wording.
A new bill to repeal this law has been introduced in the state legislature.
(No online text available as of yet).
BellSouth denies being behind the legislation, despite suggestions to
the contrary from at least one Georgia State Representative. Whatever
really went on behind closed doors, BellSouth did have this to say about
the bill:
"...it is probably overkill and unduly complicating to make acts of
trademark infringement, misrepresentation and passing off on the
Internet a crime under state law. There is already ample
legislation and common law in place to effectuate the intent of
this law."
------------------------------
Upcoming Events
---------------
This schedule lists EFF events, and those we feel might be of interest to
our members. EFF events (those sponsored by us or featuring an EFF speaker)
are marked with a "*" instead of a "-" after the date. Simlarly, government
events (such as deadlines for comments on reports or testimony submission,
or conferences at which government representatives are speaking) are marked
with "!" in place of the "-" ("!?" means a govt. speaker may appear, but
we don't know for certain yet.) And likewise, "+" in place of "-"
indicates a non-USA event. If it's a foreign EFF event with govt. people,
it'll be "*!+" instead of "-". You get the idea.
The latest version of the full EFF calendar is available from:
ftp: ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/calendar.eff
gopher: gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF, calendar.eff
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/calendar.eff
May 3 + Symposium: "The Law of Information Superhighways and
Multimedia," sponsored by the Eurpoean Lawyers Union, Monaco.
URL: http://www.iway.mc/groupecx/uae
- "THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT OF 1996: PROSPECTS, PROBLEMS,
PROJECTIONS," sponsored by the MIT Research Program on
Communication Policy; 1:00-5:30pm, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, MIT Room 9-15, Cambridge, MA.
Contact: +1 253 0108
Email: weinmann@mit.edu
URL: http://web.mit.edu/tac/www/home.html
May 4 - ACLU forum on Censorship and the Internet User; Souls Unitarian
Church, 4500 Warwick, Kansas City, MO; featuring Laura Murphy,
Executive Director of ACLU's national office in Washington, D.C.
Contact: +1 816 756 3113
Email: bbarrish@falcon.cc.ukans.edu
- Internet and Journalism Conference, sponsored by the Detroit
Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists; 9am-3:30pm,
Dearborn Inn & Marriott Hotel, 20301 Oakwood, Dearborn, MI.
Contact: +1 313 336 1503
May 6-
7 - Automated Medical Payments Conference; San Francisco, CA.
Contact: +1 312 983 6133
May 6-
8 - IEEE/IACR Security & Privacy Symposium; Oakland, Calif.
Deadline for submissions: Nov. 6, 1995.
Contact: +1 503 725 5842 (voice), +1 503 725 3211 (fax)
Email: sp96@cs.pdx.edu
URL: http://www.cs.pdx.edu/SP96/
FTP: ftp.cs.pdx.edu, /pub/SP96/
May 6-
10 + 5th International WWW Conference; Paris, France.
Email: bneu@ncsa.uiuc.edu
URL: http://jeeves.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Public/IW3C2/#conf
May 7 - National Library Legislative Day, sponsored by the District of
Columbia Library Association and the American Library
Association; Washington, DC.
Contact: Mary Costible +1 202 628 8410
Email: mrc@alawash.org
May 9 - HotWired Electronic Frontiers Forum; online event, 7pm PST
"speak"ers will include Jerod Pore of Scamizdat. Users can
participate via either WWW (http://www.hotwired.com/club/) or
telnet (chat.wired.com2428).
URL: http://www.hotwired.com/club/
May 9-
11 + Visions of Privacy for the 21st Century: A Search for Solutions;
Victoria, BC, Canada.
Contact: http://www.cafe.net./gvc.foi
May 10 *! Last day in court on appellate-level EFF/CDT/VTW/CIEC/ACLU/ALA
Communications Decency Act legal challenge (ACLU & ALA, et al. v.
Reno & Dept. of Justice, merged case). Next stop: the Supreme
Court! Help pack the Philadelphia Courtroom!
Contact: ACLU, +1 212 944 9800
Email: cda-stat@cdt.org (update infobot)
- New Jersey Intercampus Network presents "Telecommunications Act
of 1996: Should we? Can we? Must we?"; Stevens Institute of
Technology, Hoboken, NJ.
Contact: Kraig Roajphlastein, +1 201 216 5483
- Workshop on Medical Records Privacy, sponsored by the Consumer
Project on Technology, Washington, D.C.
Contact: Manon Ress, +1 202 387 8030
Email mress@essential.org
URL: http://www.essential.org/cpt
May 10-
12 - Alliance for Community Media/Northeast Region and Community
Technology Centers Network's Spring 1996 regional conference:
"Public Access Goes Digital - Building Out Communities in the
Information Age"; Champlain College, Burlington, VT.
Contact: Marisa Vitielo, +1 802 862 1645
Email: Marisa@CCTV.org
URL: http://www.together.net/~onectc3/ne-conf.htm
May 14-
17 - Community Networking '96 Conference: "Bringing People Together";
Taos, NM
Email: mailing@laplaza.taos.nm.us
URL: http://laplaza.taos.nm.us/comnet96.html
May 15 ! Telecommunication and Education National Issues Forum, sponsored
by the Douglass Policy Institute; Washington Court Hotel;
Washington, D.C.
Contact: +1 202 488 8458
Fax: +1 202 484 7029
URL: http://www.council100.org/dpi.html
May 15-
17 - 4th CICNet Conference on Datafication; Marshall University,
Huntington, West Virginia. Proposals due by "mid December" '95.
Contact: +1 708 866 804 (voice)
Email: rd-reg@cic.net
URL: http://www.marshall.edu/rd4/
May 16 - HotWired Electronic Frontiers Forum; online event, 7pm PST
"speak"ers will include Sameer Parekh of Community Connection.
Users can participate via either WWW (http://www.hotwired.com/club/)
or telnet (chat.wired.com 2428).
URL: http://www.hotwired.com/club/
May 16-
17 - CLE/University of Texas Law School presents, "Communicating and
Conducting Business Online"; Four Seasons Hotel, Austin, TX
Contact: +1 512 475 6700
Fax: +1 512 475 6876
Email: utcle@mail.law.utexas.edu
May 20-
21 ! Internet Privacy and Security Workshop, sponsored by the
Privacy and Security Working Group of he Federal Networking Council
and the Research Program on Communications Policy Center for
Technology, Policy, and Industrial Development at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology; Haystack Observatory, Boston, MA.
Deadline for abstracts: April 14.
Contact: Internet Security and Privacy Workshop c/o Joseph
Reagle, Research Program on Communications Policy, MIT, One
Amherst St. (E40-218), Cambridge, MA 02139
Voice: +1 617 253 4138
Fax: +1 617 253 7326
Email: papers@rpcp.mit.edu
May 20-
22 - The Digital Revolution: Assessing the Impact on Business,
Education and Social Structures, and ASIS Annual Meeting; San
Diego, CA. Notification of intent to submit a paper must be
received by November 15, 1995. [NOTE! We've also seen the date
given as May 18-22, so you should ask what the correct dates are.]
Email: asis96@chestnut.lis.utk.edu
URL http://pepper.lis.utk.edu/call.html
May 23 - HotWired Electronic Frontiers Forum; online event, 7pm PST
"speak"ers will include Gary Chapman.
Users can participate via either WWW (http://www.hotwired.com/club/)
or telnet (chat.wired.com 2428).
URL: http://www.hotwired.com/club/
May 28-
31 - Harvard Conference on the Internet and Society, Harvard
University, Cambridge, MA.
Contact: +1 617 432 1NET
Email: harvnet@harvard.edu
URL: http://www.harvnet.harvard.edu
May 29-
31 - 18th Annual Meeting of the Society for Scholarly Publishing:
Assessing the Reality of New Markets and New Media; Minneapolis
Hilton and Towers, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Contact: 303-422-3914
Fax: 303-422-8894
May 30-
31 - "Networked Information: Challenges and Solutions," sponsored by
CAUSE and the Coalition for Networked Information, University of
Pennsylvania, Phialdephia, PA.
Contact: +1 303 939 0315
Email: conf@cause.colorado.edu
URL: http://cause-www.colorado.edu/conference/regional-hp.html
------------------------------
Subject: Quote of the Day
-------------------------
"This court can find no meaningful difference between computer language,
particularly high-level [programming] languages..., and German or
French...Whether source code and object code are functional is
immaterial to the analysis at this stage. Contrary to [government]
defendants' suggestion, the functionality of a language does not make it
any less like speech...Defendants argue in their reply that a
description of software in English informs the intellect but source code
actually allows someone to encrypt data. Defendants appear to insist
that the higher the utility value of speech the less like speech it is.
An extension of that argument assumes that once language allows one to
actually do something, like play music or make lasagne, the language is
no longer speech. The logic of this proposition is dubious at best. Its
support in First Amendment law is nonexistent."
- Federal District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel, decision rejecting government
motion to dismiss, _Bernstein_v._US_Dept._of_State_, Apr. 15, 1996
Find yourself wondering if your privacy and freedom of speech are safe
when bills to censor the Internet are swimming about in a sea of of
surveillance legislation and anti-terrorism hysteria? Worried that in
the rush to make us secure from ourselves that our government
representatives may deprive us of our essential civil liberties?
Concerned that legislative efforts nominally to "protect children" will
actually censor all communications down to only content suitable for
the playground? Alarmed by commercial and religious organizations abusing
the judicial and legislative processes to stifle satire, dissent and
criticism?
Join EFF!
Even if you don't live in the U.S., the anti-Internet hysteria will soon
be visiting a legislative body near you. If it hasn't already.
------------------------------
Subject: What YOU Can Do
------------------------
* The Communications Decency Act & Other Censorship Legislation
The Communications Decency Act and similar legislation pose serious
threats to freedom of expression online, and to the livelihoods of system
operators. The legislation also undermines several crucial privacy
protections.
Business/industry persons concerned should alert their corporate govt.
affairs office and/or legal counsel. Everyone should write to their own
Representatives and Senators, letting them know that such abuses of
public trust will not be tolerated, that legislators who vote against
your free speech rights will be voted against by you in the next elections.
Join in the Blue Ribbon Campaign - see http://www.eff.org/blueribbon.html
PARTICIPATE IN BLUE RIBBON ACTIVISM EFFORTS:
http://www.eff.org/blueribbon/activism.html
Support the EFF Cyberspace Legal Defense Fund:
http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/cyberlegal_fund_eff.announce
For more information on what you can do to help stop this and other
dangerous legislation, see:
ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/
gopher.eff.org, 1/Alerts
http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/
If you do not have full internet access (e.g. WWW), send your request
for information to ask@eff.org.
IMPORTANT! KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR LOCAL LEGISLATURE. All kinds of wacky
censorious legislation is turning up at the US state and non-US
national levels. Don't let it sneak by you - or by the online activism
community. Without locals on the look out, it's very difficult for the
Net civil liberties community to keep track of what's happening locally
as well as globally.
* New Crypto-Privacy Legislation
Urge your Represenatitives to support the Pro-CODE crypto export bill
(and to fix the few remaining bugs in it). Join in the Golden Key Campaign!
See
http://www.eff.org/goldkey.html
http://www.privacy.org/ipc/
http://www.crypto.com/
for more info.
* Digital Telephony/Comms. Assistance to Law Enforcement Act
The FBI has been seeking both funding for the DT/CALEA wiretapping
provisions, and preparing to require that staggering numbers of citizens be
simultaneously wiretappable.
To oppose the funding, write to your own Senators and Representatives
urging them to vote against any appropriations for wiretapping.
We are aware of no major action on this threat at present, but keep your
eyes peeled. It will be back.
* Anti-Terrorism Bills
Several bills threatening your privacy and free speech have been introduced
recently. One passed, but none of the rest them are close to passage at
this very moment - however, this status may change. Urge your
Congresspersons to oppose these unconstitutional and Big-Brotherish
bills, which threaten freedom of association, free press, free speech,
and privacy. One such bill passed last week, stripped of most of the
more onerous provisions. Keep it up. Write to your legislators: No secret
trials and deportations, no expansion of wiretapping scope or authority,
no national or "smart-card" ID systems!
For more information on some of this legislation, see
http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/Terrorism_militias/
* The Anti-Electronic Racketeering Act
This bill is unlikely to pass in any form, being very poorly drafted, and
without much support. However, the CDA is just as bad and passed with
flying colors [the jolly roger?] in Congress. It's better to be safe
than sorry. If you have a few moments to spare, writing to, faxing, or
calling your Congresspersons to urge opposition to this bill is a good
idea.
* Medical Privacy Legislation
Several bills relating to medical privacy issues are floating in Congress
right now. Urge your legislators to support only proposals that *truly*
enhance the medical privacy of citizens.
More information on this legislation will be available at
http://www.eff.org/pub/Privacy/Medical/ soon. Bug mech@eff.org to make
it appear there faster. :)
* Find Out Who Your Congresspersons Are
Writing letters to, faxing, and phoning your representatives in Congress
is one very important strategy of activism, and an essential way of
making sure YOUR voice is heard on vital issues.
EFF has lists of the Senate and House with contact information, as well
as lists of Congressional committees. (A House list is included in this
issue of EFFector). These lists are available at:
ftp.eff.org, /pub/Activism/Congress_cmtes/
gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Issues/Activism/Congress_cmtes
http://www.eff.org/pub/Activism/Congress_cmtes/
The full Senate and House lists are senate.list and hr.list, respectively.
Those not in the U.S. should seek out similar information about their
own legislative bodies. EFF will be happy to archive any such
information provided.
If you are having difficulty determining who your Representatives are,
try contacting your local League of Women Voters, who maintain a great
deal of legislative information, or consult the free ZIPPER service
that matches Zip Codes to Congressional districts with about 85%
accuracy at:
http://www.stardot.com/~lukeseem/zip.html
Computer Currents Interactive has provided Congress contact info, sorted
by who voted for and against the Communcations Decency Act:
http://www.currents.net/congress.html
* Join EFF!
You *know* privacy, freedom of speech and ability to make your voice heard
in government are important. You have probably participated in our online
campaigns and forums. Have you become a member of EFF yet? The best way to
protect your online rights is to be fully informed and to make your
opinions heard. EFF members are informed and are making a difference. Join
EFF today!
For EFF membership info, send queries to membership@eff.org, or send any
message to info@eff.org for basic EFF info, and a membership form.
------------------------------
Administrivia
=============
EFFector Online is published by:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
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Membership & donations: membership@eff.org
Legal services: ssteele@eff.org
General EFF, legal, policy or online resources queries: ask@eff.org
Editor: Stanton McCandlish, Online Activist, Webmaster (mech@eff.org)
Assoc. Editor: Ryan Thornburg, Communications Intern (rmt@eff.org)
This newsletter is printed on 100% recycled electrons.
Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged. Signed
articles do not necessarily represent the views of EFF. To reproduce
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End of EFFector Online v09 #05 Digest
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