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_________________________________________________________________________
EFFector Vol. 10, No. 08 Sep. 8, 1997 editor@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
Congress near a vote on Net privacy legislation; call now!
What's Happening Right Now
What You Can Do To Help Privacy And Security On The Internet
Background On SAFE (HR. 695)
About This Alert
Quote of the Day
Administrivia
* See http://www.eff.org/hot.html for more information
on current EFF activities and online activism alerts! *
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Congress near a vote on Net privacy legislation; call now!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
___ _ _____ ____ _____ _
/ _ \| | | ____| _ \_ _| | Congress is about to vote on privacy and
| |_| | | | _| | |_) || | | | security on the Net. Call your member of
| _ | |___| |___| _ < | | |_| Congress before September 17, 1997
|_| |_|_____|_____|_| \_\|_| (_) Posted September 8, 1997
Please forward where appropriate until September 17, 1997
This alert brought to you by
The Voters Telecommunications Watch, The Center for Democracy & Technology,
the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Wired Magazine
_____________________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
What's Happening Right Now
What You Can Do To Help Privacy And Security On The Internet
Background On SAFE (HR. 695)
About This Alert
_____________________________________________________________________________
WHAT'S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW
During the next two weeks two Congressional committees (the House
"Security and Freedom Through Encryption Act" (SAFE, HR 695) --
mportant legislation designed to protect privacy and security on the
easy-to-use encryption technologies.
Opponents of the bill include the FBI, NSA and members of the Clinton
Administration. They seek to force all Americans to provide guaranteed
law enforcement access to private online communications by imposing
"key recovery" systems inside the U.S., have a great deal of support in
Congress. It is possible that Congress could amend SAFE in a way that
undermines privacy and allows the government broad new surveillance
This is a critical moment in the fight for privacy and security on the
Your member of Congress needs to know that you care about privacy and
nstructions below or details on how you can help protect privacy and
nformation are also included below.
Five minutes of your time will go a long way.
________________________________________________________________________
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
the SAFE and urge them to oppose any amendments to impose key recovery
or modify the export relief provisions.
member of Congress and all the information needed for contacting them.
or
efforts to modify the bill.
Feel free to use your own words but be sure to stress the points below:
- Encryption is critical National Security by protecting sensitive data and
critical points on the National Information Infrastructure like the Air
Traffic Control System and the power grid from attacks.
- SAFE will encourage the widespread availability of strong, easy to use
encryption.
- SAFE will help foil hackers, terrorists, and foreign spies from obtaining
unauthorized access to personal, business, and government communications
and data.
- Key escrow or key recovery systems will hurt national security by
creating new points of vulnerability and new targets for hackers and
terrorists to seek to exploit, and will not work to prevent crime.
- Key recovery comes at a grave cost to privacy and security. Why would
a criminal use an encryption product that they know the US government
holds the keys to?
Visit our feedback page at:
http://www.crypto.com/member/
or
Crypto.Com feedback
...and let us know how it went!
who live in your congressional district.
security on the Internet in 5 minutes than most people do in a year!
We appreciate your support!
________________________________________________________________________
BACKGROUND ON SAFE (HR 695)
The Security And Freedom Through Encryption Act (SAFE) seeks to protect
obtaining guaranteed law enforcement access to private online
communications.
Specifically, the bill will:
* Prohibit the Government from imposing mandatory key-recovery or key-
escrow inside the United States
* Affirm the right of Americans to use whatever form of encryption they
choose
* Relax current export controls on encryption technologies which
currently limit the availability of strong encryption domestically and
tie the hands of the US high technology industry
The full text of SAFE and detailed background information can be found at
A controversial provision of SAFE, which establishes new criminal penalties
for the use of encryption in the furtherance of a felony, were
the bill was passed by the House Judiciary Committee in May, ensuring that
the bill will help protect your privacy and encourage the use of encryption.
The SAFE bill is sponsored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), Anna Eshoo
(D-CA), Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), Rick White (R-WA) and over 250 other House
members.
The Clinton Administration is unhappy with the bill, claiming it will
thwart law enforcement and undermine the administration's efforts to impose
a global "key-recovery" infrastructure. In an April 30 letter to the Courts
and Intellectual Property Subcommittee chair Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC), the
Department of Justice said:
"The bill could be read as prohibiting the United States government
from using appropriate incentives to support a key management
infrastructure and KEY RECOVERY." [emphasis added]
The Administration's "Key Recovery" program creates a back door in
encryption that would allow third parties to eavesdrop on individual's
Despite its broad based support, the SAFE bill faces a tough road as it makes
ts way to the full House, where a vote is possible this fall. Votes are
currently scheduled in the House National Security (9/9) and Intelligence
Committees (9/11). Be sure to visit http://www.crypto.com for the latest
news and information on the issue.
______________________________________________________________________________
ABOUT THIS ALERT
This message was brought to you by the Center for Democracy and Technology
(http://www.cdt.org), the Voters Telecommunications Watch
(http://www.vtw.org), the Electronic Frontier Foundation
(http://www.eff.org), and Wired Magazine (http://www.wired.com) who have
ssued this alert jointly.
______________________________________________________________________________
end alert 09.08.97
------------------------------
Administrivia
=============
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End of EFFector Online v10 #08 Digest
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