Return-Path: <sentto-279987-2449-1001629587-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com> Delivered-To: fc@all.net Received: from 204.181.12.215 by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-5.1.0) for fc@localhost (single-drop); Thu, 27 Sep 2001 15:28:08 -0700 (PDT) Received: (qmail 31596 invoked by uid 510); 27 Sep 2001 22:27:39 -0000 Received: from n24.groups.yahoo.com (216.115.96.74) by 204.181.12.215 with SMTP; 27 Sep 2001 22:27:39 -0000 X-eGroups-Return: sentto-279987-2449-1001629587-fc=all.net@returns.onelist.com Received: from [10.1.1.223] by ef.egroups.com with NNFMP; 27 Sep 2001 22:27:22 -0000 X-Sender: fc@big.all.net X-Apparently-To: iwar@onelist.com Received: (EGP: mail-7_4_1); 27 Sep 2001 22:26:26 -0000 Received: (qmail 72598 invoked from network); 27 Sep 2001 22:26:26 -0000 Received: from unknown (10.1.10.27) by 10.1.1.223 with QMQP; 27 Sep 2001 22:26:26 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO big.all.net) (65.0.156.78) by mta2 with SMTP; 27 Sep 2001 22:27:22 -0000 Received: (from fc@localhost) by big.all.net (8.9.3/8.7.3) id PAA22073 for iwar@onelist.com; Thu, 27 Sep 2001 15:27:21 -0700 Message-Id: <200109272227.PAA22073@big.all.net> To: iwar@onelist.com (Information Warfare Mailing List) Organization: I'm not allowed to say X-Mailer: don't even ask X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL1] From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net> Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com Delivered-To: mailing list iwar@yahoogroups.com Precedence: bulk List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:iwar-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 15:27:21 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com Subject: [iwar] [fc:Liberte,.Egalite.....E-Security?] Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Liberte, Egalite ... E-Security? By Dermot McGrath 2:00 a.m. Sep. 27, 2001 PDT PARIS -- At any other time, a gathering of privacy mavens, policy-makers and legal experts in Paris might make for an interesting if laidback discussion on the ethical niceties of balancing national security and personal privacy. In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on the United States, such debates have taken on an intensity and urgency that two weeks and 3,500 miles of ocean cannot diminish. French President Jacques Chirac set the tone for delegates at the 23rd International Conference of Data Protection Commissioners, telling them to "respect freedom of thought, but don't let the Internet become the tool of the enemies of liberty and human dignity." He also called for international cooperation to stamp out cybercrime and implement a transnational system of law for dealing with abuse. "Taking into account the global dimension of the Internet, it is essential to put in place an efficient and progressive universal legal framework which clearly defines infractions and proposes procedures for penalizing them," he said. But while the conference themes encompassed a wide range of topics such as privacy in the workplace, the use of biometric technology, racial profiling, e-democracy and CCTV, the thoughts of participants almost invariably returned to the events of Sept. 11. "The recent terrorist attacks in the U.S. serve as a reminder that cybercriminality is now a reality that we have to deal with. The keyboard is a weapon that we must never underestimate again," said Raymond Forni, president of the French national assembly. Michel Gentot, president of the French National Data Processing and Liberties Commission (CNIL), an independent supervisory watchdog, warned authorities against "thoughtless and hasty" measures that could undermine civil liberties. "The circumstances, in the wake of these terrorist attacks, oblige us to never abandon the search for the right balance between security and privacy," Gentot said. "Without a doubt, our responsibility in this matter has never been so crucial as it is now." A number of participants expressed concern about how the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon could pave the way for excessively draconian legislation in other European countries and the European Parliament. Marco Cappato, a member of the European Parliament committee for citizensą freedoms and rights, said that the balance between security and privacy had become dangerously skewed after the attacks. "If we allow ourselves to become trapped by this debate, a new balance will be struck to the detriment of freedom, because now everybody is talking about security," he said. Earlier this month, members of the European Parliament voted in favor of a resolution calling on member states to provide all European citizens with the same guarantees on the protection of privacy and confidentiality of correspondence. Cappato said that privacy advocates, politicians and civil libertarians had to stage a counter-offensive to ensure that basic democratic principles were not trampled in the rush to legislate against cybercriminals and terrorists. Robert Lack, group leader for security in the London borough of Newham, offered a slightly different slant on the privacy/security debate. In 1997, Newham became one of the first districts in Britain to install widespread closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems as an anti-crime measure, despite widespread protests from privacy groups. The system also uses controversial facial recognition technology to scan passersby and compare their images with databases of known criminals - a scheme that earned Newham Council the dubious honor of a Big Brother award from Privacy International in 1998. Lack, however, is unrepentant. Crime in Newham has fallen by over 35 percent in successive years, he says, and he claims that residents agree that the ends more than justify the means. "This is not a question of Big Brother watching you," Lack said. "It's more a case of a local authority acting as the friendly uncle or aunt and looking after your interests. If the criminal minority sees us as Big Brother, so be it. We are making Newham safer for the other 249,900 who live in the area. They accept our efforts on their behalf." ------------------------ Yahoo! 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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2001-09-29 21:08:51 PDT