ACM WASHINGTON UPDATE
Association for Computing Machinery Office of Public Policy

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July 31, 2001 Volume 5.4

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POLICY BRIEFS:

Russian Programmer Arrested for Violating Digital Copyright Law
USACM Comments on U.S. Government's .US Top-Level Domain Plan
FBI's Carnivore Draws Congressional Scrutiny
Bush Administration to Create Cybersecurity Board
Congressional Study Finds Filtering Software Ineffective
Senator and Privacy Coalition Want Changes to Microsoft Windows XP

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INTRODUCTION
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The Association for Computing Machinery is an international professional
society whose 80,000 members (60,000 in the U.S.) represent a critical mass
of computer professionals in education, industry, and government. The USACM
provides a means for promoting dialogue on technology policy issues with
United States policy makers and the general public. The WASHINGTON UPDATE
reports on activities which may be of interest to those in the computing
and information policy communities and will highlight USACM's involvement
in many of these issues.


To subscribe to the ACM WASHINGTON UPDATE send an e-mail to
listserv@acm.org with "subscribe WASHINGTON-UPDATE" (no quotes) in the body
of the message. Back issues are available at: http://www.acm.org/usacm

For information about joining the Association for Computing Machinery, see:
http://www.acm.org/membership/join.html

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POLICY BRIEFS
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RUSSIAN PROGRAMMER ARRESTED FOR VIOLATING DIGITAL COPYRIGHT LAW

The U.S. Department of Justice has arrested a Russian computer programmer
on criminal charges of violating the "anti-circumvention" provisions
(section 1201) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).  Dmitry
Sklyarov, a computer science Ph.D. candidate at Moscow State Technical
University, was arrested on July 16 in Las Vegas after he made a
presentation on the security of electronic books at the annual Defcon
convention.  Section 1201 of the DMCA makes it a crime to sell software
that can "circumvent" copy protection methods.

The anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA have been criticized by
members of the scientific community -including ACM - as an overly broad
restriction on the freedom of computer scientists and others to engage in
critical research, and to exchange ideas and information fundamental to the
progress of innovation.  Recently, USACM sent a letter to the American
Association of Publishers (AAP) informing them of ACM's opposition to the
anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA.  As ACM is a member of AAP, the
USACM letter also raised concerns with AAP's public statement hailing the
arrest of the Russian programmer.  Finally, the letter urged AAP to
reconsider their policy position and inquired whether they share the
concerns that ACM and other professional societies and research leaders
have expressed regarding the DMCA's chilling effect on research and
scientific freedom.

To review the USACM letter to the AAP, see the USACM web site:
http://www.acm.org/usacm

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USACM COMMENTS ON U.S. GOVERNMENT'S .US TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN PLAN

USACM recently sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce outlining
its concerns with plans to turnover responsibility for management and
coordination of .US top-level domain (usTLD) to a contractor. The USACM
letter states that the Department's plan does not provide sufficient time
to support an open and full public discussion on the future management of
the usTLD.  The Department closed the period for accepting contract
proposals on July 27, despite requests for an extension from USACM, members
of the U.S. Congress, and several other organizations.   While no longer
accepting new proposals, the Department will review proposals submitted
before the deadline with the goal of awarding the contract later this
year.  The Department's current agreement for operation of the usTLD
expires in November.

To review the USACM letter sent to Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans, see
the USACM web site: http://www.acm.org/usacm

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FBI'S CARNIVORE DRAWS CONGRESSIONAL SCRUTINY

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation requiring the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the U.S. Department of Justice to
make annual reports to Congress detailing law enforcement's use of the DCS
1000 Internet monitoring system, also known as "Carnivore."  The
legislation requires the FBI to detail when, how, and why the system was
used in its report.  The study has been attached to the annual spending
bill for the Justice Department.  In a related matter, U.S. Attorney
General John Ashcroft recently named a privacy czar to monitor the privacy
implications of technologies used by law enforcement agencies, including
Carnivore.  Associate Deputy Attorney General Daniel Collins has been
tapped to fill the position.

Last fall, three Members of USACM (Eugene Spafford, Peter Neumann, and Dave
Farber) participated in an ad hoc review panel of Carnivore.  To review a
copy of the ad hoc review panel's report, see the web site:
http://www.crypto.com/papers/carnivore_report_comments.html

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BUSH ADMINISTRATION TO CREATE CYBERSECURITY BOARD

The Bush Administration plans to create a high-level panel of senior
national security officials to coordinate the U.S. government's critical
infrastructure protection efforts.  The board - tentatively named the
Cybersecurity and Continuity of Operations Board - will include
representatives from the Departments of the Defense, State, Commerce,
Justice, Energy, Treasury, as well as the Central Intelligence Agency.  The
board will conduct oversight regarding the cybersecurity efforts of federal
agencies, collaborate with the private sector, and seek international
cooperation where appropriate.  Richard Clarke, the current National
Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection and Counterterroism at
the White House, may serve as the board's chair.  The board will report to
Condoleezza Rice, the President's National Security Adviser.  An official
executive order creating the board is expected from the White House later
this year.

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CONGRESSIONAL STUDY FINDS FILTERING SOFTWARE INEFFECTIVE

The House Committee on Government Reform has released a study that finds
pornographic materials are easily available to Internet users of any age
through file-sharing services such as Aimster, Gnutella, and
BearShare.   Unlike most adult web sites, minors using file-sharing
services can download pornographic photos and videos without submitting a
credit card number or other identification.  The material is not blocked by
Internet filters such as Net Nanny and Cyber Patrol, which are intended to
impede minors from downloading files from adult web sites.  The study was
requested by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Rep. Steve Largent (R-OK).  While
the study did not make any specific recommendations, the lawmakers
suggested additional legislation maybe necessary.  Last year, the U.S.
Congress enacted the Children's Internet Protection Act (CIPA) to require
all libraries that receive federal funding to install pornography filters
or forgo millions of dollars in federal subsidies and grants.

To review a copy of the Congressional study, see the web site:
http://www.house.gov/reform/min/porn.html

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SENATOR AND PRIVACY COALITION WANT CHANGES TO MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP

Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y), an active member of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, has urged the U.S. Justice Department to force changes to
Windows XP as a condition for settlement of its antitrust lawsuit against
Microsoft.  Schumer also urged state attorneys general to block the release
of XP later this fall if Microsoft does not meet certain conditions for
providing open access for competitors to offer their products on an equal
basis with Microsoft products.  At the urging of Schumer, Senate Judiciary
Committee Chairman Patrick Leady (D-Vt) has agreed to hold hearings on
competition issues in the computer and Internet industries in
September.  In addition, a coalition of consumer and privacy groups -
including the Electronic Privacy Information Center - has filed a complaint
with the Federal Trade Commission over certain features in XP.
To review the XP complaint filed by the privacy coalition, see the web site:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/consumer/MS_complaint.pdf

To follow activities of the Senate Judiciary Committee, see the web site:
http://www.senate.gov/~judiciary/