CPSR Alert 2.01

CPSR Alert 2.01
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Volume 2.01 September 10, 1993
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Published by the
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
Washington Office

Editor: Dave Banisar

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CPSR Washington Office Staff:
Director: Marc Rotenberg ([email protected])
Legal Counsel: David Sobel ([email protected])
Policy Analyst: Dave Banisar ([email protected])
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Contents

[1] We're Back!
[2] CPSR Annual Meeting Info
[3] Gore NPR Review Highlights
[4] NIST Advisory Board Questions Clipper Proposal
[5] Public Interest NII Coalition Meets in DC
[6] California Legislature Passes Info Access Bill
[7] Wisconsin Looking for Privacy Advocate
[8] The CPSR Internet Library
[9] Upcoming CPSR Events

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[1] The Alert Returns

After an extended vacation and many other excellent excuses,
the CPSR Alert has returned. Publication will be bi-weekly with an
occasional Special Edition. We do not intend to duplicate the
efforts of the many other publications already covering these
issues, such as Computer Underground Digest, the Privacy Forum, and
Risks Digest, or to repeat what is already published in the CPSR
Newsletter. Rather we plan to provide short, timely articles,
updates and a calendar of events and resources for CPSR Members and
other interested people. Topics will include privacy, information
access, the National Information Infrastructure and other CPSR
issues. Please submit your comments and relevant short articles to
[email protected].

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[2] CPSR Annual Meeting

COMPUTER PROFESSIONALS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
ANNUAL MEETING

October 16 - 17, 1993
University of Washington, South Campus Center
Seattle, Washington, USA

Envisioning the Future: A National Forum on the National
Information Infrastructure and Community Access

Co-sponsored by the American Society for Information Science
Pacific Northwest Chapter (ASIS-PNC)

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Saturday, October 16th

8:00 - 9:00 Registration/Coffee & Tea
9:00 - 9:15 Welcome to the CPSR Annual Meeting - Aki Namioka
9:15 - 10:15 Keynote Address - Bruce McConnell,
Office of Management and Budget
"Shaping National Information Infrastructure Policy"

10:15 - 10:45 Break
10:45 - 12:15 Panel Discussion - Moderated by Eric Roberts
"Public Access to Internetworks"

12:15 - 1:45 Lunch break
1:45 - 3:00 Panel Discussion - Moderated by Andrew Gordon
"Municipal Information Infrastructure"

3:00 - 4:30 Panel Discussion - Moderated by Douglas Schuler
"Networking in the Community"

4:30 - 4:45 Break
4:45 - 6:15 Panel Discussion - Moderated by Marc Rotenberg
"Computers and Democracy - What's the Connection?"

6:15 - 6:30 Closing Remarks - Jeff Johnson

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7:30 CPSR Banquet - Fundraiser
(Vegetarian food will be available)

+ Presentation of the 1993 Norbert Wiener Award to
The Institute for Global Communications (IGC)
Presenter: Eric Roberts

+ Banquet Address and Interactive Event - Kit Galloway, Electronic
Cafe International

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Sunday, October 17th (preliminary schedule)

8:30 - 9:30 Coffee & Tea
9:30 - 11:30 Workshop sessions
Gender Relations in Networking - Judi Clark
Information Policy: A Framework for Action - Karen Sy
Computer Professionals and Social Action - Jeff Johnson

11:30 - 1:00 Lunch Break
1:00 - 2:30 CPSR Discussion
2:30 - 3:00 Break
3:00 - 4:30 CPSR NII Vision Document Discussion - Todd Newman
4:30 - 5:00 Closing Remarks - Future CPSR NII Program - Marc Rotenberg

For more information, contact the National Office at [email protected],
or Aki Namioka, Annual Meeting Chair, at [email protected].

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[3] National Performance Review Highlights.

The NPR, a massive study on streamlining government headed by Vice
President Albert Gore, has endorsed the creation of a Privacy
Protection Board and the development of uniform privacy protection
practices. It has also recommended the development of a Digital
Signature Standard by January 1994.

Other information technology recommendations include implementing
nationwide, integrated electronics benefits transfer, developing
integrated electronic access to government (including information
kiosks and a government wide electronic bulletin board system), the
development of a national law enforcement/public safety network,
government wide electronic mail and indexes for environmental and
trade data. It also calls for the establishment of a government
information infrastructure.

A spokesman in the Vice President's office told the Alert that the
specifics of the recommendations would be released within a few
weeks. Government sources have indicated that many of the
information technology recommendations originated at the National
Institute of Standards and Technology. An electronic copy of the NPR
is available from the CPSR Internet Library. See below (#8) for
details.

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[4] Gov't Panel Questions Clipper Chip Proposal

After two days of sometimes tumultuous hearings, a government
advisory board chartered to advise the administration and Congress
on computer security and privacy issued two resolutions questioning
many of the aspects of the Clinton Administration's controversial
new encryption scheme, the Clipper Chip. The National Institute of
Standards and Technology's Computer System Security and Privacy
Advisory Board (CSSPAB) expressed continued concern over many
aspects of the proposal including the lack of a convincing statement
expressing the problems that the Clipper is supposed to solve, the
need to look for possible alternatives to the proposal, the legal,
economic, export controls issues, and software implementation of the
proposal. In addition, the board also expressed concern that the
Clipper proposal could negatively impact the availability of
cost-effective security products to the US government and industry
and that it may not be marketable or usable worldwide.

In a second resolution, the board unanimously called for a public
debate of the proposal and recommended that Congress take an active
role in determining US cryptography policy. It also recommended that
any new policy must address the interests of law enforcement and
intelligence, US industry and citizens' privacy and security in the
US and worldwide.

At the hearings, Geoff Greiveldinger from the Department of Justice
reported that the key escrow agents will be announced within a few
weeks after a briefing for members of Congress. Sources inside the
administration indicate that the administration may have decided to
eliminate from consideration outside organizations holding the keys
and is leaning towards the Department of the Treasury as one of the
key holders. In addition, NIST Deputy Director Ray Kammer announced
that the Data Encryption Standard (DES) will be recertified for
government, non-classified use for another five years. The paperwork
has been sent to Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, who is expected to
sign it within two weeks.

The Clipper proposal was introduced April 16, 1993 and has been
strongly opposed by both civil liberties groups and industry. The
proposal calls for use of a secret encryption chip designed by the
National Security Agency for non-classified voice and data
transmission. The keys for the chip would be split and held in
escrow by two government agencies. NIST has submitted the Clipper
proposal for public comment. The FIPS was published in the Federal
Register at Volume 58, page 40791 (July 30, 1993) and is also
available in electronic form from the CPSR Internet Library
FTP/WAIS/Gopher cpsr.org /cpsr/crypto/clipper/call-for-comments.
Comments are due to NIST by September 28, 1993 to the Director,
Computer Systems Laboratory, ATTN: Proposed FIPS for Escrowed
Encryption Standard, Technology Building, room B-154, National
Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899. Other
background material on the Clipper proposal and other cryptography
issues is also available from the CPSR Internet Library.

CPSR has created an archive of comments on the proposal and has
asked people to electronically submit a copy of their comments to
[email protected].

A 450 page source book of materials on crypto policy is available
from CPSR for $50.00. Contact [email protected] for more
information.

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[5] Public Interest NII Coalition Meets in DC

The third meeting of the Telecommunications Policy Roundtable took
place on September 7 at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace in Washington, DC. Representatives from more than 60 public
interest organizations gathered to discuss the development of a
public interest agenda for the NII. CPSR President Eric Roberts,
Board member Todd Newman, and Seattle Chapter stalwart Doug Schuler
flew in from the West Coast to attend the meeting.

Larry Irving, Assistant Secretary of Commerce and head of the
National Telecommunication Information Administration spoke to the
group about the administration's plans for the National Information
Infrastructure. Mr. Irving said that he believed that universal
service will be one of the critical goals. He also said that the
administration seeks to development a competitive marketplace for
information services and to establish necessary consumer safeguards.

The TPR proposed a set of public interest policy principles and
prepared a document titled "Renewing the Commitment to Public
Interest Communications Policy. " The policies covered freedom of
communication, vital civic sector, universal access, competitive
markets, privacy protection, equitable workplace, and democratic
decision-making. (A copy of the draft document is available from
the CPSR archive).

A formal press conference is scheduled for Thursday, October 7 at
the National Press Club. The next meeting of the TPR will be
Tuesday, October 5. For more information, contact Jeff Chester,
Center for Media Education ([email protected])

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[6] California Passes Landmark Information Access Bill

The California Assembly on September 8 voted 78 to 0 for a bill to
make California legislative information available though the
Internet. The bill (AB1624) was previously approved by the state
Senate and now goes to Governor Pete Wilson, who has 12 days to
veto it before it becomes law.

The bill requires electronic distribution of the legislative agenda
and requires the " Legislative Council...to make available to the
public, by means of access by way of the largest non-propriety,
non-profit cooperative public computer network, specified
information concerning bills, [and] the proceedings of the houses."
It goes into effect January 1, 1994.

The grassroots battle to pass this bill was led by Micro Times
columnist and CPSR member Jim Warren. Using electronic networks, he
organized a massive national fax , telephone and letter writing
campaign to support the bill. It was opposed by LOGI-TECH, an
information provider that sells legislative data.

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[7] Wisconsin Looking for Privacy Advocate

From: [email protected] (Jo Ann Oravec)

Privacy Advocate... Madison, Wisconsin

The State of Wisconsin is seeking a person responsible for support
and advocacy in development and implementation of state and local
government policies that protect personal privacy. This position
reports to the Privacy Council. Background in business and
government application of information technology. Salary $33,000
per year plus excellent benefits. Applicants should submit a
detailed resume and a statement outlining their perspectives and
approaches to privacy concerns to Mary Becker (608-266-0058, FAX
608-264-9500), Department of Administration, 9th Floor, 101 E.
Wilson, P.O. Box 7869, Madison, WI 53707-7869. Materials must be
received before 4:30 PM on September 27, 1993.

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[8] The CPSR Internet Library

CPSR has set up an archive of materials on privacy, cryptography,
information access, the National Information Infrastructure and
other related issues. Recent additions to the archive include the
entire National Performance Review report, and the full text of the
Freedom of Information Act and the Federal Privacy Act of 1974.

NPR /cpsr/clinton/npr
FOIA /cpsr/foia/foia.txt
Privacy Act of 1974 /cpsr/privacy_law/privacy_act_1974.txt

The archive also archives materials from Privacy International,
the US Privacy Council, the Taxpayers Assets Project and the
Cypherpunks cryptography group. To access the archive,
FTP/WAIS/Gopher cpsr.org.

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[9] Upcoming Events

International Privacy Roundtable, sponsored by Privacy International
and the University of Manchester Law School- Manchester, England.
September 29, 1993. Contact: simon davies
([email protected]).

National Computer Security Conference, sponsored by NIST and NSA.
Baltimore Convention Center, Baltimore, MD. September 20-23, 1993
Contact NIST 301-975-2762.

CPSR Annual Meeting,Seattle, WA. October 16-17, Contact: Aki
Namioka ([email protected])

Computers Freedom and Privacy 4. Chicago, Ill. March 1993. Contact:
George Trubow, 312-987-1445 ([email protected])

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To subscribe to the alert, send a message to [email protected]
"subscribe cpsr <your name>" (without quotes or brackets) to
[email protected]. Back issues of the Alert are available at
the CPSR Internet Library FTP/WAIS/Gopher cpsr.org /cpsr/alert

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility is a national,
non-partisan, public-interest organization dedicated to
understanding and directing the impact of computers on society.
Founded in 1981, CPSR has 2000 members from all over the world and
22 chapters across the country. Our National Advisory Board includes
a Nobel laureate and three winners of the Turing Award, the highest
honor in computer science. Membership is open to everyone.

For more information, please contact: [email protected]

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CPSR MEMBERSHIP FORM

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