, Newsbytes 2002-04-16
Concern about the gradual erosion of Internet privacy safeguards and the desire to figure out the legal boundaries of using the Internet as an activism tool will rank among the most important topics being discussed this week as Internet civil liberties groups convene at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy 2002 conference in San Francisco.
As with most facets of American life nowadays, the discussion of what Internet privacy is in the 21st century is inexorably linked to the conditions of the post Sept. 11 world, when the very nature of strong Internet privacy runs counter, some government officials believe, to insuring a strongly secure country against terrorism."It's fundamentally changed the landscape," said CDT spokesman Ari Schwartz, noting Congress' passage and the president's approval of the USA Patriot Act, which gives federal, state and local law enforcement broad new powers to requisition information in what the Bush administration has termed its "war against terrorism."
While a well-intentioned law, Schwartz noted that it was passed with "little congressional oversight," and that hopefully this year's CFP can serve as a forum to educate Internet users about what they need to know in the changed Internet legal environment.
Cindy Cohn, staff director of the EFF, said that the Patriot Act and other attempts to define the regulatory issues that affect the Internet require an education campaign for Internet activists and online denizens in general to understand when they might cross over from legal expression into potentially illegal activities.
Cohn also said that CFP speakers will address the nature of offline activism to promote causes that affect the Internet, from demonstrations to lobbying and other methods of fighting for privacy and free speech rights.
With speeches from government officials such as Federal Trade Commission Chairman Timothy Muris on the conference agenda, Cohn added that it will be "interesting to see, post Sept. 11, whether the tone of the (privacy) discussion changes."
In the past CFP often has served as a platform for ardent free speech activists to plead their cause for unrestricted speech and strong privacy online, but this year, Cohn said, there should be a good opportunity to hear from the "other side of the hard core privacy debate." She added that now is the time that people have passed beyond the "knee jerk reactions" to the Sept. 11 terrorist incidents, and are ready to return to the debate of what Americans should be able to expect when it comes to Internet privacy.
Schwartz said that this year's conference is designed to "get people together so they can network, and get the basics (of Internet privacy) down."
Other speakers at this year's conference include Peter Swire, a former Clinton administration official specializing in privacy issues; Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist; Electronic Privacy Information Center attorney Chris Hoofnagle; former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta; Chris Painter of the U.S. Justice Department; American Civil Liberties Union Associate Director Barry Steinhardt; California Attorney General Bill Lockyer; and Princeton University Professor Edward Felten.
Felten will discuss another hot issue for Internet speech advocates, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which free speech activists say is the scourge of the Internet for its ability to shut down the open exchange of ideas online.
Felten himself faced potential arrest when he wanted to publish research results online that showed how he and his staff were able to crack DVD copy-protection code.
Arranged by some of the top cognoscenti in the Internet privacy field such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Democracy and Technology, the 12th CFP conference also features big-name sponsorship from tech heavyweights such as AOL Time Warner and IBM Corp.
Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com .
