PATRIOT/USA technical problems, call to action

Mon Oct 8 11:42:47 UTC 2001

In addition, i'd like to add that after calling your congresscritters,
you do also send them a letter, either by fax or USPS (fax would be
better).  Some congress folks tend to take letters a little more seriously
than calls, it seems.

Tim

On Mon, Oct 08, 2001 at 01:31:09AM -0400, William Allen Simpson wrote:
> 
> Democracy is not a spectator sport.
> 
> The US House (hr.2975 PATRIOT) and US Senate (s.1510 USA) have 
> introduced bills that will cost ISPs a lot of money -- potentially tens 
> of thousands of dollars -- even for small ISPs.
> 
> Unlike CALEA, there is no requirement that ISPs be reimbursed.
> 
> This happened because the legislators are clueless about technical 
> requirements.  It is up to you to educate them!
> 
> With the bombing started, it is thought that the bills will be pushed 
> through this week, without going through the normal committee review.
> 
> Each and every one of you MUST call your legislators, where you work and 
> again where you live.  Call your Senator, and then call your 
> Representative.  Do not send email, it won't get read soon enough!
> 
> Since Monday is a legal holiday of sorts, you may have to wait until 
> Tuesday morning, but try on Monday anyway.
> 
> --
> 
> Urge your representatives in Congress to hold full hearings, and fix 
> technical problems.
> 
> 1. Call the White House switchboard at 202-224-3121, and ask to be 
> connected to the office of your Congressional representative.
>  -or-
>    Look up the office numbers on the web at www.house.gov and 
> www.senate.gov.
> 
> 2. When you are put through, say "May I please speak to the staff member 
> who is working on the anti-terrorism legislation?" If that person is not 
> available to speak with you, say "May I please leave a message?"
> 
> 3. Briefly explain that you work for an Internet Service Provider, and 
> although you appreciate the efforts of your representative to address 
> the challenges brought about by the September 11th tragedy, it would be 
> a mistake to make any changes in the federal wiretap statute that do not 
> respond to "the immediate threat of investigating or preventing 
> terrorist acts."
> 
> --
> 
> If they want to talk details, here they are:
> 
> Both bills add "addressing" and "routing" to the list of activities that 
> can be requested without a specific court order.  So, just like call 
> setup for the phone companies, every single address that you assign, via 
> DHCP or otherwise, and every ARP, RIP, OSPF, and BGP routing table 
> change, must be recorded for posterity -- just in case any state or 
> federal agents want to review it someday.  No time limits, and no 
> statute of limitations.
> 
> Some lawyers read this to extend to tracking every URL accessed through 
> your POPs, and every email To: and From: transmitted over your networks, 
> since they both can be considered "addressing" and your activity 
> "routing".
> 
> Obviously, the legislators don't quite understand what a dynamic 
> packet connectionless Internet means!
> 
> --
> 
> My solution, after talking to several Representatives and Senators 
> staffs, is to add clarification to the definitions section 3127: 
> 
>  (7) the term "addressing" means a numeric identifier that assists the 
> delivery of electronic communications over a specific link, attached to 
> the outermost encapsulation of the communication (but not including the 
> contents of such communication).
> 
>  (8) the term "routing" means the numeric internetwork locator 
> associated with a communication that facilitates its carriage between 
> electronic communication services, contained within the internetwork 
> communication encapsulation (but not including the contents of such 
> communication).
> 
> --
> 
> As you can see, my solution means you can do it with standard tools, 
> like tcpdump or snort, and unlike phone call setup, there's nothing in 
> the definitions that indicates the information has to be recorded for 
> future requests....
> 
> -- 
> William Allen Simpson
>     Key fingerprint =  17 40 5E 67 15 6F 31 26  DD 0D B9 9B 6A 15 2C 32

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