+=========+=================================================+===========+ | F.Y.I. |Newsnote from the Electronic Frontier Foundation |Sep 17,1992| +=========+=================================================+===========+ JOINT INDUSTRY/PUBLIC INTEREST COALITION RELEASES WHITE PAPER OPPOSING FBI DIGITAL TELEPHONY LEGISLATION WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), on behalf of a coalition of industry, trade associations, computer users, and privacy and consumer representatives, today released a white paper entitled, "Analysis of the FBI Proposal Regarding Digital Telephony." The FBI has proposed legislation which would require that all telecommunications equipment be designed to allow law enforcement monitoring and is seeking passage in the last few weeks of this congress. The organizations that signed the paper believe that the proposal would cost consumers millions of dollars, damage U.S. competitiveness in the telecommunications marketplace, threaten national security interests, and deny American consumers and American businesses of much-wanted security and privacy on voice and data communications. "Basically, the FBI's legislative proposal is premature. We hope that the white paper demonstrates that there are too many potential dangers inherent in the legislative proposal and that there are other means of addressing this situation," said Jerry Berman, Executive Director of the Washington office of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Over the past decade a host of new digital communication technologies have been introduced and more are being developed. New telephone services, such as call-forwarding and last number re-dial, are now being offered. The FBI is concerned about the impact these services -- and other digital communications techniques -- will have on its ability to wiretap. In the future, the vast majority of computer communications will also use this technology to transfer information and documents. Signatories included major telecommunications equipment manufacturers, such as AT&T; computer manufacturers, such as IBM and Digital Equipment Corporation; software producers, such as Microsoft and Lotus; network providers, such as Prodigy and Advanced Network and Services, Inc.; trade associations in the telecommunications, computer and electronic mail businesses; and public interest groups, such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group of 955 members of the computer community, has been coordinating an industry/public interest working group on digital telephony. The working group has met with the FBI over a number of months in an effort to work out mutually-agreeable solutions to the challenge that the development of new communications technologies poses to the FBI. David Johnson, a partner at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, drafted the white paper for the working group and serves as its legal advisor. "We have made significant progress and both sides better understand the other's needs and concerns. The bottom line, however, is that those who signed the paper do not see broad-based legislation as the right approach to this challenge. We have worked with the FBI to develop practical, technical solutions to the problems they are anticipating and intend to continue to do so," said John Podesta, of Podesta Associates, Inc., who coordinates the working group on behalf of EFF. # # # For a copy of the white paper, please call +1 202 544-6906, or use anonymous ftp to ftp.eff.org, file pub/EFF/legal-issues/eff-fbi-analysis. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 17, 1992 For more information contact: John Podesta 202/544-6906 Jerry Berman 202/544-9237 +=====+===================================================+=============+ | EFF |155 Second Street, Cambridge MA 02141 (617)864-0665| eff@eff.org | +=====+===================================================+=============+