🚀 go-pugleaf

The Digital Telephony Bill passed the Senate this evening by unanimous
consent.  There were no votes against the bill.

Both Feinstein and Boxer supported a bill that requires telephone equipment
manufacturers to build wiretaps into their equipment.  This is the equivalent
of requiring building contractors to build hidden cameras into our homes.  Sure
a court order is required to activate them - legally.  Does it make you sleep
easier at night knowing that your conversations can be monitored by any
law enforcement agency with all the power of the "Info Superhighway".

Before Huffington supporters start to gloat, note that Huffington supported
the bill in the House.  The only CA rep that voted against this bill was John
Doolittle.

Does it stop here?  No, the Information Infrastructure Task Force - the group
that is planning for the "Info Superhighway" is hard at work developing ways
to take away our privacy by further use of high-tech.

They're not just planning for video-on-demand.  For example, the FCC will soon
implement nationwide caller ID.  While some states require automatic caller ID
blocking for calls made from unlisted phone numbers, the FCC regulation forbids
this.  This means that if you call anyone across state lines, they will get
your phone number, to do with as they please, even if it is unlisted.

What can you do?  Educate our legislators on this problem.  Educate yourself.
Download the PGP encryption program from MIT.  Give it to your friends and
business associates.  Educate the candidates in the coming election about the
Wiretap Bill - ask them to make privacy an issue in their campaigns.


-- 
Mike Crawford           | Call Congress toll free at 1-800-768-2221.  When the
crawford@scipp.ucsc.edu | operator answers, ask for your Senator or Rep.