-Caveat Lector- Weekly Update for 8/30/01 COALITION FOR CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTIES Volume 5, Number 23 Brought to you by the Center for Technology Policy of the Free Congress Foundation Lisa S. Dean, Director, Center for Technology Policy (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ) J. Bradley Jansen, Deputy Director, Center for Technology Policy (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ) Hannah H. Woody, Coalition Coordinator (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ) phone: (202) 546-3000 fax: (202) 543-5605 http://www.FreeCongress.org <http://www.FreeCongress.org> IN THIS ISSUE: * GOVERNMENT DEALING WITH YOUR PRIVACY! DATABASES BECOMING PUBLIC * SCHOOLS HELP OUT GOVERNMENT, TRAINING CYBERCORPS * ONLINE CENSORSHIP, CAN WE REALLY TAME THE WEB? * WORKPLACE SURVEILLANCE, PHONE CALLS NO LONGER PRIVATE * MORE ON FACE-SCANNING CAMERAS, YET AGAIN * ONLINE MEDICAL PRIVACY HEALTH FORMS IN MY HUMBLE OPINION: DON'T REGULATE FREE DATA EXCHANGE One-size-fits-all regulations mandated by the government will only harm consumers By James C. Plummer Jr., Information Week, August 20, 2001 The debate inside the Beltway over privacy policy is heating up as surveillance and database technologies become ever more sophisticated. In light of this rapid change, the most important function of the legislative branch is to exercise strong and vigorous oversight of government abuse of privacy, not to posture and regulate the free exchange of data between private parties, consumer and merchant alike. The rush by politicians to "do something about privacy" is understandable, but it's driven largely by polls of dubious value. A recent survey of privacy surveys released by the Competitive Enterprise Institute finds a preponderance of push-poll queries-and a wide gap between the stated opinions of those surveyed and the revealed preference of real-world behavior. Yes-or-no questions that ask Internet users if they're concerned about online privacy invariably get large majorities saying they are. Yet 75% of Internet users have given out their credit-card number online, evidence that they feel the secure-payment systems for E-commerce to be worth both the risk and convenience of shopping online. For full article, please visit: http://www.informationweek.com/thisweek/story/IWK20010821S0001?section=opini on <http://www.informationweek.com/thisweek/story/IWK20010821S0001?section=opin ion> CONNECTING THE DOTS BETWEEN PUBLIC RECORDS DATABASES By Richard Smith, Privacy Foundation, August 28, 2001 One of the biggest issues in analyzing technology and privacy is the way that databases with unique identifiers can be merged. I've got an example below that illustrates the problem, particularly where public records databases are concerned. For full article: http://www.privacyfoundation.org/commentary/tipsheet.asp <http://www.privacyfoundation.org/commentary/tipsheet.asp> KEEPING SECRETS AT TOO HIGH A PRICE By Thomas S. Blanton, The New York Times, August 22, 2001 WASHINGTON -- The Senate Intelligence Committee, foiled last year only by President Bill Clinton's veto, is again putting together a bill that would establish the country's first-ever official secrets act. It is a remarkable post-cold war paradox: At a time when the rest of the world is looking to America for leadership on openness, Congress would make it harder for Americans to know what their government is doing and would give aid and comfort to every tin-pot dictator who wants to claim "national security" as the reason to keep his citizens in the dark. For full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/22/opinion/22BLAN.html?todaysheadlines <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/22/opinion/22BLAN.html?todaysheadlines> IDENTITY THEFT PENALTIES STIFFENED Bush publicizes two new laws By Lesley Clark, The Miami Herald, August 22, 2001 TALLAHASSEE -- When it comes to identity theft, not even the people who prosecute the crimes are immune. Prompted by tales of rampant identity theft -- including the case of a statewide prosecutor who was targeted by a man he was investigating -- Gov. Jeb Bush on Tuesday publicized two new laws that increase the penalties for stealing identities and make it easier for prosecutors to give victims back some of the money they've lost. ``If it can happen to a statewide prosecutor, it can happen to anyone,'' Bush said. For full article: http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/florida/digdocs/114814.htm <http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/florida/digdocs/114814.htm> SCHOOLS HELP GOVERNMENT DEVELOP 'SOLDIERS' TO FIGHT CYBERTERRORISM Tulsa World, August 17, 2001 TULSA, Okla. -- The first group of cyberterrorism students reporting for ``duty'' this week at the University of Tulsa pulls together an eclectic mix of computer talent. The 14 students were hand-picked as part of the University of Tulsa's $5 million federally funded program to conduct cyberterrorism research and to help develop ``soldiers'' for a national ``cybercorps.'' For full article: http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/046731.htm <http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/046731.htm> CRACKING THE CODE OF ONLINE CENSORSHIP By JENNIFER S. LEE, The New York Times, July 19, 2001 EVERY year the Electronic Frontier Foundation hands out its Pioneer Awards to people who have played crucial roles in the history of technology. Recipients have included visionaries like Ivan Sutherland, creator of some of the first computer graphics programs; Douglas C. Engelbart, an inventor of the mouse; and Linus Torvalds, inventor of the popular Linux operating system. This year one of the three winners was Seth Finkelstein, an activist who decrypts filtering programs, the software used by private companies, libraries and schools to block out undesirable sites. As a founder of the Censorware Project, an anti-filtering advocacy group, Mr. Finkelstein has influenced public debate and legal decisions, including a First Amendment case on filtering policy at a public library in Virginia. For full article: http://archive.nytimes.com/2001/07/19/technology/circuits/19HACK.html <http://archive.nytimes.com/2001/07/19/technology/circuits/19HACK.html> TAMING THE WEB, CAN THE INTERNET BE CONTROLLED? By Charles C. Mann, Technology Review, August 17, 2001 "Information wants to be free." "The Internet can't be controlled." We've heard it so often that we sometimes take for granted that it's true. But the Internet can be controlled, and those who argue otherwise are hastening the day when it will be controlled too much, by the wrong people, and for the wrong reasons. For full article: http://www.msnbc.com/news/615468.asp#BODY <http://www.msnbc.com/news/615468.asp#BODY> BESS's SECRET LOOPHOLE (censorware vs. privacy & anonymity) An anticensorware investigation by Seth Finkelstein Abstract: This report examines a secret category in N2H2's censorware, a product often sold under the name BESS, The Internet Retriever. This category turns out to be for sites which must be uniformly prohibited, because they constitute a LOOPHOLE in the necessary control of censorware. The category contains sites which provide services of anonymity, privacy, language translation, humorous text transformations, even web page feature testing, and more. For full report: http://sethf.com/anticensorware/bess/loophole.php <http://sethf.com/anticensorware/bess/loophole.php> THE SMART CARDS ARE HERE: SO NOW WHAT? St. Petersburg Times, August 19, 2001 Suddenly, smart cards -- credit cards embedded with tiny computer chips -- are everywhere. American Express put a chip on its sparkly new Blue card, and issued 2.2-million of them in just 14 months. Rushing to mimic Blue's success, Visa says at least four of its banks will issue 7-million credit cards with chips on them this year. And MasterCard says it is getting into the smart card business, too. The cards may be smart, but so far they have been mute. In contrast to Europe, where smart cards have been used for a decade, there are hardly any ways to use a smart card in the United States. Few stores have readers for them. Nor do most wireless phones here take the cards. The companies using them say the cards add security for shopping on the Internet, but a survey showed that only 6 of every 1,000 Blue cardholders have used the chip on the Web. For full article: http://www.sptimes.com/News/081901/Business/The_smart_cards_are_h.shtml <http://www.sptimes.com/News/081901/Business/The_smart_cards_are_h.shtml> JUDGING WORKPLACE SURVEILLANCE TO BE ILLEGAL By Richard Smith, Privacy Foundation, August 13, 2001 "Rebels in Black Robes Recoil at Surveillance of Computers" was the online headline of an article in The New York Times last week - a headline signifying that the ongoing debate about workplace surveillance is engulfing the judiciary, too.... What's different about the Ninth Circuit situation is what the subjects of this surveillance did: The judges had the Circuit's tech crew pull the plug, dismantling the spy system for about a week in May. According to the Times, about 10,000 court employees were affected, including 700 judges. For full article: http://www.privacyfoundation.org/commentary/tipsheet.asp?id=50&action=0 <http://www.privacyfoundation.org/commentary/tipsheet.asp?id=50&action=0> PENNSYLVANIA HIGH COURT RULES INDIVIDUALS HAVE NO PRIVACY IN PHONE CALLS Danielle N. Rodier, The Legal Intelligencer, August 22, 2001 In a decision that would make George Orwell glow with prescient delight, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that individuals have no reasonable expectation of privacy in telephone calls made to their own homes. Considering the methods of telephone communication widely used today -- including speakerphones and cordless phones -- a person has no idea who is listening in on the other line and therefore has no reason to believe the information discussed in the conversation will not be revealed, the majority said. For full article: http://www.law.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=law/View &c=Article&cid=ZZZHW8CDOQC&live=true&cst=1&pc=0&pa=0&s=News&ExpIgnore=true&s howsummary=0 <http://www.law.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=law/Vie w&c=Article&cid=ZZZHW8CDOQC&live=true&cst=1&pc=0&pa=0&s=News&ExpIgnore=true& showsummary=0> ANGER OVER FACE-SCANNING CAMERAS By Kevin Anderson, BBC News Online's in Washington, August 20, 2001 The championship game of American football, known as the Super Bowl, was notable not only for the play or the outcome but also because it was a landmark in what have become the privacy wars. The Super Bowl by many has come to be known as the Snooper Bowl because officials used cameras and face recognition technology to scan the crowds for known criminals. The use of the face-scanning cameras did not come out until after the game and the public was outraged. The industry stands by its technology but is now calling for federal law in the US to govern its use. For full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1500000/1500017.stm <http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1500000/1500017.stm> CONGRESS FIGHTS OVER CLINTON HEALTH ID NUMBER Christine Hall, CNSNews.com, August 16, 2001 Eight years after then-President Bill Clinton's failed plan for putting the federal government in charge of health care, the foes of the ill-fated idea are trying to roll back a major feature of the Clinton plan that made it into the federal code - a health care identifying number to be assigned to all Americans. For full article: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/8/15/155946.shtml <http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/8/15/155946.shtml> DNA TEST FOR VA. ARRESTEES PROPOSED By Craig Timberg, Washington Post Staff Writer, August 18, 2001 RICHMOND, Aug. 17 -- Virginia's two candidates for attorney general are leading a drive to dramatically expand the state's DNA database by making Virginia the first in the nation to compile genetic records of those arrested for crimes -- even if they are never convicted. For full article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17600-2001Aug15.html?referer= email <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17600-2001Aug15.html?referer =email> CCHC'S NEW ONLINE MEDICAL PRIVACY FORMS Helping patients protect their medical, financial, and personal information St. Paul, Minnesota--Asserting one's desire for medical privacy has just become easier than ever. Citizens' Council on Health Care (CCHC), a Minnesota-based independent health care policy organization, has created and made available online three privacy declaration forms for public use at: http://www.cchc-mn.org/fortherecord.php3 <http://www.cchc-mn.org/fortherecord.php3> <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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