-Caveat Lector- > Here Comes The Beast! Clinton OKs massive attack on privacy > > > (Source: New York, NYT-07-27-99 2104EDT) > > No. 128, 2 - 8 August 1999 > > If you thought "Know your customer" was dead, wait until you read > the following article. The Federal Government, with William > Jefferson Blythe "I Did Not Have Sex With THAT Woman!" Clinton > wants to access your bank accounts, corporate networks, and > gather information that it has no business knowing. And all in > the interests of "national security." > > The plan was created in response to a presidential directive in > May 1998 requiring the executive branch to review the > vulnerabilities of the federal government's computer systems in > order to become a "model of information and security.'' In a > cover letter to the draft plan Clinton writes, "A concerted > attack on the computers of any one of our key economic sectors or > governmental agencies could have catastrophic effects.'' But the > plan strikes at the heart of a growing controversy over how to > protect the nation's computer systems while also protecting civil > liberties � particularly since it would put a new and powerful > tool into the hands of the FBI. > > Increasingly, data flowing over the Internet is becoming a vital > tool for law enforcement, and civil liberties experts said law > enforcement agencies would be under great temptation to expand > the use of the information in pursuit of suspected criminals. > "The report clearly recognizes the civil liberties > implications,'' said James X. Dempsey, staff counsel for the > Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington civil liberties > group, "But it brushes them away.'' (Read that: ignores civil > liberties) The draft plan states: > > "As access to relevant networks is premised on 'consent' of the > user to allow session monitoring, the collection of certain data > identified as anomalous activity or a suspicious event would not > be considered a privacy issue.'' > > Dempsey conceded the legal validity of the point, but said there > was tremendous potential for abuse. "My main concern is that > Fidnet is an ill-defined monitoring system of potentially broad > sweep,'' he said. "It seems to place monitoring and surveillance > at the center of the government's response to a problem that is > not well suited to such measures.'' > > The federal government is making a concerted effort to insure > that civil liberties and privacy rights are not violated by the > plan, Hunker said. He said that data gathered from non-government > computer networks will be collected separately from the > FBI-controlled monitoring system at a separate location within a > General Services Administration building. He said that was done > to keep non-government data at arm's length from law enforcement. > > > The plan also has drawn concern from civil libertarians because > it blends civilian and military functions in protecting the > nation's computer networks. The report notes that there is > already a Department of Defense "contingent'' working at the > FBI's infrastructure protection center to integrate intelligence, > counterintelligence and law enforcement efforts in protecting > Pentagon computers. > > "The fight over this could make the fight over encryption look > like nothing,'' said Mary Culnan, an professor at Georgetown > University who served on a presidential commission whose work led > to the May 1998 directive on infrastructure protection. "The > conceptual problem is that there are people running this program > who don't understand how citizens feel about privacy in > cyberspace.'' > > The government has been discussing the proposal widely with a > number of industry security committees and associations in recent > months. Several industry executives said there is still > reluctance on the part of industry to directly share information > on computer intrusions with law enforcement. "They want to > control the decision-making process,'' said Mark Rasch, vice > president and general counsel of Global Integrity, a company in > Reston, Va., that coordinates computer security for the financial > services industries. > > One potential problem in carrying out the government's plan is > that intrusion-detection software technology is still immature, > industry executives said. "The commercial intrusion detection > systems are not ready for prime time,'' said Peter Neumann, a > computer scientist at SRI International in Menlo Park, Calif., > and a pioneer in the field of intrusion detection systems. > > Current systems tend to generate false alarms and thus require > many skilled operators. But a significant portion of the $1.4 > billion the Clinton administration has requested for computer > security for fiscal year 2000 is intended to be spent on > research, and government officials said they were hopeful that > the planned effort would be able to rely on automated detection > technologies and on artificial intelligence capabilities. > > For several years computer security specialists have used > software variously known as packet filters or "sniffers'' as > monitoring devices to track computer intruders. Like telephone > wiretaps, such tools can be used to reconstruct the activities of > a computer user as if a videotape were made of his computer > display. At the same time, however, the software tools are > routinely misused by illicit computer network users to steal > information such as passwords or other data. > > In the past three years, the Pentagon has begun to string > together entire network surveillance systems by outfitting them > with filters that report data to a central site, much as a > burglar alarm might be reported at the local police station. > Moreover, commercial vendors are beginning to sell monitoring > tools that combine packet filtering with more sophisticated and > automated intrusion detection software that tries to detect abuse > by looking for behavior patterns or certain sequences of > commands. > > NYT-07-27-99 2104EDT >From the New Australian http://www.newaus.com.au/us128fidnet.html A<>E<>R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your common sense." --Buddha + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." 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