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CPSR Alert 3.03 (Clipper Up
- To: Cypherpunks List <[email protected]>
- Subject: CPSR Alert 3.03 (Clipper Up
- From: Dave Banisar <[email protected]>
- Date: Fri, 11 Feb 1994 22:25:36 EST
- Organization: CPSR Washington Office
CPSR Alert 3.03 (Clipper Update)
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Volume 3.03 February 11, 1994
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Published by
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
Washington Office
([email protected])
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Contents
[1] CPSR Launches Clipper Campaign
[2] Sign the Clipper Petition!
[3] Clipper FAQ
[4] EPIC to Provide Clipper Analysis
[5] CPSR Needs Your Support!
[6] RFD for CPSR Newsgroups
[7] New Files at the CPSR Internet Library
[8] Upcoming Conferences and Events
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[1] CPSR Launches Clipper Campaign
The electronic petition begun by CPSR to oppose Clipper has generated
more than 8,500 responses in less than 10 days. The number is increasing
at a faster rate than occurred with the successful 1990 campaign to stop
Lotus Marketplace.
Details of the petition follow. If you have already signed on, ask your
friends and colleagues to sign. Call up your parents. Tell them to get
an email account and then to sign the petition. Check your rolodex.
Call old friends. Send email to former business partners, lovers, etc.
In your very next email message, ask the person you are writing to if he
or she has signed the CPSR Clipper petition.
The number of people who have opposed Clipper already far exceeds the
number of lawful wiretaps conducted by all government officials last
year.
Other upcoming milestones:
10,000 Current government orders for Clipper chip (est.)
12,000 Number of computer networks connected to the Internet
15,000 Estimated number of total lawful wiretaps, 1968-1994
70,000 Anticipated number of Clipper purchases this year
More details on the petition follow.
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[2] Sign the Clipper Petition!
Electronic Petition to Oppose Clipper
*Please Distribute Widely*
On January 24, many of the nation's leading experts in cryptography and
computer security wrote President Clinton and asked him to withdraw the
Clipper proposal.
The public response to the letter has been extremely favorable,
including coverage in the New York Times and numerous computer and
security trade magazines.
Many people have expressed interest in adding their names to the letter.
In response to these requests, CPSR is organizing an Internet petition
drive to oppose the Clipper proposal. We will deliver the signed
petition to the White House, complete with the names of all the people
who oppose Clipper.
To sign on to the letter, send a message to:
[email protected]
with the message "I oppose Clipper" (no quotes)
You will receive a return message confirming your vote.
Please distribute this announcement so that others may also express
their opposition to the Clipper proposal.
===========================================================
The President
The White House
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
"We are writing to you regarding the "Clipper" escrowed encryption
proposal now under consideration by the White House. We wish to express
our concern about this plan and similar technical standards that may be
proposed for the nation's communications infrastructure.
"The current proposal was developed in secret by federal agencies
primarily concerned about electronic surveillance, not privacy
protection. Critical aspects of the plan remain classified and thus
beyond public review.
"The private sector and the public have expressed nearly unanimous
opposition to Clipper. In the formal request for comments conducted by
the Department of Commerce last year, less than a handful of respondents
supported the plan. Several hundred opposed it.
"If the plan goes forward, commercial firms that hope to develop
new products will face extensive government obstacles. Cryptographers
who wish to develop new privacy enhancing technologies will be
discouraged. Citizens who anticipate that the progress of technology
will enhance personal privacy will find their expectations unfulfilled.
"Some have proposed that Clipper be adopted on a voluntary basis
and suggest that other technical approaches will remain viable. The
government, however, exerts enormous influence in the marketplace, and
the likelihood that competing standards would survive is small. Few in
the user community believe that the proposal would be truly voluntary.
"The Clipper proposal should not be adopted. We believe that if
this proposal and the associated standards go forward, even on a
voluntary basis, privacy protection will be diminished, innovation will
be slowed, government accountability will be lessened, and the openness
necessary to ensure the successful development of the nation's
communications infrastructure will be threatened.
"We respectfully ask the White House to withdraw the Clipper
proposal."
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[3] Clipper FAQ
The Clipper Chip: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is the Clipper Chip?
It is a cryptographic device purportedly intended to protect
private communications while at the same time permitting government
agents to obtain the "keys" upon presentation of what has been vaguely
characterized as "legal authorization." The "keys" would be held by two
government "escrow agents" and would enable the government to access the
encrypted private communication. While Clipper would be used to encrypt
voice transmissions, a similar device known as Capstone would be used to
encrypt data.
Who developed the underlying technology?
The cryptographic algorithm, known as Skipjack, was developed by
the National Security Agency (NSA), a super-secret military intelligence
agency responsible for intercepting foreign government communications
and breaking the codes that protect such transmissions. In 1987,
Congress passed the Computer Security Act, a law intended to limit NSA's
role in developing standards for the civilian communications system. In
spite of that legislation, the agency has played a leading role in the
Clipper initiative and other civilian security proposals. NSA has
classified the Skipjack algorithm on national security grounds, thus
precluding independent evaluation of the system's strength. CPSR has
filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act seeking the disclosure
of the secret algorithm and other information concerning the Clipper
plan.
What is the government's rationale for Clipper?
The key-escrow system was developed at the urging of the FBI and
other law enforcement agencies, which claim that the increasing
availability of strong encryption programs will interfere with their
ability to conduct wiretapping. No evidence in support of these claims
has been released -- in fact, FBI documents obtained through litigation
by CPSR indicate that no such difficulties have been reported by FBI
field offices or other federal law enforcement agencies.
How important is wiretapping to law enforcement agencies?
Electronic surveillance is just one of many investigative
techniques available to law enforcement. In fact, it is not a widely
used technique -- in 1992, fewer than 900 wiretap warrants were issued
to state and federal law enforcement agencies. It is to protect the
viability of that small number of wiretaps from an unsubstantiated risk
that the FBI and NSA have proposed to compromise the security of
billions of electronic transactions.
What is the current status of the Clipper plan?
On February 4, the Administration announced the formal adoption of
the "Escrowed Encryption Standard," which is the technical specification
for the Clipper system. This action means that Clipper will become the
encryption standard within the government -- all cryptographic products
for government use must comply with the standard (i.e., contain the key-
escrow mechanism) and all individuals and businesses wishing to transmit
secure communications to government agencies will eventually be obliged
to use the NSA-developed technology.
Will the Clipper standard become mandatory?
The Administration maintains that Clipper will be a "voluntary"
standard outside of the government, but many industry observers question
the reality of this claim. The government exerts enormous pressure in
the marketplace, and it is unlikely that alternative means of encryption
will remain viable. Further, the possibility of Clipper becoming
mandatory at some time in the future is quite real given the underlying
rationale for the system. If criminals do, indeed, intend to use
encryption to evade electronic surveillance, they are unlikely to
voluntarily use the Clipper technology.
What can I do to oppose Clipper?
Sign the electronic petition against the Clipper plan that is
being organized by CPSR. Stay informed of relevant developments by
reading the CPSR Alert and other periodic announcements. And consider
lending your financial support to CPSR's campaign to protect the privacy
of electronic communications.
-------------------------------------------------------------
[4] EPIC to Provide Clipper Analysis
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) will be providing
policy information on the Clipper proposal. EPIC is a joint project of
CPSR and the Fund for Constitutional Government, a national civil
liberties organization.
EPIC releases will soon be available to CPSR members through the CPSR
Announce list.
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[5] CPSR Needs Your Support!
If you have signed the CPSR petition, and would like to do more to help
stop Clipper, please consider sending a cash contribution to CPSR.
What do we do with the money? Pay staff salaries, telephone bills,
rent, printing costs. The basics.
Why support CPSR? Because we have a good reputation for our work on
privacy and cryptography, and because our efforts on Clipper are
already having an impact.
We know it's a little scurrilous to ask for money on the network. We
don't do this very often. The good news is that an anonymous donor has
agreed to make a matching grant of $10,000 to support CPSR's Clipper
campaign.
That means that if you contribute $50 we receive $100. If you
contribute $100 we receive $200 and so on.
Please take a moment to write a check and send it to "CPSR, P.O. Box
717, Palo Alto, CA 94302." Write "Clipper" on the check.
Thanks in advance. We appreciate your help.
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[6] Call for Discussion on CPSR Newsgroups
CPSR has submitted a Request for Discussion (RFD) to create two
new USENET newsgroups: comp.org.cpsr.news and comp.org.cpsr.talk.
Comp.org.cpsr.news will be a reflection of the cpsr-announce mailing
list. It will be moderated and only carry 1-2 messages per week
including the CPSR Alert and other official CPSR releases, and
announcements of relevant conferences.
Comp.org.cpsr.talk will be an unmoderated discussion group. Topics
will include privacy, the NII, working in the computer industry, and
other areas of interest to CPSR members.
Formal discussion on the newsgroups is taking place in news.groups. If
you have any substantive comments, you may post them there or by e-mail
to either [email protected] or
[email protected]. If you just wish to express support
for the new groups, please hold off until the voting begins in about one
month.
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[7] New Files at the CPSR Internet Library
The CPSR Internet Library is currently undergoing renovation to make it
easier to use. File names are being revised, folders are being moved,
and a better Gopher front-end is being designed. We apologize for any
inconvenience in finding files.
All Feb 4 White House releases on Clipper are available at
/cpsr/privacy/crypto/clipper
An analysis of US cryptography policy by Professor Lance Hoffman
commissioned by NIST /cpsr/privacy/crypto/hoffman_crypto_policy_1994
The 1994 US State Department Human Rights Guide. 7.7 megs of files
describing the situation of civil and political rights in every country
in the world except the US.
/cpsr/privacy/privacy_international/country_reports/1994_state_dept_guid
e_human_rights
1993 GAO Report on misuse of the FBI's National Crime Information Center
is also available.
The CPSR Internet Library is a free service available via
FTP/WAIS/Gopher/listserv from cpsr.org:/cpsr. Materials from Privacy
International, the Taxpayers Assets Project and the Cypherpunks are also
archived. For more information, contact [email protected].
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[7] Upcoming Conferences and Events
"Highways and Toll Roads: Electronic Access in the 21st Century" Panel
Discussion. 1994 AAAS Annual Meeting. San Francisco, CA. Feb. 21, 1994
2:30 - 5:30pm. Sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery
(ACM). Contact: Barbara Simons ([email protected]).
"Computers, Freedom and Privacy 94." Chicago, Il. March 23-26.
Sponsored by ACM and The John Marshall Law School. Contact: George
Trubow, 312-987-1445 ([email protected]).
Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC)-94 "Developing
an Effective, Equitable, and Enlightened Information Infrastructure."
Cambridge, MA. April 23 - 24, 1994. Sponsored by CPSR. Contact:
[email protected] or [email protected].
Computer-Human Interaction 94. Boston, Mass. April 24-28. Sponsored by
ACM. Contact: 214-590-8616 or 410-269-6801, [email protected]
"Navigating the Networks." 1994 Mid-Year Meeting, American Society for
Information Science. Portland, Oregon. May 22 - 25, 1994. Contact:
[email protected]
Rural Datafication II: "Meeting the Challenge of Providing Ubiquitous
Access to the Internet" Minneapolis, Minnesota. May 23-24, 1994.
Sponsored by CICNet & NSF. Contact: [email protected].
Send name, mailing address and e-mail address.
"Information: Society, Superhighway or Gridlock?" Computing for the
Social Sciences 1994 Conference (CSS94). University of Maryland at
College Park. June 1-3, 1994. Contact: Dr. Charles Wellford
301-405-4699, fax 301-405-4733, e-mail: [email protected].
Abstracts for papers due March 1. Contact William Sims Bainbridge
([email protected]).
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computer Science. Washington, DC
June 9-11. Contact: 415 617-3335, [email protected]
DEF CON ][ ("underground" computer culture) "Load up your laptop muffy,
we're heading to Vegas!" The Sahara Hotel, Las Vegas, NV. July 22-24,
Contact: [email protected].
Conference on Uncertainty in AI. Seattle, WA. July 29-31. Contact:
206-936-2662, [email protected].
Symposium: An Arts and Humanities Policy for the National Information
Infrastructure. Boston, Mass. October 14-16, 1994. Sponsored by the
Center for Art Research in Boston. Contact: Jay Jaroslav
([email protected]).
Third Biannual Conference on Participatory Design, Chapel Hill, North
Carolina, October 27-28, 1994. Sponsored by CPSR. Contact:
[email protected]. Submissions due April 15, 1994.
(Send calendar submissions to [email protected])
=====================================================================
To subscribe to the Alert, send the message:
"subscribe cpsr-announce <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] or visit the CPSR
discussion conferences on The Well (well.sf.ca.us) or Mindvox
(phantom.com).
=====================================================================
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------------------------ END CPSR Alert 3.03 -----------------------