Return-Path: <sentto-279987-1978-1000775358-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.1.0) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Mon, 17 Sep 2001 18:10:10 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 17042 invoked by uid 510); 18 Sep 2001 01:09:47 -0000 Received: from n25.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.75) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 18 Sep 2001 01:09:47 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-1978-1000775358-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.4.54] by mv.egroups.com with NNFMP; 18 Sep 2001 01:09:18 -0000 X-Sender: fc@big.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_3_2_2); 18 Sep 2001 01:09:17 -0000 Received: (qmail 1241 invoked from network); 17 Sep 2001 20:32:23 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.142) by l8.egroups.com with QMQP; 17 Sep 2001 20:32:23 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO big.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta3 with SMTP; 17 Sep 2001 20:32:23 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by big.all.net (8.9.3/8.7.3) id NAA16187 for iwar@onelist.com; Mon, 17 Sep 2001 13:32:23 -0700 Message-Id: <200109172032.NAA16187@big.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL1] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001 13:32:22 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:Geeks.Gather.to.Back.Crypto] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Geeks Gather to Back Crypto By Declan McCullagh 2:00 a.m. Sep. 17, 2001 PDT CATONSVILLE, Maryland -- Rob Carlson is worried about something that most Americans would consider entirely obscure: the future of encryption technology. Carlson, a 21-year-old programmer who typically sports a floppy, pin-studded safari hat, fears that the U.S. Congress, in the wake of last week's bloody attacks, may vote for anti-terrorism legislation that also threatens privacy. "There's nothing as permanent as a temporary restriction," he says. In an announcement distributed online Friday, Carlson suggested that like-minded geeks gather at the University of Maryland's Baltimore campus on Saturday and Sunday "in order to get the word out about the importance of civil liberties" and prepare for the worst on Capitol Hill. Long before the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the FBI and intelligence agencies warned that Osama bin Laden was using impenetrable encryption to cloak his communications from American eyes. If bin Laden, who has vowed to slaughter American civilians and is the prime suspect in last week's hijackings, had used encryption, not even the National Security Agency's beefiest supercomputers likely could penetrate the codes. The mere possibility that the world's most-wanted terrorist may have used encryption tools like Hushmail or Pretty Good Privacy has begun to spur debate about how to ensure the U.S. government can listen in on them. Last week, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) called for backdoors in encryption products, and a co-founder of the CertCo encryption company wrote an essay on Saturday outlining how such a system could work. That kind of news, coupled with a front-page Baltimore Sun article on Sunday linking bin Laden to crypto cast a palpable pall over the pair of meetings at the University of Maryland. About 15 local geektavists did gather at the Albin O. Kuhn library on Saturday afternoon to try to figure out how to persuade legislators and the public that the liberties that Americans have long enjoyed should remain protected during wartime. The participants' dilemma: how to argue for fewer restrictions on freedoms without appearing unmoved by or insensitive to last week's calamity. By the end of the meetings, the group, mostly system administrators and open-source programmers, settled on a time-proven device of political protest: a letter-writing campaign to Congress. "With everything going on and everything moving so fast in Congress, we'll only have a chance to provide them with information on one or two main issues," says Carlson, a part-time student at the University of Maryland who's a programmer at KCI Technologies in Hunt Valley, Maryland. "We're probably going to have to focus on, 'Don't ban crypto, since crypto facilitates e-commerce,'" he says. "If you do this, it's going to have financial repercussions far beyond what you're thinking about." Carlson plans to post details, including a draft don't-ban-crypto-letter, to a newly created Working Group on Privacy and Civil Rights website. Lending unexpected support to the group was Rep. Lynn Rivers (D-Michigan), who showed up to pledge her support and offer some insider tips on how to lobby their members of Congress. Rivers said her colleagues in the House are most likely to heed phone calls, followed by letters, faxes, and e-mail. She warned the group not to say something like: "I have never voted for you, I'm not registered to vote, but you've got to listen to me." Last Thursday evening, the Senate approved the Combating Terrorism Act of 2001, which enhances police wiretap powers and permits law enforcement to use the Carnivore surveillance device without a court order in some situations. On Sunday, Attorney General John Ashcroft read reporters a statement at Camp David, Maryland, that said he would ask Congress to go even further and expand wiretap powers to give officers "enhanced authority" to fight terrorism. "The mood on Capitol Hill is scary. It's a knee-jerk reaction," says Gabe Rocha, a FreeBSD and Solaris system administrator who went to the meeting. "Banning crypto's not the answer," Rocha says. "It doesn't solve anything. It's like we're shooting at shadows now. It's totally useless." ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Do you need to encrypt all your online transactions? Secure corporate intranets? Authenticate your Web sites? Whatever security your site needs, you'll find the perfect solution here! http://us.click.yahoo.com/wOMkGD/Q56CAA/yigFAA/kgFolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> ------------------ http://all.net/ Your use of Yahoo! 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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-09-29 21:08:44 PDT