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ACM WASHINGTON UPDATE
U.S. Office of Public Policy of the
Association for Computing
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July 8, 1997
Volume 1.5
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CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION
USACM ACTIVITIES
USACM and IEEE-USA Write Letter Criticizing Cryptography Bill
USACM Member Pam Samuelson Honored With "Genius" Award
POLICY BRIEFS
Communications Decency Act Ruled Unconstitutional
Computer Security Enhancement Act Introduced
New Cryptography Bill Passed by Senate Commerce Committee
White House Releases Report on Global Commerce
Two State Courts Rule on Internet Censorship
Challenge to National Archives Regulations Filed
Anti-Spam Legislation Introduced
FTC Holds Hearings on Privacy
"FIRST AMENDMENT" Web Site Launched
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INTRODUCTION
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The Association for Computing is an international professional society
whose 75,000 members (60,000 in the U.S.) represent a critical mass of
computer scientists in education, industry, and government. The USACM
provides a means for promoting dialogue on technology policy issues with
United States policy makers and the general public. The WASHINGTON UPDATE
reports on activities in Washington that may be of interest to those in
the computing and information policy communities and highlights USACM's
involvement in many of these issues.
To subscribe to the ACM WASHINGTON UPDATE send an e-mail to
listserv@acm.org with "subscribe WASHINGTON-UPDATE" (no quotes) in the
body of the message. Back issues are available at:
http://www.acm.org/usacm/update/
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USACM ACTIVITIES
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USACM AND IEEE-USA WRITE LETTER CRITICIZING CRYPTOGRAPHY BILL
On July 3, USACM and IEEE-USA sent a joint letter to Congress criticizing
the "Secure Public Networks Act," introduced by Sens. McCain and Kerrey.
The two groups wrote, " We share many of the concerns of the Committee
members regarding problems of national security and law enforcement.
However, we believe that the "Secure Public Networks Act," as approved by
the Committee, leads U.S. encryption policy in the wrong direction. The
proposed bill stands in opposition to the scientific and professional
opinions of many experts who believe that national security and public
safety will be weakened by the mandated introduction of constrained or
recoverable-key encryption. We also believe that such action will hinder
U.S. competitiveness in international markets, establish a dangerous
precedent for the future, and endanger cherished civil liberties in the
U.S. and elsewhere in the world."
The six points made in the letter were: the bill is economically harmful,
the bill threatens civil freedoms, the criminal element will not be
hindered by any legislation similar to the one proposed, constraints on
strong cryptography will jeopardize national security, information
technologies change quickly, and the U.S. would be loosing its leadership
role as a proponent of freedom of speech and other civil rights for
citizens around the world. The letter can be found at
http://www.acm.org/usacm/crypto/spna_letter.html
USACM MEMBER PAM SAMUELSON HONORED WITH "GENIUS" AWARD
USACM member Pamela Samuelson was honored as one of 23 recipients of the
prestigious MacArthur Foundation "genius" award for her more than 15 years
of cutting-edge contributions in the field of computer and cyberspace law.
Her work led the way for smaller companies to compete against major
software players, and has helped shape the way courts, attorneys, and
engineers view software protection. The MacArthur award comes with a
no-strings-attached US$295,000 grant payable over five years.
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POLICY BRIEFS
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COMMUNICATIONS DECENCY ACT RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL
In a landmark decision issued on June 26, the United States Supreme Court
struck down the Communications Decency Act (CDA) as an unconstitutional
infringement on speech protected by the First Amendment. In its first
opinion involving the Internet, the Court struck down the online
censorship provisions of the CDA by a 7-2 vote (with Chief Justice
Rehnquist and Justice O'Connor concurring in part and dissenting in part).
The CDA sought to regulate the availability of "indecent" material in
cyberspace, by making it criminal to transmit or display such material if
it would be freely available to minors. "Notwithstanding the legitimacy
and importance of the congressional goal of protecting children from
harmful materials, we agree with [the lower court] that the [CDA] abridges
"the freedom of speech" protected by the First Amendment[,]" declared
Justice Stevens, writing for the majority. "We are persuaded that the CDA
lacks the precision that the First Amendment requires when a statute
regulates the content of speech. In order to deny minors access to
potentially harmful speech, the CDA effectively suppresses a large amount
of speech that adults have a constitutional right to receive and to
address to one another."
The Court was particularly acerbic about the Government's argument that
"the unregulated availability of "indecent" and "patently offensive"
material on the Internet is driving countless citizens away from the
medium because of the risk of exposing themselves or their children to
harmful material." In a stinging response, the Court stated: "We find this
argument singularly unpersuasive. ... [G]overnmental regulation of the
content of speech is more likely to interfere with the free exchange of
ideas than to encourage it. The interest in encouraging freedom of
expression in a democratic society outweighs any theoretical but unproven
benefit of censorship." The text of the statute can be found at
http://www.acm.org/usacm/speech/comm_decency_act.html The text of the
decision can be found at
http://www.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=000&invol=96-511
The USACM Free Speech web page is located at
http://www.acm.org/usacm/speech/
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COMPUTER SECURITY ENHANCEMENT ACT INTRODUCED
Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) introduced HR 1903, the "Computer Security
Enhancement Act on June 17. The bill is designed to enhance the security
of unclassified information on federal computer systems, to promote
private sector input in the development of computer security technology
used to protect these federal computer systems, and to provide for
evaluations of cryptographic technology originating outside the United
States.
HR 1903 would reinforce of the role of the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST) and its Computer System Security and Privacy
Advisory Board in the development of computer security systems, and
includes an explicit proviso that NIST develop encryption standards and
policies only for use in Federal Government computer systems.
The bill would authorize the Secretary of Commerce to commission the
National Research Council to study public key infrastructures for use by
individuals, businesses and government. HR 1903 also establishes a
fellowship program to support students at institutions of higher learning
in computer security. A hearing is scheduled on the bill for June 19.
More information on the bill and the Computer Security Act is available
at: http://www.epic.org/crypto/csa/
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NEW CRYPTOGRAPHY BILL PASSED BY SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE
The "Secure Public Networks Act" (S 909) introduced by Sens. McCain and
Kerrey was passed by the Senate Commerce Committee by a vote of 12-8. Its
passage by the full Congress would be a major set back to the fight to
remove export controls on encryption and would create a Key Recovery
Infrastructure by mandating that all encryption products purchased "for
transaction of government business" with government funding incorporate
key recovery technologies.
The bill promotes key escrow technology by requiring that all federal
funds spent directly or indirectly for communications networks and
security products that incorporate encryption must support key recovery.
This would include schools, states receiving federal grants, the new
Internet II and other projects. To gain the support of industry, the bill
offers to relax crypto exports up to 56 bit DES. However, it would
provide broad discretion to the Secretary of Commerce to prohibit any
export without judicial review of the decision.
A hearing on the proposed legislation will be conducted July 9 by the
Senate Judiciary to "to examine encryption, recovery, and privacy
protection issues in the information age." The proposed legislation can
be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:S.909:
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WHITE HOUSE RELEASES REPORT ON GLOBAL COMMERCE"
On July 1, the Clinton Administration released "A Framework for Global
Electronic Commerce", a report setting out the Administration's vision of
the emerging global electronic marketplace. The report was prepared by an
interagency working group on Electronic Commerce, under the leadership of
Vice President Gore. The interagency working group, including
representatives from the Departments of Treasury, State, Justice and
Commerce, as well as the Executive Office of the President, has been
meeting for the past 18 months, analyzing the issues and consulting with
academics and representatives from the private sector. The report
establishes a set of principles to guide the development of policy,
outlines the Administration's position on a number of central issues
related to electronic commerce, and provides a road map for future
international negotiations. The report can be found at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/New/Commerce/
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TWO STATE COURTS RULE ON INTERNET CENSORSHIP
Two Federal courts ruled in separate decisions that state laws in New York
and Georgia restricting speech on the Internet are unconstitutional. In a
62-page ruling, Judge Loretta Preska of Manhattan's Federal district court
struck down a New York state Net-censorship law that restricted online
material that might be "harmful to minors," saying that a single state
couldn't pass laws that apply to the entire Internet. In Georgia, Judge
Marvin Shoob ruled that a state law forbidding anonymity online is
unconstitutional since it violates free speech and free association
rights. "The Internet may well be the premiere technological innovation of
the present age," Preska said. "Judges and legislators faced with adapting
existing legal standards to the novel environment of cyberspace struggle
with terms and concepts that the average American five-year old tosses
about with breezy familiarity. More information on the lawsuits and
decisions can be found at:
http://www.aclu.org/issues/cyber/censor/censor.html
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CHALLENGE TO NATIONAL ARCHIVES REGULATIONS FILED
Public Citizen Inc. filed a brief on June 11 against the National Archives
Regulations (GRS 20) that would allow blanket destruction of electronic
files throughout the Federal Government. Arguments in this case were held
in Washington, DC on Friday June 27 at 9:30 before Judge Friedman. The
brief argued that GRS 20 is unlawful because: it is overbroad, it is not
limited to administrative records, but authorizes destruction of all word
processing and electronic mail records without regard to content, it is
not supported by the requisite determination that all the records covered
by the schedule lack sufficient value to warrant their preservation and it
is contrary to law because it does not specify the period for retention of
records.
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ANTI-SPAM LEGISLATION INTRODUCED
On June 11, Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) introduced the Electronic
Mailbox Protection Act of 1997. The bill, like the efforts of Sen. Frank
Murkowski (R-AK) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), addresses the issue of
unsolicited commercial e-mail (or spam). However, Torricelli's bill takes
a different perspective on solutions to the problem.
The most noticeable difference between Torricelli's bill and the others is
that it regulates all unsolicited e-mail, not just unsolicited commercial
e-mail. This means that, according to the bill's definition of
unsolicited e-mail, anyone sending e-mail to another with whom they do not
have a pre-existing personal or business relationship would be covered by
the bill. For example, a student e-mailing a question to a professor with
whom the student has no pre-existing relationship could conceivably fall
within the provisions of the bill. Torricelli also takes a fundamentally
different approach to regulating unsolicited e-mail. While the Murkowski
and Smith bills attempt to limit spam through labeling or banning the spam
itself, the Torricelli bill attacks the harvesting and distribution of
e-mail addresses as well as some attempts by spammers to circumvent
blocking systems and avoid responses.
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FTC HOLDS HEARINGS ON PRIVACY
In response to growing concern that companies collecting and offering
computerized information are compromising the privacy rights of
individuals, the Federal Trade Commission held a workshop on Consumer
Information Privacy, June 10-13, 1997.
Participants included a wide range of business representatives promoting
industry self-regulation, as well as consumer advocates insisting that
mandatory rules are needed to crack down on growing abuses by electronic
data companies and stressing that the law has not kept up with those
developments. Polls presented during the workshop confirmed that the
public demands and expects to know what information is being collected and
how it is used and reused. Preservation of anonymity in the information
world was also stressed during the workshop.
http://www.ftc.gov/os/9703/privacy.htm
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FIRST AMENDMENT WEB SITE LAUNCHED
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Privacy
Information Center (EPIC) launched a "First Amendment" Web site on June to
continue to pressure legislators to respect the first Amendment. The
groups further called on President Bill Clinton and members of Congress to
be among the first to "Take the First Amendment Pledge" and "cease any
further attempts to draft legislation to censor the Internet" in the event
the Supreme Court upholds a lower court decision striking down government
regulation of the Internet as unconstitutional.
Online users can capture the "First Amendment Pledge" GIF (graphic image
file) for placement on their own website. Other features planned for the
site include an "action alert" that informs users of legislative threats
to the First Amendment and allows them to instantly e-mail or fax their
member of Congress, and an online "postcard" that can be e-mailed to
friends, relatives and elected officials, urging them to "Take the
Pledge." Web site at http://www.firstamendment.org
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Washington Update is a biweekly publication of the U.S. Public Policy
Office of the Association for Computing http://www.acm.org/usacm 666
Pennsylvania Ave., SE, Suite 302B, Washington, DC 20003. 202/544-4859
(tel), 202/547-5482 (fax).
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