Thanks to Terry Hanstock for contributions. Contributions comments are always welcome. E-mail me on 101521.3515 @compuserve.com
Electronic Privacy and Encryption
- Privacy and Human Rights http://www.gilc.org/privacy/survey/
- New GILC/EPIC/PI report details the state of privacy in 50 countries. Includes Threats to Privacy; The Right to Privacy; Technologies of Privacy Invasion. The report was written by Privacy International; the primary authors are David Banisar of EPIC and Simon Davies of PI.
- Privacy International
http://www.privacy.org/pi/ - UK-based human rights group formed in 1990 as a watchdog on
surveillance by governments and corporations. Campaigns to counter abuses of privacy by way of information technology such as telephone tapping, ID card systems, video surveillance, data matching, police information systems, etc.
News; activities; issues; resources; conferences; links.
Includes UK Privacy Page (www.privacy.org/pi/countries/uk/); news; data protection; phone tapping and encryption. - Privacy Times
http://www.privacytimes.com/ - ‘Privacy Times is designed for professionals and attorneys who need to follow the legislation, court rulings, industry developments and horror stories that frame the ongoing debate about information privacy.’ Editor Evan Hendricks. Issues covered include caller ID, medical records; ‘identity theft’; US FOIA; EU Directive on Data Protection; credit reports.
- Campaign Against Censorship of the Internet in Britain
http://www.liberty.org.uk/cacib/ - Updated website. Privacy and Encryption; Free Speech; Resource List. Related links, users can contribute news items and resources. Reviews DTI plans, announced in October 1998, for controls on encryption services, and provides a concise summary of the main points:
‘The govt. wants a copy of the key to everyone’s computer (key escrow) so they can read your email if they think you might be committing a crime. Ironically, this will make you more liable to hackers and thieves.’ Companies providing encryption services, such as Certification Authorities, are to be advised to apply for a licence, regulated by OFTEL. Although this won’t be mandatory, digital signatures that don’t have a licenced certificate will not automatically be legally binding, thus pressurising businesses into using licenced services. However, a licenced Certification Authority must run key escrow, and confidentiality keys must be handed over to the police if requested (in most cases on say-so of a senior police officer). A key escrow system of this kind, far from providing greater public and business confidence (as the DTI claim) will facilitate surveillance.The DTI released 2 earlier statements on this subject in 1998:
(a) The DTI Statement on Secure Electronic Commerce, April 27 1998: http://www.dti.gov.uk/CII/ana27p.html - (b) DTI ‘Net Benefit’ Statement Oct 6 1998: ‘The Electronic Commerce Agenda For the UK’ http://www.dti.gov.uk/CII/ecom.htm
- Cyber-rights and Cyber-liberties (UK)
http://www.cyber-rights.org/ - Excellent UK-based website on freedom of speech and privacy on the internet, founded by Yaman Akdeniz of Leeds Univ Centre for Criminal Justice Studies.
Cyber-rights and Cyber-liberties (UK) Response to the DTI’s Secure Electronic Commerce Statement, April 28/30 1998, by Yaman Akdeniz of CR and CL (UK)
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/law/pgs/yaman/ecsresp.htm - Cyber-rights and Cyber-liberties point out that both the OECD Guidelines on Cryptography Policy and the European Commission’s Communication on Encryption and Electronic Signatures refer to the fundamental right to privacy, including secrecy of communications; a right to privacy will soon be created within the UK under the Human Rights Bill; they also point out that the use of strong encryption by criminals is unlikely to be controlled by regulation, but the ‘chilling effect on internet usage, especially for legitimate political purposes in opposition to states, is easier to see.’
- Cyber-rights and Cyber-liberties’ Crypto Policy Pages
http://www.cyber-rights.org/crypto/ - Covers the UK Govt’s encryption policy, and developments in the US and EU.
Includes: 1) Wassenaar Controls, Cyber-Crime and Information Terrorism. 2) 1998 Update of ‘The Risks of Key Recovery, Key Escrow and Trusted Third Party Encryption.’ 3) Response to the Govt’s Secure Electronic Commerce Statement of April 1998 4) Recent news items related to the UK and US Encryption debates 5) The UK Govt’s Encryption Policy. 6) Related Links, including to: Lock and Key, which provides links to websites containing advice on protecting your privacy on the internet:
http://www.nucleus.com/~dreamwvr/locknkey.htm - Threat to Online Privacy: ACPO/ISP Negotiations
http://www.cyber-rights.org/press/ - Cyber-rights and Cyber-liberties, CACIB, and Internet Freedom
(www.netfreedom.org/uk/), issued a statement 18 Sept. condemning secret talks between ACPO (Assoc of Chief Police Officers) and ISPs seeking to reach a ‘memorandum of understanding’ that could permit police access to intercept private data communications such as email or log files of individual users held by ISPs – without a warrant from the Home Sec, as required for mail or telephone interception. ‘If reached, the agreement would exploit a so-called loophole in existing Data Protection and Interception of Communications Acts which allows the police to routinely access private information without the signature of any rank higher than inspector.’ Such an agreement would also violate Article 8 of the ECHR, which will be incorporated into English law with the Human Rights Bill.
Article by Duncan Campbell ‘Police Tighten the Net’ (Guardian Online Sept 17 1998) http://online.guardian.co.uk/archive.html - Internet Magazine report Sept 1998:
http://www.internet-magazine.co.uk/news/sept/18a.htm - Electronic Privacy Information Centre
http://www.epic.org/ - Washington-based research centre concerned with civil liberties and electronic privacy. Can subscribe to informative email newsletter Epic Alert, a regular update on these issues.
Recent US legislation threatens civil liberties on the web: in a landmark decision last year (Reno v ACLU 1997) the US Supreme Court struck down the Communications Decency Act, which sought to regulate online speech and make it a crime to transmit ‘indecent’ materials on the internet, because it violated the First Amendment’s free speech protections.
In Oct 1998, EPIC, ACLU, EFF and others joined in a legal challenge to a new ‘CDA2’ bill, based on the Child Online Protection Act, which makes it a federal crime to ‘knowingly’ communicate ‘for commercial purpose’ material considered ‘harmful to minors’. Their lawsuit asserts that the COPA will violate both the free speech and privacy rights of internet users, and seeks to have the Act declared unconstitutional under the First and Fifth amendments to the US Constitution. Text of the complaint at:
http://www.epic.org/free_speech/copa/complaint.html (See also ACLU: http:www.aclu.org/congress/congress.htm) - Global Internet Liberty Campaign (GILC)
http://www.gilc.org/ - Coalition, including EPIC, EFF, ACLU, CACIB, PI, CR and CL and many others, concerned with freedom of expression and freedom from censorship online. Individuals can subscribe to GILC’s excellent email newsletter, Activist Alert.
Includes GILC’s campaign to remove cryptography from the Wassenaar Arrangement (which aims to prevent the build up of military capabilities that threaten regional or international security and stability, by restricting the proliferation of offensive strategic weapons of war. It treats encryption as a munition, to be restricted as other weapons.)GILC Statement on Wassenaar
http://www.gilc.org/crypto/wassenaar/gilc-statement-998.html - (Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual Use Goods and Technologies:
http://ideath.parrhesia.com/wassenaar/wassenaar.html - The W.A. list of Dual Use Goods and Technologies and Munitions List in full at http://www.jya.com/wa/watoc.htm)
- Echelon
- The European Parliament will commission a report into the workings of Echelon (Wired News 30 Sept 1998 www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/15295.html)
In the US, a new report, ‘Echelon: America’s Spy in the Sky’,
detailing the history and workings of the NSA’s global surveillance system, will be sent to members of Congress. Report at:
http://www.freecongress.org/ctp/echelon.html‘Somebody’s Listening’, Duncan Campbell’s New Statesman article of August 1988, the first to expose Echelon.
http://jya.com/echelondc.htm - Site includes links to other sources on electronic interception.
Secret Power: New Zealand’s role in the International Spy Network, by Nicky Hager
http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/sp/sp_c2.htm‘Exposing the Global Surveillance System’ – Covert Action Quarterly article on Echelon: http://jya.com/echelon.htm
- European Parliament STOA report, An Appraisal of Technologies of Political Control http://jya.com/stoa-atpc.htm
- Data Protection
http://www.open.gov.uk/dpr/eurotalk.htm - Introduction to the Data Protection Act 1998. The new Act will not fully be brought into force until 1999. The Directive from which the 1998 Act is derived requires ‘member states to protect the fundamental rights and freedoms of natural persons, in particular their right to privacy with respect to the processing of personal data.’
EU Directive: http://www.privacy.org/intl_orgs/ec/eudp.html - Encryption Privacy and Security Resource Page
http://www.crypto.com/ - Edited by the Centre for Democracy and Technology (www.cdt.org/). Latest news on encryption policy; legislation; Get Crypto – where to get encryption products; Other Resources – links to EPIC, EFF, ACLU etc.
- Spy and Counterspy
http://www.spycounterspy.com/ - Canadian-based website. ‘Spy and Counterspy is a practical course in freedom skills, including countersurveillance, anti-surveillance and underground urban activism….contains methods that have been field tested and proven… S and CS will give you the know-how you need.’ Includes: Learning the Basics; Uncrackable E-mail (Two interesting articles on how the FBI cracks PGP email and how to protect yourself – requiring, in the extreme, some dedication); Security Software; Surveillance Codes (codewords used by surveillance teams).
- FAS Public Eye/Signals Intelligence
http://www.fas.org/eye/sigint.htm - Details of civilian monitoring of federal, state and local govt., including military, intelligence, security, police radio comms, eg by scanner hobbyists using scanning radio receiver. eg Project Black. (See Wired magazine, ‘Stealthwatchers’ by Phil Patton, www.wired.com/wired/2.02/features/stealth.watchers. html)
- Chris Smolinski’s Shortwave Spy Numbers Stations
http://www.access.digex.net/~cps/numbers.html - ‘Spy numbers transmissions are a shortwave oddity which have been around for the last 25 years. Commonly heard in English, German, Spanish and Slavic languages, and take the form of four and five it groups of numbers broadcast by mechanical-sounding voices. It is generally believed that these stations are used by intelligence agencies to transmit instructions to clandestine intelligence agents and operatives.’ Can subscribe to spooks spy numbers stations mailing list, or chat about spy numbers, or buy CD ROM featuring recordings.
- Big Brother Alert
http://offshorehaven.nu/bbalert/index.html - Electronic Surveillance and how to protect yourself. Links on electronic eavesdropping; uncrackable email (see above); PGP; Are the Feds Sniffing Your Email? (says many anonymous remailers are run by govts/security agencies). Infosnoop – Free Investigative Tools; source of web-based investigative tools (www.infosnoop.com/tools.html).
Millennium/Year 2000
- Millennia Monitor: Federation of American Scientists
http://www.fas.org/2000/ - Maintained by John Pike. A collection of millennium-related material, including a religious and historical perspective, conspiracy theories, apocalyptic scenarios, cults and paranormal speculation.
Includes ‘The Year 2000 Problem’ – background and analysis of ‘Y2K’; Congressional material and other documents; reports by the US GAO, DoD, Army etc, and Y2K-related links to DoD; Y2K Management Plan; Army, Navy, Airforce; other US Govt. Agencies; international and commercial sites.
Background and Analysis discusses the DoD and nuclear weapons. In April 1997, the Defense Dept issued it’s Year 2000 Management Plan (www.disa.mil/cio/y2k/mgtplan.html), which includes a 5-phase approach to addressing the Y2K problem.
Relevant GAO reports in full text at
http://www.fas.org/2000/y2k/gao/index.html - Around 40 GAO reports covering the millennium bug and its effects on a range of activities: telecommunications, defence: Army, Navy, DoD, public services, financial and business, etc
Intelligence
- David Shayler
http://www.shayler.com/ - Official website of former MI5 officer David Shayler and his
allegations concerning MI5 malpractice; Shayler’s first statement from prison; his letters to MI5 chief Stephen Lander and to the Guardian; how to contact Shayler and Media Links. - Richard Tomlinson
http://www.inside-news.ch/shayler/!milosev.htm - Inside News Press Agency’s recent dossier on UK Press Freedom, about British Intelligence Service whistleblowers and attempts by Blair’s administration to cover up accusations of British Govt sleaze and incompetence. Includes former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson’s allegations about MI6, contained in letters to his solicitor, John Wadham of Liberty, describing a 1992 proposal to assassinate President Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and some of MI6’s operations against EU member states. Includes names of some officers and details of operations, some of them illegal.
- FAS Intelligence Resource Program
http://www.fas.org/irp/ - ‘This site is a comprehensive resource on the past and future of the American intelligence community.’ Another section of the superb Federation of American Scientists website.
Includes What’s New; Hot Documents; Intelligence Reform Project; Intelligence Agencies and Budgets; Intelligence Threat Assessments such as CBW, missile proliferation, terrorism, crime, narcotics, environment, cybersecurity GAO and Congressional reports, eg Information Security: Computer Attacks at DoD Pose Increasing Risks
(GAO/AIMD-96-84)).
Web Resources: huge resource of weblinks, relating to the CIA, NSA and other agencies (www.fas.org/irp/guide/index.html)
Weblinks include to:Open Source Solutions (www.oss.net), a large resource on intelligence, including newsletter OSS Notices.
- Intelligence Online
(www.indigo-net.com/intel.html). - The electronic edition of Intelligence Newsletter on the Internet. Aimed at diplomats, military and political officials, academics interested in intelligence matters. Full access requires user to open account.
- Information Warfare on the Web (www.fas.org/irp/wwwinfo.html)
- Comprehensive and excellent guide to info warfare and info security resources on the web. eg in speech on the EM spectrum, Emmett Paige Jr, Asst Sec of Defense for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence, says ‘The DoD is committed to ensuring that in the next conflict it is we who will control the (EM) spectrum. We know its value.’
- Political Investigations
http://www.webcom.com/~pinknoiz/politics.html - Series of articles from the San Jose Mercury News, detailing links between cocaine traffickers and the Nicaraguan contra network, plus links, including Covert Operations (Iran/contra; INSLAW affair; BNL affair – arming of Iraq by western nations including US, Britain, Germany, Italy; COINTELPRO lives – evidence suggests aspects of the program [which put progressive activists under surveillance because of their political activities] continue).
- Cold War Legacy http://www.webcom.com/~pinknoiz/coldwar/index.html
- Extract from Interim Report of the Advisory C’tee on Human Radiation Experiments; plutonium expts; gas warfare tests on armed forces personnel; Microwaves and Mind Control – Bank Frauds and Covert Operations.
- Intelligence Internet Uplink
http://ionet.net/%7Eeverett/intel.html - Links to intelligence-related websites. eg Sources e-journal (www.dso.com/cgi-bin/webc/home.html)
‘Intelligence ejournal delivers in-depth intelligence on issues such as weapons of mass destruction, global intelligence, organised crime, money laundering, terrorism, defence.’ Current contents and sample e-journal. - The Intelligence Zone
http://www.ionet.net/~everett/index.shtml - Intelligence links including to MKULTRA, TEMPEST surveillance and how to prevent it.
- FBI FOIA Homepage
http://www.fbi.gov/foipa/foipa.htm - Introduction: history of FOIA pertaining to FBI
Electronic Reading Room – cases from the FBI FOIPA reading room, under categories including Famous Persons (eg John Lennon, Trotsky); Historical Interest; Espionage (eg the Rosenbergs); Violent Crime; Unusual Phenomena (eg cattle mutilation, Majestic 12, Project Blue Book, Roswell). Pdf format. - Security Service Homepage
http://www.mi5.gov.uk - Official website of the Security Service. Info from recent official booklet (pdf files), and how to contact (phoneline 0171 930 9000, or Enquiries Desk, PO Box 3255, London, SW1P 1AE).
- GCHQ
http://www.gchq.gov.uk/ - About GCHQ; history; technology; Software Development; Electronic Engineering.
JFK
- National Archives and Records Administration
http://www.nara.gov/ - NARA is an independent Federal agency that preserves US history. Additional material relating to the JFK assassination was released in September 1998, including approx 67,000 pp of FBI records and 14,000pp of investigative files and Grand Jury materials from the late Jim Garrison (New Orleans District Attorney who conducted an investigation into the assassination).
- Probe.
http://www.webcom.com/~ctka/probe.html - Magazine of CTKA (Citizens for the Truth about the Kennedy
Assassination). Informs members of latest file releases..
Miscellaneous
- MAI
Preamble Centre http://www.preamble.org/ - Independent research and public education organisation based in
Washington DC. MAI Page (www.preamble.org/MAI/maihome.html).
Representatives from OECD countries met in Paris in Oct 1998, and decided to consult again before the end of the year. If no agreement is reached soon at the OECD, it is likely that negotiations will move to the WTO. - GAndALF
http://www.schnews.org.uk/hotstuff/gandalf/index.htm - SchNEWS update, with details of the July 1998 appeal, when the ‘gandalf 3’ had their convictions overturned. (See elsewhere in this issue.)
- Blackops
http://gate.cruzio.com/~blackops/ - Robert Anton Wilson and Miriam Joan Hill’s Encyclopaedia of Conspiracy Homepage. Conspiracies listed from A (AIDS, Anti-gravity, James Angleton) to Z (Zapatistas, Phil Zimmerman and PGP, Protocols of the Elders of Zion).
- Panama Update
http://www.nonviolence.org/for/panama/ - Fellowhip of Reconciliation’s (an interfaith organisation committed to nonviolence) July 1998 report on Latin America. A history of the use of chemical weapons by the US in Panama, the drugs war and human rights.
- The Konformist
http://www.konformist.com - LA-based webzine edited by Robert Sterling. Approx 4 or 5 issues a month, covering a mixture of far-out conspiracy theory, and interesting info.”Some of the info in The Konformist may not be true…many of the ideas presented are very controversial …the Konformist offers a conspiracy theory du jour…’. Eg July 27 Konformist report ‘NSA Working Hard For Computer Back Doors’; article by Ellen Messmer from CNN Interactive July 27 1998, ‘The Long Strong Arm of the NSA’
(www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9807/27/security.idg/) - Parascope
http://www.parascope.com/ - ‘Something strange is happening’. A mixture of materials on
intelligence, parapsychology, UFOs, eg remote viewing expts,
psychotropic drug expts at Edgewood, CIA attempts at using hypnotism in covert ops. - Disinformation
http://www.disinfo.com/ - ‘Disinformation was designed to be the search service of choice for individuals looking for information on current affairs, politics, new science and the “hidden information” that seldom seems to slip through the cracks of the corporate owned media conglomerates…primarily the database draws from quality news sources…’ Includes: mind control (articles by Harry V Martin and David Caul) and human experimentation; Non-lethal weapons (www.disinfo.com/ci/dirty/ci_dirty_nonlethal.html);
Counterintelligence; Censorship; Counter-culture (cults and conspiracies)