[117396] in Cypherpunks
RE: Marshals Impound FBI Waco Evidence
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jim Spaude)
Thu Sep 2 12:20:04 1999
From: "Jim Spaude" <jspaude@teltrend.com>
To: <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Date: Thu, 2 Sep 1999 10:46:20 -0500
Message-ID: <001a01bef55a$4d9191c0$5c060059@jspaude>
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Reply-To: "Jim Spaude" <jspaude@teltrend.com>
Maybe the "WACO POT" is being stirred up by some spin-doctor
to take our attention away from the following:
=============================================================
C D T P O L I C Y P O S T
***********************************************************************
A BRIEFING ON PUBLIC POLICY ISSUES
AFFECTING CIVIL LIBERTIES ONLINE
from
THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY
***********************************************************************
Volume 5, Number 21 August 31, 1999
=============================================================
CONTENTS:
(1) FCC Mandates New Telephone Surveillance Features
(2) Turning Cell Phones Into Tracking Devices; Other Features
(3) Packet Switching - CALEA's Sleeper Issue
(4) CDT Examines Appeal
(5) Subscription Information
(6) About the Center for Democracy and Technology
** This document may be redistributed freely with this banner intact **
Excerpts may be re-posted with permission of ari@cdt.org
This document is also available at:
http://www.cdt.org/publications/pp_5.21.html
_______________________________________________________________________
(1) FCC MANDATES NEW TELEPHONE SURVEILLANCE FEATURES
On Friday, August 27, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ordered
the nation's telephone companies to modify their switching equipment to
provide more information to government agencies conducting electronic
surveillance. The Commission largely rejected privacy concerns and aligned
with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which had sought the enhanced
monitoring capabilities under the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law
Enforcement Act (CALEA).
The decision was the latest step in a long-running struggle over the
surveillance potential of communications technology. CALEA was enacted in
1994 after the FBI complained to Congress that new digital technology and
other advanced services would soon make it impossible to carry out wiretaps
and other electronic surveillance. The FBI originally sought direct
control over phone system design. Congress refused to grant the Bureau
that kind of power, but adopted CALEA with the intent of balancing law
enforcement, privacy and industry interests. Congress made it clear that
CALEA was intended to preserve but not enhance government monitoring
capabilities. The Act left design decisions to the telephone industry,
subject to FCC review.
However, soon after CALEA was enacted, the FBI began insisting on very
specific surveillance features, including some never before available to
the government. After industry worked with law enforcement agencies to
draft technical standards to put CALEA into effect, the FBI claimed the
industry plans did not go far enough and petitioned the FCC to order
additional, specific surveillance features. CDT claimed that the industry
plan failed to protect privacy and opposed the FBI's add-ons.
_________________________________________________________________
(2) TURNING CELL PHONES INTO TRACKING DEVICES; OTHER FEATURES
The most immediately disturbing element of the FCC's ruling was its
requirement that cellular and other wireless phone companies provide the
capability to identify where their customers are at the beginning and end
of every call, effectively turning wireless phones into tracking devices.
In 1994, FBI Director Louis Freeh testified twice before Congress that
CALEA did not cover this kind of location information. While many cellular
systems already have some ability to locate callers, CDT argued to the FCC
that this should not be a mandatory element of system design. CDT was
concerned that, as the technology evolves, the FBI is likely to seek more
and more precise location information. The FCC ignored the legislative
history and rejected CDT's concerns
In addition, for both wireline and wireless systems, the FCC ruled that
six other specific surveillance features sought by the FBI were required by
CALEA. One of the six requires carriers to ensure that the government will
be able to continue listening to those on a conference call after the
criminal suspect has dropped off the call. Another add-on guarantees the
government access to credit card numbers and bank account data generated
when a user punches numbers on a telephone. Other add-ons ensure government
access to the detailed signaling information generated in connection with
calls, information that law enforcement would obtain under a legal standard
lower than the one required to conduct a wiretap. CDT and the telephone
industry had argued that none of these items was required by CALEA.
Carriers are currently required to comply with most aspects of CALEA,
including the location mandate, by June 30, 2000. The other features
required by the FCC last week must be available to the government by
September 30, 2001.
_________________________________________________________________
(3) PACKET SWITCHING - CALEA'S SLEEPER ISSUE
One CALEA issue of immense importance has received little press attention:
how to conduct electronic surveillance in packet environments. Packet
technology, until recently used mainly on the Internet, breaks
communication into many small packets, each consisting of some addressing
information and some content. For efficiency's sake, the packets may be
transported by various routes, and are reassembled at their intended
destination to create a coherent communication. Packet technology is
becoming increasingly important for voice communications, posing the risk
that the government will obtain access to the content portion of packets
when it has only satisfied the lower legal standard for intercepting the
call routing or addressing information.
CDT argued that CALEA imposes on carriers an affirmative obligation to
design their equipment, to the extent technically reasonable, to withhold
content from the government when the government has not met the legal
standard to intercept it. Industry responded that carriers should be
allowed to disclose everything to law enforcement, including content, and
rely on the government not to read (or listen to) what it is has no
authority to intercept.
The FCC declined to require carriers to protect the privacy of packet
communications that the government is not authorized to intercept.
Instead, the FCC requested the industry to report on what steps can be
taken to protect the privacy of packet communications. Last Fall, the
Commission asked the same question and industry said that protecting
privacy was too hard. This leaves it to CDT to prove to the industry that
the technology can be designed to protect privacy.
______________________________________________________________
(4) CDT EXAMINES APPEAL
CDT had believed that CALEA was a balanced statute. We had accepted the
FBI Director's assurances that the statute would not be used as a mandate
for cell phone tracking, and we had believed that the FCC would resist any
FBI efforts to dictate surveillance enhancements. Yet on all the issues
that mattered, the Commission ruled against privacy and in favor of
expanded law enforcement surveillance. The ability of the FBI to turn
CALEA on its head does not generate confidence in government claims to be
seeking balanced solutions on other issues such as encryption.
CDT is deciding whether to appeal the decision of the FCC to the federal
Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia.
As of August 31, the full text of the FCC's order has not been released.
The only official description of the FCC's action comes in the form of FCC
press releases, which are available at
http://www.cdt.org/digi_tele/fccpress0899.shtml
For background on CALEA, go to http://www.cdt.org/digi_tele/.
_______________________________________________________________________
(5) SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
Be sure you are up to date on the latest public policy issues affecting
civil liberties online and how they will affect you and what you can do to
make a difference! Subscribe to the CDT's Activist Network.
You'll receive:
A) CDT Policy Posts, the regular news publication
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B) Updates on what you can do to make sure that the
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_______________________________________________________________________
(6) ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY/CONTACTING US
The Center for Democracy and Technology is a non-profit public interest
organization based in Washington, DC. The Center's mission is to develop
and advocate public policies that advance democratic values and
constitutional civil liberties in new computer and communications
technologies.
Contacting us:
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Snail Mail: The Center for Democracy and Technology
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End Policy Post 5.21
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-cypherpunks@toad.com [mailto:owner-cypherpunks@toad.com]On
> Behalf Of Anonymous
> Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 1999 10:59 PM
> To: cypherpunks@toad.com
> Subject: Marshals Impound FBI Waco Evidence
>
>
> Marshals Impound FBI Waco Evidence
>
> By Michelle Mittelstadt
> Associated Press Writer
> Wednesday, September 1, 1999; 9:42 p.m. EDT
>
> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal marshals were dispatched Wednesday to
> the FBI's headquarters to impound previously undisclosed evidence
> in the 1993 assault by federal agents on the Branch Davidian
> compound, Justice and FBI officials said Wednesday night.
>
> The marshals took custody of infrared tapes recorded during the
> early morning of April 19 when incendiary tear gas canisters were
> lobbed at a concrete bunker adjacent to the Davidians' compound
> near Waco, Texas, an FBI source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
>
> Hours later, the wooden compound erupted into flames. Cult leader
> David Koresh and some 80 followers died during the inferno.
>
> Justice Department officials dispatched the marshals to the FBI
> building less than a block away after the FBI informed them it
> had uncovered in its files additional information about the tear gas.
>
> Department sources said Attorney General Janet Reno and her top
> aides were angered at the latest turn of events. Just a week ago,
> the FBI was forced to recant six years of denials that it had
> used incendiary tear gas during the final hours of the 51-day siege.
>
> That belated admission prompted a furor on Capitol Hill, where
> congressional Republicans are readying hearings for the fall. A
> frustrated Reno also ordered an investigation to determine why
> combustible tear gas was used against her orders.
>
> The FBI source said the new material, found in the offices of the
> FBI's Hostage Rescue Team in Quantico, Va., was turned up as part
> of FBI Director Louis Freeh's mandate that all files be searched
> for relevant information in advance of the investigation.
>
> The Hostage Rescue Team was in charge of the FBI's operation
> during the siege and the final tear-gas assault.
>
> After the evidence was found, it was transferred to FBI
> headquarters in Washington, where the marshals took possession.
>
> ``Earlier this afternoon, senior main Justice Department
> officials learned from the FBI that the FBI had found additional
> materials in its possession regarding the shooting of military CS
> gas rounds on the morning of April 19,'' said Justice spokesman
> Myron Marlin.
>
> The Justice officials ``immediately directed the United States
> Marshals Service to take possession and inventory the
> materials,'' Marlin added.
>
> The FBI concurred, said bureau spokesman John Collingwood.
>
> ``We are anxious to identify and preserve for outside review and
> congressional oversight anything that may bear on the firing of
> the military gas rounds,'' Collingwood said. ``In the end, the
> only way we can completely restore our credibility is to identify
> every scrap of information we have and immediately turn it over
> to whomever is doing the review.''
>
> It appeared increasingly likely Wednesday that Reno will order an
> independent inquiry, sidestepping the investigative resources of the FBI.
>
> Joining a chorus of voices on and off Capitol Hill, the White
> House has made clear its preference for an independent
> investigation, a White House official said Wednesday.
>
> ``We would support a thorough and independent look at this,''
> said the official, who asked not to be identified.
>
> Freeh, who wants to head off any perception of conflict of
> interest, earlier this week indicated support for an inquiry free
> of involvement from the FBI or the Justice Department.
>
> Reno, who is out of the country on official business through
> Thursday, has not reached a final decision, Marlin said.
>
> Justice sources, however, described Reno as leaning strongly in
> favor of an independent investigation and forgoing the use of a
> team of 40 FBI agents that had been assembled to re-interview all
> of the participants in the FBI operation.
>
> The government's conclusion that the 1993 fire was set by
> Davidian cult members has long been doubted by conspiracy
> theorists and others who allege the government engaged in a
> widespread cover-up.
>
> The FBI and Reno have said there is no evidence to suggest the
> blaze was set by the incendiary tear gas canisters. After
> insisting that only non-flammable devices were used, the FBI said
> last week that a ``very limited number'' of combustible canisters
> were lobbed at a concrete bunker 40 yards from the compound a few
> hours before the fire erupted.
>
> The House Judiciary Committee is drafting legislation to
> establish a congressional commission to investigate the matter --
> a step that in Chairman Henry Hyde's view could avoid the
> partisanship exhibited during earlier Waco hearings.
>
> The House Government Reform Committee, which is already planning
> hearings, will issue subpoenas Thursday to the White House,
> Justice and Defense Departments, the FBI and Texas Rangers
> seeking documents and other Waco-related information, said
> spokesman Mark Corallo.
>
> Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, on Wednesday became the one of the
> first members of Congress to urge Reno to resign over the Waco
> controversy.
>
> ``I think the attorney general should step down,'' Gramm said.
> ``This is another example of where she has either lied to the
> American people or allowed the American people to be lied to.''
>
> © Copyright 1999
> The Associated Press
>
