Escrowing Viewing and Reading Habits with the Government

At 2:59 AM 1/28/96, Lucky Green wrote:

>Of course the V-Chip transmits the ID number of the program to be rated
>upstream. Since all programs will be rated by the chip, regardless if you
>choose to use the rating or not, the exact channel you are watching will be
>tracked and logged.
>
>Have fun,

This is a serious misstatement of the proposal! I am shocked, simply
shocked. If Lucky only knew what I know...

The logged information is only available to law enforcement if they have a
legitimate need to know, as evidenced by a valid court order, an
authorization from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a request
by a regional or local police department, or upon suspicion that a sex
offender or pedophile is displaying too much interest in children's shows
or "Baywatch."

The "Library Awareness Program," administered by the Justice Department, is
designed to identify potential criminals before they have a chance to
commit their deeds. The visits to libraries made by the FBI are used to
determine who is reading subversive or dangerous material. According to
Director Freeh, "If we had had this program in place when Timothy McVeigh
was a child, we could have detected his interest in ANFO and picked him up
for reeducation, or at least recruited him for the CIA's Lockerbie team."

Finally, I am confidant the the viewing habits "escrowed" with the
government will only be used for good purposes. The policeman is our
friend.


--Klaus!

Boycott espionage-enabled software!
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1  | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

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In list.cypherpunks, Klaus! writes:

> The "Library Awareness Program," administered by the Justice Department, is
> designed to identify potential criminals before they have a chance to
> commit their deeds. The visits to libraries made by the FBI are used to
> determine who is reading subversive or dangerous material.

Well, then, I s'pose I'm doomed.  I had Applied Cryptography out of the
library 5 times last year, and returned it overdue twice.
- -- 
Roy M. Silvernail --  roy@cybrspc.mn.org will do just fine, thanks.
          "Does that not fit in with your plans?"
                      -- Mr Wiggen, of Ironside and Malone (Monty Python)
          PGP public key available upon request (send yours)

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> > The "Library Awareness Program," administered by the Justice Department, is
> > designed to identify potential criminals before they have a chance to
> > commit their deeds. The visits to libraries made by the FBI are used to
> > determine who is reading subversive or dangerous material.

Do you really think the FBI believes that asking librarians to keep 
records of customer useage is an efficient way to read the customers minds?
Do you really think that the FBI foreign counter-intelligence squad has 
nothing better to do than keep a database of who is reading Che Guevara 
memoirs?

   When someone is being obtained as an asset by an intelligence
organization, they are very very carefully led down a path of increasingly
serious crimes that they are directed to commit (in return for the sex or
the paying off of their debts, which are the two standard hooks) by the
controller ("foreign spy"). The first event is something quite minor. The
aim is, from the very beginning, to put the asset into a compromised
status, so that he believes he cannot turn to his own security people and
confess - with the chance that he'll agree to become a double-agent, so
that the DOD can put disinformation into Soviet hands, and the FBI can
build up a dossier of admissable evidence against the foreign controller. 
Remember, you can't get your own guys out of the Russian Gulag unless
you've got a GRU man to trade for. 

One of the early stages is, being directed to steal a technical book from a 
library and deliver it to the controller.

Now do you see the signifigance of the Library Awareness Program?

When I worked in the Route 128 area (suburban Boston), we were briefed to
be especially suspicious about folks who would befriend us in local bars
after work and, for no identifiable reason, start giving us little tiny
favors; over time they would become real "angels"  that saved our asses
when we were having financial/marriage problems. The day might come when
they would start asking for "a little favor in return".  Something quite
innocuous. Then there would arrive a request that we hesitated to do, but
we knew we could get away with it without a problem.  Then a few weeks
later....

> Do you really think the FBI believes that asking librarians to keep 
> records of customer useage is an efficient way to read the customers minds?
> Do you really think that the FBI foreign counter-intelligence squad has 
> nothing better to do than keep a database of who is reading Che Guevara 
> memoirs?

My understanding of the Library Awareness Program, was that is was
originally targeted at "suspicious users" (e.g., people with funny
names, or that looked kind of foreign, or spoke with an accent -- say
somebody like Henry Kissinger) that were using technical libraries.
After all, they might find something there that they could use against
the US of A.  

Certain librarians or assitants were approached to see if they would
be snitches.  Often times this took place without the head librarians
even being notified of the program.  There is a book about this written
by a librarian.  It has "Library Awareness Program" somewhere in its title.

Eric