Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2000 14:36:57 -0500 From: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor) Subject: NSA Balancing (Code word for violating) Security, Privacy To: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor)

[Note from Matthew Gaylor: It was reported this week in the Danish Magazine "Ekstra Bladet" that Echelon has been spying on Amnesty International. In Delcan McCullagh's article below he reports that the NSA wants to protect US computer systems while balancing security and privacy. The last time I poke with someone from NSA, he said something remarkably similar to what Declan reported. What nobody has any idea of is if they are telling the truth. And besides just what the hell does "balance security with privacy" mean? After my brief encounters with our government, it means they are going to spy the shit out of everything that they can get the hands or in this case ears on. Any US government employee must obey the US constitution with regards to the privacy rights of US citizens. I have the tools and technical know how to communicate privately, yet I don't imagine for a minute that my communications on the Internet are not monitored. When I first opened my list (Freematt's Alerts) to the general public, I thought of excluding subscribers from .gov domains. I didn't not because it is trivially easy to subscribe from another address (Which it is), but I really didn't because I believe in openness. I think I have subscribers from most of the intelligence and law enforcement agencies and I don't know why they subscribe, nor do I care. Who knows maybe I'll contribute in opening their minds. I took an oath years ago to defend the US constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. I intend to continue doing just that.]

From Wired News, available online at: http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,35331,00.html

NSA Balancing Security, Privacy by Declan McCullagh

3:00 a.m. Apr. 1, 2000 PST WASHINGTON -- The spooks at the National Security Agency are so publicity-shy they don't even like to be quoted.

During an invitation-only luncheon Friday at the plush Ronald Reagan building on Pennsylvania Avenue, NSA Deputy Director Barbara McNamara showed up to talk about encryption -- but journalists were told that the event was off-the-record.

Other people who spoke or asked questions included White House staffers, embassy officials, and Daniel Poneman, a partner at the Hogan and Hartson law firm and former National Security Council aide.

While we can't say who said what, the general tone of it was something like this: The NSA wants to ensure it can continue to obtain foreign intelligence when necessary -- but also says it's willing to balance security with privacy.

In addition to spying on our enemies -- and maybe our allies -- the NSA also sees its role as protecting official U.S. computer systems. What it wants: A "global key infrastructure" so people using encryption will know who's who.

Political privacy: Privacy seems to be on everyone's minds nowadays -- even in Hollywood.

During this week's episode of NBC's West Wing, President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) changed his mind at the last minute about who he's going to appoint to the Supreme Court.

The reason: His first pick didn't care enough about Americans' privacy rights.

Clinton on taxes: President Clinton this week predicted a "consensus" will emerge on Internet taxes.

"The real issue is, as a higher and higher percentage of sales are conducted over the Internet, what happens to the sales tax base of the states? Are they going to have to go to a different kind of taxation, because they don't want to prejudice ordinary retailers?" Clinton said Wednesday during a press conference at the White House.

"I think, over the next year or so, you will begin to see some kind of consensus emerge," he said.

Last week a federal commission couldn't decide what to recommend to Congress on the issue.

Census fallout: Upset about the types of personal questions the Census Bureau is asking you to answer? Do you think the government has no business knowing how many toilets are in your home?

Surprise: This week Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) joined talk show hosts and conservative activists by advising Americans who received the longer version of the census form to fill out only questions they thought weren't nosy.

On Thursday, presidential wannabe George W. Bush said the same thing. "We want as accurate a count as possible, but I can understand why people don't want to give over that information to the government. If I have the long form, I'm not so sure I would do it either," Bush said.

The administration and its defenders were quick to reply. "All kinds of harm will be done if the count is defective," the Washington Post said in an editorial, and Census Bureau director Kenneth Prewitt shot back that Congress had the opportunity to review the questions two years ago and made no changes. SEC snoops: It's not like anyone in Washington is ever going to listen to them, but the Libertarian Party this week said the Securities and Exchange Commission should not be snooping on the Internet.

"Under this plan, anything you say electronically can and will be used against you in a government database," the LP said in a press release. "The SEC says it has 'zero tolerance' for financial fraud, but this proposal proves that the commission has zero tolerance for privacy, Constitutional protections, and the concept of being innocent until proven guilty."

No privacy: In France, protecting your privacy online may be harder than ever.

A proposal that appears likely to become law requires wbsite owners to identify themselves.

"As a normal law-abiding French consumer, this law could push you to use non-French hosting providers, chat rooms, etc., in order to avoid both the possible bureaucracy of this system and to avoid any possibility of coming under a jurisdiction where incorrect registration could land you in prison for six months," EuroISPA, a association of Internet providers, said in a statement.

Violators could face six months in prison and 7,000 euros in fines, EuroISPA said.

Goreisms: Al Gore wants to "rid this country of anyone who might question my motives, starting with deporting all Christians."

It's a hoax, of course, created by a malicious hacker who placed the quote on Marquette University's website this week.

Gore spoke at the school on Monday.