IP: Dutch government: All your bits are belong to us!

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 20:43:00 -0400
> From: Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>
>
> The Mevis commission report:
> http://www.minjust.nl/c_actual/rapport/gegevens.pdf
>
> *********
>
> Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 09:12:17 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Morlock Elloi <morlockelloi () yahoo com>
> Subject: All your bits are belong to us
> To: cypherpunks () cyberpass net
>
> Dutch discover that once you give bits to someone, you don't own/control them:
>
> http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/te/7691/1.html
>
>
> Dutch law enforcement should get easier access to personal data stored
> by companies
>
> Jelle van Buuren   21.05.2001
>
> Police wants to screen whole groups of citizens to see if they can
> establish criminal patterns
>
> Dutch police can get easier access to personal information of clients
> stored in company's databases. All the information stored by companies
> will be available to the police, proposes the commission Mevis in a
> report launched at Monday last week. The minister of Justice said he
> would adopt the proposals in new legislation.
>
> According to the commission, lead by Professor P. Mevis, the current
> investigative powers no longer satisfy the needs of the police in the
> information society. Privacy rules are often an obstacle, as are legal
> definitions, which are not adjusted to the digital developments.
> Companies don't know what their obligations are. In many cases companies
> cooperate voluntary in providing confidential client information. But
> according to the commission Mevis, this situation is not acceptable for
> both parties.
>
> The commission therefore proposes new investigative powers for the
> police. Police officers should, without the need of a legal order, get
> the power to ask personal information like name, address, living place,
> client number, bank account, access codes, and registration plate. The
> personal information does not have to belong to suspects; the police are
> authorised to ask this kind of information for a group of persons, to
> investigate networks and communications, and floods of money or goods.
> This is called pro-active investigation: the screening by police of
> whole groups of citizens to see if they can establish criminal patterns.
>
> A whole range of companies will be forced to work with the police:
> telephone companies, Internet providers, lease companies, car rental
> companies, travelling agencies, flying companies, garages, real estate
> agencies, credit card companies, insurance companies, mortgagors,
> transport companies, banks, accountants, chemical industry, chambers of
> commerce, educational institutes, art houses, hospitals, hotels and
> jewellers.
>
> [...]
>
> **********
>
> Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 10:04:44 -0700
> To: cypherpunks () lne com
> From: Tim May <tcmay () got net>
> Subject: Re: All your bits are belong to us
>
> At 9:12 AM -0700 5/26/01, Morlock Elloi wrote:
> > Dutch discover that once you give bits to someone, you don't own/control 
> them:
> > http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/te/7691/1.html
> > ...
> > Dutch police can get easier access to personal information of clients
> > stored in company's databases. All the information stored by companies
> > will be available to the police, proposes the commission Mevis in a
> > report launched at Monday last week. The minister of Justice said he
> > would adopt the proposals in new legislation.
>
> But...but....but...but they have the best privacy laws in the world!
> How can this happen?
>
> The answer, of course, is that most so-called "privacy laws" in
> European nations (and, increasingly, in Canada, and spreading
> southward) are in fact just statist interference in private business
> operations while also compiling national dossiers which, as we see
> above, are accessible to the cops, social engineers, insurance
> companies, etc.
>
> Trusting the State to maintain privacy is ludicrous. And giving the
> State the power to interfere with what Alice "remembers" (*) about
> Bob is perniciously evil.
>
> (Most "data privacy laws" are essentially laws that say Alice is not
> free to record her memories of information she obtained about Bob,
> from Bob, or of her dealings with Bob. She is required to submit her
> proposal to remember information to the
> Staatsprivatiereninformationgebluck for permission to record her
> memories. I exaggerate slightly, in that private citizens like Alice
> are not (yet) bothered by the fascists if they wish to write down
> their memories. But laws about data bases are in fact laws about what
> a person may remember on his computer or in his filing cabinets.)
>
>
> > Companies don't know what their obligations are. In many cases companies
> > cooperate voluntary in providing confidential client information. But
> > according to the commission Mevis, this situation is not acceptable for
> > both parties.
>
> So much for true privacy. At least in the U.S. we still have people
> who will demand a search warrant before opening their files to cops.
>
> (All of this is changing, though, as AOL sets up special liaison
> offices to make the jobs of cops seeking information easier. And
> hospitals and doctors are not required to report all sorts of medical
> and psychiatric conditions to the Alphas in Washington. A
> psychiatrist friend of mine was planning to get out of the field
> because of all the new laws requiring him to report on his patients.)
>
>
> > A whole range of companies will be forced to work with the police:
> > telephone companies, Internet providers, lease companies, car rental
> > companies, travelling agencies, flying companies, garages, real estate
> > agencies, credit card companies, insurance companies, mortgagors,
> > transport companies, banks, accountants, chemical industry, chambers of
> > commerce, educational institutes, art houses, hospitals, hotels and
> > jewellers.
>
> Ah, yes, the Netherlands has the best privacy laws in the world.
>
> --Tim May
> --
> Timothy C. May         tcmay () got net        Corralitos, California
> Political: Co-founder Cypherpunks/crypto anarchy/Cyphernomicon
> Technical: physics/soft errors/Smalltalk/Squeak/agents/games/Go
> Personal: b.1951/UCSB/Intel '74-'86/retired/investor/motorcycles/guns
>
> **********
>
> Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 10:46:01 -0700
> To: cypherpunks () lne com
> From: Tim May <tcmay () got net>
> Subject: Re: All your bits are belong to us
>
> At 10:04 AM -0700 5/26/01, Tim May wrote:
> > (All of this is changing, though, as AOL sets up special liaison
> > offices to make the jobs of cops seeking information easier. And
> > hospitals and doctors are not required to report all
>
> "are now required," not "are not required." An important
> typographical error to correct.
>
>
> --Tim May
> --
> Timothy C. May         tcmay () got net        Corralitos, California
> Political: Co-founder Cypherpunks/crypto anarchy/Cyphernomicon
> Technical: physics/soft errors/Smalltalk/Squeak/agents/games/Go
> Personal: b.1951/UCSB/Intel '74-'86/retired/investor/motorcycles/guns
>
> ***********
>
> Date: Tue, 08 May 2001 14:07:24 +0200
> To: declan () well com
> From: Maurice Wessling <maurice () bof nl>
> Subject: Dutch government puts Trusted Third Parties under pressure
>
>
>   Dutch government puts Trusted Third Parties under pressure
>
>   Jelle van Buuren   08.05.2001
>
>   Intelligence agencies and police want to get access to encrypted
> messages
>
>
>
>    Dutch law enforcement authorities are forcing Trusted Third Parties
> (TTP's) to use key escrow or key recovery techniques, which make it
> possible for law enforcement to decrypt encrypted messages. The law
> enforcement authorities want to get access to encrypted Internet
> messages, according to secret documents revealed by the Dutch digital
> rights movement  Bits of Freedom [0].
>
>   Trusted Third Parties (TTP's) are independent organisations, which
> offer services to enhance the security and reliability of electronic
> communication. TTP's, for instance banks, accountants,
> telecommunication companies or public notaries, use cryptography to
> prove the authenticity of communication and secure the confidentiality
> of communication.
>
>   The Dutch Ministries of Traffic and Waterways and Economical Affairs
> started in 1998 the national  TTP project [1] to regulate in
> co-operation with industry the founding of TTP's. In a policy paper of
> March 1999 the Ministries pointed at the need of 'lawful access' and
> announced that, if voluntary agreements on this subject were not
> possible, the government would introduce legislation that would force
> them to do so.
>
> [...]
>
>
>   Links
>
>   [0] http://www.bof.nl
>   [1] http://www.ecp.nl/trust/ttp.html
>   [2] http://www.bof.nl/tappen/KST35668.pdf
>   [3] http://www.bof.nl/tappen/RapportageTWRT.pdf
>   [4] http://www.bof.nl/tappen/TTPnotulenmaart2001.pdf
>
>   Artikel-URL: http://www.telepolis.de/english/inhalt/te/7571/1.html
>
>
> **********



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