IP: New "Cybercrime.gov" site: Useful information or propaganda?

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

> 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