The NII Witch's Cauldron

[tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)]

This messages makes some good points about scary provisions being
discussed for the "NII" National Information Infrastructure. I had not
see the language included about 

       "Developing electronic cash systems that would maintain
        the privacy of individuals from merchants and banks, but
        would allow law enforcement to trace the flow of the
        electronic cash, given proper court orders."

Mix this in with Digital Telephony, Software Key Escrow (GAK), the
deals being cut with the telecom suppliers, the weird goings on
between RSADSI and Cylink, the surge in talk about national ID cards
(immigration, jobs, Cuba, etc.), and you get a strange brew indeed.

--Tim


Newsgroups: comp.org.cpsr.talk,comp.org.eff.talk,misc.legal.computing
From: mkj@world.std.com
Subject: Check out IITF.DOC.GOV
Message-ID: <CwyM4E.220@world.std.com>
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 1994 20:26:37 GMT

Everybody knows that Al Gore is hot on this "National Information
Infrastructure" thing.  What many people may not fully appreciate --
or at least, what I'm just discovering myself -- is the sheer enormity
of the disaster going on as we speak, under the banner of the
"Information Infrastructure Task Force" (IITF).  If you haven't
already done so, I highly recommend an enlightening browse on the
iitf.doc.gov site (ftp & gopher at standard ports, http at port 70).
^^^^^^^^^^^^
(NOTE: Individuals in fragile health should always consult a physician
before exposing themselves to detailed information about their
government's activities.  Have you ever felt like an ant in the path
of a steamroller?  YOU WILL ...)

Although I've barely scratched the surface, I've already run across a
number of items which might be of interest to folks here.  The DOE,
for instance, reports that they are working on

        "Developing electronic cash systems that would maintain
        the privacy of individuals from merchants and banks, but
        would allow law enforcement to trace the flow of the
        electronic cash, given proper court orders."

Other spectacularly dubious achievements include the report of the
Privacy Working Group, which never once acknowledges any individual
right to privacy, and in fact devotes most of their report to various
ways to increase the "willingness" of the public to divulge personal
data; and the draft report of the Intellectual Property Working Group,
which with a straight face characterizes most current Internet
activity as illegal, and then goes on to outlaw the rest of it, while
blandly noting that the public will require "education" in these
matters.  Also, of course, there are any number of hints of NII
projects involving various intelligence agencies.

Enjoy.

					---  mkj