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The following archive was created by hippie-mail 7.98617-22 on Fri Aug 21 1998 - 17:18:54 ADT
Austin Mann (austin@mann-made.com)
Tue, 23 Jun 1998 15:48:40 -0500
Austin R. Mann
austin@mann-made.com
http://www.mann-made.com
------------------------------------------------
Member, ClubIE - Team7 : NetMeeting.
Dedicated to the support of
Microsoft NetMeeting,
http://www.clubie.com
http://www.microsoft.com/ie/
http://www.microsoft.com/netmeeting/
http://www.netmeet.net
------------------------------------------------
"We fought,
we dreamed,
the dream is still with us."
- Ronald Reagan.
from a handwritten note, to an
advisor on the plane back to California,
after his 1976 primary defeat to Gerald Ford.
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-----Original Message-----
From: Simple Nomad <thegnome@NMRC.ORG>
To: <NTBUGTRAQ>
Date: Tuesday, June 23, 1998 2:17 PM
Subject: SPAM: Important Legislative Alert
>June 23rd, 1998 - The World Intellectual Property Organization treaty has
>already passed the US Senate and is close to passing in the House. The
>treaty would make it illegal, with extremely stiff penalties, to break
>security schemes without the permission of the company that makes the
>product.
>
>Programs like Pandora would be made illegal. People could not publish
>vulnerabilities in products and encryption schemes, as done by NMRC in the
>Hack FAQs. We would go back to the days of security vulnerabilities only
>circulating in the underground as mailing lists like Bugtraq, NTBugtraq,
>and Netware Hack are made illegal.
>
>Even products such as Net Nanny and CyberPatrol, which "bypass technology"
>by reverse engineering how various products work would become illegal.
>Technically you could not refuse a cookie from a web site, so web sites
>would be allowed to write files directly to your hard drive and you
>couldn't do a damn thing about it.
>
>This is plain and simple security through obscurity. Intellectual property
>owners are using the legal system to protect their products instead of the
>tried and true method of open systems and public review.
>
>How will we know if anything is secure if all the "white papers" and
>reports on a system's security are paid for by the manufacturers only?
>Unbiased, "Consumer Reports-like" groups will be outlawed. Say goodbye to
>NMRC, L0pht, Counterpane, and any consulting firm that does security
>assessment of commercial software.
>
>In addition, you will not be able to "quote" information from the Internet
>without written permission. For example, I lifted the bulk of this text
>from www.l0pht.com and re-edited it -- and under this proposed
>legislation this would be illegal without getting written permission.
>Reporters would be unable to "lift" quotes, students would be unable to
>"lift" research material, and you would be unable to "lift" security info
>for detailed reports without gaining the author's permission. This is NOT
>the way the print media operates -- this could impact everyone you know.
>Imagine pulling CD-ROMs from libraries and computers from elementary
>schools. H.R. 2281 passes and you have started down this path running.
>
>The Nomad Mobile Research Centre is vehemently opposed to this proposed
>treaty. It has serious freedom of speech implications. It also gives
>companies a license to produce shoddy, inadequate systems without fear of
>exposure. Call your House Representative today and voice your concerns.
>
> .o.
>Simple Nomad .oOo. Data warrior, knowledge hunter/gatherer
>www.nmrc.org .oOo. thegnome@nmrc.org
> .o.
The following archive was created by hippie-mail 7.98617-22 on Fri Aug 21 1998 - 17:18:54 ADT