[107363] in Cypherpunks
Fwd: AUCRYPTO: Secret plan for spies to bug PCs [Walsh Report III]
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jean-Francois Avon)
Tue Jan 12 20:33:55 1999
From: "Jean-Francois Avon" <jf_avon@citenet.net>
To: "Private Liberty List" <jf_avon@citenet.net>,
"Canadian Firearm Digest" <cdn-firearms-digest@broadway.sfn.saskatoon.sk.ca>,
"Sporting Shooters Association of Australia" <Sporting.Shooters.Association@adelaide.on.net>,
"Cypherpunks" <cypherpunks@toad.com>,
"=?iso-8859-1?q?Soci=E9t=E9_Radio_Canada,_auditoire?=" <auditoire@montreal.src.ca>,
"=?iso-8859-1?q?Le_Qu=E9becois_Libre?=" <libre@colba.net>,
"Patry Bernard depute Dollars-Pierrefonds" <Patry.B@parl.gc.ca>,
"Breitkreuz Hon. Gary MP" <Breitkreuz.G@parl.gc.ca>,
"Hon Anne McLellan mp Minister of Justice" <McLellan.A@parl.gc.ca>,
"Martin.P@parl.gc.ca" <Martin.P@parl.gc.ca>,
"Axworthy Lloyd L. the Hon. Foreign Affairs Minister" <Axworthy.L@parl.gc.ca>
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 20:16:23 -0500
Reply-To: "Jean-Francois Avon" <jf_avon@citenet.net>
That is a topic that surfaced up on the Cypherpunks mailing list some time
ago. I think there were rumors of US govt pressuring Intel for implementing
some encryption key-recovery thingie, or password sniffer, or crypto-function
blocker within the microprocessor chip itself so our good govts could crack
our personnal PGP keys for our own good... If I recall, this was announced
(rumored) to come after the PentiumPro and Pentium vanilla (non-MMX) versions.
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>Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 11:36:45 +1100 (EST)
>From: Julian Assange <proff@iq.org>
>Reply-To: aucrypto@suburbia.net
>Subject: AUCRYPTO: Secret plan for spies to bug PCs [Walsh Report III]
Secret plan for spies to bug PCs
By DAN TEBBUTT [The Australian]
13jan99
PERSONAL computers would become police spy stations under secret
proposals put to the Federal Government by a former deputy director
of ASIO.
The Australian Federal Police, ASIO and the National Crime
Authority would be empowered to alter software to turn PCs into
covert listening devices, according to the 1996 report by one-time
spy chief Gerald Walsh.
The report also recommends changes to the Commonwealth Crimes Act
to allow police and government investigators to hack into computer
systems for evidence.
While Mr Walsh called for public discussion of his proposals, the
report was withdrawn by the Attorney-General's Department. But a
copy of the 96-page document was obtained last week by Internet
privacy campaigners Electronic Frontiers Australia and released to
The Australian.
A spokesman for Attorney-General Daryl Williams confirmed last
night that Mr Walsh's recommendations were under discussion but the
report was "just one element" of policy being considered.
He would not say whether the controversial recommendations would be
acted on through legislation.
Mr Walsh warns that widespread use of PC-based data scrambling is a
big concern for law enforcement.
Criminals were already using computer encryption - programs that
encode data so it cannot be intercepted - to prevent police from
monitoring phone calls and e-mail.
Widespread encryption to scramble sensitive data would make crimes
harder to prove in court, Mr Walsh warns.
"The principle of non self-incrimination may well represent the
polite end of the possible range of responses," the report says.
Mr Walsh's plan would clear the way for police to eavesdrop on
computer conversations at the source.
A "target computer may be converted into a listening device" that
could seek out passwords and other private communications without
the PC owner's knowledge.
EFA spokesman Greg Taylor said authorities might set up Trojan
horse software that would record all PC activity, including
passwords and e-mail, before encryption.
"If you have access to someone's PC and you change their software
you can do anything you want," said Mr Taylor.
"If it's connected to a network such as the Internet the PC could
transmit data to another site."
Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman
said the proposals would be a worrying extension to police wiretap
powers which were already over-used.
"We are concerned about the low level of protection in relation to
current judicial warrants for telephone eavesdropping," Mr O'Gorman
said.
Labor information technology spokeswoman Senator Kate Lundy said
"the whole issue of encryption is being used as a lever to justify
further invasions of privacy".
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