RE: More Privacy Invasion from the Clinton Administration or not?

["Bruce Preudhomme" <brucep@pop.kis.net>]

Yes the list does appear to be up.

I totally disagree with your interpretation of the attached "news" article
as well as your characterization of the current administration...

If you are so concerned about privacy then you should look into the
information that banks and credit bureaus have on all of us and how freely
they sell it, and share it with others without our consent. The potential
legislation that you referred to is targetted for use against criminals and
with court orders, BUT the banks and credit bureaus buy and sell private and
personal information against ALL Americans on a daily basis and use it to
decide whether you are credit worthy, a credit risk, worthy of being hired
and more!

Sincerely,
Bruce Preudhomme, a law abiding, tax paying, American citizen
who believes in the founding principles of this country that declare us
to be INNOCENT until proven guilty, and that guaranty our right to
life,liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...
Been vicitimized by a bank? then Visit
http://www.pcpursuits.com/chevy/default.htm

-----Original Message-----
From: noprivacy@essential.org [mailto:noprivacy@essential.org]On Behalf
Of GPeisert
Sent: Sunday, August 22, 1999 8:32 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list NOPRIVACY
Subject: More Privacy Invasion from the Clinton Administration


Hi Folks;

  I don't know if this list is still up, but in the event it is, here's an
interesting notice on the relentless attack on the right to privacy brought
to you courtesy of the Perpetrator-in-Chief and his cronies. Notice that
the administration fails completely to understand or acknowledge the notion
of an individual or "inalienable" right. They repeatedly regress to the
utilitarian (cannibalistic or human sacrifice) ethic... Trample on the
rights or lives of a few, if the general perception of the mob is that it
is better for "the many." And notice that it is generally under the
auspices of "war" that governments are most effective at undermining the
protection of its citizens' rights...hence we create this bogus "war on
drugs" and use that as the pretense to assert the utilitarian ethic.

 -- Greg


From:	Daniel Shapiro [SMTP:dshapiro@wvu.edu]
Sent:	Friday, August 20, 1999 10:22 AM
To:	oppenheimer-soc-l@bu.edu
Subject:	Bad news


	            Feds want authority to secretly crack personal computer codes

                  August 20, 1999
                  Web posted at: 12:49 a.m. EDT (0449 GMT)

                  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Clinton administration reportedly
plans to ask
                  Congress to give police authority to secretly go into
people's personal
                  computers and crack their security codes.

                  Legislation drafted by the Justice Department would let
investigators get a
                  sealed warrant from a judge to enter private property,
search through
                  computers for passwords and override encryption programs,
The
                  Washington Post reported Friday.

                  The newspaper quoted an August 4 department memo that
said encryption
                  software for scrambling computer files "is increasingly
used as a means to
                  facilitate criminal activity, such as drug trafficking,
terrorism, white-collar
                  crime and the distribution of child pornography."

                  Under the measure, investigators would obtain sealed
search warrants
                  signed by a judge as a prelude to getting further court
permission to wiretap,
                  extract information from computers or conduct further
searches.

                  Privacy advocates have objected to the plan, dubbed the
Cyberspace
                  Electronic Security Act by the Justice Department. "They
have taken the
                  cyberspace issues and are using it as justification for
invading the home,"
                  James Dempsey, an attorney for the Center for Democracy
and Technology,
                  told the Post.

                  Peter Swire, the White House's chief counselor for
privacy, told the
                  newspaper the administration supports encryption as a way
to provide
                  privacy for computer users.

                  "But it has to be implemented in a way that's consistent
with other values,
                  such as law enforcement," Swire said. "In this whole
issue we have to strike
                  the right balance."

                  The administration has for years been seeking a law to
require computer
                  makers to include a so-called Clipper Chip in their
products that would give
                  police a "back door" into computers despite any
encryption software they
                  may contain.

                  In a backlash, more than 250 members of Congress have
signed on as
                  co-sponsors to legislation that would prohibit mandating
such back-door
                  devices on computers.

                           Copyright 1999   The Associated Press. All
rights reserved.