Date: Thu, 29 Sep 94 10:33:53 EST Errors-To: Comp-privacy Error Handler From: Computer Privacy Digest Moderator To: Comp-privacy@uwm.edu Subject: Computer Privacy Digest V5#040 Computer Privacy Digest Thu, 29 Sep 94 Volume 5 : Issue: 040 Today's Topics: Moderator: Leonard P. Levine Reason 83: Vichy France Reason 87: Human Rights Declaration Reason 9: Privacy is a Basic Concept Cybernautics Digest, A New Publication Re: Medical Information Privacy Re: Post Office Boxes Re: Find E-Mail Address? An Invitation to Hear Your Opinion! US Should Forbid Export of Digital Wiretap Technology Info on CPD Contributions, Subscriptions, FTP, etc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Marc Rotenberg Date: 28 Sep 1994 12:49:40 EST Subject: Reason 83: Vichy France Organization: Electronic Privacy Information Center 100 Reasons to Oppose the FBI Wiretap Bill Reason 83: The Vichy government routinely monitored telephone calls and treated attempts to have private conversations as criminal acts. A new book by historian Antonie Lefebure, entitled "Secret Conversations of the French Under the Occupation" documents that between 1940 and 1944, the Vichy government was engaged in widespread surveillance of French citizens. In once case two Dutch refugees speaking in their native tongue were interrupted by an operator who demanded that they speak in French. When they protested, the operator sent a report to the police recommending that they be arrested. (Reuters Library Report, Nov 23, 1993, reprinted in International Privacy Bulletin, vol. 2 no. 1) -> 9/28 NEWS UPDATE: Senate Judiciary Committee approves wiretap -> plan, but opposition from individual Senators still likely. Rep. -> Brooks to consider bill. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What To Do: Contact your Senator. Urge a no vote on S. 2375, the FBI Wiretap proposal. Fax Rep. Jack Brooks 202/225-1584. Express your concerns. Staff in both the House and Senate report that these messages are making a difference. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 100 Reasons is a project of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in Washington, DC. For more information: 100.Reasons@epic.org. ======================================================================== ------------------------------ From: Marc Rotenberg Date: 28 Sep 1994 13:00:44 EST Subject: Reason 87: Human Rights Declaration Organization: Electronic Privacy Information Center 100 Reasons to Oppose the FBI Wiretap Bill Reason 87: The wiretap proposal is contrary to the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which provides for the right of privacy and the right to communicate freely. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted in 1948, states that "everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, *receive and impart information and ideas through any media*." Article 12 says that "no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or *correspondence*." The wiretap bill is contrary to both of these important human rights principles. -> 9/28 NEWS UPDATE: Senate Judiciary Committee approves wiretap -> plan, but opposition from individual Senators still likely. Rep. -> Brooks to consider bill. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What To Do: Contact your Senator. Urge a no vote on S. 2375, the FBI Wiretap proposal. Fax Rep. Jack Brooks 202/225-1584. Express your concerns. Staff in both the House and Senate report that these messages are making a difference. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 100 Reasons is a project of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in Washington, DC. For more information: 100.Reasons@epic.org. ======================================================================== ------------------------------ From: Marc Rotenberg Date: 29 Sep 1994 07:28:53 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Reason 9: Privacy is a Basic Concept Organization: Electronic Privacy Information Center 100 Reasons to Oppose the FBI Wiretap Bill Reason 9: The last time such a sweeping change in wiretap law was considered, AT&T recommended *a ban on all eavesdropping* except in national security cases. In 1967, when the federal wiretap law was first debated, a vice president of AT&T said that the Bell System favored a ban on all eavesdropping except in national security cases: "Privacy of communications is a basic concept in our busines. We believe the public has an inherent right to feel that they can use the telephone with confidence, just as they talk face to face. Any undermining of this confidence would seriously impair the usefulness and value of telephone communications." (Lapidus, Eavesdropping on Trial). -> 9/28 NEWS UPDATE: Senate Judiciary Committee approves wiretap plan, -> but opposition from individual Senators still likely. Rep. Brooks -> to consider bill. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What To Do: Contact your Senator. Urge a no vote on S. 2375, the FBI Wiretap proposal. Fax Rep. Jack Brooks 202/225-1584. Express your concerns. Staff in both the House and Senate report that these messages are making a difference. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 100 Reasons is a project of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) in Washington, DC. For more information: 100.Reasons@epic.org. ======================================================================== ------------------------------ From: John Shaw Date: 28 Sep 1994 18:18:35 GMT Subject: Cybernautics Digest, A New Publication Organization: Computer Users Information Exchange ********************************************************************** NEW PUBLICATION ANNOUNCEMENT ********************************************************************** CYBERNAUTICS DIGEST --- A MONTHLY SUMMARY OF WRITINGS ABOUT CONVERGING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES ********************************************************************** _Cybernautics Digest_, a 20-page monthly newsletter published in Seattle starting in November 1994 is designed for those who wish to stay abreast of the literature about converging information technologies. Because the best writing about significant information- technology developments is scattered among hundreds of niche-oriented publications, it is difficult to stay informed without spending considerable time in a good research library. The situation is particularly ironic at a time when digital technology is blurring the lines between traditional business markets--a phenomenon known as "digital convergence." _Cybernautics Digest_ is designed to give readers advance warning about developments outside their traditional areas of interest. Its editors follow hundreds of publications in a wide range of areas to locate the most informative reports about key technological developments that may cut across traditional market boundaries. The objective is to provide a "whole systems" perspective on the global information industry. _Cybernautics Digest_ contains brief summaries of important articles published mainly in the business and technical press. The focus is on those articles that provide insightful analysis of new information technologies, business trends, and public-policy issues. Aside from summarizing this literature, editors provide readers with details about how they can obtain the full text of articles mentioned, either by mail or electronically through full-text databases. The publication is written for those in such fields as product development, marketing, planning, research, finance, journalism, consulting, and education. It would also be of value to serious technology enthusiasts. The concept for the publication was developed by Terry Hansen, founding editor of _Puget Sound Computer User_ in Seattle. In 1983, while completing his master's degree in science journalism at the University of Minnesota, Hansen became managing editor of _Computer User_ in Minneapolis (now the heart of a national network). In 1986 he moved to Seattle, a major hub of the PC software industry, to help found _Puget Sound Computer User_, currently one of the most successful and widely read publications of its kind, and the first successful spinoff of the Minnesota edition. "Cybernautics," is a synthetic word which means "exploration of the digital machine." Thus, the publication is a digest of articles about the global digital machine, in all its aspects. Future editions of _Cybernautics Digest_ may be available via a World Wide Web server but initial issues will be distributed via first-class mail only. SUMMARY OF BASIC FACTS: ----------------------- Publication title: _Cybernautics Digest_ Premiere issue: November 1994 Frequency: Monthly Size: 20 pages per issue (approx.) Cost: $24 per year ($36 CDN; elsewhere via airmail: $48 US) Visa/Master Card accepted. Include card number and expiration date. Editor: Terry Hansen (twhansen@cuix.pscu.com) Publisher: KFH Publications, Inc. 3530 Bagley Ave. N. Seattle, WA 98103 Phone: 206/547-4950 Fax: 206/547-5355 Sample copies: $2 each ($3 CDN; $4 US internationally). Free to members of the media. Subscription requests to: Cybernautics Digest c/o Subscriptions 3530 Bagley Ave. N. Seattle, WA 98103 ********************************************************************** EOF ------------------------------ From: SchwartzM@DOCKMASTER.NCSC.MIL Date: 28 Sep 94 18:39 EDT Subject: Re: Medical Information Privacy In Privacy Digest V5-039, Richard Goldstein inquires about security and privacy in medical records. The present status of such issues are the topic of discussion at this year's National Computer Security Conference (October 12 in Baltimore) in the forum of a panel that I am chairing on this subject. The panel will include leading experts in the field from the U.S. Congress, the Institute of Medicine, the Computer Based Patient Record Institute, ANSI Health Care Information Standards Planning Panel and others. This issue is becoming increasingly important as computers become an integral part of the health care system. Given the interest in use of the National Information Infrastructure in this domain, it is becoming paramount that legal, technological and human behavioral solutions be seriously considered. This panel will address these issues in depth. Additional sources of information on this subject are available from a variety of locations, including the following: The Computer Based Patient Record: An Essential Technology for Health Care. The Institute of Medicine, 1991 Health Data in the Information Age: Use, Disclosure and Privacy The Institute of Medicine, 1994 Protecting Privacy in Computerized Medical Information U.S. Congress Office Of Technology Assessment (OTA-TCT-576), 1993 The current status on the legal front reveals a plethora of state based statutes that can differ substantially on their content. Many states have laws (so-called "Quill-Pen" laws), that actually prohibit the full computerization of the medical record. The laws will vary in their level of protection and the requirements on the part of the holders of the information. This will vary depending upon whether the information is patient identified (a unique patient identifier is included in the data set), patient identifiable (a set of related data without a unique identifier that can be "linked" to other sources to identify a patient), and non-identifiable (the data set can in no way be linked to an individual). These requirements will also be unique to the type of data that is stored, for example HIV related or other "lifestyle" data is afforded a greater level of protection. Many laws have components that will define whether or not informed consent is required from the patient to collect the data, what the data may be used for and for how long the data may be retained. There are also certain exclusions in terms of the legal "discoverability" related to the data. For example, many states have mechanisms to facilitate "Peer Review Organizations" to allow for the review of clinical data for quality assurance purposes. This data can then be immune to subpoena. On the federal level there are some existing laws that pertain to the government's use of such data including the Federal Privacy Act and the Americans With Disabilities Act. In the past year, several federal laws have been presented to pre-empt or supercede the myriad state laws to facilitate a national standard, in recognition that this is a national, not just a state based problem. These include the following: HR-4077: The Fair Health Information Practices Act of 1994 Congressman Condit et al. S-2129: The Heath Care Privacy Protection Act Senator Leahy et al S-1779: National Health Care Data Network Senator Wofford et al In the mean time, the state based laws are the domain that one collecting such data must work within. There are a variety of technological means available to provide a framework for meeting these laws (including various identification and authentication mechanisms, data encryption and related technologies), but without appropriate consideration of the human behavioral issues, such solutions can be weakened to the point of being worthless. More often than not, inappropriate disclosure of such data comes not from people hacking (or cracking) a system, but from legitimate insiders who have access to such systems and then abuse that access for personal gain. It is the latter type of behavior that is the weakest link in the chain. We must make sure the legal structure is in place to provide a disincentive to act in such a manner, and that the laws are in fact upheld when enacted in such cases. Marc Schwartz Director of Clinical Services Summit Medical Systems, Inc. Minneapolis, MN P.S. This msg was cross-posted to the RISKS forum. ------------------------------ From: John Medeiros <71604.710@compuserve.com> Date: 29 Sep 94 00:06:14 EDT Subject: Re: Post Office Boxes Mark Mullins asked: Is there a way for one to find out WHO paid the $2 fee to find out your home address?? Is the information recorded permanently?? How long does it take to find this information out?? Current Post Office regulations state that individual home and P.O. Box address information is NOT to be disclosed. Business address and P.O. Box information may be disclosed to anyone who requests it for a $3.00 fee. There are exceptions for WRITTEN requests by government agencies, law enforcement and process servers. The information may also be disclosed if it is the subject of a court order. A subpoena does not constitute a court order under this regulation unless it is signed by a judge. ------------------------------ From: jaburns@zooul.jcpenney.com Date: 29 Sep 94 08:01:44 CDT Subject: Re: Find E-Mail Address? Organization: JCPenney Co. Inc. writes: Does anyone know how to locate someones E-Mail address. He is an old high school buddy and has a unique last name. Thanks.. Try the Internet White Pages, available in the technical section of most bookstores!! -- John A. Burns ------------------------------ From: 2020 World Date: 26 Sep 1994 08:00:02 -0700 (PDT) Subject: An Invitation to Hear Your Opinion! The year 2020, what will it be like? By then, the big version of what we call the info-highway will have been with us for some time. Society will have undergone major adjustments, earthquake-sized shifts. Today's journalism about the info-highway misses the point. What difference does it make if it's coax or fiber, PC or set-top box, TCI or AT&T. What matters is how it will change our world. Our world will change dramatically. How? Where? What? Today, if you are curious about this stuff, you have two choices; read the Time magazine-type "general interest" feature written by someone who hasn't got a clue, or read the Wired magazine-type "top ten" Industry-leaders/ futurists (you know who they are!) lecture us on their particular vested interest. Either way, the real changes are not being discussed. Let's change that. I want to invite you to participate in a global group exploration of life in the year 2020. Let me introduce myself and then explain. My name is Kurt Dahl and I am currently the Vice President of Information Technology at The Seattle Times (Seattle's major metro newspaper). I am writing a new weekly column that will be published in the Sunday Seattle Times Personal Technology section. The column is called 2020world. The idea of 2020world is to explore how our lives will change when the information highway is a familiar and integral part of our society. The column will *NOT* be about technology, that's why I picked the year 2020, by then we can all agree that a broadband, fully switched, ubiquitous network will have been in place for many years. How that network will change our lives, not how it will work, is the question 2020world will address. So now you are thinking -- I really don't need to read more simple-minded drivel about the information highway. I agree, you don't, and won't. 2020world will explore ideas that are far outside the typical, boring discussions of home-shopping and video-on-demand. Yet it will be written for the general reader. Let me show you how. I have included the first column from September 25th, as an example. Please read it, then you will get the idea. Here is where you come in, and this is the most impo~ To join in, simply reply (as shown below) and you will automatically be enrolled as a subscriber to our mailing list. Each week the new 2020world column will be e-mailed to you as well as the best and most exciting comments and responses. If you want to respond, simply send an e-mail to our address (also included below). Any questions, send me an e-mail or call. But first, read the inaugural column! Here goes... Copyright 1994 Seattle Times Company [permission to copy was explicitely given, see below. MODERATOR] 2020world column title: Emily is illiterate The information superhighway -- aren't you tired of reading about it? And it doesn't even exist! But it will. And after it's built, we will live in a very different world. How different and in what ways? What you have read in the press so far is a lot of trivial chatter about "home shopping" and movies-on-demand" combined with boring technical details. These stories just don't come close to capturing the profound changes we will experience. To better understand where we are going we need a new approach, fresh ideas. That's what this column will try to do. Let's discover this new world together. Let's use one of the most intriguing new capabilities of the information superhighway: the concept of group-mind. Here's how: I'll start with an original, sometimes outrageous, thought about life in the year 2020, and you send me your reaction to that idea. I'll organize the most thoughtful, expansive and mind-stretching responses, and we will print them. Your thoughts and questions can lead us in new directions. Over time we will follow these "group-mind" wanderings whichever way they go. If we succeed, 2020world will be as much your space as mine. It's the year 2020, your daughter Emily is 9 years old, and she can't read or write. Is this your worst nightmare about our schools come true? Nope, Emily just doesn't need to read or write anymore. The written word is a means to an end and not an end in itself. We use it to communicate with large groups and to preserve ideas, but we prefer the spoken word. In 2020world, with the ability to create, store and send audio and video as easily as written words, why would we need to read and write? Look inside your own head. Do you store information as written words? Do you dream in written words? No, you don't. Visual images and spoken languages are our natural form of information. Writing is nothing more than a technology. It can be replaced by something better. In fact, some forms of the written word are being replaced right now, like shorthand. Can you think of other dead technologies? I'll bet you are now in the "but what about..." stage: But what about education? Video can do anything books can do; well-produced video can do many things better. Which is the better way to learn about the Civil War -- reading a text for 10 hours or watching 10 hours of Ken Burns' PBS production on the Civil War? But what about the law? Don't we need the precision implied by written rules? Perhaps, but wouldn't videos of the original trials, legislative debates, rulings and precedents be a better guide to future generations than law books? Send me your own "but what abouts." But make sure to include your thoughts about how the 2020world would deal with those situations, too. Does Emily really need to read and write in 2020world? I don't think so. Do you? ************************************************************** * * * Kurt Dahl is vice president of information technology at * * The Seattle Times. The views he expresses here are not * * necessarily those of The Seattle Times Company. * * * ************************************************************** SUBSCRIPTION INSTRUCTIONS: 2020world is currently an unmoderated list, however, there are plans to implement the DIGEST option. All mail sent to this list will be sent to all other subscribers. To subscribe, mail to: majordomo@seatimes.com and, include in body of text: subscribe 2020world If you choose not to subscribe, but would like to e-mail me directly with your comments, my address is: year2020@seatimes.com or, call me at: 206-464-3339 or, FAX me at: 206-382-8898 Thanks for taking the time to read this loonnggg e-mail. Please join in and help us understand the real nature of our world after the information highway is built. Send your subscription e-mail right now! I'm looking forward to adding your thoughts to our discussion. One last request, please forward this invitation to those who you think would be interested. Thanks! Kurt Dahl ------------------------------ From: crawford@scipp.ucsc.edu (Mike Crawford) Date: 29 Sep 1994 06:06:20 GMT Subject: US Should Forbid Export of Digital Wiretap Technology Organization: The Human Race The United States Congress is considering bills to require telephone equipment manufacturers to make their equipment easy to wiretap. While the Digital Telephony bills (H.R 4922 and S. 2375) may concern to Americans who worry that the government will overstep its legal authority to tap phone calls, it presents a truly horrifying prospect to the citizens of many other countries. Many countries, perhaps most countries, make no pretense of guaranteeing their citizens due process. In such countries, equipment that met the standards required by this bill would be a powerful weapon of political repression. Further, even democratic governments may use such equipment to spy on the offices of American companies doing business in their countries. I suggest that the bill be amended, so that in the event that it does pass, to require strict export controls over equipment that is "wiretap ready". At the very least, wiretap-ready equipment should be controlled as rigorously as the export of military weapons. I assert that the controls should be tighter - we should only allow export to countries that have legal protections that are at least as rigorous as required in the US, and also that really enforce such laws. Further, we should require evidence of long-term stability to avoid the possibility that a democratic government will be overthrown by a totalitarian regime that will then use our technology to evil ends. Wiretap ready equipment could even destabilize democratic governments, if the governments are unable to prevent political opponents or insurgents from covertly using the wiretapping system. Such export rules should be closely monitored by Congress. History shows that the administrative branch often bends the rules to favor foreign policy convenience over human rights. For example, the Reagan and Bush administrations routinely refused political asylum to citizens of El Salvador, even when such refugees had credible reason to fear murder at the hands of the death squads. A possible solution would be for Congress to authorize export to particular countries for only a year or two at a time. Each year the relevant committee could take testimony from the State department, business groups, and international human rights organizations, and pass a bill to allow export to the qualifying countries. Consider that high-tech wiretaps are in some ways more dangerous than bullets or bombs. Once a bomb has exploded, it is not dangerous anymore. A national phone system with built-in monitoring system would last for many years, even outlasting the governments and corporations that originally installed them. If America really stands for liberty, we will take great care before unleashing this weapon on the world. If you agree with me, call or fax your Senators and Representatives. Suggest they introduce this amendment. I also suggest that special attention be paid to such people as Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who leads Congress in the effort to hold the People's Republic of China, and other legislators with an interest in the human rights climate in other countries. A list of Senate fax and phone numbers follows, copied from a previous post made by EPIC. [I have placed that list in the CPD Archives, it has been posted here once already. MODERATOR] -- Mike Crawford crawford@scipp.ucsc.edu ------------------------------ From: "Prof. L. P. Levine" Date: 26 Sep 1994 12:45:51 -0500 (CDT) Subject: Info on CPD Contributions, Subscriptions, FTP, etc. Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee The Computer Privacy Digest is a forum for discussion on the effect of technology on privacy or vice versa. 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. If you read this from the comp.society.privacy newsgroup and wish to contribute a message, you should simply post your contribution. As a moderated newsgroup, attempts to post to the group are normally turned into eMail to the submission address below. On the other hand, if you read the digest eMailed to you, you generally need only use the Reply feature of your mailer to contribute. If you do so, it is best to modify the "Subject:" line of your mailing. Contributions generally are acknowledged within 24 hours of submission. An article is printed if it is relevant to the charter of the digest. If selected, it is printed within two or three days. The moderator reserves the right to delete extraneous quoted material. He may change the subject line of an article in order to make it easier for the reader to follow a discussion. He will not, however, alter or edit or append to the text except for purely technical reasons. A library of back issues is available on ftp.cs.uwm.edu [129.89.9.18]. Login as "ftp" with password identifying yourid@yoursite. The archives are in the directory "pub/comp-privacy". People with gopher capability can most easily access the library at gopher.cs.uwm.edu. Mosaic users will find it at gopher://gopher.cs.uwm.edu. Older archives are also held at ftp.pica.army.mil [129.139.160.133]. ---------------------------------+----------------------------------------- Leonard P. Levine | Moderator of: Computer Privacy Digest Professor of Computer Science | and comp.society.privacy University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | Post: comp-privacy@uwm.edu Box 784, Milwaukee WI 53201 | Information: comp-privacy-request@uwm.edu | Gopher: gopher.cs.uwm.edu levine@cs.uwm.edu | Mosaic: gopher://gopher.cs.uwm.edu ---------------------------------+----------------------------------------- ------------------------------ End of Computer Privacy Digest V5 #040 ****************************** .