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EFFector Online Volume 08 No. 02     February 23, 1995     editors@eff.org

A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation         ISSN 1062-9424

EFF Sues to Overturn Cryptography Restrictions

EFF Opposes Scientology Censorship and Attacks on System Operators

Jefferson Ascendant: Information Technology & Decentralization

Newsbytes

Calendar of Events

What YOU Can Do

* See http://www.eff.org/Alerts/ or ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/ for more

nformation on current EFF activities and online activism alerts! *

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: EFF Sues to Overturn Cryptography Restrictions

-------------------------------------------------------

First Amendment Protects Information about Privacy Technologies

February 21, 1995

San Mateo, California

federal lawsuit filed today seeking to bar the government from restricting 

the export-control laws, both on their face and as applied to users of 

cryptographic materials, are unconstitutional.

Cryptography, defined as "the science and study of secret writing,"

concerns the ways in which communications and data can be encoded to

nterception.  Although the science of cryptography is very old, the

techniques to become widely used and accessible to nonexperts.

EFF believes that cryptography is central to the preservation of

Kevin Mitnick case, such as the theft of credit card numbers, the

the government as well as from other vandals.

The plaintiff in the suit is a graduate student in the 

Department of Mathematics at the University of California at Berkeley 

named Daniel J. Bernstein.  Bernstein developed an encryption equation, or 

algorithm, and wishes to publish the algorithm, a mathematical paper 

that describes and explains the algorithm, and a computer program that 

mathematical conferences and other open, public meetings.

The problem is that the government currently treats cryptographic software 

as if it were a physical weapon and highly regulates its dissemination.  Any 

ndividual or company who wants to export such software -- or to publish

on the Internet any "technical data" such as papers describing encryption 

Department.  Under the terms of this license, each recipient of the licensed 

criminal fine, 

engaging in otherwise legal communications about encryption.

The lawsuit challenges the export-control scheme as an ``impermissible

Software and its associated documentation, the plaintiff contends, are

conversation.  These communications cannot be suppressed by the government

except under very narrow conditions -- conditions that are not met by the

vague and overbroad export-control laws.  In denying people the right to

unconstitutionally abridge the right to speak, to publish, to associate

the effect of restricting the availability of a means for individuals to

More specifically, the current export control process:

  * allows bureaucrats to restrict publication without ever going to court;

  * provides too few procedural safeguards for First Amendment rights; 

  * requires publishers to register with the government, creating in 

    effect a "licensed press";

  * disallows general publication by requiring recipients to be 

    individually identified; 

  * is sufficiently vague that ordinary people cannot know what conduct 

    is allowed and what conduct is prohibited; 

  * is overbroad because it prohibits conduct that is clearly protected 

    (such as speaking to foreigners within the United States); 

  * is applied overbroadly, by prohibiting export of software that 

    contains no cryptography, on the theory that cryptography could be added

    to it later; 

  * egregiously violates the First Amendment by prohibiting private

    speech on cryptography because the government wishes its own opinions

    on cryptography to guide the public instead; and  

  * exceeds the authority granted by Congress in the export control laws 

    in many ways, as well as exceeding the authority granted by the

    Constitution.

kind of software.  This will allow companies such as Microsoft, Apple,

their operating systems.  It will also allow computer and network users,

ncluding those who use the Internet, much more freedom to build and

exchange their own solutions to these problems, such as the freely

available PGP encryption program.  And it will enable the next generation

of Internet protocols to come with built-in cryptographic security and

Lead attorney on the case is Cindy Cohn, of McGlashan and Sarrail in San

Mateo, CA, who is offering her services pro-bono.  Major assistance has

been provided by Shari Steele, EFF staff; John Gilmore, EFF Board; and Lee

Tien, counsel to John Gilmore.  EFF is organizing and supporting the case

and paying the expenses.

Civil Action No. C95-0582-MHP was filed today in Federal District

Court for the Northern District of California.  EFF anticipates that

the case will take several years to win.  If the past is any guide,

the government will use every trick and every procedural delaying

tactic available to avoid having a court look at the real issues.

Nevertheless, EFF remains firmly committed to this long term project.

We are confident that, once a court examines the issues on the merits,

the government will be shown to be violating the Constitution, and

that its attempts to restrict both freedom of speech and privacy will

be shown to have no place in an open society.

Full text of the lawsuit and other paperwork filed in the case is available 

from the EFF's online archives.  The exhibits which contain cryptographic 

nformation are not available online, because making them publicly available

on the Internet could be considered an illegal export until the law is struck 

complaint, as well as a series of letters between Bernstein and various

  http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/Crypto/ITAR_export/Bernstein_case/

  ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/Policy/Crypto/ITAR_export/Bernstein_case/

  gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF/Policy/Crypto/ITAR_export/Bernstein_case

For further reading, we suggest:

The Government's Classification of Private Ideas: Hearings Before a

Subcomm. of the House Comm. on Government Operations, 96th Cong., 2d

Sess.  (1980)

John Harmon, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel,

Department of Justice, Memorandum to Dr. Frank Press, Science Advisor to

the President, Re:  Constitutionality Under the First Amendment of ITAR

Restrictions on Public Cryptography (May 11, 1978).  [Included in the

above Hearings; also online as http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Policy/Crypto/

Alexander, Preserving High-Tech Secrets:  National Security Controls on

University Research and Teaching, 15 Law & Policy in Int'l Business 173

(1983)

Cheh, Government Control of Private Ideas-Striking a Balance Between

Scientific Freedom and National Security, 23 Jurimetrics J. 1 (1982)

Funk, National Security Controls on the Dissemination of Privately

Generated Scientific Information, 30 U.C.L.A. L. Rev. 405 (1982)

Amendment: A Need for Legislation, 17 Cornell Int'l L. J. 197 (1984)

Rindskopf and Brown, Jr., Scientific and Technological Information and

the Exigencies of Our Period, 26 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 909 (1985)

Ramirez, The Balance of Interests Between National Security Controls and

First Amendment Interests in Academic Freedom, 13 J. Coll. & U. Law 179

(1986)

Shinn, The First Amendment and the Export Laws: Free Speech on

Scientific and Technical Matters, 58 Geo. W. L. Rev. 368 (1990)

Neuborne and Shapiro, The Nylon Curtain: America's National Border and

the Free Flow of Ideas, 26 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 719 (1985)

Greenstein, National Security Controls on Scientific Information, 23

Jurimetrics J. 50 (1982)

Sullivan and Bader, The Application of Export Control Laws to Scientific

Research at Universities, 9 J. Coll. & U. Law 451 (1982)

Wilson, National Security Control of Technological Information, 25

Jurimetrics J. 109 (1985)

Kahn, The Codebreakers:  The Story of Secret Writing. New York:  

Macmillan (1967)  [Great background on cryptography

and its history.]

Relyea, Silencing Science: national security controls and scientific 

communication, Congressional Research Service.  Norwood, NJ: 

Ablex Publishing Corp. (1994)

John Gilmore, Crypto Export Control Archives, online at

EFF Crypto Export Control Archives, online at

ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/Policy/Crypto/ITAR_export/

------------------------------

Subject: EFF Opposes Scientology Censorship and Attacks on System Operators

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

An Open Letter to the Church of Scientology (CoS) and the Net 

from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)

Over the past several days, the Electronic Frontier Foundation

others about threats of lawsuits they have received from

attorneys for the Church of Scientology and the closely

associated Religious Technology Center and Bridge Publications,

to discontinue the carriage of certain newsgroups that involve

on the ground that some of the messages sent through these

newsgroups allegedly involve infringements of CoS copyrights or

other intellectual property rights.

EFF has also received a letter from CoS stating that it would

not use the threat of lawsuits against sysadmins if there were

any other way to deal with allegedly wrongful messages.

EFF believes there is a better way to deal with allegations of 

newsgroups, is itself highly inappropriate.

Electronic communications are in their infancy, and most of the

cannot afford protracted litigation, even if they are in the

they could not afford to put on a case to show that they should not 

be held responsible for another party's alleged wrong.  

Rather than attempting through threats of lawsuits to induce 

nnocent sysadmins to censor speech, Church members are

encouraged to participate in Usenet discussions to make their views 

known and refute erroneous posts -- in other words, to answer 

allegedly wrongful postings with more speech.  As U.S. Supreme Court 

Justice Louis Brandeis articulated in 1927: "If there be time to 

expose through discussion the falsehood and the fallacies, to avert 

the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is 

more speech, not enforced silence."  If CoS claims that a

copyright violation or other wrong not remediable by speech has

been perpetrated by a particular person, then it should confine

ts legal threats to that person -- not direct them at an innocent

not at the innocent participants of a newsgroup seeking to exchange 

views through the newsgroup channel. Even if CoS cannot determine 

the identity of the person perpetrating an alleged wrong against it, 

that provides no excuse for cutting off the free flow of information 

over the net.

Events like these show us how important it is to search for new

We think the better way to handle this dispute would be to

mediation, perhaps in a proceeding conducted over the net

among the parties to the newsgroup discussion. EFF offers its

this dispute that refused to participate in such a forum would,

of course, have to explain why it had done so if a case were

brought in a more traditional court.

Meanwhile, we urge CoS to leave the innocent sysadmins out of

their fight.  We urge CoS not to take actions designed to cut off

the free flow of information through the net.  Where there are

legitimate disputes about particular messages or the wrongful

actions of particular individuals, those can and should be

addressed -- perhaps most efficiently through the new

communications medium itself.

[end]

Since this letter was written, CoS obtained a search warrant and raided 

the home of Dennis Erlich, a former CoS minister, whom CoS accuses of 

copyright violations.  Erlich believes his rights to have been violated 

n several ways (e.g. CoS allegedly damaged his computer equipment and

orders against not only Erlich but also Erlich's Internet access 

Netcom.  

EFF sought and found pro-bono legal representation for Klemesrud, and

s still seeking counsel for Erlich.

CoS has filed a lawsuit against Erlich and both service providers, 

to present anonymous remailer operator Johan (Julf) Helsingius with a 

the most used privacy-protecing mail servers in the world, anon.penet.fi, 

to reveal the identity of a remailer user, also accused of copyright 

violation by CoS. 

Documents from the legal cases referred to above are archived

at :

ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/Legal/Cases/CoS_v_the_Net/

We currently have Klemesrud's statement, which makes a strong and very 

the judge apparently agreed with, as well as Erlich's statement, which 

misrepresented many facts in seeking their search warrant and in 

obtaining the restraining orders.  Also archived at the above sites is 

CoS countering press release, which consists largely of ad hominem 

attacks on Erlich, as well as a sound critique of this statement by David 

Sternlight.

Klemesud, who called the raid on Erlich "a stunning affront on First 

Amendment rights by a vile and dangerous cult masquerading as a religion",

   Because of the nature of the bulletin board system and 

   its method of operation, it is impossible for me to

   prevent any one from accessing the bulletin board under 

   an assumed name...Thus I have no way of preventing

   Dennis Erlich, whom I know to be a subscriber to my system 

   and a frequent user of the bulletin board, from logging under

   an assume name, from changing the assumed name every three 

   weeks, etc.  Not only is it physically impossible for me to 

   do it, the technology simply does not permit it...

   The daily data throughput in and out of the BBS is rather 

   staggering...I would have to read 2,926 pages of material 

   [every day] just from my Fidonet feed alone, to check for 

   any L. Ron Hubbard copyrighted material   assuming that

   I knew how to spot what is copyrighted by L. Ron Hubbard.

   [Counting Internet and Usenet messages -] Total printed 

   pages of text in a 20 hour period: 36,138 Printed pages...

   I do not and for physical and technical reasons cannot 

   monitor message traffic on the BBS for content....

   Helena Kobrin, one of the attorney's for the plaintiffs...

   [said] she would not and could not provide me proof of 

   copyright infringement, and demanded that I censor Rev. 

   Erlich by cutting off his ability to access my BBS and

   post text messages there, and through my BBS, to the 

   Internet community...This I refuse to do.

   ...I welcome the comments of Scientologists and non-

   Scientologists, and have and will continue to take every 

   step humanly possible to protect the access of all citizens

   interested in this topic to my bulletin board and the 

   opinions expressed there...

   In my opinion the "Information Superhighway" cannot be 

   built without the active participation of small BBS's

   ...[through which] the Internet can flourish as a tool of 

   low or no cost citizen participation in democracy, 

   education and information gathering. Requiring me to censor

   all the traffic that crosses my wires, and the wires of other

   small BBS operators, is a physically impossible task, and 

   results in the shutting off of the BBS as a net access tool. 

   Sysops like me will be simply unable to put in the non-

   remunerative hours, nor will they have either the insurance, 

   or the deep pockets, to stand up to libel, copyright 

   infringement or trade secret litigation as to which they 

   bear no real blame or fault except for the fact that the 

   offending message crossed the BBS wires in a nanosecond of 

   time on the message's travel through cyberspace.

   ...In my opinion a real time monitoring requirement will 

   kill every small BBS in the world...Then you'd have 

   censorship - nothing more than a bunch of editors selecting 

   suitable "letters to the editor" with no freedom for everyone 

   to express themselves. This would be perfect for the Scient-

   ologists, as it would permit them to continue what often 

   appears to me to be a mis-information campaign, designed to 

   disguise from the public the true character of Scientology 

   while allowing them to threaten to sue...if the editors did 

   not see things their way.  The result would be the 

   elimination, or at least the chilling, of criticism of the 

   Scientology, or any other group.

   ...If I am ordered to prevent Dennis Erlich from posting 

   messages on my BBS, or if I am forced to monitor his or any

   other persons text messages or files for content, I will be 

   forced to turn the power off the system, denying service to 

   all 4,000 users, and suspend service to all 911 news groups, 

   in order to honor the injunction.  I cannot monitor the text 

   of 15,000 to 30,000 messages, or the myriad of files, that 

   come across the 12 lines of my system each day on a real time 

   basis.

Netcom expressed similar sentiments, saying that cutting off the Usenet 

feed to Klemesrud to prevent Erlich's postings would censor all of 

Klemesrud's BBS users.  Netcom counsel Michael Sullivan told CoS that 

Netcom should not be held liable "to investigate each allegation of 

nfringement by each subscriber to each of the bulletin boards that

Erlich has noted that the raid on his home was not conducted with a US 

marshal present, as is the usual procedure, and challenges the legality 

of the seizure on several grounds, including possibly authorized 

alterations in pen to the writ of seizure. Erlich's declaration to Judge 

Whyte stated:

   At 7:30, on the morning of February 13, 1995...[e]scorted by 

   the Glendale Police Officer Steve Eggett..., six unidentified 

   individuals entered my home and told me that I would have to 

   cooperate with a search and seizure directed by your honor. 

   They presented me with a stack of legal documents about six 

   inches thick to prove their right to do so.  I protested the

   legality of the raid, and was told in no uncertain terms, that

   if I resist, force would be used against me.  I was not 

   permitted to have an attorney present before they proceeded...

   None of the remaining people would show me identification, 

   despite my asking repeatedly.

   I was left for the rest of the six hour search and seizure, 

   with an in-house attorney for the scientology cult (Small), 

   a private investigator working for the cult (Robert Shovlin), 

   2 armed, off-duty officers working for the scientology 

   lawyer (Off. Mark Fronterotta and Sgt. Ed Eccles) and another

   dozen or so scientologists ransacking my property, including 

   the plaintiff, Warren McShane.  The scientologists went through

   my computer, all my papers, every closet, every drawer.  They 

   busted open a door to my garage and, I assume, searched my car.

   They also photographed every nook and cranny of my house.

   I believe that they deliberately mislead you in obtaining 

   the writ. They then misused your authority by executing it 

   in such a way as to invade every bit of my privacy they had 

   not previously stolen from me.

   During the search, the files on my hard drive were deleted 

   and the entirety of the data on my disk was copied onto two 

   250 mb Colorado back-up tapes the scientologists brought with 

   them into my house.  Also, after their raid, I was missing a 

   key to my house, my current bank statement and a tape with 

   several of my copyrighted songs recorded on it...

   After several hours the press arrived and began recording 

   the scene. At first the scientology agents said that the 

   press was not allowed in.  I invited them in anyway and the 

   scientologists fell back and seemed to try to finish up and 

   get out of my house more quickly. When they were ready to 

   depart, neither they (the scientologists), nor the other 

   Glendale Policeman, Sgt. MiKillop, whom I had summoned at 

   the end of the raid to protect my rights, would permit

   me to inventory or even look at the hundreds of disks and 

   files they had copied and were removing from my possession.  

   I begged the officer not to allow the material and files 

   to be taken without my examining the poorly inventoried items.

   After they had departed, two of my computers would no longer 

   boot properly.  They had left me with no current back-up of 

   the material they illegally deleted.  I no longer have the 

   material to use in my own defense, or to restore my disk to 

   full operation.

   In the course of carrying out your Writ of Seizure, the 

   plaintiff and their paid agents deleted and copied from my 

   computers the evidence I need to adequately defend myself 

   against the barratrous assault on my freedom of speech and 

   religion which they themselves have launched.

   I am somehow sure that this is not what you had intended.

   ...Because of the obvious bad faith displayed by the 

   plaintiff in both the manner in which the order was obtained 

   and how it was carried out, I request that your honor lift the 

   temporary restraining order against me, order the forfeiture 

   of the bond and dismiss this case immediately.

CoS's press release following the hearings stated:

   A federal judge in San Jose confirmed and extended a 

   temporary restraining order on Glendale, California resident 

   Dennis Erlich, prohibiting him from illegal posting of 

   copyrighted and trade secret religious materials to the 

   Internet computer system.

and:

   The Church is seeking a preliminary injunction against

   Erlich which forbids him from making further unlawful

   postings of religious materials onto the Internet until

   the time of trial, violations of which will place him in 

   contempt of court.

Of course, it has yet to be determined at all that Erlich has made any

"unlawful postings" whatsoever.  The press release made many other

questionable statements and attacks on Erlich's character, while avoiding

any substantive issues, other than making statements like the following

by Helena Kobrin, CoS attorney:

   A means of control should exist whereby access operators 

   and their organizations are held responsible for what is 

   posted on the Internet.

The press release also exhorts:

   The laws of the land apply to those who use the Internet.

   This valuable resource should be used for free discussion and 

   information exchange, and not to violate the rights of others

   ...The Internet is too valuable a resource for us to allow 

   criminality to flourish on it.  Individuals like Erlich cannot

   be allowed to violate the law and threaten the freedom of all

   lawful net users.

This is particularly ironic in light of the fact that Klemesrud and 

others maintain that Scientologists not only forged cancellations for 

be a violation of federal laws against interference with computer data in 

attempt to completely remove the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup from 

Usenet.

------------------------------

Subject: Jefferson Ascendant: Information Technology & Decentralization

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

David G. Post

Visiting Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

When Newt Gingrich's House of Representatives recently set up its first 

outpost on the Internet, it chose to name it "Thomas" in honor of Mr. 

Jefferson -- a small but telling symbol of the ascendancy of the 

"Jeffersonian vision" not only in the realm of politics, but in the realm 

of high technology as well.

Jefferson and Hamilton remain the two great pole stars in American 

most of the great issues on which the fate of the infant Republic was 

agriculture versus manufacturing, legislative power versus executive 

ntellectual descendants continue to do battle to this day.

To be sure, theirs was a debate about means, not ends: both men were 

of individual liberty in the constellation of natural rights.  But they 

exercise of governmental power and the manner in which governmental power

could best be brought to bear so as to secure that liberty.

For Jefferson, power was always a corrupting force, and concentrations of 

          "What has destroyed liberty and the

          rights of man in every government

          which has ever existed under the

          sun?  The generalizing and

          concentrating all cares and powers

          into one body, no matter whether of

          the autocrats of Russia or France, or

          of the aristocrats of a Venetian

          Senate."

Diffusion and decentralization of power were the touchstones of the 

Jeffersonian philosophy.  Jefferson was, in his own words, "not a friend 

to a very energetic government," finding it "always oppressive" in that 

t "places the governors indeed more at their ease, at the expense of the

Address, was one "which shall restrain men from injuring one another 

[but] which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits 

of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor 

the bread it has earned."  Because "men are disposed to live honestly,

f the means of doing so are open to them," they required little

Granger, that "when all government, domestic and foreign, in little as in 

To Hamilton, this was all anarchy and riot, a "dance to the tune of 

liberty without law," put forth by "never to be satiated lovers of 

nnovation and change."  Power tends to corrupt, to be sure; but "the

          "History is full of examples, where

          in contests for liberty, a jealousy of

          power has either defeated the

          attempts to recover or preserve it in

          the first instance, or has afterwards

          subverted it by clogging government

          with too great precautions for its

          felicity, or by leaving too wide a

          door for sedition and popular

          licentiousness.  In a government

          framed for durable liberty, not less

          regard must be paid to giving the

          magistrate a proper degree of

          authority, to make and execute the

          laws with rigor, than to guarding

          against encroachments upon the

          rights of the community.  As too

          much power leads to despotism, too

          little leads to anarchy, and both

          eventually to the ruin of the people.

          . . . "

Against the Jeffersonian position that the best government was the least 

by an executive officer commanding broad powers, an efficient government 

life, the reputation, the prosperity, the civil and religious rights of 

every member of the community."

Jefferson himself, the great defender of the agrarian way of life, that 

"cyberspace."  

The decentralizing effect of information technology is one of the truly 

n his book "Orwell's Revenge," Orwell got all the details right in 1984

but erred with the fundamental premise: that technology would inevitably 

concentrate power in the hands of the few and lead to an expansion of 

mechanisms of centralized, totalitarian control.  Circumstances 

alternative possibility that the widespread availability of everything 

from telephones, fax machines, and CNN broadcasts might make it

more, not less, difficult for the State to maintain its control

over information and the levers of centralized control.

And the emergence of the global Internet further illustrates, and will 

accelerate, this trend.  On the Internet there is no centralized control 

of any kind, no governing authority that can impose its own vision of the 

literally at the speed of light; because no one owns or operates this 

network, which anyone with a computer and access to a telephone line can 

Washington is only now discovering just how difficult imposition of its 

ll-fated "Clipper Chip" initiative is symptomatic.  Concerned about the

of terrorists or other malfeasants, allowing them to shield their 

communication from governmental eavesdroppers, the federal government 

entry.  They were persuaded to withdraw the proposal by the outcry from 

the Internet community itself, and from businesses hoping to serve a 

futility of trying to legislate in the usual heavy-handed fashion when 

thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands, of copies of the offending 

And if, as many have suggested, cyberspace metaphorically resembles the 

Wild West -- a place where the inhabitants set (and enforce) their own 

a good idea how the Jeffersonians and Hamiltonians among us are likely to 

question of settlement of the non-metaphorical Wild West, i.e. on 

expansion into the "Western" territories (of Kentucky, Ohio, etc.).  

For his part, Hamilton despaired of the central government's ability to 

maintain control over settlements in the western territories:

          "The western region [is] not valuable

          to the United States for settlement. .

          . . Should our own citizens, more

          enterprising than wise [!], become

          desirous of settling this country, and

          emigrate thither, it must not only be

          attended with all the injuries of a too

          widely dispersed population, but by

          adding to the great weight of the

          western part of our territory, must

          hasten the dismemberment of a large

          portion of our country, or a

          dissolution of the Government."

Hamilton spoke from bitter personal experience; one of the great crises 

faced during his tenure as Secretary of the Treasury was the Whisky 

Rebellion, the refusal of settlers in the "western region" to pay the 

newly-imposed federal levy on distilled spirits, and Hamilton himself was 

forced to lead the militia into battle to ensure efficient projection of 

federal power as the westward expansion proceeded. 

Jefferson, on the other hand, foresaw a flourishing "empire of liberty" 

on the western frontier, a place where the "utmost diffusion of power" 

could take root and where "new sources of renovation" would serve as a 

Surely, were Hamilton to log on today, he would indeed find the anarchy 

and "public licentiousness" he railed so frequently against -- a 

cacophonous international debate with a million voices on everything from 

copyright policy to scientology to the best ways to play Doom II, an 

unregulated and largely unregulatable collection of everything from the 

Federalist Papers to video clips of people having sex with animals.  But 

the millions who continue to flock there are finding something that looks 

more like a place where Jefferson's fundamental democratic value -- "free

communication among the people, which has ever been justly deemed the 

only effectual guardian of every other right" -- reigns without 

nterference.  The sage of Monticello, one suspects, is smiling broadly.

------------------------------

Subject: Newsbytes

------------------

* EFF, CTD, VTW and other orgs. to oppose Exon bill

Sen. Exon's "Communications Decency Act", which threatens to criminal

a staggering number of online service users and operators, will be

opposed by a coalition of civil liberties organizations, including 

EFF.  More details in next issue.  See the "What YOU Can Do" section

of this newsletter for info on how to show your opposition to this

censorship bill today.

* Icelandic Freedom of Expression Threatened

The new coalition Icelandic Center for Human Rights is combatting a move 

by Iceland's Parliament to amend the island nation's constitution in a 

Conference on Human Rights agreements.

The bill would "restrict freedom of expression in order to protect the 

and journalist Sigmundur Halldorsson, who also notes that the bill is 

being proposed during a time of Parliamentary elections, and threatens to 

the media.

See the "What YOU Can Do" section of this newsletter for more details on 

this action alert.

------------------------------

Subject: Calendar of Events

---------------------------

This schedule lists imminent EFF events, and those we feel might be of 

nterest to our members.  EFF events (those sponsored by us or featuring

an EFF speaker) are marked with a "*" instead of a "-" after the date.  

Simlarly, government events, such as deadlines for comments on reports or 

testimony submission, are marked with "!" in place of the "-" after the date.

The latest full version of this calendar, which includes material for 

later in the year as well as the next couple of months, is avialable from:

ftp: ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/calendar.eff

Feb. 20-

Mar. 16 - Online Seminar Series: the Law of Electronic Commerce; conducted

          on CompuServe by the Nat'l. Computer Security Assoc. Host:

          Benjamin Wright esq. (Note: most sessions are geared toward

          management, finance and commercial transactions).

          Contact: 1 800 488 4595 (voice, US-only), +1 717 258 1816 (voice)

          Email: 75300.2557@compuserve.com

Feb. 23-

     25 - The Alliance for Public Technology Annual Conference:

          Technologies of Freedom. Washington, DC

          Contact: +1 202 408 1403 (voice/TTY), +1 202 408 1134 (fax)

          Email: Ruth Holder 

Feb. 24 - New Mexico Regional Technology Business Summit, Sweeny Conv. Ctr.,

          Santa Fe, NM. Sponsored by the New Mexico Technology Consortium,

          "this day-long event is geared toward those in both large and

          small companies active in high-tech industries."

          Contact: +1 505 983 6767

          Email: nmtc@lanl.gov

Feb. 27-

Mar. 2  - ATM Year Three: The Definitive Conference on the Technology,

          Applications and Business Issues of Asynchronous Transfer Mode

          (ATM); San Jose, Calif.

          Contact: 1 800 200 4884 (voice, US-only)

Feb. 28-

Mar. 2  - NEPCON'95, "the trade show for anyone involved in electronics

          packaging, testing, assembly, design, and CAD/CAM...pick from

          over 114 seminars".  Anaheim, Calif.

          WWW: http://www.nyweb.com/nepcon

Mar. 1  - Proposal deadline for Virtual Futures '95 (see May 26 below).

Mar. 2-

     5  - National STS Meeting & Technological Literacy Conf., Arlington,

          Virginia.

          Contact: +1 814 865 3044 (voice), +1 814 865 3047 (fax)

          Email: ejb2@psu.edu

Mar. 3-

     4  - Midwest Conference on Technology, Employment and Community,

          sponsored by the UIC Center for Urban Economic Development

          Deadline for proposals: Jan. 8, 1995

          Contact: +1 312 996 5463

          Email: jdav@mcs.com

          Conf. mailing list for discussion: listserv@uic, message body:

                "SUBSCRIBE JOB-TECH  " (w/o "quotes")

Mar. 5-

     8  - '95 PC Forum (incl. Local-Global Creative Tension conf.), Phoenix

          Arizona.

          Contact: +1 212 924 8800 (voice), +1 212 924 0240 (fax)

          Email: daphne@edventure.com

Mar. 13-

     15 - Microcomputers in Education Conference. Arizona State University;

          Tempe, Arizona. "An opportunity to explore recent advances and hear

          about emerging technology in the educational arena."

          Contact: Pat Southwick, A.S.U., Box 870908, Tempe AZ USA 85287-0908

Mar. 14 - "Towards an Electronic Patient Record" conference, Orlando, 

Florida.

          Sponsored by the Medical Records Inst.

          Contact: +1 617 964 3926 (fax only)

Mar. 15 - Deadline for proposals, ICI'95 (see Sep. 21 for conf. details.)

          Contact: +1 800 301 MIND (voice, US-only), +1 202 962 9494 (voice)

                   +1 800 304 MIND (fax, US-only), +1 202 962 9495 (fax)

          Email: Dr. Dorothy Denning 

Mar. 17 - Access, Privacy, and Commercialism: When States Gather Personal

          Information; College of Wm. & Mary, Williamsburg VA.

          Contact: Trotter Hardy, +1 804 221 3826

          Email: thardy@mail.wm.edu

Mar. 27 * John Perry Barlow (EFF co-founder) seminar on "Cyberspace: the New

          Frontier",  4pm local time, NCB Auditorium, 71 Science Park Dr.,

          Singapore 0512

          Contact: Marvin Tay Eng Sin 

Mar. 27-

     30 - Geographic Information Systems '95, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

          Contact: +1 604 688 0188 (voice), +1 604 688 1573 (fax)

          Email: gis@unixg.ubc.ca

Mar. 28-

     31 * 5th Conference on Computers, Freedom & Privacy (CFP95), Burlingame

          /Palo Alto, Calif.  Sponsored by the Assoc. of Computing Machinery

          Featured speakers include EFF's Esther Dyson & Mike Godwin, plus

          Roger Wilkins of George Mason U., John Morgridge of Cisco Sytems,

          Margaret Jane Radin of Stanford, Willis Ware of of NAE, IEEE &

          AAAS, Phil Agre of UCSD, Stuart Baker ex- of NSA, David Banisar

          of EPIC, Chris Casey of Sen. Kennedy's office, Michael Froomkin

          of U. Miami, Phil Karn of Qualcomm, Jamie Love of TAP, Brock

          Meeks of _Inter@ctive_Week_ and _Cyberwire_Dispatch_, Lance Rose

          author of _SysLaw_, Dick Sclove of Loka Inst., Brad Templeton of

          ClariNet, Ross Stapleton-Gray of TeleDiplomacy, Glenn Tenney of

          Fantasia Systems, Kim Taylor-Thompson of Stanford U., Alan Westin

          of Columbia U., Mitch Ratcliffe of _Digital_Media_, Matt Blaze

          of AT&T Bell Labs, Kent Walker Asst. US Atty. of the Dept. of

          Justice, David Smith of EFF-Austin, Christine Harbs of Privacy

          Rights Clearinghouse, Peter Harter of NPTN, Barbara Simons of the

          US ACM, Roger Clark of Australian Nat'l. U., and many others.

          Contact: Carey Heckman, +1 415 725 7788, fax: +1 415 725 1861,

          Email: info.cfp95@forsythe.stanford.edu

          WWW: http://www-techlaw.stanford.edu/CFP95.html

          Gopher: www-techlaw.stanford.edu, "CFP95" menu item

          FTP: www-techlaw.standord.edu, /CFP95

Mar. 29-

     30 - ETHICOMP95 - Int'l. Conf. on the Ethical Issues of Using 

          Information Technology; DeMontfort U., Leicester UK.

          Contact: Simon Rogerson, +44 533 577475, +44 533 541891 (fax)

          Email: srog@dmu.ac.uk

Apr. 5-

     7  - National Net '95 (Net'95), Loews L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, Washington

          DC; sponsored by Educom, ALA, ARL, CAUSE, CNI, CSN, CRA, CREN,

          FARNET, ISoc, NASULGC.  Featured speakers: Ron Brown (US Sec'y.

          of Commerce), Richard McCormick (US West), Molly Broad (CSU),

          Larry Irving (NTIA), Andrew Blau (Benton Found.), Steve Cisler

          (Apple), Marty Tennebaum (EIT/CommerceNet), Peter Lyman, Marc

          Rotenberg (EPIC/PI), + others incl. "public interest

          representatives". Sessions on the underprivileged & the NII,

          net surveillance, network challenges for business, int. property.

          Contact: Elizabeth Bernhart, +1 202 872 4200 (voice),

                   +1 202 872 4318 (fax)

          Email: net95@educom.edu

Apr. 10-

     14   3rd Int'l. WWW Conference: Technology, Tools & Applications;

          Darmstadt, Germany.  Organized by Fraunhofer Inst. for Computer

          Graphics.  Feb. 15 submission deadline (for posters & demos as

          well as papers.

          Email: www95@igd.fhg.de (?), www95_webmasters@igd.fhg.de

          WWW: http://www.igd.fhg.de/www95.html

Apr. 26-

     29 - USAIN: Cultivating New Ground in Electronic Information Use of the

          Information Highway to Support Agriculture; Lexington, Kentucky.

          Proposals due by 12/31/94.

          Email: librgrf@gaes.griffin.peachnet.edu

Apr. 27-

     29 - CCUMC (Consortium of College and University Media Centers). Utah

          State U., Logan, Utah

          Contact: +1 515 294 1811 (voice)

------------------------------

Subject: What YOU Can Do

------------------------

* Icelandic censorship threat: Activists in Iceland are seeking 

nternational online community response in opposition to the threat to

electronic community cares about the freedom of expression in what ever 

form it may take.

Show your feelings by sending a message where you politely state that the

to any democratic society.

E-Mail to:

bjorn@centrum.is (the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign

Affairs, and supporter of change), and to dba@althing.is (the Office of 

Constitutional Reform Committee before your message).

February!  There has still not been set a date for debate, but it will be 

For more information, contact:

Sigmundur Halldorsson           Radio Journalist

E-mail:simmi@centrum.is         Icelandic Broadcasting Service - Channel 2

Tel:Int+354-5693040             Efstaleiti 1

Fax:Int+354-5693678             Reykjavik, Iceland

* S314: This bill could pass in a matter of WEEKS, or be added to any 

legislation pending on the Senate floor.  Business/industry persons

concerned should alert their corporate govt. affairs office and/or

legal counsel.  Everyone should write to their own Senators and ask them 

to oppose this bill.  Explain, quickly and clearly, why this bill is

ts numerous problems.  S314 is Sen. Exon's "Communications Decency Act".

* HR830: This bill would horribly cripple the Freedom of Information Act,

one of the most important laws protecting citizen access to government 

nformation.  Again, alert your business contacts, and write, phone, and

fax your Representatives asking them to remove the West Publishing 

* HOW TO FIND YOUR CONGRESSFOLKS: EFF has lists of the Senate and House with

contact information, as well as lists of Congressional committees.

These lists are available at:

ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/Issues/Activism/Congress_cmtes/

The full Senate and House lists are senate.list and hr.list, respectively.

"If five years from now we [the FBI] solve the access problem, but

talking about that in a very different way: the objective is the same.

The objective is for us to get those conversations whether they're by an

alligator clip or ones and zeros.  Whoever they are, whatever they are, I

need them."

  - FBI Director Louis Freeh, clarifying statements that the FBI may seek

    legislation to ban strong encryption, in an Oct. 1994 interview with

    Steven Levy.

Ensuring the democratic potential of the technologies of computer-mediated

communication requires active participation in the political processes that

are accustomed to making decisions about the future of technology, media,

education, and public access to information, with far-reaching and

long-lasting effects on citizens and their lives, but are accustomed to

corporations, and other government representatives.

Now, more than ever, EFF is working to make sure that you can play an

active role in making these choices. Our members are making themselves heard

on the whole range of issues. EFF collected over 5000 letters of support

for Rep. Maria Cantwell's bill to liberalize restrictions on cryptography. 

We also gathered over 1400 letters supporting Sen. Leahy's open hearings on

the proposed Clipper encryption scheme, which were held in May 1994.  And

EFF collected over 90% of the public comments that were submitted to NIST

Additionally, EFF has worked for the passage of legislation that would

ensure open access to the information infrastructure of today and tomorrow,

and continues to provide some of the best online resources on privacy,

ntellectual freedom, the legalities of networking, and public access to

You *know* privacy, freedom of speech and ability to make your voice heard

n government are important. You have probably participated in our online

campaigns and forums.  Have you become a member of EFF yet?  The best way to

opinions heard.  EFF members are informed and are making a difference.  Join

EFF today!

For EFF membership info, send queries to membership@eff.org, or send any

message to info@eff.org for basic EFF info, and a membership form.

------------------------------

Administrivia

=============

EFFector Online is published by:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation

Washington DC 20006-1605 USA

+1 202 861 7700 (voice)

+1 202 861 1258 (fax)

+1 202 861 1223 (BBS - 16.8k ZyXEL)

+1 202 861 1224 (BBS - 14.4k V.32bis)

Editor: Stanton McCandlish, Online Services Mgr. 

Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged.  Signed

articles do not necessarily represent the views of EFF.  To reproduce

ually at will.

To subscribe to EFFector via email, send message body of "subscribe

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you to a subscription list for EFFector.

Back issues are available at:

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To get the latest issue, send any message to effector-reflector@eff.org (or

er@eff.org), and it will be mailed to you automagically.  You can also get

the file "current" from the EFFector directory at the above sites at any 

time for a copy of the current issue.

------------------------------

--------------------------

Membership & donations: membership@eff.org

Legal services: ssteele@eff.org

Hardcopy publications: pubs@eff.org

Technical questions/problems, access to mailing lists: eff@eff.org

General EFF, legal, policy or online resources queries: ask@eff.org

End of EFFector Online v08 #02 Digest

*************************************

$$