 [34]  CIVLIB (1:375/48)  CIVLIB 
 Msg  : #5983 [110]                                                             
 From : Jim Bell                            1:105/105       Wed 02 Mar 94 21:53 
 To   : All                                                                     
 Subj : Clinton's Buggery                                                       

Cross-post from Libernet

From: freematt@aol.com
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 94 00:58:57 EST

FWD> By Matthew Gaylor <freematt@aol.com>

****White House To Intro Superhighway Surveillance Bill 02/24/94  WASHINGTON,
D.C., U.S.A. 1994 FEB 24 (NB) -- The FBI and Justice Department are expected
to formally unveil their legislation to give government investigators power
to tap into individuals on the information superhighway. The legislation is
likely to set off a confrontation in Congress between law enforcement forces
on the one hand and civil liberties advocates and the telecommunications
industry on the other. The White House was set to brief telephone company
executives today and public interest groups tomorrow. But the draft
legislation has already surfaced in Washington and Newsbytes has obtained a
copy. The administration draft defines as a "common carrier" any network or
provider that carries voice or data, including telephone, cable, computer and
other firms, and says the FBI can require the common carrier to deliver
contents of message and call setup information to a remote government site.
The legislation would require a court order before the FBI could install a
wiretap. But the agency would not need to get a court order to track an
individual's activity on the network. That would only require that the person
is "subject to investigation." "Not happy," was the reaction of Jerry Berman,
executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation in Washington. "This
is a potential blueprint for an electronic surveillance society." The EFF is
leading a coalition of civil-liberties groups and industry opposing the
legislation, which is similar to a bill the Bush administration proposed in
1992 and dropped when opponents bombarded it as intrusive. While the new bill
is different from the Bush proposal, "You can't quarrel with the potential
breadth of the new bill," Berman told Newsbytes. The new bill would give the
attorney general broad power to demand that communications equipment be
designed to guarantee that investigators would have access to it, and would
allow the attorney general to seek fines of $10,000 a day for firms that
don't comply. In some cases, the government could shut the firms down if they
fail to comply. FBI Director Louis J. Freeh said in a speech last week that
the new technologies and a "lack of support" by some communications
executives mean "the country will be unable to protect itself against
terrorism, violent crime, foreign threats, drug trafficking, espionage" and
other crimes. The FBI and the Justice Department say the initiative would
ensure access to communications they already have authority to tap, through
the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968. The FBI says it is
troubled by all the new technology developments since then, including call
forwarding to bounce calls from phone to phone, confusing tappers. Also, says
the FBI, cellular systems can make it difficult to follow suspected activity
by limiting the number of ports into the systems. When it is introduced in
Congress, Berman said, it will be referred to the House and Senate Judiciary
Committees. In the House, it will come before Rep. Don Edwards' crime and
criminal justice subcommittee. Edwards, a California Democrat who is also a
former FBI agent, is one of the most stalwart defenders of civil liberties in
Congress and a long-time member of the American Civil Liberties Union. In the
Senate, the measure will come before the technology and the law subcommittee,
chaired by Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), another civil libertarian. "This won't be
the same bill when, and if, it emerges from Congress," Berman predicted.
(Kennedy Maize/19940224/Contact: Jerry Berman, Electronic Frontier
Foundation, 202-347-5400)

Transmitted:  94-02-24 17:40:15 EST


... Just say no to Clipper/Capstone/NSA
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12

--- Maximus/2 2.01wb
 * Origin: Taboo (1:105/105)


