Date: Mon, 17 Jul 95 08:47:42 EST
Errors-To: Comp-privacy Error Handler <owner-comp-privacy@uwm.edu>
From: Computer Privacy Digest Moderator <comp-privacy@uwm.edu>
To: Comp-privacy@uwm.edu
Subject: Computer Privacy Digest V7#004
Computer Privacy Digest Mon, 17 Jul 95 Volume 7 : Issue: 004
Today's Topics: Moderator: Leonard P. Levine
Re: Exon Coats Amendment
Social Security Number Abuse by Employer
Microsoft and Privacy
Internet China-Style
Privacy on Real Highways
Re: Legal Bytes 3.01
NCSA's Third Intl Conference on Information Warfare
Announcing the CPSR Newsletter [long]
Info on CPD [unchanged since 12/29/94]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: rmaher@unlinfo.unl.edu (Rob Maher)
Date: 12 Jul 1995 13:45:44 GMT
Subject: Re: Exon Coats Amendment
Organization: University of Nebraska--Lincoln
Michael Chastain (49erfan@nmia.com) wrote: P.S. Maybe we could just
get rid of Nebraska entirely. ;)
Your smiley and wink are understood, but let there be no
misunderstanding that the actions of Senator Exon (who will not run for
re-election next year, BTW) are causing great consternation on the part
of many people in this state. Pete Domenici of New Mexico voted FOR
the bill, too, so there is enough blame to go around, my friend.
In my contacts with Senator Exon's aides it is clear that they view the
CDA as simply extending the existing rules regarding telephone civility
and "crank calls" to the larger realm of electronic communication. The
alarming definitional, constitutional, and enforcement flaws are
dismissed as unimportant "since we already have the language in the
existing Communications Act of 1929, and we are merely extending it to
the internet."
I wish I had a bucket of cold water to throw on them.
--
Dr. Rob Maher Univ. of Nebraska-Lincoln Voice: +1 402 472 2081
209N WSEC 0511 Electrical Engineering Fax: +1 402 472 4732
Lincoln NE 68588-0511 rmaher@unl.edu http://www.engr.unl.edu/ee/
------------------------------
From: mccurley@cs.sandia.gov (Kevin S. McCurley)
Date: 12 Jul 1995 18:11:58 -0600
Subject: Social Security Number Abuse by Employer
Organization: Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM
Can anyone supply me with information about how major corporations
treat the social security number of their employees? My employer DOES
NOT treat the SSN as private information, and has adopted policies that
require me to divulge it to all sorts of people that are not
contracturally bound to protect it's privacy. I realize that there are
many avenues for people to get ahold of my number, but must I feel that
there is no reason whatsoever for my employer to be the most obvious
offender, particularly when I have an employee ID number.
In order to change this policy, I can think of only three things:
1. the Social Security Administration recommends that individuals
protect their numbers.
2. my employer is a government contractor, so may be bound to follow
government guidelines (but they are NOT bound by the privacy act).
3. if other major corporations are adopting policies that treat the
number as private, then I can use this as evidence.
Can anyone provide me with ammunition?
--
Kevin McCurley
Sandia National Laboratories
[moderator: There is a regular posting of a FAQ on SocSocNo shown
here, it can be copied from our archive. See instructions below.
------------------------------
From: "Prof. L. P. Levine" <levine@blatz.cs.uwm.edu>
Date: 14 Jul 1995 08:30:31 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Microsoft and Privacy
Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Date: 13 Jul 1995 11:35:43 -0700
From: CWHITCOM@bentley.edu
Subject: Telecom Post #8
Taken from Telecom Post, Free Speech Media, LLC July 11, 1995 Number 8
Compiled, written, and edited by Coralee Whitcomb Please direct
comments and inquiries to cwhitcom@bentley.edu
[this is one item of that report that deals with privacy. moderator]
MICROSOFT AND WINDOWS '95
The National Consumers League reports on some very scary facts
regarding Windows '95. The Microsoft Network will be bundled with the
operating system. When a new owner boots up they will be invited to
register on the network. If they don't, they will be faced with the
same invitation every time they boot up - it cannot be dismantled.
While the MSN icon will continue to appear on the desktop regardless of
whether it is active, icons from other providers will be buried four
layers down forcing you to search for your provider of choice. A
"registration mole" is built in that can inventory your hard drive of
all its .exe files and keep Microsoft updated along with your
registration info as to what you use on your system.
------------------------------
From: "Prof. L. P. Levine" <levine@blatz.cs.uwm.edu>
Date: 14 Jul 1995 09:46:49 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Internet China-Style
Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Taken from CPSR-GLOBAL Digest 196
From: marsha-w@uiuc.edu (Marsha Woodbury)
Date: 12 Jul 1995 10:07:09 -0600
Subject: (@) INTERNET CHINA-STYLE
From: Al Whaley <al@Sunnyside.COM>
Subject: Edupage 7/11/95 (fwd)
INTERNET CHINA-STYLE: NO SEX, POLITICS OR TALK The CEO of the
Hong Kong-based China Internet Corporation (CIC), a subsidiary
of the official Chinese news agency Xinhua, says: "Everybody
knows the Internet has a lot of information. For now, most of
it is not really related to business. It is cultural and
academic discussion groups, pornography and politics. By
eliminating these things not related to business we make better
use of resources at lower cost." (Financial Times 7/10/95 p.9)
Only business. Damn, wish I'd thought of that.
------------------------------
From: "Mich Kabay [NCSA Sys_Op]" <75300.3232@compuserve.com>
Date: 14 Jul 95 12:32:04 EDT
Subject: Privacy on Real Highways
Taken from the United Press Intl news wire via CompuServe's Executive
News Service:
UPn 95.07.13 18:07 Future highways may raise privacy issue
COLUMBUS, Ohio, July 13 (UPI) -- Computer-based highway control
systems of the future will be able to identify and track
individual cars across the nation but such systems raise thorny
privacy issues, an Ohio State University professor said
Thursday.
Proponents of the Intelligent Transportation System now under
federal development say it will improve traffic safety, reduce
congestion and save energy. But OSU Law Professor Sheldon W.
Halpern says current federal law is ill-equipped to deal with
the privacy issues raised by the new technology.
Key points from the article:
o Satellites + on-board computers would communicate constantly.
o Give drivers warning of traffic conditions, send emergency
signals.
o Automatic charges for tolls.
o Provide emergency intervention if accident imminent.
o Privacy issues: Halpern concerned about "collection and
storage of information about drivers -- specifically the
possibility of the collection and storage of information for
use by the government or by private businesses to build
individual profiles."
o One solution is to ensure that no individual data are collected
and stored by the system at all: "We won't have to worry about
the dissemination of information about drivers if we don't
collect and store the information in the first place," said
Halpern.
M.E.Kabay,Ph.D. / Dir. Education, Natl Computer Security Assn (Carlisle, PA)
------------------------------
From: wrf@ecse.rpi.edu (Wm. Randolph U Franklin)
Date: 15 Jul 1995 00:22:37 GMT
Subject: Re: Legal Bytes 3.01
Organization: ECSE Dept, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 12180 USA
"Prof. L. P. Levine" <levine@blatz.cs.uwm.edu> writes: This type of
interaction before the sale makes the transaction appear far less
one-sided. While take-it-or-leave-it terms might still be
criticized as "adhesion contracts," the unique give-and- take
that's possible on-line removes much of the inequitable sting that
"surprise" shrink-wrap license terms leave on many observers.
This must be a new use for the term "give-and-take", which I had
thought meant a negotiation between two sides, both willing to
compromise. In these online things, my impression was that a computer
was checking for the appropriate answers, and not letting you on
otherwise.
A parking lot could do the same by putting a sign outside saying, "Do
not take a ticket and enter this lot unless you agree not to sue us
even for gross negligence". What's the difference, except that the
parking lot can't get away with it?
The more serious point is that these contracts can be really
one-sided. For example, the Britannica online encyclopedia contract
says that I'm responsible for all use of my password, w/o even any
allowance for use after a reported theft.
As a practical matter, it seems unlikely that North Carolina
officials would try to prosecute the State of Texas, for example,
if Texas set up a Web site to advertise its lottery that of course
could be accessed from North Carolina.
What about the San Francisco X-rated-BB owners who were convicted in
Mississippi, and are now in jail? The prosecutor deliberately went
looking for a hostile jurisdiction and then accessed the BB from
there.
--
Wm. Randolph Franklin, wrf@ecse.rpi.edu, (518) 276-6077; Fax: -6261
ECSE Dept., 6026 JEC, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst, Troy NY, 12180 USA
------------------------------
From: "Mich Kabay [NCSA Sys_Op]" <75300.3232@compuserve.com>
Date: 14 Jul 95 10:22:57 EDT
Subject: NCSA's Third Intl Conference on Information Warfare
Colleagues:
Up-to-date information about the IW3 conference is now available from
an automated response system on the new NCSA server. For a complete
program by e-mail, send a message to
infowar@ncsa.com
The mailbot disregards subject line and text content.
Best wishes,
M.E.Kabay,Ph.D. / Dir. Education, Natl Computer Security Assn (Carlisle, PA)
------------------------------
From: marsha-w@uiuc.edu (Marsha Woodbury)
Date: 12 Jul 1995 21:00:49 -0700
Subject: Announcing the CPSR Newsletter [long]
Announcing the Latest Edition of the CPSR Newsletter,
devoted to Freedom of Information. To learn more
about joining CPSR or obtaining this issue, email to
cpsr@cpsr.org or check the Web, at
http://www.cpsr.org/dox/home.html
****Computers, Government, and Access to Electronic Records****
Guest Editor: Marsha Woodbury, Director at Large, CPSR
Excerpts from the introduction:
The articles in this issue should update your knowledge of what
freedom of information laws are, how these laws treat electronic
records, and what we, as computer professionals and concerned
citizens, should know about our responsibilities for creating,
maintaining, and using databases. Our purpose herein is to discuss
how computers and digitized records will change your access to
government data. In order to focus on the topic, I left the issues of
copyright, maintaining the integrity and authenticity of records, and
protecting personal privacy for future editors to cover.
One piece of advice: always try to obtain information without resort
to the law. Once you make a formal request, the government officials
can find many reasons for not filling it, and you may wait for years.
You can catch more bytes with honey than with vinegar, as it were.
Freedom of Information...
Freedom of information, or "the right to know," is an emotional issue.
The concept's undergirding philosophy recognizes that the public, as
"the people" with a common interest in the common good, has "the
right to know." In contrast, a totalitarian government doesn't even go
through the motions of openness. Those who believe in the right to
know hold that an informed public is a safeguard against
governmental abuse of power; yet, no matter how open a
government aspires to be, it can hardly avoid reining in access to and
release of information, in order to govern.
....
The articles should broaden our knowledge of what has
been happening to federal, state, and local FOIAs as records are
increasingly stored in electronic form.
The first article, by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the
Press, defines many of the issues and offers guidance about how to
prepare a FOIA request. Next, David Morrisey, a professor in
Colorado, writes about the lack of government preparation for
electronic access. In the subsequent article, Eileen Gannon describes
how the Environmental Working Group acquires and translates data
in order to provide information to the public.
Archivists have many legitimate concerns about how the government
stores its records electronically. The Society of American Archivists
has written a position statement on archival issues to guide your
planning. This statement is followed by the concerns of James Love,
who fills us in on public and private networks in regard to the status
of public records and open meetings under FOIA.
David Sobel has contributed an update on the CPSR and EPIC
lawsuits, some of which concern FOIA issues. Joel Campbell gives
some tips for starting a state freedom of information organi-zation.
Dave Gowen relates his own experience in acquiring electronic data.
Finally, we include a list of listservs, Gopher, web, and FTP resources
for further information. I hope this newsletter will do three things:
1. Help you to obtain and use information stored in digital form,
whether browsing it online, doing research, or monitoring the
government.
2. Make us all more aware of the pitfalls and plusses of digital
record-keeping, and how we can use our expertise to help others.
3. Lend support to the journalists, archivists, and activists who are
working hard to insure our right to know. People who save a tree or
historic building enjoy more publicityQtheir acts are visual and
dramatic. A person who stops a mass "delete" or puts up
government web pages earns little public acclaim. This newletter
gives them the attention they deserve.
References
Scalia, Antonin. "The Freedom of Information Act Has No Clothes."
Regulation 6(2) 1982: 14-19.
******************
Table of Contents
Access to Electronic Records 3
Will Washington Share Its Electronic Bounty? 5
Solving Environmental Problems with Information Technology 9
Archival Issues Raised by Information Stored in Electronic Form 11
Public and Private Networks, and the Status of Public Records, Open
Meetings, and FOIA 13
CPSR and EPIC FOIA Cases: Current Status 14
FOI and First Admendment-related Resources on the Internet 16
Six Tips for Starting a State Freedom of Information Organization 19
CPSR Executive Director Search 20
Confidentiality and Availability of Public Information 21
Chapter Updates 22
The CPSR newsletter is sent free to members and is available for $5 an
issue by U.S. mail for non-members -- please send your postal address.
Marsha Woodbury, Ph.D. Associate Director of Education,
Sloan Center for Asynchronous Learning Environments (SCALE)
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign marsha-w@uiuc.edu
Director at Large, CPSR http://w3.scale.uiuc.edu/marsha/
------------------------------
From: "Prof. L. P. Levine" <levine@blatz.cs.uwm.edu>
Date: 29 Dec 1994 10:50:22 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Info on CPD [unchanged since 12/29/94]
Organization: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The Computer Privacy Digest is a forum for discussion on the effect of
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This digest is a forum with information contributed via Internet
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Login as "ftp" with password identifying yourid@yoursite. The archives
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---------------------------------+-----------------------------------------
Leonard P. Levine | Moderator of: Computer Privacy Digest
Professor of Computer Science | and comp.society.privacy
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee | Post: comp-privacy@uwm.edu
Box 784, Milwaukee WI 53201 | Information: comp-privacy-request@uwm.edu
| Gopher: gopher.cs.uwm.edu
levine@cs.uwm.edu | Mosaic: gopher://gopher.cs.uwm.edu
---------------------------------+-----------------------------------------
------------------------------
End of Computer Privacy Digest V7 #004
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