>From Dave Farber's Interesting People list...
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Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 14:03:10 -0500
Subject: IP: New "Cybercrime.gov" site: Useful information or propaganda?
>From: Brett Glass <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>Today, I scanned the US Government's newly-created "www.cybercrime.gov"
>Web site, unveiled this week by Janet Reno. While I hoped that this would
>be a useful resource for those seeking to learn about the issues and get
>help with computer crime, I found to my disappointment that the majority
>of the material posted there is political rather than technical and does
>not provide balanced views of the issues.
>
>The site's advice for victims of computer crime, for example, boils down
>almost entirely to three marginally helpful words: "Call the FBI." (Anyone
>who has actually called a local FBI office and asked it to deal with
>problems such as Internet intruders quickly learns that this is an
>exercise in futility.) However, the site does contain lengthy arguments
>for the regulation of cryptography, the expansion of police powers, and
>the implementation of blocking technologies on the Internet. The pages at
>
>http://www.cybercrime.gov/crypto.html,
>
>which contain one-sided arguments against the availability of strong
>encryption and contain serious technical errors (for example, the
>difficulty of breaking encryption schemes such as single 56-bit DES is
>grossly overstated), are typical.
>
>Links to the sites of groups with contrary views, such as EPIC and the
>EFF, are notably absent.
>
>Who is behind the site? And why is the presentation so biased? The page at
>
>http://www.cybercrime.gov/ccips.html
>
>appears to hold the answer:
>
>"The Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section ("CCIPS") attorney
>staff consists of about two dozen lawyers who focus exclusively on the
>issues raised by computer and intellectual property crime. Section
>attorneys advise federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents; comment
>upon and propose legislation; coordinate international efforts to combat
>computer crime; litigate cases; and train all law enforcement groups."
>
>Should our tax dollars be spent to create Web sites which promote
>one-sided political agendas such as the ones outlined on this site?
>
>--Brett Glass
>
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