Date: Mon, 23 May 94 07:18:43 EST Errors-To: Comp-privacy Error Handler From: Computer Privacy Digest Moderator To: Comp-privacy@uwm.edu Subject: Computer Privacy Digest V4#069 Computer Privacy Digest Mon, 23 May 94 Volume 4 : Issue: 069 Today's Topics: Moderator: Leonard P. Levine Privacy at the Jiffy Lube! Details on Brock Meeks Case Call for Papers (American Sociologist) SSN & Auto registration Resources for Information Gatherers Re: FCC order on interstate Caller ID Re: Telemugging the Constitution Re: Credit Check only with Permission Granted Re: Drivers License & Car Dealer's The Computer Privacy Digest is a forum for discussion on the effect of technology on privacy. The digest is moderated and gatewayed into the USENET newsgroup comp.society.privacy (Moderated). Submissions should be sent to comp-privacy@uwm.edu and administrative requests to comp-privacy-request@uwm.edu. Back issues are available via anonymous ftp on ftp.cs.uwm.edu [129.89.9.18]. Login as "ftp" with password "yourid@yoursite". The archives are in the directory "pub/comp-privacy". Archives are also held at ftp.pica.army.mil [129.139.160.133]. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: sutter@verisoft.com (Paul Sutter) Date: 19 May 1994 18:27:17 +1700 Subject: Privacy at the Jiffy Lube! Here in California, when you sell a car the license plate is generally transferred with the car. I recently bought a used car from a dealer, and a few months later I went to Jiffy Lube for an oil change. While waiting, the guy at the counter called me over and said "Is your license really 2PKY595?" and i looked out at my car and said "Yes". "Well we have on file that that car is owned by John Q. Public, who lives at..." And I interrupted him and said "Dont tell me where he lives. I just bought this car used from a dealer. What if I have a problem with the car, and try to get back at the guy? Its none of my business where he lives". I bet if you call Jiffy Lube, they will tell you that the files are confidential. ------------------------------ From: "Prof. L. P. Levine" Date: 20 May 1994 09:40:53 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Details on Brock Meeks Case Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Abstracted from the Computer underground Digest Thu May 19, 1994 (6:43): Date: 17 May 1994 09:37:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Meeks Defense Fund Subject: File 1--Details on Brock Meeks Case (fwd) ((MODERATORS' NOTE: Brock Meeks is a respected journalist specializing in cyber-issues. He was the first to break the story of law enforcement spying on a 2600 meeting in Washington, D.C. in '92, and he has been an invaluable source of information and commentary. Those who know him or have read his material respect his integrity and competence. It was with shock that we read about the defamation suit against him by Suarez. We have read the article that Benjamin Suarez finds objectionable, and Brock's facts would appear to be a matter of public record. The following summary explains the case and the issues. We urge readers to contribute just a dollar or two each to Brock's defense fund)). Dear Net Citizen: The recent Internet posting launching a fund raising drive in order to help Brock Meeks defray the legal expenses of a lawsuit brought against his news wire, CyberWire Dispatch, has drawn several inquiries for a summary of the issues involved in this case. In response, we have put together the following summary. (Please note, too, that the case was featured in the April 22 (Fri.) issue of the Wall St. Journal (page B1)) Sometime during February of this year, an electronic solicitation began appearing on the Internet from a company identified only as the "Electronic Postal Service" (EPS). The solicitation from EPS said the service, "will pay you money to receive commercial e-mail. EPS estimates you will be paid an average of 6.5 cents per commercial e-mail message. It is estimated that the average commercial e-mail receiver can make $200.00 to $500.00 a year and likely more. There is absolutely no charge, periodic charge, hourly charge or phone charge to receive or review EPS commercial e-mail. The sender bears all of the cost. You are provided with a free EPS mailbox and you may access this EPS mailbox through a toll free phone number so there are no phone line charges... In addition... EPS offers you... full Internet access including network Internet e-mail remote log-in, file transfer capability and much more." To sign up you were required to call an 800 number or send for information to the EPS Internet account (eps@world.std.com). You had to include your name and address. Brock called and asked for the EPS information. It never came. Instead, he received an unwanted and unsolicited direct mailing from a company called Suarez Corporation Industries (SCI). The mailing came in the form of a 6 page letter signed by Benjamin Suarez. That mailing claimed that for a price of $159, Suarez would send you a book and software that could help you create a "net profit generation system" capable of earning anywhere from $30,000 to $1 million per year. Brock began investigating why he received the SCI mailing and soon found out that Suarez had obtained his name from the request for EPS information. More investigation found that the EPS account was registered to Suarez Corporation Industries. Brock then looked into the background of this company. During his investigation into SCI, Brock discovered that state and federal enforcement agencies had brought actions against SCI result of their direct mailing practices. In his article, Brock expressed his personal disapproval of the SCI business activities. SCI objected to the article and has filed a defamation lawsuit claiming Brock made defamatory remarks and sought to disparage his products "and otherwise tortiously (sic) interfere with the plaintiff's ability to develop" EPS. Suarez claims the Dispatch article lost him business and he is seeking compensatory and punitive damages and demanding an injunction to block Brock from writing further about SCI or its founder, Benjamin Suarez. The April 22 (page B1) issue of the Wall St. Journal says lawsuit "is one of the first U.S. libel cases to arise out of the free-for-all on the Internet... If it succeeds, some legal experts say it could spawn other complaints." For those who don't know Brock, he has a long history as a journalist writing in the on-line field, having written for Byte, Wired and other journals over the years. He lives and works today in the Washington, D.C. area writing during the day for a communications trade journal. Cyberwire Dispatch is his own creation. The suit against him was filed in Ohio. Without the generous offer of legal support from his current lawyers, who have offices in Ohio, Brock's situation would be even more dire. The Meeks case raises legal issues that may have far-reaching implications for freedom of speech and free expression on the internet. If journalists are unable to pursue important investigative issues without fear of reprisal, then all of us will suffer. This is exactly the type of chilling effect hat the First Amendment was intended to avoid and the reason we need your support. Of course defamation laws are to be applied to the Net, but how they are applied -- and this case will be an important first step in that process -- could determine just how open and free people will feel to speak their minds. This is NOT a case in which a writer on the Internet has, in fact, libeled someone else. Brock absolutely denies the charges against him. And every lawyer that Brock has consulted and looked at the text Brock wrote, and the charges against him, believe that he ha not written anything that can fairly be characterized as libelous. The Legal Defense Fund is formed to assure that Brock is well defended. As a reminder, contributions can be made in two ways, either tax-deductible or non-deductible. A special thanks goes to the Point Foundation for agreeing early on in the process to assist in organizing and serving as a collection agent for the Fund. If you have any questions, you can contact the Fund at Fund@idi.net. For tax-deductible contributions send those checks to: Meeks Defense Fund c/o Point Foundation 27 Gate Five Road Sausalito, CA 94965 For those who don't care about the tax deductible status, send contributions to: Meeks Defense Fund c/o IDI 901 15th St. NW Suite 230 Washington, DC 20005 THE BROCK MEEKS DEFENSE FUND COMMITTEE Samuel A. Simon President, Issue Dynamics, Inc.* ssimon@idi.net John Sumser Editor/Executive Director Whole Earth Review/ Point Foundation jrsumser@well.sf.ca.us Mitch Kapor Chair, Electronic Frontier Foundation* mkapor@eff.org David Farber The Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunications Systems University of Pennsylvania* farber@central.cis.upenn.edu Philip Elmer-DeWitt Senior Writer TIME Magazine* ped@panix.com Marc Rotenberg Electronic Privacy Information Center* Rotenberg@epic.org Nicholas Johnson Former FCC Commissioner* 1035393@mcimail.com Jerry Berman Electronic Frontier Foundation* jberman@eff.org Mike Godwin Electronic Frontier Foundation* #################################################################### # Meeks Defense Fund | Internet: fund@idi.net # # ---------------------------------------------------------------- # # c/o IDI c/o Point Foundation # # 901 15th St. NW 27 Gate Five Road # # Suite 230 Sausalito, CA 9465 # # Washington, DC 20005 # #################################################################### ------------------------------ ------------------------------ From: Edward Brent Date: 21 May 94 15:32:12 CDT Subject: Call for Papers (American Sociologist) CALL FOR PAPERS The American Sociologist Special Issue on Electronic Communication and Sociology The American Sociologist invites submissions for a special issue to be titled "Electronic Communication and Sociology." Papers should deal with issues surrounding electronic communication and its implications for sociology--both good and bad. Electronic communication is broadly conceived both technologically and socially. It includes Email, local area networks, modems, faxes, wireless communications, BITNET, the INTERNET, multimedia, commercial networks and services such as Prodigy and CompuServe, telecommuting, distance learning, research collaboration at a distance, sociological studies of electronic communication, using electronic communication to access scholarly resources and datasets, electronic journals, reader lists, bulletin boards, remote access to computers and resources, cyberspace, on-line conferencing, fax-on-demand, and telephony. Topics might include but are not limited to the following: - Implications of electronic communication for distance learning, extension, and outreach - How BITNET and the INTERNET are changing research in sociology - How sociological practice is changing due to electronic communication - Research opportunities afforded by electronic communication - Integrating electronic communication & multimedia into the sociology curriculum - How will electronic communication change social life? - Using local area networks to collect data and conduct social psychological experiments - Electronic communications as a data source for sociological research - Invisible colleges in the electronic age - Security and privacy issues in distributed data - Problems with electronic communication including threats to productivity - Weighing electronic publications and other computer-based work in the tenure decision - Resources on the INTERNET and their implications for sociological research and teaching - The role of sociologists in public policy formation regarding the information superhighway - What should the ASA and other professional associations do to take advantage of electronic communication in the discipline? Submit four copies of your paper, in TAS style, before March 1, 1995, to either special-issue coeditor: Edward Brent Edward Mirielli Department of Sociology Idea Works, Inc. University of Missouri 607 Jackson Street Columbia, MO 65211 Columbia, MO 65203 SOCBRENT@MIZZOU1 RUSOEDM@MIZZOU1 FAX: (314) 875-5812 FAX: (314) 875-5812 Voice: (314) 882-9172 Voice: (314) 875-5827 ------------------------------ From: Lane Lenard <72621.2241@CompuServe.COM> Date: 22 May 94 11:59:22 EDT Subject: SSN & Auto registration I recently received my New Jersey auto registration renewal form and noticed the following note attached to a request for my SSN: "Submission of the Social Security Numbers is required pursuant to N.J.A.C. 13:21-1.3. The number will serve as an internal secondary-identifier to prevent errors, to enforce interstate motor vehicle laws, and to assist in collecting motor vehicle fees." This seems to be a blatant misuse of the SSN. Is it legal? Has anyone every challenged it? If so, with what result? ------------------------------ From: pvteye1@aol.com (PVT EYE 1) Date: 23 May 1994 06:46:02 -0400 Subject: Resources for Information Gatherers Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364) Excerpted (with permission) from INFORMATION GATHERER NEWSLETTER THE GLOBAL COMPANY HANDBOOK is a two volume book set that provides financial & historical information on 7500+ foreign companies. The cost of the book is $395. It is available from: Center for International Financial Analysis and Research, 211 College Road East, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 USA; Tel: (609) 520-9333; Fax: (609) 520-0905; Telex: 6716479. U.S. GOVERNMENT REPORTS are made public and available through the General Accounting Office on the following subjects: Financial Institutions, Government Operations, Information Management, International Affairs, Justice and Law Enforcement, National Defense, and many other topics. The first copy of each report is free. To be placed on the mailing list for updates on newly available reports, call (301) 258-4097, or write: GAO, Box 6015, Gaithersburg, Maryland 10884 USA. ORGANIZATIONS FOR INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS (and their telephone numbers) Business Research Institute (718) 990-6161, ext. 6768 Council of International Investigators (413) 283-7003 Information Industry Association (202) 639-8260 International Security & Detective Alliance (512) 888-6164 Investigative Reporters & Editors (314) 882-3364 National Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (800) 872-4678 National Association of Investigative Specialists (512) 928-4544 National Association of Legal Investigators (515) 255-0569 National Council of Investigative & Security Services (800) 445-8408 National Information Officers Association (407) 678-1613 The Information Professionals Institute (713) 537-8344 World Association of Detectives (301) 544-0119 WORLDWIDE GOVERNMENT DIRECTORY is an annual source book containing names and addresses of government officials in every country in the world. It also includes data on International Organizations and foreign embassies abroad. Both publications are available from: Belmont Publications, 1454 Belmont St., NW, Washington, DC 20009 USA; Tel: (202) 232-6334; Fax: (202) 462-5478 LEARNED INFORMATION, INC. publishes books, magazines, papers and other publications of interest to the information gatherer of every kind. They also sponser the annual National Online Meeting (of information Pros). For more details about the products and services of this excellent resource, contact Learned Information Inc, 143 Old Marlton Pike, Medford, NJ 08055 USA; Tel: (609) 654-6266; Fax: (609) 654-4309. DIRECTORIES OF U.S. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT PERSONNEL (including Armed Forces) are available as books & CD-ROM. For a catalog contact: Staff Directories, Ltd., Mt. Vernon, VA 22121 USA; Tel: (703) 739-0900; Fax: (703) 739-0234. THE MARKET FOR ONLINE SERVICES: AN INTRODUCTION is a special report that gives an overview of the potential of the online services business. For more information contact: Information & Interactive Services Report, Box 675, New York, NY 10276 USA; (800) 822-6338; Fax: (212) 475-1790. WORLDWIDE LEGAL HELP & INFORMATION is available through the International Legal Defense Council (ILDC). ILDC is a central data source for civil and criminal laws around the globe. They also assist in finding attorneys and provide speakers and materials for seminars. For more details, contact: D. Atkins, I.L.D.C., 111 S. 15th St., 24th Fl., Philadelphia, PA 19102 USA. THE DIRECTORY OF DIRECTORIES is a huge guidebook which lists and describes 7,820 reference directories of virtually every subject. The book is published by Gale Research, 645 Griswold, Detroit, MI 48226 USA; (313) 961- 2242. THE CITIZENS GUIDE TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION & PRIVACY ACTS is available by mail. To order send $5 ($7 outside the U.S.) to: Marinelli Publishing Co., 8129 N. 35th Avenue, #134, Phoenix, AZ 85051 USA. THE CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETIN BOARD is a public access database of travel advisories, information on passports & immigration, and international adoption. To access, call: (202) 647-9225 (BBS). For more details, write: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, Public Affairs Office Room 5807, Washington, DC 10520 USA. THE INFORMATION PROFESSIONALS INSTITUTE offers seminars, publications, and audio tapes covering the business of selling information. The institute is run by Sue Rugge and Helen Burwell, two expert information brokers. For details contact: The Information Professionals Institute, 3724 F.M. 1960 West, Suite 214, Houston, TX 77068 USA; Tel: (713) 537-8344; Fax: (713) 537-8332; Compuserve 75120,50 Internet 75120.50@compuserve.com PURPOSE & POLICY STATEMENT: Information Gatherer Newsletter is a private journal devoted to topics of interest to information professionals (i.e. investigators, journalists, information brokers, records researchers, intelligence analysts, and librarians). It is circulated throughout the Internet, in addition to various public-sector commercial networks. Subscription costs are $20/year. Sample copies are $5. Delivery by Postal or E-mail. Send to: Worldwide Consultants, 2421 W. Pratt Blvd., Suite 971, Chicago, IL 60645-4621 USA. E-mail: worldwid@uunet.uu.net (via Internet). ABOUT THE EDITOR - David Johnson is an international consultant specializing in privacy, security & investigative matters. He has lived in the the Far East for almost two years, and has contacts on six continents. He also regularly assists clients with issues relating to financial and personal privacy protection, and locating hard-to-find information. ------------------------------ From: nevin@cs.arizona.edu (Nevin Liber) Date: 20 May 1994 05:31:24 -0700 Subject: Re: FCC order on interstate Caller ID Organization: University of Arizona CS Department, Tucson AZ padgett peterson wrote: Where per line blocking was chosen numerous complaints occurred concerning the impossibility of the user to tell which way star-six-seven would toggle the blocking (is it or isn't it, only the callee will know...). With per call, ther is no question. Or the telcos could have just come up with a different code for per call unblocking, instead of using *67 as a toggle. They *deliberately* (IMHO) didn't do so to make it harder for those who want to block their number. We should give in to the telcos 'cause this is what they want to increase their profits? Second, the person making the call might not be the one who started the blocking & might not even have any idea of what it is (I live in tourist world remember). If someone else is making a call from my phone, why should they automatically get to broadcast my location? Finally in an emergency situation it is easy to visualize a cartoon where the receiver is saying "sorry, first you must dial star-six-seven before making this call. ". All it would take would be one. An obscene phone call gets made, and the wrong phone number accidentally or deliberately gets transmitted. The caller goes over to the (wrong) caller's house and shoots him. The law does not recognize this number as evidence; why should the rest of us believe it is correct? Like credit information, the phone company does not have to guarantee the correct number, and isn't responsible for the consequences if they get it wrong. Heck, even if the number is correct, this bad thing could (and most likely will) happen. It's a two-edged sword. I don't advocate blocking to 911 or the operator, and it is hard to think of other emergency situations where the callee wouldn't accept the call blindly (as they have to do now in most locations anyway). Now if there is a special situation where the CNID should *never* be returned or a different number should display, I would much rather it displayed *my* phone number than the phone number of the location I called from. That is what *caller* id implies, and if it did this, many of the objections would go away. I say the FCC is right and per-call blocking should be the default. Be careful what you wish for... -- Nevin ":-)" Liber nevin@cs.arizona.edu (602) 293-2799 +++ (520) after 3/95 office: (602) 621-1685 5/28/94 - 6/27/94: (708) 831-FLYS ------------------------------ From: johnl@iecc.com (John R Levine) Date: 20 May 94 13:35 EDT Subject: Re: Telemugging the Constitution Organization: I.E.C.C., Cambridge, Mass. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) really is unconstitutional, and the federal district court acted correctly in striking it down. The problem is that it restricted speech based on content. In particular, autodialers promoting commercial products were forbidden, while those pitching political or non-profit causes were permitted. The courts have long held that it's legal to restrict the nature and manner of speech, but not the content. The message noted various practical issues, notably that judges in districts other than the Oregon one where the case was heard wouldn't be bound by that precedent. Any judge can and should void the law on the same constitutional grounds, although in practice many won't. What this means is that a law that forbade all autodialers, or that made exceptions unrelated to content (e.g., you could give permission for someone to call you, for a service you actually wanted to hear from) would be entirely OK. We can only hope. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, jlevine@delphi.com, 1037498@mcimail.com ------------------------------ From: poivre@netcom.com (Poivre) Date: 23 May 1994 03:45:11 GMT Subject: Re: Credit Check only with Permission Granted Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) L. E. de Rivaud (rivaud@rain.org) wrote: Sure just don't buy a car that costs more than $10,000. Pay cash. Then find an insurance company who doesn't require a ss#. (OR move to a state that does not require auto insurance. Are there any?) I just discovered that some dealerships don't require any IDs at all for a test drive...however, the dealer is with you when you test. As for auto insurance, Allstate requires SSN. I don't think State Farm requires SSN...i don't remember having it asked for when i applied for their insurance. -- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . poivre@netcom.com : #include : Altruism Doesn't Pay!! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ------------------------------ From: poivre@netcom.com (Poivre) Date: 23 May 1994 03:50:56 GMT Subject: Re: Drivers License & Car Dealer's Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Al Cohan (0004526627@mcimail.com) wrote: About 20 to 30 years ago, you got to drive with the salesman sitting next to you while you took the test drive. That worked fine until one day in sunny California, the driver stopped someone came over from the sidewalk and pulled the salesman out of the car and jumped in! BTW, there NEVER did recover the car! Its criminals like that that spoils everything for the rest of us honest people *sigh*. No, you must not only take a test drive with the salesman, but also leave either your drivers license or have the deal make a copy of your drivers license. The interesting this is the both driving without the license in your possession and making a copy of your license, are both against the law! I did a test drive and i didnt have to "give up" my ID/DL. But the salesman did sit with me though. What the dealer does with the license is conjecture, but I know TRW for one has a plan where for xx $$ per year they send you a notice everytime someone checks your credit - telling you who checked. I know Hmmm, i think i'll subscribe to that program. Good idea!! -- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . poivre@netcom.com : #include : Altruism Doesn't Pay!! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ------------------------------ End of Computer Privacy Digest V4 #069 ****************************** .