EFFector Online Volume 07 02

• Senate FTP Site Online
• Public Hearings on Privacy in DC
• WUTC Inquiry Comments Due Jan. 31 - Info Available Via FTP
• EFF Seeking Volunteer MOO Programmer for "Virtual Office"
• A Study of National Cryptography Policy
• EDGAR Database Available
• Information Infrastructure Task Force Announces BBS
• What YOU can Do

Subject: Senate FTP Site Online

Chris Casey <chris_casey@kennedy.senate.gov> of the office of Sen. Edward Kennedy says "Some progress is being made here on the Hill. The Senate now has an anonymous ftp server running. It's sparsly populated, only Kennedy and Stevens have posted anything so far, but I imagine the rest will find their way shortly. At least it's a start. The fact that the Senate has an anonymous ftp server is not a secret, but I don't think it's widely known either."

You can access the server by FTPing to ftp.senate.gov , logging in as "anonymous" (without the quotes) and giving your email address as password.

The site's general information bulletin is as follows:

Welcome to the United States Senate's Anonymous FTP Server (ftp.senate.gov). This service is provided by the Office of the U.S. Senate Sergeant at Arms and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration.

This server contains general information files about the United States Senate in the directory "general". Directories are also provided for specific Senators' offices, in alphabetical order by two-letter state abbreviations, and for Senate committees and other Senate offices. If an office is not included in the directory, this indicates no files have been posted by that office.

No files can be uploaded to this system. Please direct questions about a specific Senate office's use of this service to the Senate office in question. General inquiries not involving a specific Senate office can be directed via Internet e-mail to: ftpadmin@scc.senate.gov.

Subdirectories for Senator's offices are structured as follows:

/member/state_abbrev./senator's_name/releases/filename
or /member/state_abbrev./senator's_name/general/filename

The "releases" subdirectories contain press releases and related materials, and "general" subdirectories contain information of long-term interest such as office contacts.

As of Jan. 24, 1994, the site was not being used very extensively, but individual Senators' directories contained various informational files, such as the following:

Ted Stevens (AK):

member/ak/stevens/releases
 -rw-r--r--   1 1           1321 Jan 21 16:16 Childhood_Immunizations
 -rw-r--r--   1 1            828 Jan 21 16:16 Inman_Statement
 -rw-r--r--   1 1           3152 Jan 05 11:45 Ketchikan_Subcontractors
 -rw-r--r--   1 1           3488 Jan 21 16:16 Seafood_Inspection
 -rw-r--r--   1 1           1910 Jan 21 16:17 new_staff
 -rw-r--r--   1 1           1661 Jan 21 16:17 tongass_timber

member/ma/kennedy/general
 -rw-r--r--   1 1         138842 Jan 13 13:49 S1150_Goals_2000
 -rw-r--r--   1 1           1011 Dec 13 15:04 on-line_access
 -rw-r--r--   1 1         133477 Dec 27 10:08 s1040.txt

member/ma/kennedy/releases
 -rw-r--r--   1 1           3591 Jan 14 15:23 Human_Radiation_Experimentation
 -rw-r--r--   1 1           1664 Jan 05 11:11 Statement_on_Firearms_Proposal
 -rw-r--r--   1 1          16188 Dec 15 14:19 major_accomplishment_93
 -rw-r--r--   1 1          14523 Jan 13 11:58 national_health_reform_debate
 -rw-r--r--   1 1           1298 Dec 15 14:18 worker_retraining_grant

Please express your interest in this first small step, and encourage your Senators to utilize this new Congressional Internet resource. Ask your Representatives to look into the possibility of a similar system for the House.

Return to the Table of Contents

Subject: Public Hearings on Privacy in DC

Washington, DC: January 26-27, 1994. Public Invited to Participate.

Representatives from the public, private and non-profit sectors will present their views on personal privacy and data protection in the information age at public hearings of a U.S. Government task force in early 1994.

The hearings will be open meetings of the Privacy Working Group, chaired by Patricia Faley, Acting Director of the United States Office of Consumer Affairs (USOCA). The Working Group is part of a task force set up by the Clinton Administration to consider how to spur development of an "information superhighway." Officially known as the National Information Infrastructure (NII), the "data highway" will be capable of exchanging data, voice and images electronically within a vast network of individuals, businesses, government agencies and other organizations around the world. Ensuring ready access to information is the goal of the Administrative initiative, but protecting individual privacy is essential to its success.

The public meeting will examine privacy issues relating to such areas as law enforcement, financial services, information technology, and direct marketing. The previous California meeting, January 10th and llth, was hosted by Jim Conran (Director, California Department of Consumer Affairs) in Sacramento The Washington, DC meeting, January 26th and 27th, will be held at the U.S. Department of Commerce Auditorium, 14th & Constitution Ave. NW. Registration begins at 8:30am, meetings at 9am.

The public is invited to attend, question speakers and to make brief comments, but space is limited. Concise written statements for the record should be sent to "Privacy," USOCA, 1620 L Street NW, Washington DC 20036 or faxed to (202)634-4135.

Return to the Table of Contents

Subject: WUTC Inquiry Comments Due Jan. 31 - Info Available Via FTP

Traditionally, Commission inquiries have been open to the public but have rarely gone beyond comment from the regulated industries and their major customers. The discussion paper contends that "in a converged marketplace, local telephone service will inevitably become simply one component of a multi- media service package." Thus, the Commission is actively seeking a wider range of comment from existing and potential communication network providers as well as informed consumers.

Since the scope of the communications industry has changed, regulatory arrangements that have been structured around these formally discrete markets must also change. The discussion paper calls for a new regulatory paradigm -- eventually "shifting attention away from corporate earnings and service pricing toward fair interconnection, common carriage and consumer protection."

The discussion paper, "Alternative Regulation of U S West: Toward a New Paradigm" eschews the current popular fascination with specific technology deployments. Instead of defining an outcome where customers pay for services they may not want, the Commission's paper believes the state should foster a communications marketplace where the customer has a wide array of choices from competitive providers. Essentially, the message is that the ultimate and only bottleneck should be the limitations of the human mind.

However, in the short term, the Commission's investigation seeks a new regulatory plan for the state's largest telephone company U S West -- envisioning this new regulatory plan as a major component to ensuring fair and effective competition. First round of comments are due by January 31, 1994.

The Notice of Inquiry, with the associated discussion paper on the Alternative Form of Regulation, is available via anonymous FTP on the Internet. Click here to go to the archive, and for the ascii text version, get NOI_ON_THE_AFOR.txt and for a WordPerfect version, get NOI_ON_THE_AFOR.wp51.

Hard copies can be acquired by sending a request here or by email with a postal address to wutcpol1@wln.com. The Commission is requesting that formal comment be submitted both in hard copy and on disk in electronic form; and is requesting permission to post comments.

Please share this posting with others in your organization.

Return to the Table of Contents

Subject: EFF Seeking Volunteer MOO Programmer for "Virtual Office"

In accordance with this goal, EFF is seeking an experienced volunteer MOO programmer who can get such a "virtual office" up and running in short order, and who is willing to maintain and extend this section of Metaverse in the future to keep it updated and increasingly useful and interesting.

This position will not be paid, but the programmer will receive an more-or-less unlimited account on both Metaverse and Illuminati Online (io.com), which is quite a deal, as this includes a full Internet account, with email, news, and more. The postition does not include an account on eff.org, as this would be irrelevant to the virtual office maintenance.

Interested parties, please send a resume of relevant experience to Stanton McCandlish (mech@eff.org), EFF's Online Activist.

Return to the Table of Contents

Subject: A Study of National Cryptography Policy

[Please forward this message to any individual or mailing list that you believe should receive it. Many thanks.]

As part of the Defense Authorization Bill for FY 1994, the U.S. Congress has asked the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) of the National Research Council (NRC) to undertake a study of national policy with respect to the use and regulation of cryptography. The report of the study committee is due two years after all necessary security clearances have been processed, probably sometime summer 1996, and is subject to NRC review procedures. The legislation states that 120 days after the day on which the report is submitted to the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary shall submit the report to the Committees on Armed Services, Intelligence, Commerce, and the Judiciary of the Senate and House of Representatives in unclassified form, with classified annexes as necessary.

This study is expected to address the appropriate balance in cryptography policy among various national interests (e.g., U.S. economic competitiveness (especially with respect to export controls), national security, law enforcement, and the protection of the privacy rights of individuals), and the strength of various cryptographic technologies known today and anticipated in the future that are relevant for commercial purposes. The federal process through which national cryptography policy has been formulated is also expected to be a topic of consideration, and, if appropriate, the project will address recommendations for improving the formulation of national cryptographic policy in the future.

This project, like other NRC projects, will depend heavily on input from industry, academia, and other communities in the concerned public. Apart from the study committee (described below), briefings and consultations from interested parties will be arranged and others will be involved as anonymous peer reviewers.

It is expected that the study committee will be a high-level group that will command credibility and respect across the range of government, academic, commercial, and private interests. The committee will include members with expertise in areas such as:

• relevant computer and communications technology;
• cryptographic technologies and cryptanalysis;
• foreign, national security, and intelligence affairs;
• law enforcement;
• commercial interests; and
• privacy and consumer interests.

All committee members (and associated staff) will have to be cleared at the "SI/TK" level; provisions have been made to expedite the processing of security clearances for those who do not currently have them. Committee members will be chosen for their stature, expertise, and seniority in their fields; their willingness to listen and consider fairly other points of view; and their ability to contribute to the formulation of consensus positions. The committee as a whole will be chosen to reflect the range of judgment and opinion on the subject under consideration.

Finally, some people have expressed concern about the fact that the project will involve consideration of classified material. Arguments can and have been made on both sides of this point, but in any event this particular ground rule was established by the U.S. Congress, not by the CSTB. Whether one agrees or disagrees with the asserted need for classification, the task at hand is to do the best possible job given this constraint.

On the National Research Council

The National Research Council (NRC) is the operating arm of the Academy complex, which includes the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The NRC is a source of impartial and independent advice to the federal government and other policy makers that is able to bring to bear the best scientific and technical talent in the nation to answer questions of national significance. In addition, it often acts as a neutral party in convening meetings among multiple stakeholders on any given issue, thereby facilitating the generation of consensus on controversial issues.

The Computer Science and Telecommunications Board (CSTB) of the NRC considers technical and policy issues pertaining to computer science, telecommunications, and associated technologies. CSTB monitors the health of the computer science, computing technology, and telecommunications fields, including attention as appropriate to the issues of human resources and information infrastructure and initiates studies involving computer science, computing technology, and telecommunications as critical resources and sources of national economic strength. A list of CSTB publications is available on request or by email here or to cstb@nas.edu.

Return to the Table of Contents

Subject: EDGAR Database Available

For anonymous FTP, use your FTP software to go to town.hall.org and log in as "anonymous." Enter your electronic mail address for the password. Look in the edgar directory for the file named general.txt and read it. Or, click here.

If you are using electronic mail, send mail to mail@town.hall.org and enter the word "HELP" in the body of the message. You will receive back a copy of the general help text. If you would like the general information on EDGAR, you would enter the following command in the body of the message: send edgar/general.txt

Easy enough? You bet! This initial release of information is rough and ready ... don't expect a huge amount of user support or navigational aids. Over the next few months, we'll be adding gopher and WWW interfaces, full text searching and Z39.50 searches, improved navigational and summary files, and a variety of other user-friendly services.

***   BECAUSE THIS IS A RESEARCH PROJECT YOU SHOULD
EXPECT  ***
      THE DATA FORMATS TO CHANGE, THE ACCESS METHODS TO
      CHANGE, AND YOU SHOULD EXPECT FLUCTUATIONS IN THE
      NUMBERS AND TYPES OF USERS AND SERVICES SUPPORTED.
      DO NOT BECOME ADDICTED TO YOUR FAVORITE PROTOCOL OR
      YOU MAY HAVE TO GO COLD TURKEY.  THIS DATA IS PROVIDED
***   AS-IS WITH NO WARRANTIES OR GAURANTEES OF ANY KIND.        ***

To learn about the Internet Multicasting Service, click here or send your mail to info@radio.com.

Return to the Table of Contents

Subject: Information Infrastructure Task Force Announces BBS

"Our goal is to make government information available and easily accessible to the public," stated Larry Irving. "As we move towards our goal of rapidly expanding our national information infrastructure, we want to ensure that the public is kept aware of our activities."

The Information Infrastructure Task Force (IITF) Bulletin Board may be reached through Internet or by calling +1 202 501 1920 using a personal computer and a telephone modem. The bulletin board is available to the public 24 hours each day, seven days a week.

For access through Internet, point your Gopher client to iitf.doc.gov or telnet to iitf.doc.gov and login as gopher. Or, click here. Comments may be sent by e-mail to nii@ntia.doc.gov.

For telephone access, call +1 202 501 1920. Modem communication parameters should be set at no parity, 8 data bits and 1 stop (N,8,1). The bulletin board modem operates at speeds up to 14,400 bps. If the above number is busy, the same information may be accessed by calling +1 202 482 1199 and choosing the IITF item on the menu.

When dialing in for the first time, you will be prompted for your name, location and terminal type. It is recommended that you select VT-100 as your terminal type.

After you have logged-in, you can choose to read or download information stored under the subject areas listed below.

• Frequently Asked Questions
• Directory/Points of Contact
• Press Releases
• Schedules/Calendar of Events
• IITF Committee Reports and Minutes
• Documents/Papers
• Selected Legislation

Return to the Table of Contents

Subject: What YOU Can Do

"New media, like any chaotic system, are highly sensitive to initial conditions. Today's heuristical answers of the moment become tomorrow's permanent institutions of both law and expectation."
-John Perry Barlow, "Crime & Puzzlement"

The decisions and precedents set today as the legal and social standards for online communications will affect our online futures indefinitely. Don't let them be set by default. Educate yourself and shape your future. Join EFF.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is working with legislators to make sure that principles guaranteeing free speech, privacy and affordable service to consumers are written into new communications legislation. Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) has already incorporated much of EFF's Open Platform vision into his NII proposal (H.R. 3626). But the fight is not yet won. The only way to make sure that future networks will serve you is to become involved. Join EFF and receive regular updates on what's happening and action alerts when immediate action becomes critical.

-------- 8< ------- cut here ------- 8< --------

================================================

MEMBERSHIP IN THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION

================================================

Print out and mail to:
Membership Coordinator
Electronic Frontier Foundation
1001 G Street, NW, Suite 950 East, Washington, DC 20001

I wish to become a member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I enclose:
$__________ Regular membership -- $40
$__________ Student membership -- $20

Special Contribution

I wish to make an additional tax-deductible donation in the amount of $__________ to further support the activities of EFF and to broaden participation in the organization.

PAYMENT METHOD:

___ Enclosed is a check payable to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

___ Please charge my:
___ MasterCard ___ Visa ___ American Express

Card Number: ___________________________________________

Expiration Date: _________________________________________

Signature: ______________________________________________

NOTE: We do not recommend sending credit card information via the Internet!

YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION:

Name: _________________________________________________

Organization: ____________________________________________

Address: ________________________________________________

___________________________________________________

Phone: (____) _______________ FAX: (____) _______________ (optional)

E-mail address: __________________________________________

PREFERRED CONTACT

___ Electronic: Please contact me via the Internet address listed above.
I would like to receive the following at that address:

___ EFFector Online - EFF's biweekly electronic newsletter (back issues available from ftp.eff.org/ pub/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector).

___ Online Bulletins - bulletins on key developments affecting online communications.

NOTE: Traffic may be high. You may wish to browse these publications in the Usenet newsgroup comp.org.eff.news (also available in FidoNet, as EFF-NEWS).

___ Paper: Please contact me through the U.S. Mail at the street address listed above.

PRIVACY POLICY

EFF occasionally shares our mailing list with other organizations promoting similar goals. However, we respect an individual's right to privacy and will not distribute your name without explicit permission.

___ I grant permission for the EFF to distribute my name and contact information to organizations sharing similar goals.

This form came from EFFector Online (please leave this line on the form!)

-------- 8< ------- cut here ------- 8< --------

Administrivia

The Electronic Frontier Foundation
1667 K St. NW, Suite 801
Washington DC 20006-1605 USA
+1 202 861 7700 (voice)
+1 202 861 1258 (fax)
+1 202 861 1223 (BBS - 16.8k ZyXEL)
+1 202 861 1224 (BBS - 14.4k V.32bis)
Membership & donations: membership@eff.org
Legal services: ssteele@eff.org
Hardcopy publications: pubs@eff.org
General EFF, legal, policy or online resources queries: ask@eff.org

Editor: Stanton McCandlish, Online Services Mgr./Activist/Archivist (mech@eff.org)
This newsletter printed on 100% recycled electrons.

Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged. Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of EFF. To reproduce signed articles individually, please contact the authors for their express permission. Press releases and EFF announcements may be reproduced individ- ually at will.

To subscribe to EFFector via email, send message body of "subscribe effector-online" (without the "quotes") to listserv@eff.org, which will add you to a subscription list for EFFector.

Back issues are available at:

ftp.eff.org,/pub/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/
gopher.eff.org,1/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/
http://www.eff.org/pub/EF F/Newsle tters/EFFector/

HTML editions available at:

http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/Newsletters/EFFector/HTML/ at EFFweb.