February 1993 - cypherpunks-legacy@lists.ogf.org

Re: A Group Note From CypherPunks
by DrZaphod 04 Feb '93

04 Feb '93

>>> From: The White House <75300.3115(a)compuserve.com> From deltorto(a)aol.com >Ladies & Gents, I think a group letter would be appropriate from all of us. >What an opportunity. I love this country sometimes, y'know? Excellent Idea! What better way to secure our position on cryptography and privacy then to write a little note to Bill. go for it.. and we can all read it, make suggestions, and add bits.. incidentally, I've already sent my PGP key down to the White House.. |-] TTFN! DrZaphod [AC/DC] / [DnA][HP] [drzaphod(a)ncselxsi.uucp] Technicolorized

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White Mail
by deltorto＠aol.com 04 Feb '93

04 Feb '93

Guys & Gals, Here's a tidbit I thought you'd all like to know about: (from Network World, 1 Feb. 1993, p. 37) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- E-MAIL RULING MAY HAMPER CLINTON ADMINISTRATION Washington, D.C. - A recent federal court ruling requiring the preserva tion of the Bush administration's electronic mail tapes has left many considering the ramifications for E-mail utilization in the Clinton White House and the private sector. Federal Judge Charles Richey ruled that President Bush's E-mail falls under the 50-year-old Federal Records Act and cannot be destroyed until it has been reviewed under stringent guidelines for its preservation. This ruling, which is aimed at uncovering information concerning the Iran-Contra scandal, is the first time electronic communications has fallen under the auspices of the act. Although the ruling is currently being appealed and it is unclear whether the Bush administration will comply with the order, it has several implications for the new White House staff. "It will provide a real problem for the Clinton administration," said Michael Cavanagh, executive director of the Electronic Mail Association here. The ruling applies to all White House E-mail, Cavanagh said, even the most casual conversations. "It will be difficult for them to do their job as efficiently as they could if they were allowed to use E-mail freely," he said. -- Combing Through Trash Cavanagh likened the ruling to requiring that the contents of every White House wastebasket be saved forever. "That enters the realm of ridiculousness, but maybe that's what's happened with electronic mail in this decision." Others were not so sure. "It's one of those issues that has a balance on both sides." said Ronald Plesser, a partner in the Washington law firm of Piper and Marbury and the former telecommunications team leader for the Clinton transition. "From a freedom of information perspective, it's a good decision. >From an E-mail decision, we're concerned about it, but I don't think it's overpowering." Plesser said the ruling would encourage the White House staff to treat sending E-mail as if they were writing a memo, rather than using it in an informal manner. "I understand the concern that E-mail will now be a record and it may discourage some informal discussions," he said. "On the other hand, I think the issues in the case are broader than E-mail and relate to all records of public policy that should not be destroyed, and I'm in favor of that." He did caution that the ruling will not automatically make all White House E-mail public information because President Clinton will still have the option of using his executive privilege to prevent information from being subpoenaed. -- Private Sector Implications Beyond the White House, however, the implications for the private sector are minimal. "This doesn't have any direct ramifications for the business sector," Cavanagh said. "There certainly is not going to be a law requiring every private company to keep everything on their computer disks forever; you'd have to carve out something the size of the state of Wyoming to store those computer disks." Both Cavanagh and Plesser were in favor of having some kid of E-mail retention policy, as do most businesses in the private sector. Once a specified period has elapsed during which the information may be needed to reconstruct certain events, for example, it can be destroyed. "Increasingly, businesses institute retention policies for electronic mail tapes and other computer tapes [in addition to paper records]," Cavanagh said. "Generally, that's the correct route to go." -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Elaborating on BART pigs
by crunch＠netcom.com 04 Feb '93

04 Feb '93

Dan says: >John indicated >that information was stored in encrypted form, and that >the authorities were unable to read it. >Since John is on this list, perhaps he can elaborate. Yes, I can... Certainly. I was using a Mac with a HyperDrive, and kept all me personal Email and job bids encrypted using the "Security" program provided for the HyperDrive users. I don't know how many files I had encrypted, but if the police had somehow managed to decrypt it, they would be very dissapointed, as I'm sure they would find much use if any of it as evidance that I was involved in any kind of conspiracy or something. I was just a neat program, easy to use, and after I archived the programs, I encrypted it, and used a secret key "Pigs suck" at the time. Oh, one other thing, the new OOP version of the MacPGP Shell is coming along quite nicely, Blair has been very responsive to provide me with a good solid design, thus requiring little interaction, and those little GUI's are coming along just fine, than you... More later.. JD

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5th Amendment and Encryption
by mcdchg!marcal!apres!system 04 Feb '93

04 Feb '93

For what it's worth, at H0H0 Con in December John Draper related a story about a run-in with the BART police, and the confiscation of "hundreds" of floppy disks. John indicated that information was stored in encrypted form, and that the authorities were unable to read it. Since John is on this list, perhaps he can elaborate. Dan -- system(a)apres.UUCP (System Operator) Applied Research (cryptography & security BBS) 1 708 639 8853

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Re: [markets!uunet!starr.com!alta: How to e-mail the White House]
by ghabrech＠ultrix.ramapo.edu 04 Feb '93

04 Feb '93

I would like to welcome the whitehouse to the net. It's nice to give the public an easy way to make suggestions to somebody who would otherwise be inaccessible (sp?, sorry no spell check). I hope that the users of the net make use of this great opportunity. Thanx, George A. Habrecht ghabrech(a)ultrix.ramapo.edu

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[markets!uunet!starr.com!alta: How to e-mail the White House]
by tribble＠xanadu.com 04 Feb '93

04 Feb '93

Hi Folks, The following is NOT a joke. It is a real service being provided by President Clinton. If you feel you have something to say, send them a letter. I heard they will reply to most messages. From: The White House <75300.3115(a)compuserve.com> As you know, this is the first time in history that the White House has been connected to the public through electronic mail. We welcome your comments and suggestions for ways to improve your Public Access E-mail program. Jock Gill Electronic Publishing Public Access E-mail The White House Washington, D.C. 75300.3115(a)Compuserve.com CLINTON PZ on America Online ------- End of Forwarded Message

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CFP '93 roommates?
by fnerd＠smds.com 03 Feb '93

03 Feb '93

Fellow Extropians, Cypherpunks, and Computer Freedom and Privacy seekers-- Is anyone else hoping to share a room at the SF Airport Marriot for CFP '93? The rates are $99 per room, single or multiple occupancy, for conference attendees, with a limited block of rooms available, offer expires Feb 9. Please respond to sw(a)smds.com NOT to fnerd. Thanks. (My fnerd mail goes through a two-day-long pipeline.) --Steve Witham sw(a)smds.com

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remailer modification: mailing list demon
by covin＠cs.uchicago.edu 03 Feb '93

03 Feb '93

I have just joined this list, but I'm told that there was a recent discussion about the problem of mailing-list aliases making the names of all the list members publically available. I.e., if you've established a mailing list via a sendmail alias, certain sendmail commands will return the list of mailing addresses associated with the alias. I had been considering writing a mail-redistributing program, structurally similar to the user-account anonymous remailers, to get around this problem. I'm told that this was discussed on this list, and that the conclusion was that the sendmail hole could actually be plugged using regular sendmail features. Could someone send me either a copy or a pointer to a copy of that discussion, and/or the sendmail fix? Thanks much, -David

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psEUDORAndom
by fnerd＠smds.com 03 Feb '93

03 Feb '93

While searching (in Eudora) for the word "eudora", I found instead the word "pseudorandom." One more property of "living at the P.O.?" -fnerd quote me fnerd(a)smds.com (FutureNerd Steve Witham)

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No Subject
by maloned＠ul.ie 03 Feb '93

03 Feb '93

subscribe Declan Malone thanks you.

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