Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: New "Cybercrime.gov" site: Useful information or propaganda?
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 14:03:10 -0500
Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 10:42:55 -0700 To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu> From: Brett Glass <brett () lariat org> Today, I scanned the US Government's newly-created "www.cybercrime.gov" Web site, unveiled this week by Janet Reno. While I hoped that this would be a useful resource for those seeking to learn about the issues and get help with computer crime, I found to my disappointment that the majority of the material posted there is political rather than technical and does not provide balanced views of the issues. The site's advice for victims of computer crime, for example, boils down almost entirely to three marginally helpful words: "Call the FBI." (Anyone who has actually called a local FBI office and asked it to deal with problems such as Internet intruders quickly learns that this is an exercise in futility.) However, the site does contain lengthy arguments for the regulation of cryptography, the expansion of police powers, and the implementation of blocking technologies on the Internet. The pages at http://www.cybercrime.gov/crypto.html, which contain one-sided arguments against the availability of strong encryption and contain serious technical errors (for example, the difficulty of breaking encryption schemes such as single 56-bit DES is grossly overstated), are typical. Links to the sites of groups with contrary views, such as EPIC and the EFF, are notably absent. Who is behind the site? And why is the presentation so biased? The page at http://www.cybercrime.gov/ccips.html appears to hold the answer: "The Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section ("CCIPS") attorney staff consists of about two dozen lawyers who focus exclusively on the issues raised by computer and intellectual property crime. Section attorneys advise federal prosecutors and law enforcement agents; comment upon and propose legislation; coordinate international efforts to combat computer crime; litigate cases; and train all law enforcement groups." Should our tax dollars be spent to create Web sites which promote one-sided political agendas such as the ones outlined on this site? --Brett Glass
Current thread:
- IP: New "Cybercrime.gov" site: Useful information or propaganda? Dave Farber (Mar 14)