IP: CDT intPOLICY POST 4.17: CONGRESS EYES THE INTERNET AS THE

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

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   The Center for Democracy and Technology  /____/     Volume 4, Number 17
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      A briefing on public policy issues affecting civil liberties online
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CDT POLICY POST Volume 4, Number 17                   August 31, 1998


CONTENTS: (1) Congress Eyes the Internet As the 105th Nears Its End
           (2) CDA II And Other Censorship Legislation
           (3) Protecting Children's Privacy
           (4) Encryption and E-PRIVACY
           (5) Digital Signatures and Authentication
           (6) Addressing Junk Email
           (7) How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe
           (8) About CDT, Contacting us


  ** This document may be redistributed freely with this banner intact **
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      |PLEASE SEE END OF THIS DOCUMENT FOR INFORMATION ABOUT HOW TO
                SUBSCRIBE, AND HOW TO UN-SUBSCRIBE|
_____________________________________________________________________________


(1) CONGRESS EYES THE INTERNET AS THE 105th NEARS ITS END: A STATUS REPORT


Before Congress left for its August recess, it became apparent that members
felt that legislation on the Internet was an inviting target for
legislation just before an upcoming election.  A simple search on the term
"Internet" in the Library of Congress' Thomas database now calls up 324
bills as opposed to 75 for the same search for the 104th Congress. CDT has
been following many of these bills, tracking those with civil liberties
implications.  The following is a list of the status of the most important
bills in front of Congress today and their impact on the future of
democracy on the Internet:


_____________________________________________________________________________


(2) CDA II AND OTHER CENSORSHIP LEGISLATION




CJS Appropriations Bill (S. 2260) - Two Internet censorship amendments were
added to the budget for the Commerce, Justice and State Departments just
before it passed the Senate.  These amendments are based on two previous
bills, the Communications Decency Act (CDA) II (S. 1482 - introduced by
Senator Coats) and the Internet School Filtering Act (S. 1619 - introduced
by Senator McCain).  Both are misguided efforts that will have a chilling
effect on constitutionally-protected speech.  Not only are they likely to
be found unconstitutional, but they will certainly be ineffective at
protecting children.  Nevertheless, Congress is using these bills to
posture, once again, on the issue of pornography on the Internet.


BILL STATUS: The House did not include these amendments in its version of
the CJS bill which means that the fate of the language will be decided in a
conference committee made up of members of both houses.  If the conference
committee cannot come to an agreement on the bill, there will probably be
attempts to pass a "continuing resolution" in order to keep the departments
funded and avoid another government shut-down.  At that time Senators
Coats, McCain, and others can try again to attach their amendments.


FOR MORE INFORMATION:


* CDT's Policy Post 4.16 analyzed the amendments:
http://www.cdt.org/publications/pp_4.16.html


* CDT's Policy Post 4.5 analyzed the original bills as approved in the
Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee:
http://www.cdt.org/publications/pp_4.5.html


* CDT's Policy Post 4.2 announced the McCain bill's introduction:
http://www.cdt.org/publications/pp_4.2.html


_____________________________________________________________________________


(3) PROTECTING CHILDREN'S PRIVACY


Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (S. 2326) - This bill, introduced
by Senator Bryan, would give the Federal Trade Commission the ability to
prohibit companies from collecting information online from children under
the age of 16 without parental consent. This is the type of legislation the
FTC requested when releasing its recent report and Vice President Gore
called for in his recent speech calling for an "Electronic Bill of Rights."
While this bill would enable the FTC to go after those Web site operators
who are misleading children, it calls into question the free speech rights
of young teenagers.


BILL STATUS: The bill was only recently introduced.  An attempt to turn the
bill into an amendment as part of the CJS appropriations bill failed.  No
hearings are currently scheduled.


FOR MORE INFORMATION:


* CDT's analysis of the FTC Report: http://www.cdt.org/privacy/ftcanalysis.html


* CDT's analysis of VP Gore's 7/31/98 privacy proposal
http://www.cdt.org/privacy/gore_analysis.980811.html
_____________________________________________________________________________


(4) ENCRYPTION AND E-PRIVACY


E-PRIVACY (S. 2607) - This bill (introduced by Senators Ashcroft and Leahy)
lays out a pro-privacy approach to computer security that contrasts starkly
with the Clinton Administration's approach. It would protect the privacy of
all Americans by: 1) protecting the domestic use of strong encryption
without  "key recovery" back doors for government eavesdropping; 2) easing
export controls to allow U.S. companies to sell their encryption products
overseas; 3) strengthening protections from government access to decryption
keys; and 4) creating unprecedented new protections for data stored in
networks and
cell phone location information.  CDT is concerned about provisions in the
bill establishing a new research center to assist federal, state and local
police in dealing with encrypted data and making it a crime to use
encryption to obstruct justice.


BILL STATUS: The bill is currently under consideration by the Senate
Judiciary Committee.


FOR MORE INFORMATION:


* CDT's Encryption Page, with links to resources to all of the current
legislation [House: H.R. 695, ("SAFE") Senate: S.2067 (E-PRIVACY); S.909
(McCain);  S.376 (Leahy-Burns); S.377 ("Pro-Code")]:
http://www.cdt.org/crypto/


* CDT's Policy Post Policy Post 4.11 summarized the main provisions of the
E-PRIVACY bill: http://www.cdt.org/publications/pp_4.11.html


* CDT's Section-by-Section analysis of the E-PRIVACY bill:
http://www.cdt.org/crypto/legis_105/eprivacy/eprivsec.html




_____________________________________________________________________________


(5) DIGITAL SIGNATURES AND AUTHENTICATION


Paperwork Elimination Act (S. 2107) - This bill (introduced by Senator
Abraham) and its House counterpart (HR. 2991 - the Electronic Commerce
Enhancement Act introduced by Representative Eshoo) are intended to
catalyze the use of digital authentication by government agencies.  This
would undoubtedly set standards for the use of digital signatures in
commerce as well.  The Abraham bill has been significantly changed since it
was first introduced in order not to favor certain technologies.  However,
the bill still would not protect the privacy of information collected by
third parties in the process of issuing digital certificates.


BILL STATUS: The Senate Commerce Committee unanimously passed the changed
bill with little debate.  CDT is working with Senator Abraham and
Congresswoman Eshoo to add privacy protections to give online interactions
with the government privacy protections equal to those in the offline world.


FOR MORE INFORMATION:


* News.com's story on the Senate Committee's passage of the Abraham bill:
http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,24234,00.html


* Federal Computer Week's story on the Senate Hearings on the bill:
http://athena.fcw.com/FCW/archive.nsf/Search+View/884BE0E6A27946DE8525665800
5322
00?OpenDocument


* CDT's letter to the General Services Administration on their ACES project
to provide a citizens with digital signatures for government services
http://www.cdt.org/digsig/gsaletterrep.html


_____________________________________________________________________________


(6) ADDRESSING JUNK EMAIL


Anti-Slamming Amendments Act (S. 1618 and H.R. 3888) - These bills, mainly
designed to end unfair phone company practices, contain language meant to
help ease the problem of unsolicited commercial email.  The Senate bill
includes language from Senators Murkowski and Torricelli that would require
those who send unsolicited commercial email to: 1) identify themselves and
provide accurate contact information within the body of their email
message; 2) provide accurate routing information; and 3) stop sending email
messages upon the request of a recipient.  Those who break the law could be
fined by the FTC, states attorneys general, and/or Internet Service
Providers. While CDT believes that the bill will offer individuals remedies
to reduce unsolicited commercial email, we are still concerned that the
current language could impinge on the constitutional protections for
anonymous political speech.  The House version (introduced by
Representatives Tauzin and Dingell) would provide similar remedies, but
would authorize ISPs to search through individual emails looking for the
junk email label.  CDT is concerned about both the free speech and privacy
consequences of such a provision.


BILL STATUS:  Although S. 1618 has already passed the Senate, CDT has
written a letter to Senators Murkowski and Torricelli asking them to
consider adding language to preserve anonymous political speech. The House
bill is awaiting a full Commerce Committee vote.


FOR MORE INFORMATION:


* CDT's letter to Senators Murkowski and Torricelli:
http://www.cdt.org/spam/cdtletter.html


* CDT's Policy Post 4.12 analyzed the Senate Bill:
http://www.cdt.org/publications/pp_4.12.html


* Wired's story on the Tauzin-Dingell Bill's Hearing:
http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/14282.html


* The Ad-Hoc Working Group on Unsolicited Commercial Email's Report to the
FTC: http://www.cdt.org/spam/


_____________________________________________________________________________




(8) ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY/CONTACTING US


The Center for Democracy and Technology is a non-profit public interest
organization based in Washington, DC. The Center's mission is to develop
and advocate public policies that advance democratic values and
constitutional civil liberties in new computer and communications
technologies.


Contacting us:


General information:  info () cdt org
World Wide Web:       http://www.cdt.org/




Snail Mail:  The Center for Democracy and Technology
             1634 Eye Street NW * Suite 1100 * Washington, DC 20006
             (v) +1.202.637.9800 * (f) +1.202.637.0968


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End Policy Post 4.17                                                 8/31/98
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