On September 14, 1993, Phil Zimmermann was shocked to learn that he was the primary target of the investigation being mounted from the San Jose Office of U.S. Customs. His crime? Phil uploaded his own encryption software program to the Internet . It seems that the government has designated encryption software as "munitions'' subject to extensive export controls. In other words, the Feds consider software which they can't snoop on to be a weapon of war. Distributing information about encryption schemes without government approval could be a criminal act punishable by 10 years in prison and fines of one million dollars or more.
The government favors a strict policy because computerized methods for sending coded messages have made the job of intelligence gathering far more difficult. Intelligence agencies are concerned that terrorists, drug traffickers or even casual drug users could use encryption software and communicate without the government being able to eavesdrop. The Clinton administration prefers that all computers be equipped with "Clipper Chips," which would allow privacy AND provide a software backdoor by which the government could monitor any communication it deems suspicious.
Clearly, the government is concerned, and with good reason. Now, for the first time since the original American Revolution, citizens have unrestricted and uncensored means for communicating what they are thinking and feeling about the oppressive policies of those in power. In Ben Franklin's time, it was the printing press that provided the means of communication by which patriots could organize their revolt against the Redcoats. Today, a new generation of patriots, committed to the same principles of freedom as our Founding Fathers are arming themselves with the powerful new technology of electronic network communication--and developing powerful new ways to oppose tyranny. Unlike any revolution before us, this battle is increasingly being fought in the world of information-on the Internet. Deep within the information domains of Cyberspace, the first shots are already being fired.
What's got people so up in arms over the Feds invading Cyberspace? John Perry Barlow explains:
"There is a real possibility-it's a faint one, but it's worth keeping very much on top of-that the government is going to somehow wire the entire telecommunications infrastructure for surveillance. That's what they want to do. The Clipper Chip is just part of an overall suite of government initiatives which is aimed at embedding surveillance tools in every part of the communications network. The dangerous thing about the Clipper Chip is not that the government has a back door to the content-the content (of all telecommunications) is pretty much wide open now-but that every time a device with the Clipper Chip is used, it transmits its whereabouts and ID code, which makes it possible to do much more detailed traffic analysis. They've got powerful search engines and pattern recognition engines. They can map the patterns to various kinds of behavior, and these patterns can be cross-referenced to everyone in contact with a suspicious individual. This is already going on.
There's a project at Los Alamos where the Department of Energy, searching for something to do now that they're out of the bomb business, has started using their supercomputers that they were using to design nuclear weapons to do broadscale searches on miscellaneous data. They're dumping everything in there-demographics, burial records, newspaper articles, just stuff...and doing sophisticated pattern recognition on it and resolving it down to the names and addresses of people that they think may be using or selling drugs. They're selling these names and addresses as a commercial venture to the DEA and the FBI. This is not paranoid science fiction here. This stuff is happening right now."
Imagine, for a moment, the logical outcome of supercomputers snooping on suspicious American citizens. Someday you might get a letter like this:
10 JAN 2000
JEFFERSON, THOMAS
SSN:554-74-9301
34 YEAR OLD CAUCASIAN MALE
NO PRIOR OFFENSES
DEAR MR. JEFFERSON,
A WARRANT FOR YOUR ARREST HAS BEEN ISSUED:
SUBJECT FAILED TO RESPOND TO D.A.R.E. PLEDGE CARD AND WAS PLACED UNDER
SURVEILLANCE AS AUTHORIZED BY THE "CHILD ENDANGERMENT ACT OF 1998."
ON 31 DEC 1999 SUBJECT DID WILLFULLY AND KNOWINGLY CONSUME A SCHEDULE 1
NARCOTIC: MARIJUANA, AS WITNESSED BY A GOVERNMENT INFORMANT. AT 2:39 HOURS
ON 1 JAN 2000, SUBJECT'S VEHICLE WAS TRACKED BY MILITARY AIRCRAFT AT 15.7
MPH OVER THE POSTED SPEED LIMIT. SUBJECT'S VEHICLE WAS ALSO PHOTOGRAPHED
BY SATELLITE WITHIN 1/4 MILE OF A SCHOOL YARD. IN ADDITION, DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
COMPUTERS SHOW SUBJECT IS IN POSSESSION OF UNAUTHORIZED SOFTWARE AND A
DEFECTIVE SMOG DEVICE.
YOU HAVE BEEN CHARGED AS FOLLOWS:
POSSESSION. INTENT TO COMMIT A DRUG CRIME. SPEEDING. DRIVING UNDER THE
INFLUENCE. TRANSPORTING DRUGS THROUGH A SCHOOL ZONE. POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED
SOFT-WARE. CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY TO EVADE SMOG INSPECTION.
EVIDENCE:
UNDER THE "SPEEDY JUSTICE ACT OF 1998," SWORN TESTIMONY HAS BEEN
TAKEN AND SEALED WHICH IS THE BASIS OF ALL FEDERAL CHARGES. COMPUTER SURVEILLANCE
OF YOUR PHONE LINES, AS AUTHORIZED BY THE "TELEPHONE CONSPIRACY ACT
OF 1998," SHOWED A 77.6% WORD ASSOCIATION WITH KNOWN NARCO-TERRORIST
VOCABULARY. ACTING ON "GOOD FAITH," YOUR HOME WAS SEARCHED AND
MARIJUANA RESIDUE, EXCEEDING .O1 GRAM WAS FOUND TO BE PRESENT.
RIGHT TO TRIAL SUSPENDED: DEA@NARK.COM HAS CONFIRMED YOU MATCH CASUAL DRUG USER PROFILES. AS AUTHORIZED BY THE "USE A DRUG, GO TO JAIL ACT OF 1998," YOUR RIGHTS TO A TRIAL HAVE BEEN SUSPENDED AND YOUR SENTENCE HAS BEEN MANDATED BY FEDERAL LAW.
SENTENCE:
UNDER THE "NARCO-TERRORIST ACT OF 1999," YOU ARE TO REPORT TO
THE NEAREST FEDERAL DRUG REHABILITATION FACILITY WHERE YOUR CASE WILL BE
EVALUATED AND ASSIGNED TO ONE OF THE FOLLOWING DISPOSITIONS:
(1) 10 YEARS INCARCERATION, WITHOUT PAROLE.
(2) NARCO-TERRORIST DIVERSION TREATMENT AND ELECTRO-CONVULSIVE THERAPY.
(3) RELOCATION INTO THE FEDERAL WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM AS A PAID GOVERNMENT
INFORMANT.
ASSET FORFEITURE:
AS AUTHORIZED BY THE "DRUG-FREE AMERICA ACT OF 1999," YOU WILL
BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL COSTS INCURRED FOR YOUR REHABILITATION AND
FOR PLACING YOUR CHILDREN INTO DRUG-FREE FOSTER HOMES. YOUR HOME, BANK
ACCOUNTS, AND ALL OTHER ASSETS WILL BE SEIZED TO HELP PAY FOR THESE COSTS.
Worried? No problem! Thanks to alt.net, you're already aware that the Justice Department computer network took a direct hit by a "Patriot" virus. Because of the courageous efforts of the Internet Underground, all Federal Justice Files were totally erased-including yours! You will, of course, secretly email some digital cash to renew your encoded subscription. Good thing you downloaded a copy of NCRIPT-before it was placed on the Controlled Software List...