IP: 11 September 2001: CRYPTO-GRAM, September 15, 2001

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Please note my favorite quotation -- from Ben Franklin djf

> Date: Sat, 15 Sep 2001 11:41:36 -0500
> To: crypto-gram () chaparraltree com
> From: Bruce Schneier <schneier () counterpane com>
> Subject: CRYPTO-GRAM, September 15, 2001
>
>                  CRYPTO-GRAM
>
>               September 15, 2001
>
>               by Bruce Schneier
>                Founder and CTO
>       Counterpane Internet Security, Inc.
>            schneier () counterpane com
>          <http://www.counterpane.com>
>
>
> A free monthly newsletter providing summaries, analyses, insights, and 
> commentaries on computer security and cryptography.
>
> Back issues are available at 
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>
>
> Copyright (c) 2001 by Counterpane Internet Security, Inc.
>
>
> ** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
>
> In this issue:
>      11 September 2001
>      NSA's Dual Counter Mode
>      Corrections and Explanations
>      Crypto-Gram Reprints
>      News
>      Counterpane Internet Security News
>      The Doghouse: Shyfile
>      New Microsoft Root Certificate Program
>      Comments from Readers
>
>
> ** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
>
>            11 September 2001
>
>
>
> Both sides of the calendar debate were wrong; the new century began on 11 
> September 2001.
>
> All day I fielded phone calls from reporters looking for the "computer 
> security angle" to the story.  I couldn't find one, although I expect 
> several to come out of the aftermath.
>
> Calls for increased security began immediately.  Unfortunately, the 
> quickest and easy way to satisfy those demands is by decreasing 
> liberties.  This is always short sighted; real security solutions exist 
> that preserve the free society that we all hold dear, but they're harder 
> to find and require reasoned debate.  Strong police forces without 
> Constitutional limitations might appeal to those wanting immediate safety, 
> but the reality is the opposite.  Laws that limit police power can 
> increase security, by enforcing honesty, integrity, and fairness.  It is 
> our very liberties that make our society as safe as it is.
>
> In times of crisis it's easy to disregard these liberties or, worse, to 
> actively attack them and stigmatize those who support them.  We've already 
> seen government proposals for increased wiretapping capabilities and 
> renewed rhetoric about encryption limitations.  I fully expect more 
> automatic surveillance of ordinary citizens, limits on information flow 
> and digital-security technologies, and general xenophobia.  I do not 
> expect much debate about their actual effectiveness, or their effects on 
> freedom and liberty.  It's easier just to react.  In 1996, TWA Flight 800 
> exploded and crashed in the Atlantic.  Originally people thought it was a 
> missile attack.  The FBI demanded, and Congress passed, a law giving law 
> enforcement greater abilities to expel aliens from the 
> country.  Eventually we learned the crash was caused by a mechanical 
> malfunction, but the law still stands.
>
> We live in a world where nation states are not the only institutions which 
> wield power.  International bodies, corporations, non-governmental 
> organizations, pan-national ethnicities, and disparate political groups 
> all have the ability to affect the world in an unprecedented manner.  As 
> we adjust to this new reality, it is important that we don't become the 
> very forces we abhor.  I consider the terrorist attacks on September 11th 
> to be an attack against America's ideals.  If our freedoms erode because 
> of those attacks, then the terrorists have won.
>
> The ideals we uphold during a crisis define who we are.  Freedom and 
> liberty have a price, and that price is constant vigilance so it not be 
> taken from us in the name of security.  Ben Franklin said something that 
> was often repeated during the American Revolutionary War: "They that can 
> give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve 
> neither liberty nor safety."  It is no less true today.
>
>
> Senate Amendment 1562, adopted Thursday, will expand Federal wiretapping 
> powers:
> <http://www.cdt.org/security/091101response.shtml/>
>
> Calls to ban encryption:
> <http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46816,00.html>
> <http://www.msnbc.com/news/627390.asp>
>
> Re-emergence of Carnivore:
> <http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46747,00.html>
> <http://latimes.com/business/la-000073542sep12.story>
>
> Erosions of civil liberties are coming:
> <http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46784,00.html>
>
> Other essays:
> <http://www.crypto.com/wtc.html>
> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wtcattack/message/93>
> <http://www.cdt.org/security/cdtstatement.shtml>
>
> "Americans must rethink how to safeguard the country without bartering 
> away the rights and privileges of the free society that we are defending. 
> The temptation will be great in the days ahead to write draconian new laws 
> that give law enforcement agencies - or even military forces - a right to 
> undermine the civil liberties that shape the character of the United 
> States. President Bush and Congress must carefully balance the need for 
> heightened security with the need to protect the constitutional rights of 
> Americans."
>             - The New York Times, 12 Sep 01
>
> "Our values, our resolve, our commitment, our sense of community will 
> serve us well. I am confident that, as a nation, we will seek and serve 
> justice. Our Nation, my neighbors and friends in Vermont demand no less, 
> but we must not let the terrorists win. If we abandon our democracy to 
> battle them, they win. If we forget our role as the world's leader to 
> defeat them, they win. And we will win. We will maintain our democracy, 
> and with justice, we will use our strength."
>             - Sen. Patrick Leahy, 12 Sep 01
>
> "History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of 
> urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure."
>             - Justice Thurgood Marshall, 1989

<big snip>



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