[FYI] (Fwd) Justice Department criticizes online anonymity

["Axel H Horns" <horns@t-online.de>]

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Wed, 01 Mar 2000 13:36:10 -0500
To:             	cryptography@c2.net
From:           	Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject:        	Justice Department criticizes online anonymity 
Copies to:      	cypherpunks@cyberpass.net

Of more relevance to this list, perhaps, is yesterday's testimony of
the FBI's Michael Vatis with the bureau's usual crypto-complaints:

http://www.house.gov/judiciary/3.htm
convicted terrorist Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the World Trade
Center bombing, stored detailed plans to destroy United States
airliners on encrypted files on his laptop computer.

-Declan


http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,34659,00.html

                        U.S. Wants Less Web Anonymity
                        by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com)

                        3:00 a.m. 1.Mar.2000 PST
                        WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government
                        may need sweeping new powers to
                        investigate and prosecute future
                        denial-of-service attacks, top law
                        enforcement officials said Tuesday.

                        Anonymous remailers and free trial
                        accounts allow hackers and online
                        pornographers to cloak their identity,
                        deputy attorney general Eric Holder told a
                        joint congressional panel.

                        "A criminal using tools and other
                        information easily available over the
                        Internet can operate in almost perfect
                        anonymity," Holder told the panel.

                        Holder said the Clinton administration is
                        reviewing "whether we have adequate legal
                        tools to locate, identify, and prosecute cyber
                        criminals," but stopped short of endorsing a
                        specific proposal.

                        Currently no laws require U.S. Internet
                        users to reveal their identity before
                        signing up for an account, and both
                        fee-based and free services offer
                        anonymous mail, Web browsing, and
                        dialup connections.

                        [...]


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