Computer underground Digest Sun Apr 20, 1997 Volume 9 : Issue 31 ISSN 1004-042X Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu) News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu) Archivist: Brendan Kehoe Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala Ian Dickinson Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest CONTENTS, #9.31 (Sun, Apr 20, 1997) File 1--XT clone for donation or sale (Sun Devil Redux) File 2--ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update File 3--Technology and Society (from NETFUTURE #45) File 4--Texas ISPs Targed in Secessionist Case File 5--Crack DES Challenge File 6--(Fwd) A listserv joke File 7--Family-Friendly Internet Access Act of 1997 File 8--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 13 Apr, 1997) CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION APPEARS IN THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 09:18:48 -0500 (CDT) From: Bob Izenberg Subject: File 1--XT clone for donation or sale (Sun Devil Redux) ((MODERATORS' NOTE: Back in the dark days of early 1990, when the US Secret Service "discovered" TGHM (The Great Hacker Menace), Bob Izenberg was one of the system administrators caught up in the Kafkaesque nightmare of legal limbo. He was never arrested, indicted, or accused of wrong-doing, but his computer equipment was seized and prosecutors left him limbo for years. In part, it seemed that, like Dr Ripco and some others, the feds weren't sure what to do with him, and personnel changes amongts the feds added to the confusion on both sides. Finally, somebody in the USSS figured out that maybe, just maybe, somebody should close the case and return his equipment. For a summary of what all the fuss was about back in 1990, go out and buy Bruce Sterling's THE HACKER CRACKDOWN, which remains the best source of information for the period)). The United States Secret Service has returned to me the PC-XT clone system seized at my residence in February of 1990. It still works, which surprised me, but of course its disk had been wiped. It wasn't bad for an XT by the standards of the day: 2Mb EEMS memory card, Perstor disk controller, full-height 70Mb MFM fixed disk, NEC V20 processor. Today, of course, it's a doorstop. Anyway, as Ron Roberts and many other taxpayers graciously paid for its storage for all these years, it's the least that I can do to give it away to a worthy cause. Or even an un-worthy cause, just to get it out from under the desk. No, it won't run Windows 95 or any software written in at least the last five years. No warranty is offered, other than an assurance that seven years stored next to the Ark of the Covenant in Illinois hasn't damaged (or improved) it one bit. First come, first served, and you pay the shipping. After May 1st, it's history if nobody's claimed it. Bob -- ================ "We make the Internet work." ================ bob izenberg phone: +1 512 306-0700 sig.net network operations bei@sig.net ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 20:19:36 GMT From: "ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update Owner"@newmedium.com Subject: File 2--ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update Wednesday, April 16, 1997 * Act Now to Restore Telephone Privacy - Fax Congress The FBI is using a 1994 law (CALEA, or the "Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act") to force telecommunications companies to change their equipment and facilities to weaken privacy protection and provide enhanced wiretap access for government agents. In 1994, Congress authorized a half-billion dollars to pay for changes in old technology but blocked actual funding until last year when Congress both set up a special "slush fund" using excess funds from intelligence and law enforcement agencies and said the FBI could spend part of the money authorized in 1994. But Congress prohibited spending any money until the FBI submitted an implementation plan approved by Congress. The annual appropriations process gives us yet another chance to tell Congress not to allow this unprecedented attack on our privacy. Let your own representative and senators know that you want them to oppose funding this attack on your telephone privacy. Use the ACLU web site action fax page to send a fax to your members of Congress telling them not to fund CALEA! The free web-to-fax gateway will allow you to look up your representatives on Capitol Hill and send faxes right to their offices. It can be found at: http://www.aclu.org/action/calea_act.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Privacy Risks Shut Down Government Web site The Social Security Administration recently announced that it had shut down an Internet site that supplied information about people's personal income and retirement benefits because of concerns that it might violate privacy rights, the New York Times reports. Thousands of people have obtained such data on the World Wide Web by requesting "personal earnings and benefit estimate statements." A computer user seeking the information need only supply a name, address, telephone number, place of birth, social security number and mother's maiden name. Experts on computer and privacy law expressed concern that such safeguards were not enough to keep people from obtaining confidential electronic data about others. "It remains unclear exactly where SSA officials were trying to go with this program, but in any case they ran over the privacy of 140 million Americans to get there,"said Don Haines, legislative counsel on privacy and cyberspace issues for the Washington national office of the American Civil Liberties Union. "We appreciate that the agency was trying to expand access to public information, but in doing so, it made the information a little too public. Without providing appropriate safeguards, the agency had no way of insuring that private information was only available to those entitled to have access." Haines said that with confidential information open to ex-spouses, landlords, employers, co workers, intrusive neighbors and credit agencies, the potential for abuse was enormous. The ACLU is working with members of Congress on legislation to correct the problem. Acting Commissioner of Social Security John J. Callahan said the agency would hold public forums around the country in the next 60 days to hear from beneficiaries and experts on privacy and computer security. This is just the most recent case of problems with the privacy of records held by the Social Security Administration. Almost exactly a year ago, in what computer experts said might be one of the biggest breaches of security of personal data held by the Federal government, Federal prosecutors in New York revealed that several employees of the Social Security Administration passed information on more than 11,000 people to a credit-card fraud ring. That information, the prosecutors said in court papers, included social security numbers and mothers' maiden names, and allowed the ring to activate cards stolen from the mail and run up huge bills at merchants ranging from J&R Music world to Bergdorf Goodman. The Internet address of the Social Security Administration is http://www.ssa.gov. General information about Social Security programs is still available there. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Witnesses testify in New York State Cyber-censorship case. Oral Arguments scheduled for April 22. In hearings last week, witnesses representing an online arts group,a library, a gay issues forum and the American Civil Liberties Union all testified that a New York statute barring "indecency" on the Internet could subject them to criminal prosecution. Their testimony on Monday April 7 concluded three days of courtroom hearings before Judge Loretta A. Preska in ALA v. Pataki, the challenge to New York`s Internet censorship law brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, the New York Civil Liberties Union, the American Library Association, and others. The groups argue that the law, which imposes criminal sanctions of up to four years in jail for communicating so-called "indecency" to a minor, would reduce all speech on the Internet to a level suitable for a six-year-old. The ACLU successfully challenged a similar federal law in Reno v. ACLU, currently under review by the Supreme Court. "We think we were able to demonstrate the disastrous effect the New York law -- like the federal CDA -- would have on individual speakers and non-profit groups who communicate on the Internet both within and outside the state of New York," said Ann Beeson, an ACLU national staff attorney who conducted direct examination of several plaintiff witnesses. "A long line of well-established Supreme Court decisions demonstrate that government cannot ban protected speech for adults in the name of shielding children." Beeson is profiled in this week`s New York Magazine, in an article that raises, and answers in the affirmative, the question "Could it be that New York`s redundant, unconstitutional Internet-indecency law is more useful for scoring political points for protecting children?" Judge Preska has scheduled oral arguments in the case for April 22. Argument will begin at 2:00pm in room 12A at 500 Pearl Street, New York City. Full information on the New York Internet censorship case, including links to transcripts, can be found at http://www.aclu.org/news/nycdahome.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update Editor: Lisa Kamm (kamml@aclu.org) American Civil Liberties Union National Office 132 West 43rd Street New York, New York 10036 To subscribe to the ACLU Cyber-Liberties Update, send a message to majordomo@aclu.org with "subscribe Cyber-Liberties" in the body of your message. To terminate your subscription, send a message to majordomo@aclu.org with "unsubscribe Cyber-Liberties" in the body. The Cyber-Liberties Update is archived at http://www.aclu.org/issues/cyber/updates.html For general information about the ACLU, write to info@aclu.org. PGP keys can be found at http://www.aclu.org/about/pgpkeys.html ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Apr 1997 17:19:23 -0400 From: Steve Talbott Subject: File 3--Technology and Society (from NETFUTURE #45) ((MODERATORS' NOTE: We came across NETFUTURE and were impressed by it. Here's a sample of the articles that Steve Talbott, the editor, runs. This E-Zine is worth taking a look it!)) +++++++++++++ Technology and Human Responsibility ------------------------------------------------------------------ Issue #45 Copyright 1997 Bridge Communications April 9, 1997 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Opinions expressed here belong to the authors, not Bridge Communications. Editor: Stephen L. Talbott NETFUTURE on the Web: http://www.ora.com/people/staff/stevet/netfuture/ You may redistribute this newsletter for noncommercial purposes. From Steve Talbott The evidence of our hollowing out as human beings is staring us in the face. Is anyone home? These days no article about technology and society seems complete without at least one reference to the accelerating pace of change. But, despite their ubiquity, a number of these references have particularly jumped out at me in recent weeks. Here are a few examples: * An article about Cisco in the *Boston Globe* described that company's current, top-of-the-line router, the model 7500, which sells for some $100,000 "fully loaded," and routes a million packets per second. "For a while," the article noted, "that capacity set the industry standard. But within months of the 7500's release in 1996, some Cisco customers were describing the machine as `long in the tooth' and `dinky.'" * The *EE Times* carried a piece about a new generation of fast Internet protocols. A high-tech executive is quoted as saying, "This is not a little, incremental shift. It's a major disruption of everything that's going on in the industry." * Princeton University vice president, Ira Fuchs, on Internet II: "It's not as simple as `You change the backbone and all will be well.' For individual users to take full advantage of the change in the infrastructure, you'll have to change everything." Also, "the technology is advancing so rapidly that by the time the computer you originally asked for is finally delivered, you don't want that computer any more." * From *Publisher's Weekly*: Database vendors serving libraries "have become frustrated with the number of new platforms they have to support. It cost one company $2 million to convert its databases to SGML for CD-ROM. Then the Web and HTML came along, costing $100,000 more for conversion, and now they must ready themselves for Java." * The *Economist*: A venture capitalist who sits on the boards of several small Internet companies says that "`a major strategic decision' is taken at virtually every meeting. This nimbleness is prompted by fear. The technology market changes so quickly that any company which fails to adjust will get pushed out." The magazine goes on to report that "age and experience, which elsewhere get people promoted, are no help in [Silicon] valley; on the contrary, there is a distinct bias in favor of youth. Nowadays the average software- engineering qualification becomes obsolete in around five years, so a student fresh out of college may be more valuable to a company than a 40-year-old. Many of the new Internet firms are headed by people in their mid-20s." Here closer to home, I find that my text-only Lynx browser is rapidly becoming a cripple on today's Web. Many sites now require frame support, which my browser does not have. Other sites, such as MSNBC, immediately hang the window in which I'm working; Lynx compatibility is simply not something Web site managers worry about. Apparently, as a sixteen-year veteran of the Net who would rather not spend his time downloading cutesy graphics, I've gotten myself a little behind the curve. I might as well be a dinosaur. The browser problem illustrates, I think, one striking fact about many Web sites: they are content providers for whom content scarcely matters. They do not begin with something important to say, and then seek the most effective vehicle for saying it. Rather, they are enamored of the vehicle (latest model only!) and are looking for something to say with it. Not surprisingly, the result is a lot of pandering. The message is there only to serve alien purposes. This is no eccentric reading of my own. It is the explicit acknowledgment of an entire industry that begins by producing and playing with whatever is technically feasible, and then hopes for a "killer app" to fasten the technical innovations upon the body social. Here, too, some recent news reports have leapt out at me: * Speaking of the high-tech transformation of the U.S. military, the *Economist* writes: "This embryonic revolution, unlike the development of nuclear weapons, has not emerged in response to any particular threat to the United States or its allies. It has come about because it is there -- that is, because generals want to play with new technologies in case a future threat emerges." * *Internet World* tells corporate executives they must embrace intranets for no other reason than that they are happening. "You can catch the Intranet wave and ride it or let your firm and your LAN be overwhelmed by the tides of change." The argument? None seems to be necessary. It's enough that intranets are *there*, and are deemed to represent a technical advance. "By now, you've gathered that intranets can be pricey and, in some ways, hard to manage. Are they worth it? The answer is yes. The future clearly belongs to the intranet model. Proprietary LANs ... have run their course. The future belongs to intranets, where getting information anywhere and anytime is possible for your users." * And the *Economist* again: "By 2000 customers will have shelled out a total of $200 billion on networking software and related equipment; but most forecasts for revenues from Internet-related activities, such as advertising on websites, are no more than $35 billion -- hardly a quick return." If you build the technology, a killer app will eventually come -- such is the reigning faith. Of course, as long as the rest of us are willing to go along with this backward game, chasing after the latest gadgetry regardless of need, it works quite well. Out of this willingness, the technological "necessity" that so many perceive in these matters is born. It's a strange infatuation that has a mature society hitching itself with uncritical enthusiasm to whatever happens to issue from the endless rows of cubicles where programmers -- often college students -- exercise their technically constrained and hopelessly uneducated imaginations. The cubicles themselves, I suppose, are a pretty good image of the inevitable result. We always mirror our inner worlds in the outer. The Loss of Purpose ------------------- So, what is going on here? Technical innovation -- the devising of new tools -- is surely a desirable activity. But unless there is a balance between our fascination with tools and our concern for the ends they may help us achieve, the tool becomes tyrannical. What stares us in the face today is the startling fact that, not only has the balance been upset, but one of its terms has virtually disappeared. Technological innovation now proceeds for its own sake, driven by its own logic, without reference to human need. We are a society obsessed with new tools, but incapable of asking in any serious way, "what are we developing these tools *for*?" It's rather as if a musician became so enamored of new instruments capable of generating novel sounds that he lost all interest in seeking the kind of disciplined musical inspiration that makes his art finally worthwhile. What I'm talking about here -- and what the preceding quotations testify to -- is a reversal of ends and means. I previously (NF #39 and NF #40) tried to show what this reversal looks like within the individual company, where the pursuit of worthwhile ends under the discipline of economics eventually gets twisted around to a pursuit of profits as an end in themselves. Now, however, I'm talking about society as a whole, driven as it increasingly is by the high-tech industry. A society obsessed by tools and technology without a balancing focus upon ends is a society whose members are being hollowed out. It is, after all, in establishing and pursuing higher values -- something we can only do from within ourselves -- that we assert our humanity. Otherwise, we merely react, machine-like, without internal compass. That is, we become like the programmed machines to which we devote so much of our energy. I for one would not want to quarrel with those who recognize a certain necessity in the one-sided tool focus of the past few hundred years. Nor would I want to insist that the U.S. military cease pushing its technical capabilities to the practical limit. And surely there is in any case little likelihood that the foreseeable future will bring a significant slowing of the overall, furious extension of the technical reach of our tools. What this means is that everything hinges upon our ability to counterbalance the prevailing technical mania with a strengthened inner compass. We must, wherever possible, be all the more forceful in asking, What is this tool *for* -- how does it relate to the deepest needs and yearnings of the human being? The stronger the tendency of the high- tech/commercial matrix to drive itself forward in terms of its own inherent logic, the more we must appeal to needs, values, and human ends in order to reign in and guide this logic. In making this effort we can hardly be satisfied with the hollow platitudes of those who would sell us an endless array of new gadgets. Our pressing need is *not* for more information, or faster access to information, or more connectivity. Our decisive problems arise -- as many others have noted -- from the lack of meaningful, value-centered contexts to which new information can be assimilated, and from those connections to other people we already have, but do not know how to deepen and make healthy. Adding new information and additional connections where these fundamental problems have not been solved only carries us further from ourselves and each other. Yet within the high-tech industry itself the platitudes have a certain validity. Any company that does not develop new technology fast enough -- human needs and purposes be damned -- will not likely survive for long. This industry, in other words, has itself become machine-like, hollowed out, lacking all evidence of the guiding human interior. Its employees and owners and investors sleepwalk through their working lives, bringing full consciousness only to the technical dimensions of their jobs. And we who buy their products in a similar trance contribute our fair share to the undermining of society. Do not underestimate the potential evils of a society that worships every new tool in forgetfulness of its own inner purposes through which alone the tools can be justified. Hollow men and women, whether educated or not, whether technically competent or not, can never sustain a healthy society, and are capable of unimagined monstrosities. Eventually we will have to recognize the symptoms of our hollowness in unexpected places. For example, in the burgeoning commercialized sex industry, where external presentations (now greatly aide by technology) substitute for profound connection between human beings. Or in the deranged excesses at the fringes of the fast-growing New Age movements, where the meaning so conspicuously absent from the social mainstream is sought in borderline experiences -- and even, as with the Heaven's Gate community, in death. Or in the outrages committed against man and nature by commercially driven biotechnologists. Or in the politics of appearance without principle. Or in the fragmentation of society, with the economic disfranchisement of large groups. Our only escape from the tyranny of the tool as an end in itself lies in our becoming *more* than our tools. Only we ourselves can supply the ends, and we can do so only by waking up to our own inner resources. The prevailing notion that the logic of high-tech development will itself guide society into a better future amounts to an abdication of our humanity. After all, a society with abundant technical means and no governing values and purposes can only become a hellish and dangerous place. On the other hand, a society struggling toward its own governing values is a society on its way toward healing. Which is it? Personally, I see little basis for optimism. But it may well be that I've just been leafing through too many trade rags lately. ------------------------------------------------------------ *** About this newsletter (29 lines) NETFUTURE is a newsletter concerning technology and human responsibility. Publication occurs roughly once per week. Editor of the newsletter is Steve Talbott, a senior editor at O'Reilly & Associates. Where rights are not explicitly reserved, you may redistribute this newsletter for noncommercial purposes. Current and past issues of NETFUTURE are available on the Web: http://www.ora.com/people/staff/stevet/netfuture/ To subscribe to NETFUTURE, send an email message like this: To: listproc@online.ora.com subscribe netfuture yourfirstname yourlastname No Subject line is needed. To unsubscribe, the second line shown above should read instead: unsubscribe netfuture To submit material to the editor for publication in the forum, place the material in an email message and address it to: netfuture@online.ora.com Send general inquiries to netfuture-owner@online.ora.com. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 15 Apr 1997 10:02:45 EDT From: Martin Kaminer Subject: File 4--Texas ISPs Targed in Secessionist Case Date--Sat, 12 Apr 1997 11:10:22 -0500 From--FringeWare News Network Sent from: Jon Lebkowsky [ mod's note: ROT information can be found at http://www.flash.net/~robertk/ ] Texas ISPs Targeted in Secessionist Case by Ashley Craddock 5:55pm 11.Apr.97.PDT Saying the Texas attorney general is violating the electronic privacy rights of their subscribers, two Lone Star Internet service providers have refused to turn over information about members of a secessionist movement who use their services. The movement, known as the Republic of Texas, holds that Congress' 1845 annexation of the independent state was illegal and that only a citizen vote can legalize its status as part of the Union. Charging everyone >from Governor George Bush Jr. to private citizens with the illegal seizure of property, the Republic has flooded state courts with liens that have been declared illegal. In a counterattack, Attorney General Dan Morales - of what the movement calls "the de facto state of Texas" - on 2 April served subpoenas on 10 ISPs who do business with the members of the group that state officials seem to delight in calling ROT. The subpoenas demand copies of all members' email, login and user IDs, subscriber applications, and billing information - including credit card and checking-account numbers. The court order was filed as part of a civil case, Morales v. Van Kirk et al., that the attorney general brought last June to stop the movement from posing as a government entity and clogging the courts with liens. Eight of the ISPs have agreed to comply with the subpoenas. Two others, Internet Texoma Inc. and the Overland Network, have refused. Both say the subpoenas violate a portion of the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act stipulating that the information sought must be "relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation." In a Friday letter to the attorney general, W. Scott McCollough, the Texas Internet Service Providers Association attorney representing both ISPs, stated that the subpoenas "do not overcome our ... federal obligations." "This is a civil, not a criminal case," McCollough said. "Plus, the AG's office hasn't gone through due process in requesting the information. They didn't serve us with a search warrant. And if my clients turned over the information without a warrant, there's always the possibility that these people could sue us. I don't know if they would since they don't acknowledge the court system, but they could." Attorney general's spokesman Ward Tisdale said on Friday that since the "Republic of Texas folks do most of their communication over the Internet, we're simply taking the reasonable steps to gather all the information we need in the course of our investigation." Responding to McCollough's letter, the attorney general's office took a slightly different tack in an effort to skirt the issue of the federal privacy law. It called off the subpoenas and told McCollough it will file a civil investigative demand, a less-stringent request for material relevant to ongoing litigation. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Apr 1997 10:41:58 -0500 (CDT) From: "Robert A. Hayden" Subject: File 5--Crack DES Challenge I'm just forwarding along. Check out the web page towards the end for all the relevant software and such. - -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: DESCHALL Group Searches for DES Key Sets out to prove that one of the world's most popular encryption algorithms is no longer secure. COLUMBUS, OH (April 9, 1997). In answer to RSA Data Security, Inc.'s "Secret Key Challenge," a group of students, hobbyists, and professionals of all varieties is looking for a needle in a haystack 2.5 miles wide and 1 mile high. The "needle" is the cryptographic key used to encrypt a given message, and the "haystack" is the huge pile of possible keys: 72,057,594,037,927,936 (that's over 72 quadrillion) of them. The point? To prove that the DES algorithm -- which is widely used in the financial community and elsewhere -- is not strong enough to provide protection from attackers. We believe that computing technology is sufficiently advanced that a "brute-force" search for such a key is feasible using only the spare cycles of general purpose computing equipment, and as a result, unless much larger "keys" are used, the security provided by cryptosystems is minimal. Conceptually, a cryptographic key bears many similarities to the key of a typical lock. A long key has more possible combinations of notches than a short key. With a very short key, it might even be feasible to try every possible combination of notches in order to find a key that matches a given lock. In a cryptographic system, keys are measured in length of bits, rather than notches, but the principle is the same: unless a long enough key is used, computers can be used to figure out every possible combination until the correct one is found. In an electronic world, cryptography is how both individuals and organizations keep things that need to be private from becoming public knowledge. Whether it's a private conversation or an electronic funds transfer between two financial institutions, cryptography is what keeps the details of the data exchange private. It has often been openly suggested that the US Government's DES (Data Encryption Standard) algorithm's 56-bit key size is insufficient for protecting information from either a funded attack, or a large-scale coordinated attack, where large numbers of computers are used to figure out the text of the message by brute force in their idle time: that is, trying every possible combination. Success in finding the correct key will prove that DES is not strong enough to provide any real level of security, and win the first person to report the correct solution to RSA $10,000. Many more participants are sought in order to speed up the search. The free client software (available for nearly every popular computer type, with more on the way) is available through the web site. One simply needs to follow the download instructions to obtain a copy of the software. Once this has been done, the client simply needs to be started, and allowed to run in the background. During unused cycles, the computer will work its way through the DES keyspace, until some computer cooperating in the effort finds the answer. If you can participate yourself, we urge you to do so. In any case, please make those you know aware of our effort, so that they might be able to participate. Every little bit helps, and we need all the clients we can get to help us quickly provide an answer to RSA's challenge. Contact Information * Media Contact Matt Curtin +1 908 431 5300 x295 * Alternate Contact Rocke Verser, Contract Programmer, +1 970 663 5629 * Web Site http://www.frii.com/~rcv/deschall.htm * Mailing List deschall@gatekeeper.megasoft.com To subscribe, send the text subscribe deschall to and you'll be emailed instructions. * RSA Data Security Secret Key Challenge '97 Site http://www.rsa.com/rsalabs/97challenge/ ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 09:43:14 -0500 From: "Julia N. Visor" Subject: File 7--Family-Friendly Internet Access Act of 1997 Source - fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu On March 20th, a national bill similar to the Texas law was introduced. The substantial part of the law is as follows: ------------------------------------ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:H.R.1180: (d) OBLIGATIONS OF INTERNET ACCESS PROVIDERS- An Internet access provider shall, at the time of entering an agreement with a customer for the provision of Internet access services, offer such customer screening software that is designed to permit the customer to limit access to material that is unsuitable for children. Such software shall be provided either at no charge or for a fee that does not exceed the cost of such software to such provider. ------------------------------------ The above amendment to 47 USC 230 uses language that indicates an ISP is not a common carrier (see the link for definitions). Unlike the Texas law, this applies to all providers, not just the for pay providers. Also unlike the Texas law, the amendment provides for what is to be blocked - material that is unsuitable for children. Unlike the Texas law, this does not provide an exclusion for the ISP if the blocking software does not work properly. The term "limit access to material" would be up for debate, but I assume that a partial reduction in improper material would be fine. However, I assume that there is a requirement to block all areas, not just web sites. If this law has a prayer of passing, I'd prefer to see the Texas version instead. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 15 Dec 1996 22:51:01 CST From: CuD Moderators Subject: File 8--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 13 Apr, 1997) Cu-Digest is a weekly electronic journal/newsletter. Subscriptions are available at no cost electronically. CuD is available as a Usenet newsgroup: comp.society.cu-digest Or, to subscribe, send post with this in the "Subject:: line: SUBSCRIBE CU-DIGEST Send the message to: cu-digest-request@weber.ucsd.edu DO NOT SEND SUBSCRIPTIONS TO THE MODERATORS. 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It is assumed that non-personal mail to the moderators may be reprinted unless otherwise specified. Readers are encouraged to submit reasoned articles relating to computer culture and communication. Articles are preferred to short responses. Please avoid quoting previous posts unless absolutely necessary. DISCLAIMER: The views represented herein do not necessarily represent the views of the moderators. Digest contributors assume all responsibility for ensuring that articles submitted do not violate copyright protections. ------------------------------ End of Computer Underground Digest #9.31 ************************************