From: Christian Siebert on
-- and some proposed bills say that the cops
: may not even need a search warrant to seize it.
: [snip]
:
: What about the penalties for "unauthorized
: breaking of another's encryption codes?" That
: would criminalize cryptanalysis, the way to verify
: the security of encryption software you buy. "The
: only way to know the strength of a cipher is
: cryptanalysis," says Marc Briceno, a
: cryptography guru at Community ConneXion.
:
: Then there's Kerrey's statement saying "there
: will be" restrictions on what encryption products
: you're permitted to buy from overseas firms. This
: contradicts Justice Department official Michael
: Vatis, who told me at a conference this year that
: the Clinton administration did not want import
: controls. Though Cabe Franklin, spokesperson
: for Trusted Information Systems, says Kerrey was
: misunderstood. "In the briefing afterwards, I found
: out he didn't mean that at all. He meant import
: controls, but more regulation than restriction. The
: same way they wouldn't let a car with faulty
: steering controls in the country. He meant more
: quality control," Franklin says. (I don't know
: about you, but I'm not convinced.)
[
What a bunch of hooey.
]
:
: Kerrey's sudden interest in cryptologic arcana
: likely stems from a recent addition to his staff:
: policy aide Chris McLean.
:
: McLean is hardly a friend of the Net. While in
: former Sen. Jim Exon's (D-Neb.) office, McLean
: drafte


From: Pubkeybreaker on
It has been abused repeatedly.
CALEA takes us into the abyss.


Would monitoring really turn up that many violations?
Meaning: is it really that effective a mechanism?



******************************************************************************


On Monitoring
-- ----------


I am a traffic analysis person.

Internet email. Company spook.

Boo.

The bad news: getting people fired.

The good news: really great Internet humor is picked up too.


From the land of "Put the shrimp on the barby, Marlene:"

I was travelling on a tram the other day and in one seat
there was an old digger (Australian soldier or ex soldier)
reading his newspaper.

Across from him was a juvenile with a spikey mohawk haircut
coloured pink, green, orange and yellow.

The old digger kept looking over his newspaper at him.

Finally the young bloke spat the dummy, and yelled at the
elderl


From: Pubkeybreaker on
Drug testing doesn't even work. Could there be a
more important use for it than public safety?

It made no difference to the drunk and sleepy subway motorman in the
spectacular underground smash-up at the Union Square Station in NYC.
Even if he had a drug test before his shift, he still would have
had the accident. Non-invasive (eye-hand co-ordination and other)
tests would work better and not shockingly subject us to highly
intrusive poking.

It also doesn't work inasmuch as it has had no affect whatsoever on drugs.

* Main Justice, by Jim McGee and Brian Duffy, 1996, ISBN 0-684-81135-9
*
* The drug war never had a stronger supporter than President George Bush.
*
* He showered the nation's drug warriors with money---nearly tripling the
* overall anti-narcotics budget from $4.3 billion in 1988 to $11.9 billion
* in 1992.
*
* The results were disappointing.
*
* After four years there was more cocaine on the streets than ever.
* Naturally, it was also cheaper than ever.
*
* The overall crime rate was unchanged too.
*
* Inside Main Justice, such numbers are depressing. To those outside the law
* enforcement community, it might have seemed an ironic, even heretical
* notion, but to many of the career lawyers and prosecuto


From: Risto Lankinen on
", he told Congress.
: * "Unless the encryption issue is RESOLVED soon, criminal conversations
: * over the telephone and other communications devices will become
: * indecipherable by law enforcement. This, as much as any issue,
: * jeopardizes the public safety and national security of this country."

Louis Freeh, banging the Drums of War.


It's official:

* http://epic.org/crypto/ban/fbi_dox/impact_text.gif
*
* SECRET FBI report
*
* NEED FOR A NATIONAL POLICY
*
* A national policy embodied in legislation is needed which insures
* that cryptography use in the United States should be forced to be
* crackable by law enforcement, so such communications can be monitored
* with real-time decryption.
*
* All cryptography that cannot meet this standard should be prohibited.



The U.S. asked the OECD to agree to internationally required Key Recovery.

* What Is The OECD
*
* The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, based in
* Paris, France, is a unique forum permitting governments of the
* industrialized democracies to study and formulate the best policies
* possible in all economic and social spheres.

: From owner-firewalls-outgoing(a)GreatCircle.COM Wed May 14 18:54:15 1997
: Received: from osiris (osiris.nso.org [207.30.58.40]) by ra.nso.org
: (post.office MTA v1.9.3 ID# 0-13592) with SMTP id AAA322
: for <firewalls(a)GreatCircle.COM>; Wed, 14 May 1997 12:56:13 -0400
: Date: Wed, 14 May 1997 12:58:46 -0400
: To: firewalls(a)GreatCircle.COM
: From: research(a)isr.net (Research Unit I)
: Subject: Re: Encryption Outside US
:
:
: I was part of that OECD Expert Group, and believe I may shine at least
: some light on what exactly was said and happened at the meetings.
:


From: Pubkeybreaker on
27, 1995
$
$ Speaker Gingrich said he would ask Congress to enact legislation imposing
$ the death penalty on drug smugglers, and suggested MASS EXECUTIONS of
$ people convicted under the law might prove an effective deterrent.
$
$ Mr. Gingrich told about 1,500 people at a youth football and cheerleading
$ jamboree, "And they'd have only one chance to appeal, then we'd kill them
$ within 18 months."

On January 7, 1997, Gingrich introduced H.R. 41, "Drug Importer Death Penalty
Act of 1997", which "mandates that a person convicted of bringing into the
United States '100 usual dosage amounts' of several illicit substances --
including two ounces of marijuana -- be sentenced to federal prison for life
without parole; a second offense brings the death penalty."

# "Dole Calls for Wider Military Role in Fighting Drugs"
# By Katherine Q. Seelye, The New York Times, August 26, 1996
#
# "I want the Military to expand its use of technology, including
# reconnaissance and satellites and area surveillance and listening
# posts...and call the National Guard to move in," said Presidential
# candidate Bob Dole.
#
# "In th