Date: Mon, 06 Jun 94 20:38:35 EST Errors-To: Comp-privacy Error Handler From: Computer Privacy Digest Moderator To: Comp-privacy@uwm.edu Subject: Computer Privacy Digest V4#075 Computer Privacy Digest Mon, 06 Jun 94 Volume 4 : Issue: 075 Today's Topics: Moderator: Leonard P. Levine Re: Where Can I Find PGP? Re: Where Can I Find PGP? Re: Employee looking up your license plate number Re: Employee looking up your license plate number Re: Employee looking up your license plate number Re: SSN & Auto Registration Fidonet Crackdown in Italy - Follow-up Crackdown on Italian BBSes Continues California Cordless Phone Penal Code Please help - Survey for a Research Paper 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: matt@ra.oc.com (Matthew Lyle) Date: 29 May 1994 21:47:36 GMT Subject: Re: Where Can I Find PGP? Organization: OpenConnect Systems, Dallas, TX mb2@kaiwan.com (Mark Brown) writes: I was under the impression that PGP was availible via ftp. After doing an archie search I tried four different sites and the only thing I could find were doc and text files relating to PGP but I can't seem to find the program. Does anybody know where I can find it ? In the USA, you can get PGP from net-dist.mit.edu. You will first need to telnet to that host and log in with the userid "getpgp" and verify that you will not export it illegally from the USA. -- Matthew Lyle matt@oc.com OpenConnect System, Dallas, Texas (214) 888-0474 ------------------------------ From: markh@vanbc.wimsey.com (Mark C. Henderson) Date: 29 May 1994 15:37:38 -0700 Subject: Re: Where Can I Find PGP? Organization: Wimsey Information Services Mark Brown wrote: I was under the impression that PGP was availible via ftp. After doing an archie search I tried four different sites and the only thing I could find were doc and text files relating to PGP but I can't seem to find the program. Does anybody know where I can find it ? for version 2.6 net-dist.mit.edu:/pub/PGP ftp.wimsey.bc.ca:/pub/crypto/software/dist/US_or_Canada_only_XXXXXXXX/PGP/2.6 to access PGP from wimsey anon ftp to ftp.wimsey.bc.ca cd /pub/crypto/software read the file README If you agree to the conditions then use the information in the README file to get to the PGP directory. (Basically you will get the current value of XXXXXXXX. This mechanism is an attempt to prevent illegal export from ftp.wimsey.bc.ca. Similar controls are placed upon PGP at other sites in North America including the MIT site). U.S. and Canadian persons only please. -- Mark Henderson markh@wimsey.bc.ca - RIPEM MD5: F1F5F0C3984CBEAF3889ADAFA2437433 ViaCrypt PGP key fingerprint: 21 F6 AF 2B 6A 8A 0B E1 A1 2A 2A 06 4A D5 92 46 low security key fingerprint: EC E7 C3 A9 2C 30 25 C6 F9 E1 25 F3 F5 AF 92 E3 cryptography archive maintainer -- anon ftp to ftp.wimsey.bc.ca:/pub/crypto ------------------------------ From: oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) Date: 29 May 1994 17:57:25 -0400 Subject: Re: Employee looking up your license plate number Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC jmm@elegant.com (John Macdonald) writes: It might even be simpler than that - there have been a couple of companies that I worked for that asked (not required) that you just tell them the license plate of your car when you started working with them. (It has been a frequent item on visitor registration forms when I'm at customer sites.) In my first job at Control Data, there were a number of times when I got a phone call from the front desk to tell me that I'd left my headlights on - so, against the disadvantages of loss of privacy you have to trade the advantages and decide which is likely to be more significant. Hmmm... a strategy that works well if no one ever buys a second car. I suppose another possibility is if the car owner has ham plates, in which case the employer simply looks it up in a callbook. -- Carl Oppedahl AA2KW Oppedahl & Larson (patent lawyers) Yorktown Heights, NY voice 212-777-1330 ------------------------------ From: dhughes@robins.af.mil (Dolly Hughes) Date: 1 Jun 1994 20:01:29 GMT Subject: Re: Employee looking up your license plate number Organization: Robins AFB, GA Bob Swarner (swarnerr@mexico.bettis.gov) wrote: I recently got a parking "violation" from by employer for not parking exactly where they wanted me to. They put a slip on the windshield, which I figured they kept a record of to look for repeat offenders. Well, it turns out they also, via my license plate number, got my name and sent a copy to my supervisor. While this is not a big deal (my bosses comment was "Who cares?"), was this a proper use of the license plate? I was under the impression that you couldn't just go to DMV and ask to find a name and address. It's illegal in several states and it began with California after the dead of actress Rebecca Schaffer. Her killer used DMV to locate her home and shot her at her front door. Dolly Dagger** *I feel sorry For Madonna * She doesn't know who she is * She tries to steal other people's identities * She will steal anything she can get her grubby hands on * She should have stolen some acting tips * ------------------------------ From: swd_lrr@afds.cca.rockwell.com Date: 2 Jun 94 16:47:38 GMT Subject: Re: Employee looking up your license plate number Organization: Rockwell International dwn@dwn.ccd.bnl.gov (Dave Niebuhr) writes: If there wasn't a sticker then I say the employer queried a DMV databse but I rather doubt it. I have been told on several separate occasions by different gate guards that my employer does query the DMV about license plates. They do this to identify those who park contrary to company policy and to notify those who have left their headlights on. Only the privileged employees have any kind of identifying sticker; any identification of ordinary employees has to be through the DMV. Lance ==)-------- ------------------------------ From: swd_lrr@afds.cca.rockwell.com Date: 2 Jun 94 16:35:29 GMT Subject: Re: SSN & Auto Registration Organization: Rockwell International peterson@CS.ColoState.EDU (james peterson) writes: 4: The consequences of failure to provide an SSN. With regard to this last bit, I have recently seen two federal Privacy Act Statements on two unrelated federal forms (one from a grant agency, the other a federal worker form). Both contained words to the effect that "disclosure of the social security number is optional, but it may be impossible to process the form without it." In other words, it's "optional" in the sense that eating is "optional." Anyone want to comment on this way of dodging the Privacy Act? Throughout my entire tour of active duty (Air Force '81-'86) as well the subsequent period inactive duty, every piece of official paper requested my SSAN (which was also my service number). As far as I can recall (I began being leery of SSAN usage coincident with the active duty), they each said that supplying the SSAN was optional. However, these forms also said that not supplying it might make it impossible for them to give me what was rightfully mine, such as the pay and benefits they were under contract to provide. I have often wondered what they would have done if, from the very beginning, I had written "DECLINED" on the SSAN line. Having done so once, I was kinda committed. Lance ==)-------- ------------------------------ From: "Prof. L. P. Levine" Date: 6 Jun 1994 10:31:03 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Fidonet Crackdown in Italy - Follow-up Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Fidonet Crackdown in Italy - Follow-up from: Bernardo Parrella To: All Subject: Fidonet Crackdown in Italy - Follow-up Date: May 23, 1994 "The crackdown needed to be done, software piracy has become a National sport in Italy. Unfortunately, the operation rapidly became too wide for our forces: right now, here in Pesaro we are only three Prosecutors, quite busy with criminal trials, in court all day long. We will try to do our best with the less possible damage for the entire community." Here are the explanatory words of Gaetano Savoldelli Pedrocchi, the Pesaro Prosecutor who is managing the investigations that last week led to a nationwide crackdown on Fidonet Italia BBSes During the operation - confidentially known as "Hardware 1" - more than 60 (some sources go up to 130) Bulletin Board Systems have been visited and searched by police and custom officials. In the central and northern part of the country, several Fidonet nodes were closed and dozens of operators were charged of "conspiracy with unknown for distribution of illegally copied software and appropriation of secret passwords." Some figures say the seizures included more than 120 computers, 300 streamer-cassettes and CD-ROMs, 60,000 floppy disks, an imprecise number of modems and other electronic devices. In some cases, police officials sealed off rooms and garages where the BBSes were operated or closed all the hardware they found in a closet. Several Fidonet operators (generally students, professionals, small-company owners) lost their personal data because every magnetic support was "suspected to carry pirated software". Aimed to crack a distribution ring of illegal software run by two people using the publicly available Fidonet nodelist, investigators searched and seized every single site of the list - even those that had never had any contact with the two suspected. Also, many operators not inquired by police were forced to immediately shut down their systems, searching for possible illegal software covertly uploaded on their BBSes. As a consequence of such indiscriminate operations, the real, very few pirate boards had the chance to quickly hide their businesses - sources say. "I do not believe to this scenario," said the Pesaro Prosecutor in an interview by SottoVoce Magazine. "We acted after precise information about the activities of a specific data-bank: if some operators have nothing to do with the charges, we'll verify it as soon as possible." Questioned about further investigations agai nst BBSes users, the Prosecutor said: "We'll see later....at the present, users can sleep peacefully: otherwise, I cannot imagine how many people should be investigated. I do not want to criminalize the entire population. Even if the inquiry has become so vast, this is not a subject of vital importance for our country. It is mostly a fiscal and bureaucratic issue, a matter of small-scale but spread illegality." However, rumors say other inquires are currently underway in other cities, and even the Criminalpol is working on similar issues. Assisting the investigated people, some lawyers already asked for the immediate return of the confiscated materials, while others suggested to wait for better times. In any case, it will probably take months (years?) before receiving official answers regarding the seizures. Struggling to re-open in some way their systems, Fidonet operators are also working to get the attention of mainstream media on the issue - with little success, so far. After an article published by La Repubblica, two local newspapers, Il Mattino and Il Giornale di Brescia, run brief reports on May 15, both centered on "a wide software piracy ring cracked by police officials". But the real activity is happening inside and around electronic communities. MC-Link, Galactica and especially Agora' Telematica (the biggest Italian systems) are doing a great job, offering space for news, opinions and comments - also acting as conne ction links between the decimated net of BBSes and worried individuals scattered along the country. Here is just one example: "....police officials seized everything, including three PCs (one broken), a couple of modem (just fixed for some friends), floppies, phone cables, phone-books. Now Dark Moon is down, hoping to have at least one line available in a few days, maybe at 2400. I fear that more raids will soon follow elsewhere. So, please, stay alert..." A catching dynamism flourishes from the BBSes linked to Cybernet. Although some of them are currently not operating, several special issues of the Corriere Telematico were released over the net and their printed voice, Decoder Magazine, will soon distribute news, testimonies, comments on "Operation Hardware 1". PeaceLink has set up a defense committee-news center in Taranto and its spokesperson, Alessandro Marescotti, will sign an article for the next issue of the weekly magazine Avvenimenti. The news are arousing a vivid debate on Usenet (soc.culture.italian, comp.org.eff.talk) and on The WELL (eff #584), and are also widespread by Communet News, Computer Underground Digest, and Alice (Italy-based mailing list on civic networking). Promptly alerted, the International online community gave good response - quickly redistributing the news over the Net (from the APC Networks to Global Network Navigator) and sending supportive messages. Here is an email from Michael Baker, Chairman of Electronic Frontiers Australia: "To that end I am writing to offer assistance to anyone in Italy who wants to set up such an organisation. Recently I (along with others) have set up Electronic Frontiers Australia, and I am now its Chairman. Other national EF groups have been, or are being, set up in several other countries (Canada, Ireland, Norway, UK and Japan)....if there is anything we can do to help, please ask." Shifting toward politics, on May 19, the first working day o f th e new Italian Cabinet, six Members of the Reformers group presented a written question to the Ministers of Justice and Interior. After a short introduction about telecom systems, the document gives an account of the facts and asks three final questions to the Government: "- if it will intend to open an investigation to verify if the raids ordered by the Pesaro Prosecutor's office were prej udicial to the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression; - if it is not the case to set up a better and greater team of computer experts in order to avoid further random seizures of electronic devices that lead to shut down the BBSes; - if it is not the occasion to confirm that current legislation does not charge system operators with objective responsibility for users' activities on telecom systems." Although the Fidonet sysop community (about 300 people) is still quite uncertain regarding its future, many of them feel the urgent need to overcome a sort of cultural and social isolation that clearly surrounds the telecom scene in Italy. At the moment the main issue is how to raise public interest and political pressure to obtain clear laws in support of civil rights in the electronic medium. Several online laboratories, such as the Community Networking conference on Agora' Telematica as well as the BBSes linked to Cybernet, are developing a vast array of ideas and proposals. "We underestimate our strength: if we could just be able to set up an Italian Association of Telecom Users we could put pressure on political and legislative bodies." "Overwhelm newspapers, radio and tv stations with faxes, letters, phone calls!" "We must attract common people, through hundreds of tables and events in the streets more than online, even if we do not have a Kapor to support us." "There should be press-conferences in several cities, with the presence of investigated people along with famous persons, politicians." "What about a 24-hours silence from any system in the country with simultaneous events in each city and village where a BBS operates?" The situation is rather fluid and in e-motion. Stay connect! - Bernardo Parrella < - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > electronic distribution of this posting is greatly encouraged, preserving its original version, including the header and this notice < - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > ------------------------------ From: "Prof. L. P. Levine" Date: 6 Jun 1994 10:57:04 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Crackdown on Italian BBSes Continues Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee from: Bernardo Parrella To: All Subject: Crackdown on Italian BBSes Continues Date: June 4, 1994 Twenty-four days after the first major crackdown on Fidonet Italia BBSes, on Friday June 3, the Taranto Finance Police visited Taras Communications BBS, the main National Peacelink node and data-bank. Acting after a warrant issued by the Prosecutor of the same city, Giovanni Pugliese and his wife were charged for the possession of "illegally copied software and electronic equipment suitable to falsification." After searching their apartment for more than 5 hours (from 5 pm to 10.30 pm), Finance officials sealed off the PC on which the BBS run and seized 174 floppy disks - leaving behind the monitor and the only available modem. Because the Taranto node hosts most of the network archives and all the email traffic, at the moment the entire national Peacelink net is down. Giovanni Pugliese is currently working to start again his system as soon as possible - probably in the next 48 hours. "Taras Communications BBS has never had anything to do with software piracy and is well know for its activities related to humanitarian, peace, social and community issues," Giovanni Pugliese said. "Peacelink and its sister Fidonet Italia network had always pursued a very restrictive policy against any illegally copied software on their systems. Because Taras Communications BBS is the main National node of Peacelink network, its forced closure, hopefully very short, will result in a great damage for those hundreds of people - including journalists, activists, volunteers - that were widely relying upon its everyday services." With more than 30 nodes throughout the country, several Fidonet gateways, and a project currently underway to connect directly to Comlink and the other APC Networks, Peacelink is completely dedicated to peace, human rights and ecology issues. Founded in1992 as a specialized conference of Fidonet Italia network, Peacelink became quickly independent and well known even outside Italy. Recently the network hosted a national conference on peace-related matters, becoming also the only communication link for people in the former-Yugoslavia and the outside world. The first phase of the crackdown (May 11-13) targeted Fidonet Italia network in several cities in the northern and cental regions of the country. While a still inaccurate number of BBSes (probably from 30 to 60) were searched and dozens were closed down, on May 25 an official press-release of the Finance Police in Torino claimed a seizure "for a value of more than 4 billion of Italian lire (about US $2,5 million), including 17 personal computers; 13,690 floppy disks of illegally copied software," dozens of modems and electronic devices. Fourteen people were charged with "conspiracy with unknown for the crime of software piracy" - but no arrests were made. The new raid hit the online community at the exact moment when sysops, users, media and citizens were waiting for a relaxing and clarifier signal from investigators, including the first decisions about the seized hardware scheduled in these days. Right now, activists are coordinating a series of quick answers, including the probable foundation of a National association dedicated to the protection of civil rights for Electronic Citizens. - Bernardo Parrella < - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > electronic distribution of this posting is greatly encouraged, preserving its original version, including the header and this notice < - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > ------------------------------ From: glr@ripco.com (Glen Roberts) Date: 1 Jun 1994 16:05:18 GMT Subject: California Cordless Phone Penal Code Organization: RCI, Chicago, IL California Penal Code: Section 623.6 Eavesdropping on confidential communication transmitted between cordless phones; Punishment. (a) Every person who, maliciously and without the consent of all parties to the communication, intercepts, receives or assists in intercepting or receiving a communication transmitted between cordless telephones as defined in subdivision (c), between any cordless telephone and a landline telephone, or between a cordless telephone and a cellular telephone shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or in the state prison, or by both that fine and imprisonment. If the person has been convicted previously of a violation of Section 631, 632, 632.5, 632.6 or 636. the person shall be punished by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or in the state prison, or by both that fine and imprisonment. (b) This section shall not apply in any of the following instances: (1) to any public utility engaged in the business of providing communications services and facilities, or to the officers, employees, or agents thereof, where the acts otherwise prohibited are for the purpose of construction, maintenance, conduct, or operation of the services and facilities of the public utility. (2) To the use of any instrument, equipment, facility, or service furnished and used pursuant to the tariffs of the public utility. (3) To any telephonic communication system used for communication exclusively within a state, county, city and county, or city correctional facility. (c) As used in this section and in Section 635, ``cordless telephone'' means a two-way low power communication system consisting of two parts -- a ``base'' unit which connected to the public switched telephone network and a handset or ``remote'' unit -- which are connected by a radio link and authorized by the Federal Communication Commission to operate in the frequency bandwidths reserved for cordless telephones. -- Glen L. Roberts, Publisher, Directory of Elect Surv Equip Suppliers Host Full Disclosure Live (WWCR 5,810 khz - Sundays 7pm central) Box 734, Antioch, Illinois 60002 Fax: (708) 838-0316 Surveillance Hotline: (708) 356-9646 Bust the Bureaucrats: (708) 356-6726 ------------------------------ From: ericj@eskimo.com (Eric T. Jorgensen) Date: 6 Jun 1994 13:06:42 -0700 Subject: Please help - Survey for a Research Paper Organization: Eskimo North (206) For-Ever I am preparing a research paper on privacy issues relating to computers and networking, focusing on the Internet. The following information will be collated for use in the paper. Please place a mark of some kind ('X', '*', etc.) in the space provided for Yes/No questions and take as many lines as you wish for the others. Please (r)eply or mail the answers to me at ericj@eskimo.com. ===== 1. Do you currently use encryption software that allows only the intended readers to read the file? ( ) Yes ( ) No Why, or why not? 2. Do you use or produce encryption technology or software in a work environment? ( ) Yes ( ) No 3. Do you currently use an anonymous email/news server? ( ) Yes ( ) No Why, or why not? 4. What are the three largest reasons to use either encryption or anonymity, in your view? 5. What are the three largest threats to encryption or anonymity use, in your view? -- ericj@eskimo.com Eric T. Jorgensen IRC: RoadDog ------------------------------ End of Computer Privacy Digest V4 #075 ****************************** .