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EFFector Online Volume 9 Number 14
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EFFector Online Volume 09 No. 14 Dec. 10, 1996 editors@eff.org
A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424
IN THIS ISSUE:
US Supreme Court Schedules CDA Appeal: The Showdown Begins in Jan.
EFF Analysis of Draft "Database Protection" Treaty
NewsNybbles
EFF's "Know Your CyberRights Sweepstakes" - Spread the Word!
EFF Hosts anon.penet.fi Defense Fund
SPA Drops ISP Lawsuits - "Code of Conduct" Still Advanced
Upcoming Events
Quote of the Day
What YOU Can Do
Administrivia
* See http://www.eff.org/Alerts/ or ftp.eff.org, /pub/Alerts/ for more
information on current EFF activities and online activism alerts! *
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: US Supreme Court Schedules CDA Appeal: The Showdown Begins in Jan.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The US Supreme Court on Friday scheduled briefing in the government's
appeal of the 3-judge Philadelphia federal court ruling that the
Communications Decency Act provisions of the Telecommunications Act of
1996 are unconstitutional, in the merged ACLU v. Reno and ALA v. Dept.
of Justice cases against the recent Internet censorship law.
* Briefing Schedule for Supreme Court Appeal of CDA Constitutionality
Challenge (ACLU v. Reno, ALA v. DoJ merged case), as of Dec. 1996:
Jan. 21, 1997 - Appellant (government) brief due
Feb. 20, 1997 - Appellee (EFF, ACLU, ALA, CIEC, et al.) brief due
Mar. 7, 1997 - Appellant reply brief due.
Mar-Apr., 1997 - Oral arguments in the case will be scheduled
It is important to note the announcement was not about whether the Supreme
Court has chosen to review the lower court's decision in ACLU v. Reno --
the Court has *no choice* as to whether it will review that decision, so
long as the government's appeal is not a frivolous one. According to
Article III of the U.S. Constitution, the Supreme Court can be compelled
by Congress to hear certain kinds of appeals, even though normally
Congress lets the Court set its own docket. Pursuant to Article III, the
Telecom Act, like the Voting Rights Act and certain other legislative
measures, grants the government an "appeal as of right" whenever a
provision of the act is found unconstitutional by a lower court . This
is very different from the normal petition-for-certiorari process by
which cases normally come before the Court. Congress intended that the
contentious provisions of the Telecom Act be settled quickly, and wrote
provisions into the law itself to ensure this.
More importantly, the Court's announcement is not any indication,
despite CDA supporters' claims, that the Supreme Court wants to overturn
the lower court's ruling.
What is significant about the news is that the Supreme Court has
expressed 1) an interest in hearing oral arguments as well as 2) an
interest in speaking *directly* to the issues raised by the case (as
distinct from deciding the case summarily).
Legal teams from both of the original, now merged, cases will continue to
work cooperatively on countering the Justice Department's appeal.
EFF remains very optimistic of the outcome of this case, as the CDA fails
not one but *all* constitutionality tests.
Previous documents from cases are available at:
http://www.eff.org/pub/Legal/Cases/EFF_ACLU_v_DoJ/
More information about the CDA and similar Internet censorship measures:
http://www.eff.org/pub/Censorship/Internet_censorship_bills/
------------------------------
Subject: EFF Analysis of Draft "Database Protection" Treaty
-----------------------------------------------------------
Having failed to win the day in Congress, the US Administration is
strongly pushing for international treaties to "reform" copyright law -
in ways that favor not the public interest, but a handful of commercial
interests concerned with grabbing a property right to information itself
- some of it information owned by you, the taxpayer. Patent and Trademark
Commissioner Bruce Lehman, the primary architect of the would-be
rewiring of global intellectual property law has brushed aside almost all
criticism of these measures, even from the industrial interests he
claims would most benefit from the changes.
EFF, in response to a US Commerce Dept. "Request for Comments" has analyzed
the likely effects of the GII copyright overhaul, which range from making
it impossible to obtain public information under the Freedom of
Information Act if that data was processed by contractors, to making it
illegal to browse a publicly accessible web page without explicit
permission. EFF's response to the Commerce Dept. RFC are appended below.
EFF also submitted additional comments, as a member of the Digital Future
Coalition. The DFC analysis is available at http://www.dfc.org
* Background
The PTO's theory has been that investment in information and communication
technology such as the Internet will be stimulated by granting more explicit
copyright protection to online media, including an all-new, sweeping
protection of databases that amounts to granting ownership over facts to
those who catalog them. The Computer and Communications Industry
Association, which includes AT&T and Sun, begs to differ, saying that the
draft treaties would produce a liability morass that would-be investors
will scramble to steer clear of.
The provisions were first proposed in a Commerce Dept. "Green Paper", later
surfacing in a "White Paper" with virtually no substantive fixes despite
criticism from virtually all corners (see IPWG papers and critiques,
http://www.eff.org/pub/Intellectual_property), then proposed as
the doomed NII Copyright Act of 1996 and related US legislation (see
http://www.eff.org/pub/Intellectual_property/NII_copyright_bill).
At all stages, researchers and public interest organizations have drawn close
attention to the fact that the proposals would directly undermine the
public's fair use rights, important educational excemptions, Supreme Court
precedent, and even the ability to test encryption systems. Hardly the
way to foster increased online commerce.
According to a Dec. 5 USIA report, Lehman is "mildly optimistic" that his
end-run around Congress will succeed. The Commissioner's single-minded
zeal in turning controversial ideas of how copyright should be "reformed"
for the Information Age into international law may be flagging. Lehman
admits that the database-related provision have raised "legitimate concerns"
and appears to be taking seriously the research community's complaints
that it would make their work difficult if not impossible. However, the
Administration appears completely blind to fair use concerns in their
rush to grant businesses ownership of facts themselves.
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) considering the
language of the draft treaties is not readily reachable by citizen advocacy.
However, should WIPO fail to heed the warnings and accept these shoddy
efforts at appeasing the database lobby at the expense of the rest of the
world, remember that Congress rejected these proposals once. As treaties
have to be ratified before they take effect, Congress can reject them
again. Please take a few moments to contact your legislators, and urge
them to reject both the WIPO Literary and Artistic Works Treaty and the
WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property in Respect of Databases, should either
survive the Dec. WIPO conference and be presented to Congress for
ratification. Copyright may indeed need some updating, but ramrodding
ill-conceived and already-rejected proposals down the throat of the world
is not the way to do it.
More information on the WIPO copyright "reform" is available at
http://www.eff.org/pub/Intellectual_property/WIPO for the basics, or
http://www.public-domain.org/ for a large amount of background material.
* EFF Analysis of WIPO Online Intellectual Property Draft Treaties
Mr. Keith M. Kupferschmid
Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks
Box 4, Patent and Trademark Office
Washington, DC 20231
November 22, 1996
Dear Mr. Kupferschmid,
I am writing in response to your request for comments on the Chairman's Text
of the Diplomatic Conference on Certain Copyright and Neighboring Rights
Questions. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a civil liberties
organization that works on issues involving personal rights and freedoms in
digital technologies. We are very concerned about several aspects of the
current proposals, and we appreciate the opportunity to provide you with our
views.
Problems With the Database Treaty Proposal
There are many problems with the "Sui Generis Protection of Databases"
treaty proposal. This treaty should be taken off the agenda in Geneva
until interested parties within the United States have had the opportunity
to discuss and debate the serious implications of its passage. There have
been no public hearings on this proposal. It is premature to take any
official U.S. stance at this time.
This treaty would completely undermine the 1991 U.S. Supreme Court decision
in Feist Publications, Inc. v. Rural Telephone Service. In Feist, the Court
rejected a claim of copyright for data from a telephone directory's white
pages, finding that facts cannot be copyrighted and that obvious items, such
as listing names, addresses, and telephone numbers in alphabetical order,
are not sufficiently creative to qualify for copyright protection.
The Feist decision was based on the grounds that facts cannot be copyrighted
or otherwise removed from the public domain. By creating a new property
right for facts, the treaty will impose regulations on the use of facts.
Under the treaty, private monopolies for the maintenance of public data will
be sanctioned, and individuals will have to pay for facts in the public
domain.
This is particularly troubling because in the United States many government
databases are maintained by private contractors. The pieces of information
contained within those databases rightfully are part of the public domain;
there is no other source for this information. The private vendors who
receive government contracts to maintain information owned by the people
should not be given a property interest in that government information.
Furthermore, under the proposed database treaty, the government will be
permitted to avoid compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
if it uses private contractors, since the contractors will be said to have
property rights to the public information.
In addition, there are problems with several definitions contained within
the treaty. The definition of "database" is all-encompassing and will
include many things that are not traditionally considered to be databases,
such as collections of government documents. The term "substantial" is
troubling, in that it takes into account the database maintainer's
perceived lost value in the marketplace. Under this definition, it is
reasonable to assume that even small portions of information used from a
database would be considered a substantial portion of the database and
would constitute violation of the treaty. With no fair use rights, database
users would be precluded from using any bits of information they receive
from a database if the database maintainer has charged for that information.
It is also unclear as to when the term of protection begins to start again.
It seems from the language of the treaty that any changes to a database
(i.e., any addition of data) will reset the clock for protection purposes.
This will give database maintainers an infinite copyright in their databases.
The treaty also includes strong civil and criminal penalties for third-party
disseminators of this information. Internet service providers and others
who merely provide the conduit for communications should not be held liable
for any unauthorized actions of their users. Yet this treaty attempts to
establish system operator liability under international law.
Finally, as in the proposed "Protection of Literary and Artistic
Works" treaty, the database proposal is accompanied by very strict
prohibitions against the "importation, manufacture or distribution of
protection-defeating devices . . . by any person knowing or having
reasonable grounds to know that the device" may be used for
circumventing the rights created in the treaty. This turns current
Supreme Court law (See Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios,
Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984)) on its head; today a technology is
legitimate to make, import and distribute if it has ANY legitimate uses
-- not if ALL of its uses are legitimate. Under this novel theory,
common office supplies like correction fluid and scissors could be
outlawed because they can be used to eliminate copyright markings on
documents. The Supreme Court made the correct call for society; the
social good of an entire technology should not be suppressed merely
because it causes quantifiable or alleged harm to one party.
Furthermore, the "protection-defeating device" restriction obviously
covers both reverse-engineering tools and encryption technology.
Reverse engineering is the process of discovering exactly what a
competitor has built by detailed examination of an end-user product.
Eliminating the legal right to reverse-engineer makes it much easier
to establish monopolies enforced by the state. This harms society by
slowing the flow of improved products, benefiting the few at the
expense of the many. The restriction also makes it illegal to
"crack" or seek to crack encryption systems, an essential part of
building real security into encryption systems (including copy
protection systems). Only if a security system is constantly open to
public testing and scrutiny can its worth be assured and its security
be improved. It's clear that this part of the law would not stop
criminals from circumventing technical copy protection systems; the
much larger crime they are involved in is the theft of the
intellectual property itself. But it would stop professors, students,
and competitors from studying copy protection systems to analyze their
flaws and propose improvements. And it would prohibit consumers from
being able to obtain products which they would use in completely legal
and legitimate ways; for example, to recover access to their own
encrypted files.
Problems with the Literary and Artistic Works Treaty Proposal
As with the "Sui Generis Protection of Databases" treaty proposal, EFF has
many concerns about the "Protection of Literary and Artistic Works" treaty
proposal to be considered by the diplomatic conference.
The way it is currently written, Article 7 would inhibit browsing on the
World Wide Web. Article 7 requires signatories to treat temporary copies,
such as the ephemeral random access memory (RAM) copies made on servers
as a piece of information moves through the Internet, as a "reproduction"
that could violate the exclusive reproduction right. Temporary
reproduction for technological purposes should not be given copyright
protection. All electronic communications would be copyright violations
under this provision.
Article 10 would substantially expand the exposure of online service
providers. Article 10 creates a new exclusive right of communication to
the public, which appears to be broader than either the distribution right
or public performance right now granted by the U.S. Copyright Act. This
new right, when combined with Article 7's treatment of RAM copies as
reproductions, significantly increases the likelihood that an online
service provider would be found directly liable for a subscriber's
infringement.
Article 12 would undermine many of the exceptions of the U.S. Copyright Act.
Article 12 would apparently eliminate exceptions that currently permit the
use of copyrighted works for distance learning and performance of music in
religious ceremonies. These are but two examples. It may also narrow the
application of the fair use doctrine with respect to both commercial and
non-commercial uses.
Article 13 contains the exact same troubling language as the proposed "Sui
Generis Protection of Databases" treaty (discussed above) that would make
reverse-engineering and the cracking of encryption illegal.
In conclusion, the Electronic Frontier Foundation believes that it is
premature for the United States to take a public stance on the issues
involved in the "Sui Generis Protection of Databases" treaty proposal.
If the United States does take a stance, we strongly urge that it
propose the rejection of the current draft. We hope that the U.S.
delegation will pull that proposal from discussion in Geneva until a
national debate has taken place. EFF has the same level of
reservations about the "Protection of Literary and Artistic Works"
treaty proposal in its current form.
Thank you for consideration of our views on these important issues. Please
feel free to contact me if I can provide you with any additional information.
Sincerely,
[sig]
Shari Steele, Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation ssteele@eff.org
P.O. Box 649 301/375-8856 (voice)
Bryans Road, MD 20616 301/283-5337 (fax)
------------------------------
Subject: NewsNybbles
--------------------
* EFF's "Know Your CyberRights Sweepstakes" - Spread the Word!
As part of its educational and public awareness mission, EFF has launched
a sweepstakes based on a series of online civil liberties questions and
answers. Winners will receive a variety of prizes, including a Gibson
guitar signed by UK recording artists The Cure. The guitar was signed at
Eden MusicFest, a 3-day mega-concert EFF helped organize to raise
awareness of Internet privacy and free speech.
EFF members might not find the challenges very tough, but perhaps you'll
consider passing around the following contest announcement to your
favorite online haunts, posting it on your web page, etc. Please feel
free to simply create links to the sweepstakes' official web page at
http://www.eff.org/sweeps/
[Please redistribute widely in appropriate places, but no later than Dec.
16, 1996.]
EFF's "KNOW YOUR CYBERRIGHTS SWEEPSTAKES"
Play EFF's "Know Your CyberRights Sweepstakes," and win one of the 60+
great prizes we're giving away - maybe even the the Gibson guitar
autographed by the Cure!
Every day, decisions are being made that will affect your life online.
Since 1990, The Electronic Frontier Foundation has been looking out for you
- and your Constitutional rights.
EFF's "Know Your CyberRights" Sweepstakes is your chance to pick up
pointers while you earn chances to win great prizes. Just by answering one
multiple choice question in each of the four rounds, entering your e-mail
address and clicking on "Submit answer," you could win the guitar, an EFF
T-shirt signed by The Spin Doctors, one of 10 EFF T-shirts, or one of 50
Blue Ribbon pins!
To participate in EFF's "Know Your CyberRights Sweepstakes," go to
http://www.eff.org/sweeps. Answers to Round 1's free speech question are
due Monday, December 16, at 11:59 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). So,
enter now, know your cyberrights, and play to win!
The "Know Your CyberRights Sweepstakes" is organized by the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, and nonprofit public interest organization devoted
to protecting civil liberites and promoting responsibility in new media,
and Yoyodyne Entertainment, a privacy-conscious and innovative Internet
company specializing in free online games.
[end announcement]
********************************************
* EFF Hosts anon.penet.fi Defense Fund
As reported in previous issues of EFFector, Johan Helsingius, operator
of the (former) pseudonymous remailer anon.penet.fi will appeal a Finnish
court ruling that Penet's thousands of users, who depended on the remailer
to protect their privacy, have no expectation of privacy under Finnish law,
in response to Church of Scientology legal actions to gain access to
the real identity of a Penet user accused of copyright infringement.
Helsingius is also considering legal action against a UK newspaper who
slandered the remailer and it its operator in an attempt to paint yet
another "Internet is an evil den of child pornographers" schlock stories.
Helsingius, who has long had a policy against illegal abuse of the
remailers services was needlessly investigated for child pornography as a
result of the unfounded accusations - and cleared of any wrongdoing.
As the US is the largest aggregate of Net users who may wish to support
Helsingius's appeal of the Finnish court's anti-privacy ruling and
recovery of damages for defamation (of not just himself but essentially
all privacy advocates and Internet users by implication), EFF will serve
as a clearinghouse for US donations to the Penet Legal Defense Fund.
Donations may be made by sending checks or money orders to:
Electronic Frontier Foundation
attn: Penet Fund
1550 Bryant St., Suite 725
San Francisco CA 94103
IMPORTANT! Checks/MOs should be made out to "EFF" or "Electronic Frontier
Foundation", and clearly marked "Penet Fund" or "Penet Legal Defense Fund"
in the note space at the bottom. Otherwise they could be mistaken for
donations to EFF itself.
WE CANNOT PROCESS DRAFTS MADE OUT TO "PENET FUND". We would have to have
a business license and a new account in that name. Please also note that
small donations such as $5 would be consumed by currency conversion fees
and such. Please be generous. Consider it a holiday spirit gift to
Internet privacy. If you wish to send non-US funds (or even, better for
Penet, Finnish funds), your best bet is to contact Helsingius directly at
julf@penet.fi and make arrangements, so the donation is not reduced by
the US-to-Finland exchange and transfer process.
* SPA Drops ISP Lawsuits - Code of Conduct Still Advanced
In late Nov., the Software Publishers Association dropped two suits
against internet service providers (ISPs). SPA had intended to hold the
ISPs liable for the alleged coyright infringments of users. SPA had also
been advancing an "ISP Code of Conduct" demanding, among other things,
the appointing of a staff member to monitor and censor not only what all
of the ISPs customers said and posted online, but also to screen all
pass-through Net traffic being routed through their sites.
Though SPA had already dropped suit against one service provider,
Community ConneXion, by mid-Nov., and backpeddaled from one of the other
suits so forcefully as to give the access provider what amounts a lot
of free advertising in an SPA press release about settling
the case, the industry group curiously still proposes it's "Code"
(renamed "ISP Guidelines for Intellectual Property Protection",
apparently in the hope to make it sound more attractive. Industry likes
"guidelines" it can subscribe to but bridles at being force-fed a "code
of conduct").
The ISP industry just isn't going for this ostensible carrot, and the
SPA's stick has no sting. The Association of Online Professionals issued
a warning to Internet access companies to avoid the SPA "Code" like the
plague, as it undermines the ISP raison d'etre (to provide open access to
communications) and would greatly increase ISP liability for user actions,
with no return. EFF analyzed the problems inherent in the "Code", and
also criticized SPA's "kill the messenger" legal tactic of suing
providers for the actions users beyond their control - and for such
"crimes" as making WWW links to pages that might be infringing or even
providing information about software cracking. Electronic Frontiers
Georgia proposed a counter-policy addressing the SPA document's
complete lack of any requirement that copyright infringement complainants
show any evidence that they actually have a valid claim.
As of e-press time, SPA has yet to respond to any of the above, though
their dropping of the remaining suits against ISPs is certainly a good sign.
The above documents may all be found at:
http://www.eff.org/pub/Legal/Cases/SPA_cases/
------------------------------
Upcoming Events
---------------
This schedule lists EFF events, and those we feel might be of interest to
our members. EFF events (those sponsored by us or featuring an EFF speaker)
are marked with a "*" instead of a "-" after the date. Simlarly, government
events (such as deadlines for comments on reports or testimony submission,
or conferences at which government representatives are speaking) are marked
with "!" in place of the "-" ("!?" means a govt. speaker may appear, but
we don't know for certain yet.) And likewise, "+" in place of "-"
indicates a non-USA event. If it's a foreign EFF event with govt. people,
it'll be "*!+" instead of "-". You get the idea.
The latest version of the full EFF calendar is available from:
ftp: ftp.eff.org, /pub/EFF/calendar.eff
gopher: gopher.eff.org, 1/EFF, calendar.eff
http://www.eff.org/pub/EFF/calendar.eff
See also our new Now-Up-to-Date HTML calendar at:
http://events.eff.org
1996
----
Dec. 18 - MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA - first meeting of the Bay Area Chapter of
the Webmasters' Guild; The Webmasters' Guild is an organization
dedicated to providing industry education and business networking
opportunities for web site professionals.
6:30 PM; Netscape Communications, 487 E. Middlefield Rd.,
Mountain View, CA; Customer Briefing Center (Mozilla room);
Registration will begin at 6:30 PM with the meeting starting
promptly at 7:00 PM.
URL http://www.webmaster.org
R.S.V.P. to the Bay Area Chapter President, Bob Koche, at
bkoche@cruzio.com
1997
----
Jan. 10 - PHILADELPHIA - CALL FOR PAPERS!! - SIGIR '97 seeks original
contributions (i.e. never before published) in the broad field
of information storage and retrieval, covering the handling of
all types of information, people's behavior in information
systems, and theories, models and implementations of information
retrieval systems. Subscribe now to SIGIR '97 mailing list by
writing to <sigir97@potomac.ncsl.nist.gov> Information on
SIGIR '97 will periodically be sent to the mailing list as well as
posted at http://www.acm.org/sigir/conferences/sigir97/index.html
The conference will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in
Philadelphia, PA, USA, July 27 -- July 31, 1997
Jan. 13 + LANCASTER, UK - ECSCW'97, the Fifth European Conference on
Computer Supported Cooperative Work; deadline for paper
submissions is January 13, 1997; papers must contain an abstract
of not more than 100 words and not exceed 16 pages in length; full
formatting instructions are available from
http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/ecscw97/papers/
queries: ecscw97-papers@comp.lancs.ac.uk
for more information:
snail mail: ECSCW'97 Conference Office
Computing Department
Lancaster University
Lancaster LA1 4YR UK
URL: http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/ecscw97/
email: ecscw97@comp.lancs.ac.uk
Jan. 15-
17 - WASHINGTON, DC - Universal Service '97: Redefining Universal
Telecommunications Service for the Emerging Competitive
Environment; for more information contact:
tel: +1 800 822 MEET
+1 202 842 3022 x317
URL: http://brp.com
Jan. 16-
17 - ARLINGTON, VA - NCSA International Virus Prevention Conference '97;
event will investigate "the continuing, worrisome, costly
problem of computer virus attacks, disasters and recovery;
Crystal Gateway Marriott (+1 703 271 5212);
more information:
tel: +1 717 258 1816
email: ivpc97@ncsa.com
Jan. 19-
21 - PALM SPRINGS, CA - Upside Technology Summit; "Managing Digital
Mania: An Extreme Sport for Technology Executives"; examining
effective business models and strategies in the booming world of
e-commerce; Al Franken has been invited to give a closing speech;
La Quinta Resort & Club, Palm Springs, CA; for more info contact:
URL: http://www.upside.com
tel: +1 888 33 UPSIDE
Jan. 23-
25 - CAMBRIDGE, MA
The Economics of Digital Information and Intellectual Property
Harvard University symposium to broaden and deepen understanding
of emerging economic and business models for global publishing
and information access and the attendant transformation of
international information markets, institutions, and businesses.
First Announcement and Call for Papers; Prospective authors should
submit short abstracts for review and comment as soon as possible.
Acceptances of abstracts and outlines are conditional pending
receipt of a satisfactory draft by December 15, 1996. Sponsored by
Harvard Law School.
email: iip@harvard.edu
regular mail: Tim Leshan, Information Infrastructure Project,
John F. Kennedy School of Government, 79 John F. Kennedy St.,
Cambridge, MA 02138
tel: 617-496-1389
fax: 617-495-5776
Jan. 28-
31 - RSA Cryptography Conference - Computerworld called last year's
event the sine qua non event of the crypto community; at various
facilities atop Nob Hill in San Francisco, the luminaries of
cryptography will gather; Right now, preparations for this
conference are underway. There are many exciting ways for
corporations and individuals to participate. Read on for
information about presenting, exhibiting, or just attending
http://www.rsa.com/conf97/
Feb. 10-
11 - Internet Society Symposium on Network and Distributed System
Security; for those interested in the practical aspects of network
and distributed system security, focusing on actual system design
and implementation, rather than theory. Dates, final call for
papers, advance program, and registration information will be
available at the URL: http://www.isoc.org/conferences/ndss97
Feb. 18-
20 - SAN JOSE, CA - DCI Internet Expo; the world's largest Internet,
Web and email conference and exposition; comprehensive program
will cover Web-enabled marketing, best practices for e-commerce
and application development; San Jose Convention Center; also
will be held April 22-24 at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL;
email: ExpoReg@dciexpo.com
URL: http://www.dciexpo.com
Feb. 24-
28 + ANGUILLA, BRITISH WEST INDIES
Financial Cryptography '97 - CALL FOR PAPERS; this is a new
conference on the security of digital financial transactions.
FC97 aims to bring together persons involved in both the
financial and data security fields to foster cooperation and
exchange of ideas. Send a cover letter and 9 copies of an extended
abstract to be received by November 29, 1996 to the Program Chair
at the address given below:
Rafael Hirschfeld
FC97 Program Chair
CWI
Kruislaan 413
1098 SJ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
email: ray@cwi.nl
phone: +31 20 592 4169
fax: +31 20 592 4199
URL: http://www.cwi.nl/conferences/FC97
Mar. 1-
5 - ACM97: The Next 50 Years of Computing; San Jose Convention
Center, March 1-5, 1997; Registration information:
URL: http://www.acm.org/acm97
tel: +1 800 342 6626
Mar. 3-
5 - NEW YORK CITY - Consumer Online Services TV; Jupiter
Communications conference featuring Steve Case of AOL and
Steve Perlman of WebTV; for more information contact:
tel: +1 800 488 4345
URL: http://www.jup.com
Apr. 8-
11 - FRACTAL 97: Fractals in the Natural & Applied Sciences 4th
International Working Conference; Denver Colorado. Sponsored by
IFIP; paper submissions due by Aug. 5, 1996.
Contact: Miroslav Novak, +44 181 547 2000 (voice),
+44 181 547 7562 or 7419 (fax)
Email: novak@kingston.ac.uk
Apr. 22-
24 - CHICAGO, IL - DCI Internet Expo; the world's largest Internet,
Web and email conference and exposition; comprehensive program
will cover Web-enabled marketing, best practices for e-commerce
and application development; San Jose Convention Center; also
will be held February 18-20 at the San Jose Convention Center;
email: ExpoReg@dciexpo.com
URL: http://www.dciexpo.com
June 2-
4 - American Society for Information Science 1997 Mid-Year Conference;
gathering will focus on privacy and security issues online;
Scottsdale Arizona; paper submissions due Nov. 1, 1996.
Contacts:
Gregory B. Newby, Co-Chair GSLIS/UIUC
Tel: (217) 244-7365; Email: gbnewby@uiuc.edu
Mark H. Needleman, Co chair UCOP
Tel: (510) 987-0530; Email: mhn@stubbs.ucop.edu
Karla Petersen, Panel Sessions
Tel: (312) 508-2657; Email: kpeter1@luc.edu
Richard Hill, Executive Director, ASIS
Tel: (301) 495-0900; Email: rhill@cni.org
URL: http://www.asis.org
June 14-
19 + CALGARY, CANADA
ED-MEDIA/ED-TELECOM 97--World Conference on Educational
Multimedia and Hypermedia and World Conference on Educational
Telecommunications are jointly held international conferences,
organized by the Association for the Advancement of Computing
in Education (AACE). These annual conferences serve as multi-
disciplinary forums for the discussion and dissemination of
information on the research, development, and applications on all
topics related to multimedia/hypermedia and distance education.
We invite you to attend ED-MEDIA/ED-TELECOM 97 and submit proposals
for papers, panels, roundtables, tutorials, workshops,
demonstrations/posters, and SIG discussions. Proposals may be
submitted in either hard copy (send 5 copies or fax 1 copy)
or in electronic form. Electronic proposals in the form of
URL addresses or ASCII files (uncoded) are preferred.
Submission Deadline: Oct. 25, 1996; Send to:
Program Chairs
ED-MEDIA 97/AACE
P.O. Box 2966
Charlottesville, VA 22902, USA
E-mail: AACE@virginia.edu; Phone: 804-973-3987; Fax: 804-978-7449
URL: http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia
June 19-
20 - WASHINGTON, DC - CyberPayments '97
Conference will investigate issues of online commerce including
electronic cash and checks, credit cards, encryption systems
and security products; Sheraton Washington Hotel, Washington, DC
For more information contact:
email: vinceiaboni@msn.com
tel: +1 216 464 2618 x228
+1 800 529 7375
July 13-
17 - ACUTA 26th Annual Conference; Atlanta, Georgia.
Contact: +1 606 278 3338 (voice)
Sep. 7 -
11 + LANCASTER, UK - ECSCW'97, the Fifth European Conference on
Computer Supported Cooperative Work; deadline for paper
submissions is January 13, 1997; papers must contain an abstract
of not more than 100 words and not exceed 16 pages in length; full
formatting instructions are available from
http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/ecscw97/papers/
queries: ecscw97-papers@comp.lancs.ac.uk
for more information:
snail mail: ECSCW'97 Conference Office
Computing Department
Lancaster University
Lancaster LA1 4YR UK
URL: http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/ecscw97/
email: ecscw97@comp.lancs.ac.uk
Sep. 12-
14 SAN DIEGO - Association of Online Professionals Annual
Conference; sysop trade association's yearly gathering to
discuss issues of relevance to the industry
URL: http://www.aop.org/confrnc.html
Oct. 28-
31 - EDUCOM '97; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.
Contact: +1 202 872 4200 (voice)
Email: conf@educom.edu
Dec. 1 - Computer Security Day (started by Washington DC chapter of the
Assoc. for Computing Machinery, to "draw attention to computer
security during the holdiay season when it might otherwise become
lax."
------------------------------
Subject: Quote of the Day
-------------------------
"Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; but, unlike charity, it
should end there."
- Clare Boothe Luce
Find yourself wondering if your privacy and freedom of speech are safe
when bills to censor the Internet are swimming about in a sea of of
surveillance legislation and anti-terrorism hysteria? Worried that in
the rush to make us secure from ourselves that our government
representatives may deprive us of our essential civil liberties?
Concerned that legislative efforts nominally to "protect children" will
actually censor all communications down to only content suitable for
the playground? Alarmed by commercial and religious organizations abusing
the judicial and legislative processes to stifle satire, dissent and
criticism?
Join EFF!
http://www.eff.org/EFFdocs/join_eff.html (or send any message to info@eff.org).
Even if you don't live in the U.S., the anti-Internet hysteria will soon
be visiting a legislative body near you. If it hasn't already.
------------------------------
Subject: What YOU Can Do
------------------------
* The Communications Decency Act & Other Censorship Legislation
The Communications Decency Act and similar legislation pose serious
threats to freedom of expression online, and to the livelihoods of system
operators. The legislation also undermines several crucial privacy
protections. The CDA is likely to be found unconstitutional by the
Supreme Court. But, bowing to pressure from theocratic organization,
Congress is likely to introduce and attempt to pass a slightly modified
version. Let your legislators know you will not stand for censorship,
nor for the wasting of millions of tax dollars on years of Supreme Court
litigation over laws that should never have even been proposed much less
passed in a democracy.
Business/industry persons concerned should alert their corporate govt.
affairs office and/or legal counsel about such censorship measures,
TODAY, while there is still time to plan.
Join in the Blue Ribbon Campaign - see http://www.eff.org/blueribbon.html
Support the EFF Cyberspace Legal Defense Fund:
http://www.eff.org/pub/Alerts/cyberlegal_fund_eff.announce
If you do not have full internet access (e.g. WWW), send your request
for information to ask@eff.org.
IMPORTANT! KEEP AN EYE ON YOUR LOCAL LEGISLATURE. All kinds of wacky
censorious legislation is turning up at the US state and non-US
national levels. Don't let it sneak by you - or by the online activism
community. Without locals on the look out, it's very difficult for the
Net civil liberties community to keep track of what's happening locally
as well as globally.
* Find Out Who Your Congresspersons Are
Writing letters to, faxing, and phoning your representatives in Congress
is one very important strategy of activism, and an essential way of
making sure YOUR voice is heard on vital issues.
If you are having difficulty determining who your US legislators are,
try contacting your local League of Women Voters, who maintain a great
deal of legislator information, or consult the free ZIPPER service
that matches Zip Codes to Congressional districts with about 85%
accuracy at:
http://www.stardot.com/~lukeseem/zip.html
Computer Currents Interactive has provided Congress contact info, sorted
by who voted for and against the Communications Decency Act:
http://www.currents.net/congress.html (NB: Some of these folks have,
fortunately, been voted out of office.)
* Join EFF!
You *know* privacy, freedom of speech and ability to make your voice heard
in government are important. You have probably participated in our online
campaigns and forums. Have you become a member of EFF yet? The best way to
protect your online rights is to be fully informed and to make your
opinions heard. EFF members are informed and are making a difference. Join
EFF today!
For EFF membership info, send queries to membership@eff.org, or send any
message to info@eff.org for basic EFF info, and a membership form.
------------------------------
Administrivia
=============
EFFector Online is published by:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
1550 Bryant St., Suite 725
San Francisco CA 94103 USA
+1 415 436 9333 (voice)
+1 415 436 9993 (fax)
Membership & donations: membership@eff.org
Legal services: ssteele@eff.org
General EFF, legal, policy or online resources queries: ask@eff.org
Editor: Stanton McCandlish, Online Activist, Webmaster (mech@eff.org)
This newsletter is printed on 100% recycled electrons.
Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged. Signed
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longer to prepare after issue of the ASCII text version.
------------------------------
End of EFFector Online v09 #14 Digest
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