EFFector, Vol. 11, No. 16; Dec. 10, 1998

EFFector Vol. 11, No. 16 Dec. 10, 1998 editor@eff.org

A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424

This Human Rights Day special issue not only marks a historic liberty milestone, but also represents a full gross (12x12) EFFectors issued since EFF's founding in 1990.

Judge Halts Enforcement of COPA Internet Censorship Law

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 10, 1998 -- Civil liberties groups and Internet users everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief - for now - as a federal judge has halted enforcement of the "Child Online Protect Act" (COPA, or colloquially "CDA-II"), a new federal Internet censorship law, until its constitutionality is ultimately resolved in court.

In a Nov. 20 ruling in ACLU v. Reno II, Federal District Judge Lowell A. Reed, Jr. said that the groups have shown "a likelihood of success on the merits of at least some of their claims" that the federal Internet censorship law violates the First Amendment rights of adults. The government, Judge Reed said, presented "no binding authority or persuasive reason" why the court should not enjoin "total enforcement" of the law pending an outcome. The initial temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the court has been extended to Feb. 1, 1999, with the next hearing in the case slated for Jan. 20-21, in which the free speech organizations will argue to turn the TRO into a more lasting preliminary injunction pending conclusion of the trial.

Significantly, the judge emphasized that the temporary restraining order, or TRO, applies to all Internet users -- not just the plaintiffs in the case -- and that, even if the law is ultimately upheld, the Administration cannot prosecute online speakers retroactively.

Indeed, the judge wrote, to enjoin the law now but leave Internet users open to potential prosecution later "would be hollow relief indeed for plaintiffs and members of the public similarly situated."

"Our clients, David Talbot, CEO of Salon Magazine and Norman Laurila, President of A Different Light Bookstores, provided compelling testimony today that if this law were not enjoined, they might be forced to shut down their websites altogether," said Ann Beeson, ACLU National Staff Attorney and a member of the legal team that appeared in court today. "That may not have been the intent of the law, but it certainly is the outcome."

Under the current schedule, the groups will return to court next on December 8 and 9 for a preliminary injunction hearing on the matter. The TRO, which expires in ten days (on Friday, December 4), will likely be extended for another 10 days in order to maintain the current status quo.

"We are very pleased with the court's initial ruling, " said Marc Rotenberg, Executive Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "Like the original CDA, this censorship law raises troubling implications for both free speech and privacy in the online world."

Barry Steinhardt, President of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, agreed. "This is an important first step," he said. "At least for now, speech on the Internet retains the strong constitutional protection that the Supreme Court said it deserved in the original Reno v. ACLU case."

EFF Statement on Loudoun Ruling

Nov. 23, 1998

Another Victory for Free Speech on the Internet

For the second time in one week, a U.S. court has handed down a ruling upholding the strongest Constitutional protections of free expression on the Internet. A U.S. District Court ruled today, in Mainstream Loudoun, et. al. v. Board of Trustees of the Loudoun County Library, that the Loudoun County, Virginia, policy requiring filtering software in public libaries violated the First Amendment by preventing adults from using library computers to access a wide array of mainstream, constitutionally-protected materials.

The decision follows closely on the heels of the first victory in the new legal challenge being mounted by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, against the recently passed Child Online Protection Act (COPA, a.k.a. "CDA-II").

Filtering measures rob local libraries, schools, and ultimately parents of the authority to decide for themselves what are appropriate uses of the Internet and force them to install crude blocking software. All too often, material about topics ranging from the prevention of sexually-transmitted diseases, to women's rights, to current news stories about political sex scandals is likely to be blocked. Even religious groups such as the Society of Friends (Quaker religion) and mainstream organizations like the American Association of University Women have been blocked. Earlier this year we learned that even conservative groups like the American Family Association have been blacklisted by these imperfect tools, which are already being installed in libraries and schools today.

As EFF has said on numerous occasions that you can no more create a computer program to block out content that fits one community's view of "indecent", "obscene" or "harmful to minors", than you can devise a filtering program to block out misguided proposals by members of Congress. Both goals may be desirable, but neither are possible.

50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- and two human rights alerts

EFF Urges You to Exercise Your Human Rights Today!

Thursday, December 10, 1998 marks the 50th Anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. EFF urges you to participate in 2 on-line campaigns for the betterment of human rights everywhere. First, you can globally protest recent anti-cryptography changes to the international Wassenaar agreement on export controls, by participating in the FreeCrypto.org campaign. Second, send an e-mail to Chinese officials and urge them to free two jailed Chinese scientists facing prosecution for using the Internet to promote democracy. For more information see http://www.eff.org (under "What's Hot")

50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights a Reminder that Privacy must be preserved.

Web site launched to allow citizens of the world to protest their loss of privacy.

December 9, 1998 (Montreal)--On the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), as well as in protest of the recent changes to cryptography policies worldwide, Zero-Knowledge Systems is spearheading a campaign to encourage governments to loosen newly imposed cryptography restrictions. This campaign, seen on the web site http://www.freecrypto.org, enables citizens of the world to express their outrage and concern at the increasing loss of their privacy.

Yet, decades later, we are witnessing the unprecedented collection of personal information and intrusions into the lives of many. Internet users in particular, confront multiple privacy violations while online. Over 80% of Internet users polled consider privacy be their primary concern.

The best defense for online privacy is to use strong cryptography, which allows Internet users to preserve the privacy of their communications and personal information.

On December 3, 1998, the Internet community experienced one of the strongest setbacks to their privacy in recent years. The 33 member countries of the Wassenaar Arrangement agreed for the first time to impose export restrictions on mass-market cryptography products.

Until December 3rd, the majority of the Wassenaar signatories did not impose export controls over mass-market products that protect personal security and privacy through cryptography. The United States Department of Commerce Under-Secretary has taken credit for convincing all other Wassenaar countries to impose these added restrictions over cryptography designed for average citizens.

Barry Steinhardt, President of the Electronic Frontier Foundation believes "The US government has strong-armed the rest of the industrialized world into adopting a policy that will make us less secure and more vulnerable to electronic terrorism. Our critical national and international infrastructures need to be protected by strong encryption. Weak encryption with back doors that will be exploited not just by governments, but by information pirates, will leave us at greater risk."

"It is not too late to reverse course," continues Steinhardt. "Wassenaar allows, but does not require, the other national governments to follow the US' foolish lead."

"Cryptography is the key to preserving privacy for Internet users," explains Austin Hill, President of Zero-Knowledge Systems. "By limiting the accessibility of cryptography, you are limiting people's ability to protect themselves. Now, more than ever, we have the ability to influence the future of the electronic world; we must ensure that it has the same the basic rights and protections that the UDHR promised us fifty years ago."

Hill continues, "We hope that Internet users will be proactive in protesting this human rights infringement to their governments. The freecrypto.org web site provides such a space, where users can learn about the issues and send their government representatives a message expressing their dissatisfaction with the tightening of cryptography controls."

The http://www.freecrypto.org web site provides a form that citizens can fill out and have faxed or emailed to their respective government representatives. It also provides information and articles on the recently imposed cryptography restrictions.

Zero-Knowledge Systems Inc. ( http://www.zks.net ) is a Canadian based software developer dedicated to providing cryptographic solutions for the privacy and security of Internet users. They will be launching their first product called Freedom(TM) in February 1999.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE HUMAN RIGHTS ACTION NETWORK (AAASHRAN)

China--Engineer & Physicist Imprisoned

ISSUES: the right to life, liberty, and security of person; freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention; freedom of opinion and expression; freedom of peaceful assembly and association; the right to communicate freely over the Internet and other telecommunications systems

FACTS OF THE CASE: On a day when most countries are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, software engineer Lin Hai and physicist and dissident Wang Youcai sit in jail for using the Internet to support democracy in China.

The Science and Human Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in collaboration with the Association for Computing Machinery, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Committee of Concerned Scientists, the Committee on the International Freedom of Scientists of the American Physical Society, Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK), Derechos Human Rights, the Digital Freedom Network, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Human Rights in China, the New York Academy of Sciences' Committee on Human Rights, and VIP Reference, has initiated an e-mail appeal campaign on behalf of Lin Hai and Wang Youcai. We encourage other groups to share this alert with their constituencies.

Lin Hai was arrested on 25 March 1998 for providing 30,000 Chinese e-mail addresses to VIP Reference, which publishes a pro-democracy newsletter described by Chinese prosecutors as a "hostile foreign publication." US-based VIP Reference distributes reports on dissident activities, human rights, and other issues to more than 200,000 e-mail addresses in China. Lin Hai has been charged with "inciting to overthrow state power." His trial was conducted in secret in Shanghai on 4 December 1998; the verdict is expected to be announced soon. Lin's arrest has been described as evidence that the Chinese government is determined to prevent freedom of information on the Internet from posing a challenge to its leadership.

Wang Youcai, a leader of the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations, is scheduled to go to trial on 17 December in the Hangzhou Intermediate Court on the charge of "inciting to overthrow state power." Among his crimes is sending e-mail messages to dissidents in the US. Wang was arrested in July for trying to organize an opposition party. He was then released and put under house arrest. He was detained again on 2 November and formally charged on 30 November.

More than one million Chinese citizens reportedly have access to the Internet. The government encourages this access to promote national development while, at the same time, fighting to control its use for political purposes.

The arrests of Lin Hai and Wang Youcai constitute serious violations of international human rights standards enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted without opposition by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948. They include:

(Sources of information for this update include Chinese VIP Reference, the Digital Freedom Network, Human Rights in China, and the New York Times. Previous sources of information include the Associated Press and Human Rights in China.)

To maintain the legitimacy of our efforts, we request that you send only one message to the e-mail addresses listed below.

Please send copies of your appeals, and any responses you may receive, or direct any questions you may have to Elisa Munoz by e-mail at .

The keys to effective appeals are to be courteous and respectful, accurate and precise, impartial in approach, and as specific as possible regarding the alleged violation and the international human rights standards and instruments that apply to the situation. Reference to your scientific organization and professional affiliation is always helpful.

To ensure that appeals are current and credible, please do not continue to write appeals on this case after 90 days from the date of the posting unless an update has been issued.

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