Subject:  The Cold War rules......(Scherer)
Date:     Sun, 19 Sep 1999 164617 -0500 (CDT)
From:     "Roy L. Beavers" 
To:       emfguru 
--------------------------------------------------


.....During the Cold War, the powers of the U.S. Government to intrude
into the personal lives of its citizens expanded immensely....  Now that
the Cold War is over, do we want to continue to allow those intrusions
into our traditional (Constitutional??) freedoms and rights???

Cheerio.....(Item below is very interesting reading!!!....)

Roy Beavers (EMFguru)......
rbeavers@llion.org.......
.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
EMF-L web-site can be found at: 
EMF-L archives can be found at: 
..................PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS..................


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 16:47:53 -5
From: "Wolfgang W. Scherer" 
To: rbeavers@llion.org
Subject: FYI  (Fwd) TMILK for Windows 3x   

Dear Roy 

.....Thought you might be interested

greetings
Wolfgang


------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date sent:      	Sun, 19 Sep 1999 13:46:10 -0400
From:           	T-Milk User 
Subject:        	TMILK for Windows 3x   

TUCOWS-Message Interchange List Kit (T-MILK)
The weekly newsletter from TUCOWS
For Win3x

I.   Grazing Grounds - Be Afraid: Be Very Afraid


************************************************************************
 ********************Section I. Grazing Grounds***********************
************************************************************************

If there has been one constant in President Bill Clinton's U.S. policy 
(and there probably has been only one) it has been his policy on exporting
products with a high level of encryption. President Clinton has stated 
many times that high levels of encryption should not go over-seas for 
fear that it would make international crime, like child pornography, 
easier to perpetrate. However, after years of strong speeches and strong 
words condemning the idea, President Clinton has relented and said that 
U.S. firms can now ship the strong encryption overseas. 

At first this sounds like a great thing. The arguments that were put forth 
by President Clinton and the national law enforcement community against 
the sale of products with the high level of encryption were weak at best. 
U.S. tech firms desperately want the ability to sell these products 
overseas. They claim, rightfully so, that is costs them a rather large 
amount of potential revenue by not having the ability to sell these 
products to foreign firms. So, this is a great thing, right? 

Ah, but there must be a catch. After all, not one law enforcement agency 
in the United States wanted the encryption to be exported; yet the 
nation's "top cop", Janet Reno, Attorney General of the United States, 
supports the new policy. Back in July she condemned the mere idea of 
this; why the sudden change of heart? 

Getting suspicious yet? You should be. It seems that the U.S. government 
is no longer worried about the tough encryption because they are going 
to have access to virtually every program shipped outside the U.S. with 
the encryption. The U.S. can still stop companies from shipping their 
product overseas if they want. The catch will be that unless the company
complies with the demands of the U.S. law enforcement agencies and gives 
them a "back door" into their programs the product will not be allowed 
to go to foreign shores. 

Of course, this is not official policy. There is nothing that says that 
they are going to do this. It is just the best explanation out there for 
the sudden about-face that the Clinton Administration just did. This is 
a drastic spin even for them. While to some this may sound like nothing 
more than another conspiracy theory about Big Government, consider the 
facts: 

First, the United States has done this before. Back in the 1940's the 
U.S. pressured Western Union, RCA and ITT into giving the government 
control over telegraph traffic. Western Union was the only one who 
limited what the U.S. could see, while RCA and ITT let the U.S. see 
whatever telegraphs they wanted to. 

That example too old for you? How about this: Microsoft may have a 
security hole in it right now. There is a key called "NSAKEY" in 
Windows. It is believed to be a backdoor for the NSA (National Security 
Agency). This is in all copies of Microsoft Windows that are shipped 
outside of the U.S. 

Still not enough? What if I told you that a soon-to-be piece of U.S. 
law allows for this? While it is not law yet, the backing of President 
Clinton is there, as is the backing of Congress. The "Cyberspace 
Electronic Securities Act" allows for Federal law enforcement agencies 
to crack codes or get them from the companies and use them in the course 
of their job. The deal is that the law enforcement agencies will not 
reveal how they cracked the codes. So, if the NSA, for example, wanted 
to force Microsoft to give them a code into Windows then they could do 
so and not tell anyone. 

Worried yet? I know what you may be thinking if you don't live in the 
U.S.: "So what? It isn't like all software comes out of the United States."
True. However, more people use Microsoft Windows worldwide than any other
operating system and this is a U.S. company. Apple has a strong following. 
This is also a U.S. company. Linux has many distributions coming from the
United States, like the best selling Red Hat. Even BeOS is from the United
States. 

Now it all comes together. Now the NSA or the CIA (Central Intelligence 
Agency) or any other spy group can, at any time, look an see what you are
doing. Even if you do not live in the United States. All this in the name 
of stopping criminals. Tell me, do you want to be treated like a criminal, 
even though you have done nothing wrong? Are you willing to give up your 
right to privacy just for the possibility of increased safty? I know that 
I am not. Giving up privacy for any reason is unacceptable. 

I urge all of you that live in the U.S. to write your representitive and 
senator and tell them to vote against the "Cyberspace Electronic 
Securities Act". If you live outside the United States then write your
government and tell them to put pressure on the U.S. to stop exporting 
products with built-in security holes. This must be stopped now before it
becomes too late and privacy becomes a thing of the past. 


See you next week!
Matt Bleicher
E-Mail the editor@tucows.com



Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com