IP: Dutch government: All your bits are belong to us!

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

>Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 20:43:00 -0400
>From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
>
>The Mevis commission report:
>http://www.minjust.nl/c_actual/rapport/gegevens.pdf
>
>*********
>
>Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 09:12:17 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Morlock Elloi <morlockelloi@yahoo.com>
>Subject: All your bits are belong to us
>To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
>
>Dutch discover that once you give bits to someone, you don't own/control them:
>
>http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/te/7691/1.html
>
>
>Dutch law enforcement should get easier access to personal data stored
>by companies
>
>Jelle van Buuren   21.05.2001
>
>Police wants to screen whole groups of citizens to see if they can
>establish criminal patterns
>
>Dutch police can get easier access to personal information of clients
>stored in company's databases. All the information stored by companies
>will be available to the police, proposes the commission Mevis in a
>report launched at Monday last week. The minister of Justice said he
>would adopt the proposals in new legislation.
>
>According to the commission, lead by Professor P. Mevis, the current
>investigative powers no longer satisfy the needs of the police in the
>information society. Privacy rules are often an obstacle, as are legal
>definitions, which are not adjusted to the digital developments.
>Companies don't know what their obligations are. In many cases companies
>cooperate voluntary in providing confidential client information. But
>according to the commission Mevis, this situation is not acceptable for
>both parties.
>
>The commission therefore proposes new investigative powers for the
>police. Police officers should, without the need of a legal order, get
>the power to ask personal information like name, address, living place,
>client number, bank account, access codes, and registration plate. The
>personal information does not have to belong to suspects; the police are
>authorised to ask this kind of information for a group of persons, to
>investigate networks and communications, and floods of money or goods.
>This is called pro-active investigation: the screening by police of
>whole groups of citizens to see if they can establish criminal patterns.
>
>A whole range of companies will be forced to work with the police:
>telephone companies, Internet providers, lease companies, car rental
>companies, travelling agencies, flying companies, garages, real estate
>agencies, credit card companies, insurance companies, mortgagors,
>transport companies, banks, accountants, chemical industry, chambers of
>commerce, educational institutes, art houses, hospitals, hotels and
>jewellers.
>
>[...]
>
>**********
>
>Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 10:04:44 -0700
>To: cypherpunks@lne.com
>From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
>Subject: Re: All your bits are belong to us
>
>At 9:12 AM -0700 5/26/01, Morlock Elloi wrote:
> >Dutch discover that once you give bits to someone, you don't own/control 
> them:
> >
> >http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/te/7691/1.html
> >...
> >Dutch police can get easier access to personal information of clients
> >stored in company's databases. All the information stored by companies
> >will be available to the police, proposes the commission Mevis in a
> >report launched at Monday last week. The minister of Justice said he
> >would adopt the proposals in new legislation.
>
>But...but....but...but they have the best privacy laws in the world!
>How can this happen?
>
>The answer, of course, is that most so-called "privacy laws" in
>European nations (and, increasingly, in Canada, and spreading
>southward) are in fact just statist interference in private business
>operations while also compiling national dossiers which, as we see
>above, are accessible to the cops, social engineers, insurance
>companies, etc.
>
>Trusting the State to maintain privacy is ludicrous. And giving the
>State the power to interfere with what Alice "remembers" (*) about
>Bob is perniciously evil.
>
>(Most "data privacy laws" are essentially laws that say Alice is not
>free to record her memories of information she obtained about Bob,
>from Bob, or of her dealings with Bob. She is required to submit her
>proposal to remember information to the
>Staatsprivatiereninformationgebluck for permission to record her
>memories. I exaggerate slightly, in that private citizens like Alice
>are not (yet) bothered by the fascists if they wish to write down
>their memories. But laws about data bases are in fact laws about what
>a person may remember on his computer or in his filing cabinets.)
>
>
> >Companies don't know what their obligations are. In many cases companies
> >cooperate voluntary in providing confidential client information. But
> >according to the commission Mevis, this situation is not acceptable for
> >both parties.
>
>So much for true privacy. At least in the U.S. we still have people
>who will demand a search warrant before opening their files to cops.
>
>(All of this is changing, though, as AOL sets up special liaison
>offices to make the jobs of cops seeking information easier. And
>hospitals and doctors are not required to report all sorts of medical
>and psychiatric conditions to the Alphas in Washington. A
>psychiatrist friend of mine was planning to get out of the field
>because of all the new laws requiring him to report on his patients.)
>
>
> >
> >A whole range of companies will be forced to work with the police:
> >telephone companies, Internet providers, lease companies, car rental
> >companies, travelling agencies, flying companies, garages, real estate
> >agencies, credit card companies, insurance companies, mortgagors,
> >transport companies, banks, accountants, chemical industry, chambers of
> >commerce, educational institutes, art houses, hospitals, hotels and
> >jewellers.
>
>Ah, yes, the Netherlands has the best privacy laws in the world.
>
>--Tim May
>--
>Timothy C. May         tcmay@got.net        Corralitos, California
>Political: Co-founder Cypherpunks/crypto anarchy/Cyphernomicon
>Technical: physics/soft errors/Smalltalk/Squeak/agents/games/Go
>Personal: b.1951/UCSB/Intel '74-'86/retired/investor/motorcycles/guns
>
>**********
>
>Date: Sat, 26 May 2001 10:46:01 -0700
>To: cypherpunks@lne.com
>From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
>Subject: Re: All your bits are belong to us
>
>At 10:04 AM -0700 5/26/01, Tim May wrote:
> >
> >(All of this is changing, though, as AOL sets up special liaison
> >offices to make the jobs of cops seeking information easier. And
> >hospitals and doctors are not required to report all
>
>"are now required," not "are not required." An important
>typographical error to correct.
>
>
>--Tim May
>--
>Timothy C. May         tcmay@got.net        Corralitos, California
>Political: Co-founder Cypherpunks/crypto anarchy/Cyphernomicon
>Technical: physics/soft errors/Smalltalk/Squeak/agents/games/Go
>Personal: b.1951/UCSB/Intel '74-'86/retired/investor/motorcycles/guns
>
>***********
>
>Date: Tue, 08 May 2001 14:07:24 +0200
>To: declan@well.com
>From: Maurice Wessling <maurice@bof.nl>
>Subject: Dutch government puts Trusted Third Parties under pressure
>
>
>   Dutch government puts Trusted Third Parties under pressure
>
>   Jelle van Buuren   08.05.2001
>
>   Intelligence agencies and police want to get access to encrypted
>messages
>
>
>
>    Dutch law enforcement authorities are forcing Trusted Third Parties
>(TTP's) to use key escrow or key recovery techniques, which make it
>possible for law enforcement to decrypt encrypted messages. The law
>enforcement authorities want to get access to encrypted Internet
>messages, according to secret documents revealed by the Dutch digital
>rights movement  Bits of Freedom [0].
>
>   Trusted Third Parties (TTP's) are independent organisations, which
>offer services to enhance the security and reliability of electronic
>communication. TTP's, for instance banks, accountants,
>telecommunication companies or public notaries, use cryptography to
>prove the authenticity of communication and secure the confidentiality
>of communication.
>
>   The Dutch Ministries of Traffic and Waterways and Economical Affairs
>started in 1998 the national  TTP project [1] to regulate in
>co-operation with industry the founding of TTP's. In a policy paper of
>March 1999 the Ministries pointed at the need of 'lawful access' and
>announced that, if voluntary agreements on this subject were not
>possible, the government would introduce legislation that would force
>them to do so.
>
>[...]
>
>
>   Links
>
>   [0] http://www.bof.nl
>   [1] http://www.ecp.nl/trust/ttp.html
>   [2] http://www.bof.nl/tappen/KST35668.pdf
>   [3] http://www.bof.nl/tappen/RapportageTWRT.pdf
>   [4] http://www.bof.nl/tappen/TTPnotulenmaart2001.pdf
>
>   Artikel-URL: http://www.telepolis.de/english/inhalt/te/7571/1.html
>
>
>**********



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