The Fight for Privacy: The Govt. Raises the Stakes

by Stanton McCandlish

[Apologies for the length of this piece. However the issues, to US nodes at least, are far more important than preliminary backbone policies or griping about nodelist flags.]

The Clipper fiasco has just escalated. A lot. Our "representatives" in the Casa Blanca and on the hill have shown their true colours.

A bit of background for the few who don't know about this yet: In a "proposal" this summer, Clinton announced the creation of the Clipper/Capstone/Skipjack "encryption" "standard". This scheme uses a secret algorithm, for both voice and data encryption in all applications, which has not been reviewed for security publicly by cryptography experts. There is no doubt in the mind of the vast majority of such professionals that Clipper is intentionally weak and has built in "backdoors", in addition to the publicly- announced backdoor: Key escrow. This procedure places half of YOUR cryptographic key in the hands of one "escrow agency", and half in another, so that "law enforcement agencies" (not to metion any cracker worth the title) can get their hands on the keys to YOUR privacy, wire tap you at will, and read all of your files, regardless if you have not been convicted of a crime, or even charged. And not just the relevant material. ANYTHING you have EVER used this "encryption" on will be like a book for the SS and police to leaf through at will.

"What do I care?" Believe me, you will care. In less than 5 years it is expected that most telephones and modems, and a great deal of the software we use every day, will have built in encryption. It is almost inevitable, as this country's industries lose BILLIONS every year to industrial espionage. This totalitarian move by Big Bro will set the most horrifying precedent for government invasion of privacy this country has ever seen. And do not be fooled by any rhetoric from the government about Clipper being "voluntary". Ostensibly the purpose of the Clipper chip is to catch "drug dealers, terrorists, and child pronographers" (Of course. I mean we ALL know these evil minions of Satan himself are lurking on every street corner, and we all know they are STUPID enough to use "cryptography" that they know is compromised, with the cops listening it. Puh-leeeze. And the Reds are coming too, and there really IS a Santa Claus.) The ONLY way the Privacy- Clipper could be even imagined to be effective is if ALL OTHER CRYPTOGRAPHY IS BANNED. Yes that's right. And we all can see QUITE clearly that the real purpose of these chips is to spy upon the American populace.

Another dire result of this action, should it become law, is that it will utterly destroy the cryptography industry in this country, literally throwing away many people's jobs. Europe is already in the lead in cryptographic applications, unhampered by ludicrous export regulations that classify privacy software as dangerous "munitions", putting crypto under the purview of our beloved BATF. And we all know how much they wish to "serve and protect" by burning women and children to death for failing to bow down for the bootheel. In addition, ALL US industries will suffer staggering losses, as Japanese, Indian, European, Korean industrial spies steal our technology, again and again and again.

Oh, don't get me wrong, someone will benefit. AT&T is supporting the Clipper scheme, since they have an exclusive license to make Clipper phones. Yes, the faceless corporate monster that charges you ten times what telephone service should cost, that colludes with "law enforcement" to tap the phones of anyone they care to tap, are to be entrusted with YOUR privacy and rights. PKP/RSADSI (Public Key Partners/RSA Data Security, Inc., more commonly known as PKP or RSA) will also benefit. Their allies in the government have allowed them to claim algorithm patents on almost all cryptography applications. Yep you heard right. The government has granted OWNERSHIP of PROPERTIES OF MATHEMATICS, POSSESSION of NATURAL PROCESSES OF THE UNIVERSE. What next? Will GE be handed a deed to sunlight? Perhaps I should apply for a copyright on the laws of physics? This ludicrous and reprehensible action has resulted in PKP/RSI gaining an almost complete monopoly on crytographic applications in the US. I my self have received legal threats (you are welcome to a copy if you like) from RSA for daring to use non-RSA freeware cryptography software.

Recently, NIST, yet another government four-letter-agency, and more or less a branch of the NSA, has attempted to grant RSA an EXCLUSIVE license to government cryptography standards such as DSA and DSS. This crypto was developed with YOUR tax money, and is now to be given to a private company to SELL back to you. Do you like paying for things twice? Do you like to see monopolies conspiring with the federal government to rape your privacy? This action is in blatant violation of federal law, as are NSA's refusals, even in the face of repeated direct court orders, to yield up information, as required by the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) about Clipper and other privacy matters (such as their involvement with the FBI's "Digital Telephony" wiretap bill, which aimed to cripple all future communications technology and hamper development to the point of uselessness, to ensure that it will always be as easy to spy on peasants like you and me as it is now.) The actions of organizations like the ACLU and EFF, and individuals like YOU, defeated the FBI scheme, repeatedly. It can also stomp the NIST/PKP scandal, and the Clipper scheme in its entirety, but only if you act NOW. Do something about this immediately, or your children and grandchildren, perhaps even you yourself, will live in a world far less pleasant than that envisioned by George Orwell. This is NOT a joke, it will NOT go away, wasting your time watching Cheers reruns will NOT protect YOUR rights. This is a war. It is bloodless, and behind the scenes, but it is no less a battle than the American Revolution, and the reasons are almost identical.

Are you angry? You should be. Read on. As of this writing, the US government has announced who it has chosen to be the "key escrow agents" for the Clipper scheme (and please note that NO ONE IN THIS COUNTRY got to vote on this matter -- if you really believe you still live in a democracy, you have been lied to). Early on in the "game", the govt. assured all who were concerned that the key escrow agents (nevermind that the vast majority of people who were "allowed" to "comment" on the matter, and whose demands were utterly ignored by our sneering "representatives", decided that no escrow was needed, because no damned crippled crypto from the SuperSpook spy house would be tolerated) would be private companies with no connections to the govt., so the populace could be assured that corrupt "law enforcement" and "anti-terrorist" agents would not misuse the keys to our privacy. Did this happen? Of course not. The White House has announced that one of the escrow agents is to be NIST itself, who have a vested (and conflict of) interest in at once devising and spreading insecure communications encryption to make it easy for their Big Brothers, NSA, CIA, FBI, and SS, spy upon us, while also proposing to protect our rights and privacy from just such voyeurism. And the other escrow agent? Try an "unspecified" sub-agency of the Treasury department. Yes, that's right. The people that brought you the Prohibition, the Waco Massacre, the outright theft of anything brought into this country that they do not approve of, the robbing and destruction of publishers and BBSs all over the country, and (imagine that) legal threats and harrassment of people daring to use non-crippled, private cryptography for their own uses. How is all this possible? Keep in mind that the Treasury controls:

The Secret Service. Responsible for the (by now infamous) Steve Jackson Games case, and the dreaded and sickening Operation Sundevil, resulting in the destruction of several BBSs, and lives, in the cause of charging people with the "theft" of a telco document which, in a blatant and perjurous lie, was valued at over a hundred thousand dollars, but which ANY person in this country can buy directly from the phone company for under TWENTY dollars. Perhaps the SS should stick to what it does best: catching bullets for the Prez. Then again, remembering Kennedy, perhaps they can't even do THAT competently. The SJG case resulted in a resounding court victory against the SS, and it's not over yet.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Surely a great combination, especially coupled with our corrupt Treasury. Responsible for a variety of atrocities, but most notably the Waco Massacre, in which about 80 US citizens were denied their right to bear arms, and their right to freedom of religion. They were burned to death, men, women, and children, while the BATF told blatant and obvious lies to the media and to YOU.

The Customs Department. The agency directly responsible for enforcing "export restrictions" on cryptography, in defiance of all logic and basic common sense. Encryption packages, unless Govt. Approved (TM), even if MADE OUTSIDE THE US AND IMPORTED, cannot be exported, lest The Evil Bad Guys (R) get ahold of it. Nevermind the simple and inescable fact that in most cases they WROTE it in the first place. Almost simultaneous with the announcement of the escrow agents, was the issuing of several subpoenas by US Customs, to haul in people using PGP encryption, even those LICENSED by the "patent" holder, our friendly RSA, to do so.

SO, yes the ante has just been upped. But they are bluffing. The American people have a royal flush. It's called the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. WE have the right, the DUTY, to ensure that our government serves us, not the other way around. The govt. exists because we allow it to, and it answers to us. It will answer to us, and to YOU, so DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT NOW. Don't take a nap, don't watch Oprah, don't have lunch, don't go out dancing. Sit down RIGHT NOW, if you care for your rights at all, and draft a short note to your congresspersons, your president, and all of the local newsmedia. If you don't feel up to this, or would simply like more information before deciding that YOU are responsible for YOUR rights, and no one will defend them for you, then call NitV-BBS (+1-505-246- 8515) [new node number to be announced in October] or Jungle BBS (+1-505-275- 2339) 1:301/36 and download BIGBRO?.ZIP (there are 4 of them at this writing.) In conjunction with the file EFF8-30.ZIP, also available from NitV), you'll find well over a megabyte of information, debate, commentary, analysis, reports, articles and more, from both sides of the Clipper debate, in addition to sample letters to send to your "representatives", hints on how to use the media, info on the Electronic Frontier Foundation and related civil rights organizations you should belong to or support in any way you can, and lots more besides. You can FREQ these files from NitV (1:302/2, 369:101/1) as BIGBRO.ZIP, BIGBRO2.ZIP, BIGBRO3.ZIP, BIGBRO4.ZIP (or get them all at once with the "magicname" BIGBRO. EFF8-30.ZIP must be FREQed separately). If you do not wish to login

with your real name, you may login as ANONYMOUS, password GUEST. You may also be interested in the UNcrippled cryptography applications available at NitV. Due to our favourite US export restrictions, crypto files are unfortunately available only to US and Canadian nodes.

THE TIME IS *NOW*.

Are you scared? You should be. If you are not, read this again, and get those files, and read them until you understand. Then you will be. Maybe that's what it takes. And it will be worth it. ANYTHING will be worth demonstrating to our supposed masters that the American people will NOT tolerate a regime of bureacrats that think they are above the law and can act as judge, jury and executioner rolled into one.

DISCLAIMER: At this time I speak ONLY for myself, and my statements do NOT represent the Electronic Frontier Foundation or any other organization.

"CORRECTION, re: Clipper article"

Stanton McCandlish, 1:301/2 (until Sept. 23), mech@eff.org

I'd like to correct an error in my article concerning the govt's "Clipper" scheme. The telco document of importance in the Steve Jackson Games case was valued at over $80,000, not over $100,000. Sorry about that. This error was pointed out by Bill Verant at 1:317/50. Also, an update on the very recent news of the Customs subpoenas clarifies that it was not simply individuals that are being hassled by the Treasury, but entire, legitimate, companies. EFF has issued a public statement in defense of those who have been subpoena'd, stating that they have done precisely NOTHING that is illegal. In the personal opinion of this writer, the actions on the part of Customs/Treasury can be viewed as nothing but outright harrassment.

Don't stand for it.