-Caveat Lector-
<<These relate to personal privacy but also to issues relating
to 'Freedom of the Press', "Free Speech', and the rights of the
citizenry to conduct their lives without undue gov't intrusion.
They're also related to the The Strange Case of Ed Moloney (from
No Ireland) but pertain specifically to the US of A.>>
>From EPIC
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> August 20, 1999
>
> NEW WHITE HOUSE COMPUTER SURVEILLANCE PLAN
> WOULD POSE UNPRECEDENTED THREAT TO PRIVACY
>
> WASHINGTON, DC -- The Electronic Privacy Information Center
> (EPIC) today warned that a new Clinton Administration proposal
> could result in an unprecedented intrusion into the sanctity of
> private homes and businesses. The White House plan would enable
> federal and local law enforcement agents to secretly break into
> private premises and alter computer equipment to collect e-mail
> messages and other electronic information. As the Washington
> Post reported today, the administration is circulating draft
> legislation known as the "Cyberspace Electronic Security Act,"
> the latest White House effort to address the growing use of
> encryption technology. As described in an August 4 analysis of
> the legislation obtained by EPIC, the proposal would amend
> current law to authorize "the alteration of hardware or software
> that allows plaintext to be obtained even if attempts were made
> to protect it through encryption." Courts would, for the first
> time, be able to approve covert police entries into homes and
> offices for the purposes of making such alterations. "This
> strikes at the heart of the Bill of Rights," said David L. Sobel,
> EPIC's General Counsel. "It would be truly ironic if the use of
> encryption -- which is designed to protect privacy -- gave the
> police a green light to secretly break into homes." Surreptitious
> physical entries are extremely rare under existing surveillance
> laws. Such entries are only made in order to install hidden
> microphones, an investigative technique approved only 50 times by
> federal and state judges last year. According to Sobel,
> "extending this extraordinary power to cases involving computer
> files would make police break-ins far more common than they are
> today." The latest administration proposal on computer
> surveillance comes on the heels of the "FIDNET" initiative, a
> planned government program that would monitor activity within
> both federal and private sector computer networks. When the
> details of that proposal became widely known earlier this month,
> it met with strong criticism from privacy groups (including EPIC)
> and members of Congress. EPIC is a public interest research
> center in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1994 to focus
> public attention on emerging civil liberties issues and to
> protect privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values.
> EPIC is a project of the Fund for Constitutional Government. EPIC
> works in association with Privacy International, an international
> human rights group based in London, UK and is also a member of
> the Global Internet Liberty Campaign, the Internet Free
> Expression Alliance and the Internet Privacy Coalition. The
> EPIC website is located at http://www.epic.org
> - 30 -
>From www.freedomforum.org/press
> Reno newspaper, TV station ask judge to bar newsroom searches
>
> By The Associated Press
>
> 8.19.99
>
> • What do you think? Have your say in The Forum.
>
> <Picture><Picture: Christopher Lee...>Christopher Lee Merritt
> listens to questions during a jailhouse interview. <Picture>
>
> RENO, Nev. — The issue of county prosecutors who want search
> warrants to seize material from newsrooms is back before a Washoe
> District Court judge.
>
> The Reno Gazette-Journal and KTVN-TV asked Judge Peter Breen on
> Aug. 17 to curb the practice. Breen gave no indication when he
> would rule.
>
> The issue stems from an attempt by District Attorney Richard
> Gammick to seize television footage and reporters' notes
> following interviews Jan. 6 of Christopher Lee Merritt.
>
> Merritt allegedly closed down Interstate 80 west of Reno a few
> days earlier when he fired shots at cars on the highway.
>
> Merritt gave jailhouse interviews to several reporters and
> Gammick sought to obtain documentation of those interviews.
> Merritt faces trial later this year on six counts of attempted
> murder and other charges.
>
> "If you're going to go to a business engaged in First Amendment
> activities, you have to subpoena first, and then use a search
> warrant as a last resort," KTVN lawyer Bill Magrath told the
> judge.
>
> Magrath and lawyer Phil Bartlett, representing the
> Gazette-Journal, told Breen a federal law specifically prohibits
> newsroom searches with a few exceptions, which did not apply in
> this case.
>
> They asked Breen to enter an order requiring the district
> attorney's office to alert justices of the peace to the existence
> of the federal law if newsroom search warrants are sought again.
>
> Chief Deputy District Attorney Thomas Barb said Breen has no
> jurisdiction over the case because the issue had been resolved.
> He said Gammick had pledged not to seek newsroom warrants in the
> future.
<< Interesting how the gov't is anticipating crimes will happen
and is taking steps to prosecute prior to anything ever
happening. As is the case of most gov't bureaucracies, there is
a great drive for "make work", the result of 'brain-storming' in
the direction of, with the objective being job/position
preservation. I think they ought to do to the rest of the gov't
what they've done with the military in terms of stretching the
manpower $$$ as far and thin as possible. No 100K cops; no
extra funding for 'potential' crimes; no surrogate parenthood --
put the people back in charge of their country. A<>E<>R >>
A<>E<>R
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