[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
[FYI] (Fwd) FC: White House report says government wants to trace Ne
- To: debate@fitug.de
- Subject: [FYI] (Fwd) FC: White House report says government wants to trace Ne
- From: "Axel H Horns" <horns@t-online.de>
- Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2000 18:37:05 +0100
- Comment: This message comes from the debate mailing list.
- Organization: PA Axel H Horns
- Reply-to: horns@t-online.de
- Sender: owner-debate@fitug.de
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Mon, 06 Mar 2000 07:45:13 -0500
To: politech@vorlon.mit.edu
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject: FC: White House report says government wants to trace Net users
Send reply to: declan@well.com
The forthcoming report:
http://www.politechbot.com/docs/unlawfulconduct.html
*********
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,34720,00.html
U.S. Wants to Trace Net Users
by Declan McCullagh (declan@wired.com)
3:00 a.m. 4.Mar.2000 PST
WASHINGTON -- The ease of hiding one's
identity on the Net is giving police
migraines and justifies providing broad
new powers to law enforcement, the
White House says in a forthcoming report.
The federal government should take steps
to improve online traceability and promote
international cooperation to identify Internet
users, according to a draft of the report
commissioned by President Clinton.
Police should be able to determine the
source of hacker attacks or "anonymous
emails that contain bomb threats," states the
200 KB document prepared by a high-level
working group chaired by Attorney General
Janet Reno.
Although the report was largely complete
before last month's prominent
denial-of-service attacks, it will likely
influence the debate over how the U.S.
government should respond to them.
The FBI has not made any arrests during
its investigation, and bureau officials
Tuesday told Congress that anonymity
and the global nature of the Internet
pose serious problems.
A White House spokesman said the report
is being finalized and "should be released
very soon."
The Working Group on Unlawful Conduct
on the Internet, which Clinton created in
August 1999 to consider new laws or
educational programs, includes senior
administration officials such as FBI Director
Louis Freeh, Treasury Secretary Larry Summers,
Commerce Secretary William Daley, and
representatives from the military, DEA, and
Secret Service.
The group focused on what it views as
the problem of anonymity, citing "the
need for real-time tracing of Internet
communications across traditional
jurisdictional boundaries, both
domestically and internationally [and] the
need to track down sophisticated users who
commit unlawful acts on the Internet while
hiding their identities," according to the
report.
Currently no laws require Internet users in
the United States to reveal their identities
before signing up for accounts, and both
fee-based and free services offer anonymous
mail, Web browsing, and dialup connections.
Internet service providers should be
encouraged, though not required, to
maintain detailed records of what their
users are doing online. "Some industry
members may not retain certain system
data long enough to permit law
enforcement to identify online offenders," the
report says.
[...]
----------------------------------------------------------------------
---- POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology
To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----
------- End of forwarded message -------