OT
Sure, you bet, it's to look for child porn.... Do you REALLY believe that?
Friday August 20 6:19 AM ET
Feds Want To Crack Computer Codes
WASHINGTON (AP) - Law enforcers would have the authority to secretly crack the security codes of crime suspects' home and office personal computers, under a Clinton administration plan reported today in The Washington Post.
The Justice Department has drafted legislation that, if approved by Congress, would allow federal agents to obtain search warrants from a judge to enter private property, search through computers for passwords and override encryption programs.
According to an Aug. 4 department memo that lays out the proposal, encryption software for scrambling computer files ``is increasingly used as a means to facilitate criminal activity, such as drug trafficking, terrorism, white-collar crime and the distribution of child pornography.'
Under the measure, investigators would obtain sealed search warrants signed by a judge as a prelude to getting further court permission to wiretap, extract information from computers or conduct further searches.
Privacy advocates have objected to the plan, dubbed the Cyberspace Electronic Security Act by the Justice Department.
``They have taken the cyberspace issues and are using it as justification for invading the home,' James Dempsey, an attorney for the Center for Democracy and Technology, told the Post.
Peter Swire, the White House's chief counselor for privacy, told the newspaper the administration supports encryption as a way to provide privacy for computer users.
``But it has to be implemented in a way that's consistent with other values, such as law enforcement,' Swire said. ``In this whole issue we have to strike the right balance.'
The administration has for years been seeking a law to require computer makers to include a so-called Clipper Chip in their products that would give police a ``back door' into computers despite any encryption software they may contain.
In a backlash, More than 250 members of Congress have signed on as co-sponsors to legislation that would prohibit mandating such back-door devices on computers.
dailynews.yahoo.com
Tell Congress to tell Clinton "NO MORE POWER" today. |
