Call Rep. Manton (NY)
From "Shabbir Safdar " Wed Sep 10 23:59:16 1997
Flags: 000000000001
Return-Path:
Received: from mailrelay1.cc.columbia.edu (mailrelay1.cc.columbia.edu [128.59.35.143])
by watsun.cc.columbia.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id AAA25310
for ; Thu, 11 Sep 1997 00:01:28 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from panix3.panix.com (panix3.panix.com [198.7.0.4])
by mailrelay1.cc.columbia.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id AAA27023
for ; Thu, 11 Sep 1997 00:01:26 -0400 (EDT)
Received: (from shabbir@localhost) by panix3.panix.com (8.8.5/8.7/PanixU1.3) id XAA06816; Wed, 10 Sep 1997 23:59:16 -0400 (EDT)
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 23:59:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: Shabbir Safdar
Message-Id: <199709110359.XAA06816@panix3.panix.com>
To: devnull@panix.com (Adopt Your Legislator ny14)
Errors-To: shabbir@vtw.org
Subject: ALERT: New York Rep. Thomas Manton about to strip your privacy! Call now!
===========================================================================
_ _ _______ __ __ _____ ____ _ __
| \ | | ____\ \ / / \ \ / / _ \| _ \| |/ / New York Rep. Thomas Manton
| \| | _| \ \ /\ / / \ V / | | | |_) | ' / is preparing to strip your
| |\ | |___ \ V V / | || |_| | _ <| . \ right to privacy!
|_| \_|_____| \_/\_/ |_| \___/|_| \_\_|\_\ Posted Sep. 10, 1997
NEW YORK REP. THOMAS MANTON IS PREPARING TO STRIP YOUR RIGHT TO PRIVACY
Late breaking news from Washington DC...
On Thursday September 11 at 1:00 pm Eastern Time, New York Congressman
Thomas Manton (D-Bronx) is expected to offer an amendment before the
House Commerce Committee which would require you to provide the
government with guaranteed access to your private online communications
and data.
Manton, along with Rep. Mike Oxley (R-OH), will offer their "key recovery"
amendment when the House Commerce Committee votes on HR 695, the Security
and Freedom through Encryption Act (SAFE) - a bill designed to promote
privacy and electronic commerce on the Internet by encouraging the
widespread availability of strong, easy-to-use encryption technologies.
Manton's amendment would change the bill to ban encryption which does not
contain features that provide law enforcement with "immediate access" to
the plain text of encrypted information, including private communications
and business transactions.
The amendment is analogous to the government requiring surveillance cameras
in every new house built in the United States.
Worse yet, such "key escrow" or "key recovery" technologies pose
significant risk to the security of the Internet -- providing new
points of vulnerability for hackers, terrorists, and industrial spies
to exploit. A recent study by 11 of the worlds leading cryptographers
concluded that the large scale deployment of such technologies would be
too complex and too insecure to meet the needs of an Information Age
society (see http://www.crypto.com/key_study/)
Despite widespread opposition from Internet users, civil liberties
groups, privacy advocates, and the computer and communications
industries, Rep. Manton plans to push for this FBI spawned amendment
at the Commerce Committee vote Thursday. If it is adopted, it would
represent the first and final step in the development of a national
surveillance infrastructure.
Please take a moment today to call Rep. Manton and urge him to reconsider
his plan. Tell him that as a resident of New York, you expect that your
members of Congress will fight to preserve and defend your constitutional
rights.
All the information you need is attached below. Five minutes of your time
will go a long way.
_______________________________________________________________________________
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
1. Pick up the phone and dial (202) 225-3965
2. Ask for the Staffer handling the Encryption issue
3. Urge Rep. Manton to reconsider his plan to offer an amendment at the
Commerce Committee vote on Thursday to build big brother into the
Internet.
SAY
THIS -> I'm a resident of New York calling to urge Rep. Manton to withdraw
his amendment to HR 695 at the Commerce Committee vote on Thursday.
The Amendment would strip my right to privacy, destroy the
commercial potential of the Internet, and increase opportunities
for cybercrimes.
4. Let us know how it went. Fill out our feedback page at:
http://www.crypto.com/member/meet.cgi?membid=ny07
_____________________________________________________________________________
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For more information on SAFE and the encryption policy issue, please visit
the Encryption Policy Resource Page -- http://www.crypto.com
______________________________________________________________________________
ABOUT THIS ALERT
This message was brought to you by the Center for Democracy and
Technology (http://www.cdt.org) and the Voters Telecommunications Watch
(http://www.vtw.org/), who have joined together to create the Adopt Your
Legislator Campaign - a unique and effective way of creating dialogue
between members of Congress and their Constituents on critical
Internet-related issues.
For more information on the Adopt Your Legislator Campaign, please visit
http://www.crypto.com/adopt/ To unsubscribe, email shabbir@vtw.org
with "unadopt" in the subject line.
___________________________________________________________________________
end alert 09.10.1997 manton
===========================================================================