New Computer Security Act

The Computer Security Enhancement Act of 1997 (HR1903)
is intended to replace the Computer Security Act of 1987.
It redefines the role of NIST in meeting federal computer security 
and encryption requirements through cooperation of industry. 
Public use of encryption is also addressed in the bill.

Two lengthy reports on the bill have been issued recently, both
of which provide overviews of the current encryption debate.

House Report 105-243, published on September 3, provides a 
detailed analysis of the bill, hearings held, floor remarks and 
mark-ups since introduction:

   http://jya.com/hr105-243.txt  (115K)

And one published today includes recent floor remarks on 
encryption, mostly supportive of public use:

   http://jya.com/hr1903-floor.htm  (44K)

One point of contention is the evaluation of foreign encryption.
The original bill put that responsibility on NIST, but the latest version
deleted that and leaves the task to BXA (and unnamed others).
Moreover, there's dispute over committee jurisdiction for other 
provisions.

Information security now attracts the swarm, with encryption the 
moths' beacon.

(Toad.com address changed to algebra.com. Hugh Daniel confirmed to me that
about 130 subscribers are still using the toad.com address. And he
confirmed that none of them are getting the traffic sent to the "real"
Cypherpunks lists, those at algebra.com, cyberpass.net, and ssz.com. I
again urge folks to get with the program. Toad.com is going to vanish
someday, at least as any kind of distribution site for CP traffic.)

At 7:04 PM -0700 9/17/97, John Young wrote:
>The Computer Security Enhancement Act of 1997 (HR1903)
>is intended to replace the Computer Security Act of 1987.
>It redefines the role of NIST in meeting federal computer security
>and encryption requirements through cooperation of industry.
>Public use of encryption is also addressed in the bill.
>

By the way, today is the 50th anniversary of the National Security Act,
which created the National Security Agency and the United States Air Force,
amongst other things (some of them probably still secret).

I doubt Clinton will be at the Fort Meade HQ for a ceremony, as he's on his
way to Stanford, where both of us will, amazingly enough, be tomorrow. Wish
me luck!

--Tim May


The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In <v03102807b04725f6f699@[207.167.93.63]>, on 09/18/97 
   at 11:44 AM, Tim May <tcmay@got.net> said:

>(Toad.com address changed to algebra.com. Hugh Daniel confirmed to me
>that about 130 subscribers are still using the toad.com address. And he
>confirmed that none of them are getting the traffic sent to the "real"
>Cypherpunks lists, those at algebra.com, cyberpass.net, and ssz.com. I
>again urge folks to get with the program. Toad.com is going to vanish
>someday, at least as any kind of distribution site for CP traffic.)

>At 7:04 PM -0700 9/17/97, John Young wrote:
>>The Computer Security Enhancement Act of 1997 (HR1903)
>>is intended to replace the Computer Security Act of 1987.
>>It redefines the role of NIST in meeting federal computer security
>>and encryption requirements through cooperation of industry.
>>Public use of encryption is also addressed in the bill.
>>

>By the way, today is the 50th anniversary of the National Security Act,
>which created the National Security Agency and the United States Air
>Force, amongst other things (some of them probably still secret).

>I doubt Clinton will be at the Fort Meade HQ for a ceremony, as he's on
>his way to Stanford, where both of us will, amazingly enough, be
>tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Have FUN!!!

I wish I had the time to fly out there. Let me know if you video-tape any
of it as I would be intrested in getting a copy.

Thanks,

- -- 
- ---------------------------------------------------------------
William H. Geiger III  http://www.amaranth.com/~whgiii
Geiger Consulting    Cooking With Warp 4.0

Author of E-Secure - PGP Front End for MR/2 Ice
PGP & MR/2 the only way for secure e-mail.
OS/2 PGP 2.6.3a at: http://www.amaranth.com/~whgiii/pgpmr2.html                        
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At 17:16 -0400 9/18/97, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>There's plenty of time since Air Force One only takes two hours to cross
>the country. This from other folks in the bureau who have travelled with

I must be confused. I don't think even AF1 is that fast. Make that two
hours with the time difference.

-Declan

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In <v0300780cb0475ca1a598@[168.161.105.141]>, on 09/18/97 
   at 06:34 PM, Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> said:

>At 17:16 -0400 9/18/97, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>>There's plenty of time since Air Force One only takes two hours to cross
>>the country. This from other folks in the bureau who have travelled with

>I must be confused. I don't think even AF1 is that fast. Make that two
>hours with the time difference.

It is my understanding that AF1 & AF2 are just modified 747's. I doubt
that they can go cross country much faster than the commerical version.


- -- 
- ---------------------------------------------------------------
William H. Geiger III  http://www.amaranth.com/~whgiii
Geiger Consulting    Cooking With Warp 4.0

Author of E-Secure - PGP Front End for MR/2 Ice
PGP & MR/2 the only way for secure e-mail.
OS/2 PGP 2.6.3a at: http://www.amaranth.com/~whgiii/pgpmr2.html                        
- ---------------------------------------------------------------

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At 12:58 AM -0700 9/19/97, Bill Stewart wrote:
>At 11:44 AM 9/18/97 -0700, Tim wrote:
>>I doubt Clinton will be at the Fort Meade HQ for a ceremony, as he's on his
>>way to Stanford, where both of us will, amazingly enough, be tomorrow. Wish
>>me luck!
>
>Hey, good luck at Stanford!
>BTW, Stanford is locally referred to as "The Farm"; isn't that also
>the nickname for Langley?  It ain't Ft. Meade (which actually opened
>for NSA business after the Agency had been in the Pentagon for a while)
>but the CIA's having their anniversary as well.

I think "the Farm" is usually reserved for the training facility down in
the countryside of Virginia. (It may be close to, or even coterminous with,
Camp Perry, where various shooting events are held. )

This is where agents in training go to practice surveillance, escape, and
evasion, tradecraft, and so on.

BTW, the NSA's current site is older than the CIA's current site.

I attended Langley High School in 1966-67, and the CIA was basically on the
other side of the fence, through some woods. It was then labelled as
something like "Bureau of Roads Testing Division," and there was and
presumably still is some kind of testing track there. But everyone knew it
was the CIA.

--Tim May

The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^1398269     | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."

At 11:44 -0700 9/18/97, Tim May wrote:
>By the way, today is the 50th anniversary of the National Security Act,
>which created the National Security Agency and the United States Air Force,
>amongst other things (some of them probably still secret).
>
>I doubt Clinton will be at the Fort Meade HQ for a ceremony, as he's on his
>way to Stanford, where both of us will, amazingly enough, be tomorrow. Wish
>me luck!

No, Clinton didn't make it to Fort Meade today, though he could have -- he
and Hillary aren't leaving for California until later this afternoon.
There's plenty of time since Air Force One only takes two hours to cross
the country. This from other folks in the bureau who have travelled with
him (and in fact will be going with him to CA); I haven't been on the
Presidential Plane myself.

Instead, he went to the Pentagon to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the
Air Force. If Clinton went to Fort Meade, the press weren't told about it.

Clinton is speaking at Stanford University's convocation tomorrow at 3:30,
returns to Hyatt Rickeys afterwards. Don't know if he's overnighting in
California or not.

Tim, just promise me if you're arrested, you'll call me (collect) from jail
and tell me the story. (After you call your lawyer, of course.)

-Declan

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

At 06:34 PM 9/18/97 -0400, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>At 17:16 -0400 9/18/97, Declan McCullagh wrote:
>>There's plenty of time since Air Force One only takes two hours to cross
>>the country. This from other folks in the bureau who have travelled with
>
>I must be confused. I don't think even AF1 is that fast. Make that two
>hours with the time difference.

The SR-71 does it in something around 50 minutes I think (LA->NY)
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-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ryan Anderson - <Pug Majere>     "Who knows, even the horse might sing" 
Wayne State University - CULMA   "May you live in interesting times.."
randerso@ece.eng.wayne.edu         
PGP Fingerprint - 7E 8E C6 54 96 AC D9 57  E4 F8 AE 9C 10 7E 78 C9
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

At 7:04 PM -0700 9/17/97, John Young wrote:
>The Computer Security Enhancement Act of 1997 (HR1903)
>is intended to replace the Computer Security Act of 1987.
>It redefines the role of NIST in meeting federal computer security
>and encryption requirements through cooperation of industry.
>Public use of encryption is also addressed in the bill.
>
>Two lengthy reports on the bill have been issued recently, both
>of which provide overviews of the current encryption debate.
>
>House Report 105-243, published on September 3, provides a
>detailed analysis of the bill, hearings held, floor remarks and
>mark-ups since introduction:
>
>   http://jya.com/hr105-243.txt  (115K)
>
>And one published today includes recent floor remarks on
>encryption, mostly supportive of public use:
>
>   http://jya.com/hr1903-floor.htm  (44K)
>
>One point of contention is the evaluation of foreign encryption.
>The original bill put that responsibility on NIST, but the latest version
>deleted that and leaves the task to BXA (and unnamed others).
>Moreover, there's dispute over committee jurisdiction for other
>provisions.

It seems that the GAK crowd doesn't want a credible evaluation of foreign
encryption to interfere with their dream that only the US can make
encryption products.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Frantz       | Internal surveillance      | Periwinkle -- Consulting
(408)356-8506     | helped make the USSR the   | 16345 Englewood Ave.
frantz@netcom.com | nation it is today.        | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA

At 11:44 AM 9/18/97 -0700, Tim wrote:
>I doubt Clinton will be at the Fort Meade HQ for a ceremony, as he's on his
>way to Stanford, where both of us will, amazingly enough, be tomorrow. Wish
>me luck!

Hey, good luck at Stanford!
BTW, Stanford is locally referred to as "The Farm"; isn't that also
the nickname for Langley?  It ain't Ft. Meade (which actually opened
for NSA business after the Agency had been in the Pentagon for a while)
but the CIA's having their anniversary as well.
				Thanks!
					Bill
Bill Stewart, stewarts@ix.netcom.com
Regular Key PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF  3C85 B884 0ABE 4639