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 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 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 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 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 ********** ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------