Lynda

And so it begins!

Lynda
----- Original Message -----
> http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,37203,00.html

> WASHINGTON - The Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeking to broaden
> considerably its ability to tap into Internet traffic in its quest to root
out
> terrorists, going beyond even the new measures afforded in anti-terror
> legislation passed by the House today, according to lawyers familiar with
the
> FBI's plans.
>
> Stewart Baker, an attorney at the Washington D.C.-based Steptoe & Johnson
and a
> former general consul to National Security Agency, said the FBI has plans
to
> change the architecture of the Internet and route traffic through central
> servers that it would be able to monitor e-mail more easily.
>
> The plans goes well beyond the Carnivore e-mail-sniffing system which
allows the
> FBI to search for and extract specific e-mails off the Internet and
generated so
> much controversy among privacy advocates and civil libertarians before the
Sept.
> 11 terrorist attacks.
>
> "From the work I've been doing, I've seen the efforts the FBI has been
making
> and it suggests that they are going to unveil this in the next few
months,"
> Baker said of the plan.
>
> FBI Spokesman Paul Bresson said he was unaware of any development in the
e-mail
> surveillance arena that would require major architectural changes in the
> Internet, but acknowledged that such a plan is possible.
>
> Any new efforts would "would be in compliance with wiretapping statutes,"
> Bresson said. "We would be remiss if we didn't."
>
> Such a move might have been unthinkable before Sept. 11.
>
> Last year, privacy groups and civil libertarians howled in protest when
the FBI
> trotted out plans to start using the Carnivore system. The Electronic
Privacy
> Information Center (EPIC) in Washington was ready to go full rounds with
the
> government in court over Carnivore, and House Majority Leader Dick Armey,
> R-Texas, asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to take another look at its
> constitutionality.
>
> Now, though, the country is asking for more, not less, law enforcement on
the
> Internet, and even those who once complained are coming around.
>
> "I have two minds on this," says Fred Peterson, vice president of
government
> affairs for the Xybernaut Corporation, which manufactures computer
technology
> for military and law enforcement. The past six weeks have left little
doubt in
> most peoples' mind, he said, that new measures must be taken.
>
> "I think that the threat has increased and while (FBI) demands were
unreasonable
> at a time when the threat was less immediate and less fatal - it's just
not the
> same story anymore," he said.
>
> Others are still skeptical, though not as much.
>
> "I don't think (FBI) motives are bad, but I do think they're using
people's
> current state of mind - they're using it to their advantage," said Mikal
Condon,
> staff attorney for EPIC.
>
> The new FBI plans would give the agency a technical backdoor to the
networks of
> Internet service providers' like AOL and Earthlink and Web hosting
companies,
> Baker said. It would concentrate Internet traffic in several central
locations
> where e-mail and other web activity could be wiretapped.
>
> Baker said he expects the agency will approach the Internet companies on
an
> individual basis to ask for their help in the endeavor.
>
> But Jim Harper, staff counsel for privacy advocate Privacilla.org said the
FBI
> may have a hard time convincing some companies to redesign the Internet on
its
> behalf. "It's not really surprising, but I would be shocked to see if it
gets
> done," he said. "Restructuring the Internet? I don't think so."
>
> Others say the Internet companies will not put up much of a fight.
>
> Sue Ashdown, executive director of the Washington-based American ISP
> Association, an Internet company trade group, said most Internet companies
> aren't healthy enough financially to take on the government in court to
protect
> their subscribers' privacy rights. And no one, she says, wants to appear
> hostile to law enforcement right now.
>
> "I know there are a lot of members in the association with feelings on
both
> sides," said Ashdown.
>
> "In the current patriotic climate, enterprises of all types will likely
play
> along with the FBI in order to avoid a public relations disaster," said
Gene
> Riccoboni, an Internet attorney with the Stamford, Connecticut-based
> Grimes & Battersby.

Sharon Rudd

> Open Letter to G. W. Bush
> by Rigoberta Menchu Tum
> Nobel Peace Prize, Goodwill Ambassador for the
Culture of Peace
>
> September 23, 2001
> .... Mr. President, upon listening to the message
you gave to the Congress of your country, I have been
unable to overcome a sensation of fear for what may
come of your words. You call upon your people to
prepare for "a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we
have ever seen" and for your soldiers to save their
honor by marching to a war in which you intend to
involve all of us, the peoples of the world.
>
> In the name of progress, pluralism, tolerance and
liberty, you leave no choice to those of us who are
not fortunate enough to share this sense of liberty
and the benefits of the civilization you wish to
defend for your people, we who never had sympathy for
terrorism since we were its victims. We, who are proud
expressions of other civilizations; who live day to
day with the hope of turning discrimination and
plunder into recognition and respect; who carry in our
souls the pain of the genocide perpetrated against our
peoples; finally, we who are fed up with providing the
dead for wars that are not ours: we cannot share the
arrogance of your infallibility nor the single road
onto which you want to push us when you declare that
"Every nation in every region now has a decision to
make: Either you are with us or you are with the
terrorists."
_______________________________________________________
Note from Sharon....there may have been more, but this
all I recieved

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