At 5:06 PM -0500 on 11/14/99, Keith Dawson wrote: > ++ The government's role in intrusion detection. > 10:43:12 am > > Tuesday evening I attended a forum [1] at Stanford sponsored by the Law > Department and the ACM: "The government's role in computer surveillance > and the Federal Intrusion Detection Network, FIDNet." Panelists were > Whit Diffie (Sum Microsystems, co-inventor of public-key crypto), > Marc Rotenberg (director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center), > and Scott Charney (until recently chief prosecutor in the DoJ computer > crimes unit). Moderating was John Markoff, the NY Times's man in Silicon > Valley. The tone was consistently polite and cordial; no one engaged in > games of bait-the-Fed (well, ex-Fed). > > Diffie engaged the audience with humor. When asked a question about the > liklihood of UKUSA member states swapping Echelon data to evade > domestic proscriptions on eavesdroping on their own citizens, Diffie > became George Smiley from Le Carre's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy [2]. > He folded his hands over his belly, leaned back, and roundly > proclaimed, > > > Well that's the thing about secrets, Roddy. You don't know. > > Markoff took questions in writing from the audience. I watched him open > mine and smile slightly. He asked the panelists on my behalf: > > > Do citizens have the right to communicate privately? > > - or - > > Does the government have the right to know the content of any > > communication? > > Each panelist, please craft a reply of 50 words or fewer. > > Each panelist ignored the bit about the 50 words. Here is the essense > of their answers. > > - Scott Charney: yes, and yes. > > - Whit Diffie: citizens have the right to make any effort they wish to > keep their conversations private. > > - Marc Rotenberg: answered from the Libertarian camp, where he "visits > but doesn't live." Doesn't think governments have rights. The > government has authority to conduct a search, but doesn't have the > right to get what they seek. We recognize the government's interests, > but the rights go to the people. > > [1] http://tbtf.com/blog/1999-10-24.html#2 > [2] http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671042734/tbtf > TBTF home and archive at http://tbtf.com/ . To unsubscribe send > the message "unsubscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED], or visit > http://tbtf.com/#autosub . TBTF is Copyright 1994-1999 by Keith > Dawson, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. Commercial use prohibited. For > non-commercial purposes please forward, post, and link as you > see fit. > _______________________________________________ > Keith Dawson [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Layer of ash separates morning and evening milk. ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
