http://www.thestandard.com/ March 06, 2000 Feds: Your Secrets Are Safe With Us Wired News reported two bits of Clinton-Internet news Friday, without highlighting the irony that floated between them. Declan McCullagh summarized a report recommending ways to make it easier for cops to trace users in "real time." A group chaired by Attorney General Janet Reno, and including FBI Director Louis Freeh, wrote the report. According to McCullagh, "The group focused on what it views as the problem of anonymity." Members complained about anonymous remailers, and about e-mail accounts that let folks sign up without confirming their identities. Meanwhile in Silicon Valley, President Clinton was wagging his finger at tech industry bigwigs, including Novell Chairman Eric Schmidt , and warning them that if they didn't do a better job of protecting the privacy of Net users, the government would have to do it for them. Huh? The executive branch could undoubtedly explain the distinction between privacy and anonymity. But in light of the investigative pressure now being brought to bear on DoubleClick , and given the justification provided by the denial-of-service hack attacks, the government just may feel that it's the only organization qualified to follow our movements online. And that begs the question: Whom do you trust with your secrets Ð DoubleClick or the FBI? Ð David Sims
