[FYI] (Fwd) FC: Reno releases unlawful conduct report; response from

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

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Thu, 09 Mar 2000 11:58:03 -0500
To:             	politech@vorlon.mit.edu
From:           	Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject:        	FC: Reno releases unlawful conduct report; response from Armey
Send reply to:  	declan@well.com

Janet Reno released the report today. With her were Commerce's Daley
and also a representative from AOL who applauded it, saying he was
also speaking for the Internet Alliance and the Information Technology
Association of America.

I'm about to tape CNN and then speak in Virginia, so I won't send out
my article immediately, but you should be able to find it at wired.com
soon.

The DoJ told me they won't have it online until tomorrow, so you might
as well get it here (nearly 7,000 downloads so far):
   http://www.politechbot.com/docs/unlawfulconduct.html

Background:
   http://www.politechbot.com/p-00983.html
   http://www.politechbot.com/p-00975.html

-Declan

************

I thought you might be interested in Mr. Armey's response to the
working group report unveiled by Attorney General Reno earlier this
morning.

Make up your mind, Mr. President

House Majority Leader Dick Armey questioned the seemingly
contradictory positions coming out of the Administration regarding the
importance of Internet privacy in light of today's report issued by
the President's Working Group on Unlawful Conduct on the Internet.

"The Administration is full of double-talk on Internet Privacy," said
Armey. "While the president lectures the IT industry about the
importance of privacy to consumers, his Administration wants to let
Big Brother track our every move on the web."

President Clinton made statements in the Silicon Valley about the
importance of Internet privacy just last Saturday.  "[Online privacy]
is a big deal to people," the president said. "Ordinary folks, even
people who aren't online yet, are very excited about the prospects of
this age so many of you have done so much to create. But they are
really concerned about this. They are afraid they will have no place
to hide." (San Jose Mercury News, 3/4/2000.)

Yet the Administration's Working Group on Unlawful Conduct on the
Internet issued a report today apparently recommending a tracking
system that would deny individuals the freedom to go to a library or
Internet cafe to surf the web or send a message anonymously.

"After waffling on encryption for years, it is hard to tell where the
president really stands on letting individuals protect their own
privacy on the Internet," said Armey. "Many Americans value the
anonymity the Internet offers to guard their personal privacy."

"The president should take this opportunity to reject any proposal
that reduces the confidence Americans place in the privacy of their
online communications," said Armey.

# # #

Additional details are available at www.freedom.gov

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