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########## | Volume I September 20, 1991 Number 11 | ########## | | ### | EFFECTOR ONLINE | ####### | eff.org | ####### | | ### | | ########## | The Electronic Newsletter of | ########## | The Electronic Frontier Foundation | | 155 Second Street, Cambridge MA 02141 | ########## | Phone:(617)864-0665 FAX:(617)864-0866 | ########## | | ### | Staff: | ####### | Gerard Van der Leun (van@eff.org) | ####### | Mike Godwin (mnemonic@eff.org) | ### | Mitchell Kapor (mkapor@eff.org) | ### | Managing Editors: | ### |Chris Davis (ckd@eff.org), Helen Rose (hrose@eff.org)| | West Coast Editor: David Gans | ########## | Reproduction of Effector Online via all | ########## | electronic media is encouraged. | ### | To reproduce signed articles individually | ####### | please contact the authors for their express | ####### | permission. | ### | | ### | | ### | | effector: n, Computer Sci. A device for producing a desired change. -==--==--==-<>-==--==--==- THE EFF TO OPEN A FORUM ON COMPUSERVE The Electronic Frontier Foundation has concluded an agreement with Compuserve, one of the largest private computer networks, to open a forum devoted to EFF civil liberties issues, networking technologies, and online cultures. The forum, The Electronic Frontier, is expected to be up and running by mid-October. For some time now, our various materials and documents have been available as a section of the Telecom Forum on CIS, thanks to the work and dedication of Scott Loftesness. By taking this step and opening our own forum, we hope to increase the visibility of the EFF on Compuserve and expand the amount of material we can offer to this large group of networkers who may or may not have access to the Internet. We'll be reporting on this development in more detail as work on the forum goes forward. -==--==--==-<>-==--==--==- SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN'S SEPTEMBER ISSUE TO BE SENT TO ALL EFF MEMBERS This month's SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN ("Communications, Computers, and Networks") must surely represent the most complete collection of articles and commentary on all aspects of networking to date. As such we feel strongly that it should be made available to as many people as possible. Because of this, we have purchased a large number of copies of this issue that we will be using for various purposes over the coming year. The first use will be to deliver a free copy of to all our members. We are expecting the magazines to be delivered to us at the end of next week and they will go out to our members soon after. We realize that many of our members may already have a copy of their own, but if so we trust that they will use this extra copy to educate and enlighten someone else to the issues and potential of networking. -==--==--==-<>-==--==--==- CURRENT LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY EFFORTS by Mitchell Kapor LEGISLATIVE National Research and Education Network EFF is a member of the coalition, which includes library and education groups, as well as industry, working for passage of the NREN bill. We have been working with both the House and the Senate, sending letters of support, and meeting with key staff members. The bill has now passed the House and Senate, H.R. 656 and S. 272, both called the "High Performance Computing Act of 1991." We expect that Gore will use an NREN version of my Open Roads paper (coauthored with Jerry Berman) to emphasize that the NREN should serve open network, platform functions. The bill will be signed into law if a compromise between the House and Senate versions can be reached. We are optimistic that this will happen. Communications Infrastructure and Information Services We have met with Markey staff and Hollings staff, on the Senate side, to work on a rewrite of the Communications Act of 1934. This revision would establish open networks, safeguards, common carrier and privacy rules for the future national public network. We will also work on Conrad Burns's legislation, S. 1200, a fiber network planning and implementation process. This legislative arena is where the most significant decisions will be made over the next few years. It will emerge as the place where the actual development of the network will take place, as well as where the playing field will be leveled for all information providers. 900 Numbers and Common Carrier Enhanced Services Congress is considering legislation to regulate 900 number services in order to eliminate consumer fraud. We welcome the legislation but, together with other public interest groups and the ACLU, are urging Congress to consider ways to insure that long distance and local telephone companies carry all services -- including political and charitable messages -- without discriminating on the basis of content. Recently companies, to avoid hurting their image, have been denying billing and sometimes carriage to charitable and political 900 numbers put up by groups like Handgun Control and People for the American Way. They argue that such enhanced services are not covered by their common carrier obligations. The pending legislation is known as H.R. 2330 (Markey) and S. 1579 (Inouye). Encryption and Privacy We continue to work with information industry and public interest groups to create appropriate policies supporting communications privacy. We participated in the Leahy task force on ECPA and recommended creating incentives to encrypt cellular phones. We also worked to remove a provision in the Senate Crime bill that would require manufacturers and providers to give law enforcement a "back door" to all encrypted voice and data messages. Now both the House and Senate, in the FCC Reauthorization Bill, HR 1674, are trying to criminalize the manufacture of scanners which pick up cellular radio frequencies. We have met with House and Senate staff to indicate that this is a futile effort, and to require FCC to open inquiry into encryption options. Both the House and Senate are receptive to this. We are drafting such a provision. While it is not clear we can defeat the manufacturing provision, we can move the debate to consider encryption options. Amendments to the Computer Fraud and Abuse statute are on the line again. We support amendments to limit damage to systems to cases of intentional or reckless damage. We continue to expand our contacts on the Hill, which now include Rep. Schumer of NY, a key member of the Judiciary committee. Massachusetts Computer Crime Bill This bill, which would establish a commission to recommend a comprehensive approach to computer crime legislation, is on the governor's desk awaiting signature. If passed, EFF would be represented on the commission and would supply most of the research. Federal Copyright of Government Developed Computer Software The EFF is joining the ACLU, library organizations, and IIA in opposing legislation that would allow the government to copyright software developed in cooperation with the private sector under cooperative research arrangements. Government software copyright could allow the government to control the price and dissemination of public electronic information contrary to the public's right to know. The legislation at issue is S. 1581 (Rockefeller) and H.R. 191 (Morella). We are meeting with staff on this in the near future. Royalty Fees for Government Information We are also opposing a scheme in H.R. 534 which would allow a federal agency to charge royalties for accessing a government electronic data base of public information. The government should not "profit" at the expense of the public's right to know---information must be accessible to the public in whatever format and at cost. We have joined in a group letter and will meet with relevant staff soon. EFF WASHINGTON POLICY EFFORTS As we go along, we find that EFF is filling a major policy and advocacy vacuum in Washington. The ACLU handles information technology civil liberties issues from a civil liberties perspective. CPSR appears heavily focused on privacy issues and an issue spotting role. EFF can represent civil liberties and public interest in infrastructure as well as bring the unique perspectives of both the computer industry and the "net constituency". We work with both the ACLU and CPSR, but in ways which give us our own voice. Communications Policy Forum We have become a co-sponsor of the Communications Policy Forum (CPF), in conjunction with ACLU and the Consumer Federation of America. The purpose of this forum is to permit consumer organizations to shape communications goals, and explore policy options with hill, administration, each other, and the telecommunications industry. The Forum held a meeting on NREN in June with consumer, library and educational groups and key hill staff. Out of this came the Kapor/Berman Open Road Paper, participation in the Gore bill, and a soon to be published resource book on NREN. In July the Forum held a consultation on electronic mail to explore movements towards interconnection between commercial systems, Internet, et al. We chaired the meeting with ACLU and the Electronic Mail Association. A primer on E-Mail will soon be published and some of the discussion will frame necessary "functionalities" such as directories we may propose for the national public network.This fall, the CPF will sponsor meetings on 900 numbers and on the implications of Judge Green's MFJ opinion. CPF is a base for initiating a "safeguards study" to explore options for insuring that the communications infrastructure is open, free, and accessible. We plan to use the study, which we will work on with outside experts such as Lee Selwyn and Eli Noam, etc. to educate us as to policies and safeguards we need to press for in any congressional rewrite of the Communications Act of 1934. EFF/ ACLU Joint Policy Efforts In addition to the CPF, we are working with the ACLU on related matters dealing with computers and the First amendment. We are jointly supporting research on common carrier law---and expect to publish a paper by Hank Perrit on common carrier and tort liability concepts in the electronic age. Mr. Neidorf Goes To Washington Finally, we're pleased to announce that Craig Neidorf has been appointed as the EFF's Washington intern. Neidorf's duties will include working with the ACLU and CPSR for the EFF on a daily basis. He will also track and attend important policy hearings on the hill as well as reporting on different legislative initiatives to the EFF. -==--==--==-<>-==--==--==- THE EFF AT WORLDCON by Mike Godwin At the invitation of one of the organizers of Chicon V (the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago), I spent Labor Day Weekend in Chicago speaking on a number of panels that addressed EFF issues. This is a brief report of the panels and the responses they engendered. Thursday night was my first panel, cryptically titled "The Ambivalent Hacker." Chaired by Jim Thomas, co-editor of the Computer Underground Digest, the panel also included CUD co-editor Gordon Meyer, Cliff Stoll, and me. The discussion tended to focus on defining what a hacker is today, with an emphasis on how the definition has changed over the last few years. Definitions of hacker ranged from the midnight computer intruder to "anyone who tries to explore the limits of new technologies and ideas." All of the panelists expressed concern that the motives of most hackers not be lumped together with those of criminals, and that the impulse to hack be directed properly rather than suppressed. On Friday I attended two panels. The first was "Defining Infocrime: Cracking, Security, and Enforcement." Although this panel was a bit too big to handle properly, we did manage to survey most of the kinds of "infocrime" we are seeing now and can expect to see more of in the future. These ranged from traditional computer intrusion and trade-secret theft to the misappropriation of copyrighted material. Hugo-award-winning artist Michael Whelan addressed the latter issue in his account of how some of his more famous artwork had been scanned and then posted on a commercial information service with his name removed. ACLU attorney Siobhan Murphy and I discussed the merits and flaws of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and science-fiction writer Allan Steele declared his intention to quit using his modem altogether in order to keep his system secure. The second panel that evening was called "Cyberpunk Under Siege? The Steve Jackson Games Affair and the Secret Service," and Steve Jackson and I were the only panelists. Steve did most of the talking, recounting the now-famous story of how the Secret Service came and nearly shut down his business with a broad search and seizure, while I answered questions about the relevant Constitutional and statutory provisions. This panel was extremely well-attended--most attendees had heard about the case, which has even been mentioned in a science-fiction novel (FALLEN ANGELS, by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn). Interest was so great that we extended the panel for another 30 minutes beyond its originally scheduled hour. I was very encouraged by the depth of interest in the case among science-fiction fans, and by their generally firm grasp of the legal and Constitutional issues in the case. My last panel of the weekend was "The Scrambled Democracy: Computers, Government, Privacy, and Civil Liberties." This panel also went overtime as we discussed how developments in information technology may affect the rights and prerogatives we now take for granted. The talk was wide-ranging, and included discussions of anonymous cash transactions, computer-records searches, credit-reporting agencies, and computer-crime prosecutions. The tone was generally cautionary: most panelists wanted to warn about the possible negative impacts new technology may have, while everyone acknowledged that it also had some potential for enhancing democracy too. Of the panels and events I didn't participate in, I particularly enjoyed two in which Cliff Stoll played a major role. The panel "See You on the Net: Computer Communities Today and Tomorrow" focused on how virtual communities seem to arise on the networks, defying the normal limitations of geography. Cliff mentioned the hazards of becoming well-known while on the Internet--he has received 15,000 pieces of email since publication of his book THE CUCKOO'S EGG (and has tried to answer every one of them!). Cliff also did a two-hour presentation on "Stalking the Wily Hacker and Other Midnight Adventures," about his efforts to track down a hacker who turned out to be attempting to sell American secrets to the KGB. Done in Cliff's inimitable hyperkinetic style, the presentation was notable for (among other things) Cliff's strong emphasis on the need for people not to take his story as a justification for cutting back on the rights of computer users. Overall, I was pleased both with the quality of the panels and events and with the quality of the attendees, who were generally knowledgeable about both the technical and the social issues. I thought we all did a credible job of presenting electronic frontier issues to a community that is particularly interested in the shape of things to come. -==--==--==-<>-==--==--==- AN EFF BOF SESSION ANNOUNCED FOR SAN DIEGO USENIX CONFERENCE EFF member and supporter Jeff Kellem has organized a BOF session for the EFF at the upcoming USENIX Large Installation Systems Administration Conference. The conference will be held in San Diego from September 30 to October 3, at the Hilton Beach Resort. The EFF BOF(Birds of a Feather Session) session is scheduled for Wednesday at 8 PM. The EFF will also be holding a BOF at Interop '91 in San Jose on Tuesday, October 8. It will take place from 5:30-7:00 P.M. in the San Jose Civic Auditorium. Please come. -==--==--==-<>-==--==--==- YOUR CHANCE TO HACK BACK ON THE MEDIA The national convention of The Society of Professional Journalists, an organization of roughly 18,000 members in the United States, Canada and Japan, is meeting Oct. 17-19 in Cleveland. As part of that convention, a seminar will be conducted on writing about computers and computer networks. Since over the years, cyberspace travelers have bemoaned the accuracy of articles relating to computers, computer networks and even telephones, we ask that you email or snail mail examples of articles that you have found solid and others that you have found less so. Please include a note of explanation. The panel then will try to compile the examples, and the comments and produce a handout for discussion. Sometime in the week after the convention, we will post the results of the session. The names of the panelists will be disclosed at that time since it is possible that some of the articles that may be submitted may have been written by a panelist. Mail paper examples to me at the address below. Where possible, the examples should include a copy of the article, the name of the publication and _specific_ comments. If the article is dismissed simply as "nonsense," state that it is because paragraph 5 has failed to adequately explain a concept, and that it would have been better to have said it this way or that. So, if you go into fits when you see the word "hacker" in print, please mail by Sept. 30. Thank you for your cooperation. John E. Mollwitz, Chair, Committee on New Information Technologies The Society of Professional Journalists c/o The Milwaukee Journal P.O. Box 661 Milwaukee, WI 53201-0661 Electronic Mail-- Usenet: moll@mixcom.com CompuServe: 72240,131 GEnie: J.Mollwitz Prodigy: CKFB43A -==--==--==-<>-==--==--==- MEMBERSHIP IN THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION In order to continue the work already begun and to expand our efforts and activities into other realms of the electronic frontier, we need the financial support of individuals and organizations. If you support our goals and our work, you can show that support by becoming a member now. Members receive our quarterly newsletter, EFFECTOR, our bi-weekly electronic newsletter, EFFector Online (if you have an electronic address that can be reached through the Net), and special releases and other notices on our activities. But because we believe that support should be freely given, you can receive these things even if you do not elect to become a member. Your membership/donation is fully tax deductible. Our memberships are $20.00 per year for students, $40.00 per year for regular members. You may, of course, donate more if you wish. Our privacy policy: The Electronic Frontier Foundation will never, under any circumstances, sell any part of its membership list. We will, from time to time, share this list with other non-profit organizations whose work we determine to be in line with our goals. But with us, member privacy is the default. This means that you must actively grant us permission to share your name with other groups. If you do not grant explicit permission, we assume that you do not wish your membership disclosed to any group for any reason. >>>---------------- EFF@eff.org MEMBERSHIP FORM ---------------<<< Mail to: The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Inc. 155 Second St. #11 Cambridge, MA 02141 I wish to become a member of the EFF I enclose:$__________ $20.00 (student or low income membership) $40.00 (regular membership) [ ] I enclose an additional donation of $___________ Name:______________________________________________________ Organization:______________________________________________ Address: __________________________________________________ City or Town: _____________________________________________ State:_______ Zip:________ Phone:( )_____________(optional) FAX:( )____________________(optional) Email address: ______________________________ I enclose a check [ ]. Please charge my membership in the amount of $_____________ to my Mastercard [ ] Visa [ ] American Express [ ] Number:____________________________________________________ Expiration date: ____________ Signature: ________________________________________________ Date:______________________ I hereby grant permission to the EFF to share my name with other non-profit groups from time to time as it deems appropriate [ ]. Initials:___________________________ ------------------------------------------------------------ ************************************************************ The EFF is a non-profit, 501c3 organization. Donations to the EFF are tax-deductible.