Re: Anti-Electronic Racketeering Act of 1995 (fwd)

[Ray Arachelian <sunder@escape.com>]

On Thu, 13 Jul 1995, L. McCarthy wrote:

> STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS (Senate - June
> 27, 1995) 
> Sen. GRASSLEY
> 
> Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I rise this evening to introduce the
> Anti-electronic Racketeering Act of 1995. This bill makes important changes
> to RICO and criminalizes deliberately using computer technology to engage in
> criminal activity. I believe this bill is a reasonable, measured and strong
> response to a growing problem. According to the computer emergency and
> response team at Carnegie-Mellon University, during 1994, about 40,000
> computer users were attacked. Virus hacker, the FBI's national computer
> crime squad has investigated over 200 cases since 1991. So, computer crime is
> clearly on the rise.

Eh, what do "virus hackers" have to do with encryption, why is it these 
morons justify the destruction of encryption by mentioning hackers and 
viruses?

Additionally, does this mean that someone outside of the USA is in danger 
of being grabbed by RICO armed thugs from Uncle Sam's cadre for writing 
crypto software and publishing it in the open?  After all, once it winds 
up on some USA site, how do we know that someone outside the USA got his 
copy of SuperDuperNSASpookFree from a non-US site?  Just to be sure, 
we'll bust both the site operator and nab the guy who wrote it next time 
he drops in, or hell, we'll have him extradited.


> Mr. President, I suppose that some of this is just natural. Whenever man
> develops a new technology, that technology will be abused by some. And that
> is why I have introduced this bill. 

Yes, whenever man develops a privacy increasing technoloy, the spooks 
will see to it, that they abuse everyone's rights to that privacy, and 
then some!

> I believe we need to seriously reconsider
> the Federal Criminal Code with an eye toward modernizing existing statutes
> and creating new ones. In other words, Mr. President, Elliot Ness needs to
> meet the Internet.

Where is Elliot Ness?  I don't see any mafia.org on the net.  Anyone here 
see any such site?

> Mr. President, I sit on the Board of the Office of Technology Assessment.
> That Office has clearly indicated that organized crime has entered cyberspace
> in a big way. International drug cartels use computers to launder drug money
> and terrorists like the Oklahoma City bombers use computers to conspire to
> commit crimes.
Was it not proven that McVeigh and Co. >DID NOT< use a computer?  THe AOL 
account was a hoax, no?  Where are the hoardes of anti-USA terrorists, 
and drug pushers on the net?  Certainly, I see no drugs.com site... web, 
ftp, email, usenet or otherwise.

> << I haven't heard much to suggest that McVeigh was using a
> << computer for anything, but we all saw this line coming, right ?
> << 3 of Tim's 4 Horsemen of the Infocalypse figure prominently here; I guess
> << Exon & Gorton have ridden off after the fourth already....

Ditto above.

> Computer fraud accounts for the loss of millions of dollars per year. And
> often times, there is little that can be done about this because the computer
> used to commit the crimes is located overseas. So, under my bill, overseas
> computer users who employ their computers to commit fraud in the United
> States would be fully subject to the Federal criminal laws. 

Yeah, so, why blame citizen units in the USA for actions outsiders 
committed.?  Why limit the spread and use of cryptographically strong 
tools from being developed in the USA?

If Joe Badguysky breaks into your house and steals your copy of PGP, then 
exports it to his fatherland, should I arrest you for that?  What if he 
breaks into your store and steals a copy off the shelf and exports it?  

Why punish the victim?

> It is not enough to simply modernize the Criminal Code. We also
> have to reconsider many of the difficult procedural burdens that prosecutors
> must overcome. For instance, in the typical case, prosecutors must identify a
> location in order to get a wiretapping order. But in cyberspace, it is often
> impossible to determine the location. And so my bill corrects that so that if
> prosecutors cannot, with the exercise of effort, give the court a location, then
> those prosecutors can still get a wiretapping order. 

Oh, the poor poor LEA's.  If they can't prove you're guilty (because you 
aren't, and there is no proof because you aren't,) let them throw you in 
jail anyway.

> << All together now: "TRUST US"
> 
> Mr. President, this brave new world of electronic communications and global
> computer networks holds much promise. But like almost anything, there is the
> potential for abuse and harm. That is why I urge my colleagues to support
> this bill and that is why I urge industry to support this bill.

And this type of bill is where the potential for abuse and harm arises.  
The harm of course is to those who will be thrown in jail for wanting 
privacy.

> On a final note, I would say that we should not be too scared of
> technology. 

Gee, who is scared?  Don't be scared, be Big Brother. :-(

> After all, we are still just people and right is still right and
> wrong is still wrong. Some things change and some things do not. 

Circular reasonings and politician's spewing?  I can see th masses 
applauding this... all wearing PJ's and bearing shaved heads watching Big 
Brother on the screen infront of them...

> All that
> my bill does is say you can't use computers to steal, to threaten others or
> conceal criminal conduct.
> 
> << Ah, if that's all it does, why not scrap the whole thing and not waste
> << the Senate's valuable time ?  After all, stealing, threatening, and
> << concealing criminal conduct are already outlawed....

So, what countries are left free of encryption regulations? (English 
speaking preffered, with affordable net access.)  Time to see about 
getting a new passport...


=================================================================93=======
 + ^ + |  Ray Arachelian | Amerika: The land of the Freeh. | \-_    _-/  |
  \|/  |sunder@escape.com| Where day by day, yet another   |  \  --  /   |
<--+-->|                 | Constitutional right vanishes.  |6 _\-  -/_  6|
  /|\  |    Just Say     |                                 |----\  /---- | 
 + v + | "No" to the NSA!| Jail the censor, not the author!|     \/      |
=======/---------------------------------------------------------VI------/
      /  I watched and weeped as the Exon bill passed, knowing that yet /
     / another freedom vanished before my eyes.  How soon before we see/
    /a full scale dictatorship in the name of decency? While the rest /
   /of_the_world_fights_FOR_freedom,_our_gov'ment_fights_our_freedom_/