ASPEN, Colorado--The copyright wars on Capitol Hill have begun to drift into the political equivalent of trench warfare, with Hollywood and the music industry pitted against hardware makers, electronics manufacturers, and ragtag activists at nonprofit groups.

Now consumers have a powerful new ally. Verizon and other telecommunications giants have ordered their phalanx of lobbyists to oppose the entertainment industry's demands for new copyright laws. The company is also fighting the Recording Industry Association of America's request for information about a subscriber.

CNET News.com sat down with Deutsch, who was recently in town for a Progress and Freedom Foundation conference, to talk about this looming confrontation over digital copyright law.

So at the center of the copyright scrum, you'll find Sarah Deutsch. The 41-year-old Deutsch, a vice president and associate general counsel at Verizon, represented her employer during the negotiations over the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) copyright treaties and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). These days, she is marshaling the opposition to proposals in Congress that would permit attacks on peer-to-peer networks, boost technology used for digital rights management, and grant more power to copyright holders.

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - Verizon Lawyer Explains Telecoms' DMCA Position.

CheapBrew writes: "Sarah Deutsch, a vice president and associate general counsel at Verizon, is interviewed by Declan McCullagh on CNet's News.com. She argues against the DCMA, anti-P2P bill, and the broadcast flag, and notes that Verizon is teaming with other telecoms and groups like the EFF to fight the 300 pound gorilla."

Damm ... This makes the second time I've liked something Verizon (my local telco from he**) has done.

Slashdot | Network Associates Buys "Better Carnivore".

ShaunC writes "CNet is reporting that Network Associates has just purchased a software company called Traxess, whose main product - DragNet - supposedly makes Carnivore look like a toy. DragNet is capable of monitoring everything from email to web, FTP sessions to IMs, even print jobs and VOIP conversations; sorting the protocols and logging it all to disk at gigabit speeds. One NAI exec envisions "the government using it to investigate employees and hackers." NAI has also issued a press release about DragNet."

ZDNet |UK| - Online pollster reveals personal data.

Around 13,000 subscribers to an online market research company were suprised to find their email addresses sent out to the entire mailing list

An online market research company has accidentally sent the email addresses of around 13,000 of its subscribers to what appears to be its entire UK mailing list.

The company, Netherlands-based OpinionWorld, included the addresses as plain text in the main body of the messages, which were sent out last night.

Computerworld - DoubleClick agrees to change privacy policy.

Online advertising service DoubleClick Inc. has agreed to pay $450,000 and alter its privacy policies to end a 30-month investigation into its use of consumers' personal information by 10 states.

CNET NEWS.COM - Network Associates nabs "wiretap" tool.

Security company Network Associates said Monday that it had purchased a small start-up whose software lets corporations and others "wiretap" their computer networks.

With its acquisition of Lindon, Utah-based Traxess, Network Associates adds a product complementary to its own Sniffer network-management system, said Sandra England, the company's executive vice president for business development, and the person who closed the deal.

With Traxess' DragNet program, "we can stream to disk everything that is happening on the network," England said. "It can give you far more capability to see what an intruder has done."

While the system could easily be used to track unauthorized uploads to a network--uploads by hackers, for instance--it could also be used to tap e-mail, printing jobs, instant messaging discussions and even voice-over-IP phone calls.

"It is completely transparent to the user," said England, who envisions companies using the software to see what is going on around their network and the government using it to investigate employees and hackers. While Network Associates hasn't approached law enforcement agencies yet, the network-tapping software could add considerable teeth to the FBI's own network-tapping program, known as DCS-1000 or, formerly, as "Carnivore."

Christian Science Monitor - Terror-war wiretaps get tangled in new scrutiny of FBI.

A major campaign in the war on terrorism involves lawmakers, lawyers, and jurists as combatants arrayed along a battle line marked by minute readings of law. Until now, their home front struggle has been mostly clandestine. But recently it's broken out onto open ground.

A normally secretive federal court dealing with intelligence matters has openly criticized the US Justice Department for overstepping its bounds in ferreting out terrorists. And in Congress, prominent Republicans as well as Democrats are butting heads with Attorney General John Ashcroft over lawmakers' oversight role in the effort to fight terrorism.

InformationWeek > Follow The Money > Pretty Good Funding For Pretty Good Privacy Startup.

The popular encryption software Pretty Good Privacy, or PGP, got a reprieve from extinction last week when startup PGP Corp. raised $14 million in venture funding. PGP software is used to encrypt files and E-mails.

Network Associates, which acquired the rights to the technology five years ago, stopped supporting most of the PGP product line because of lagging sales. The startup, which was formed in June, bought PGP Mail, PGP File, PGP Disk, and PGP Admin for Windows, as well as versions of PGP for the Mac OS and Solaris operating systems, and PGP Mobile for handhelds from Network Associates.

PGP plans to ship new versions of the products in November, providing support for Mac OS X and Windows XP. The company says it will publish the next version as open source, and PGP technology will remain free for personal use. The startup also will assume all PGP customer licenses from Network Associates.

DCM-Doll Capital Management and Venrock Associates provided the funding.

Phil Zimmermann, who released PGP in 1991, will be on the startup's technology advisory board.

CNET NEWS.COM Perspectives- Identity theft: Get used to it.

The real damage is subtler. The substitution of these identification keys for the person, while probably necessary, has created an environment that is conducive to identity theft. It is much easier to find a way to get the identification keys that will unlock an account than it is to break a window and leave with a television set.

There's sometimes more at stake here than just money. If you know the right keys to authenticate yourself to a computer system as someone, then for all intents and purposes you are that person in every possible way.

Not only can you withdraw money from someone's bank account, trade their stocks or sell their house, you also can lift their professional credentials and establish commitments and relationships under a fraudulent pose.

You don't need computers to carry off any of the above scenarios but they make it so much easier. Every new online capability carries the potential for abuse by identity theft if there is an incentive for someone to do so.

[ ... ]

Identity theft is not about numbers and it's not about money. If it was, we could write laws to protect ourselves. We could easily create a national ID card with biometric identifiers and use it to identify ourselves in public areas, pay for all of our purchases and contain a sample of our DNA and medical history for health care. Every artifact that we have interacted with could know who we were and add what we did to governmental and commercially available transactional databases.

The easy way to solve identity theft is to systematically remove any ambiguity of who we are or what we are at any time or place--in the real or virtual world. Anything less provides an opportunity for theft.

That is the price for freedom.

CNET NEWS.COM - Expert: Banks yield to Microsoft flaw .

STOCKHOLM--Software security widely used for Internet banking and e-commerce can be easily circumvented, and customer accounts at several of Sweden's largest banks remain at risk as a result, a computer expert said Monday.

The Swedish hacking expert, who is well known in computer security circles, but asked not to be identified, demonstrated to Reuters how it was possible within minutes to break through security on Web server software from Microsoft.

The expert showed how to crack the security systems for Internet banking, breaking into three of Sweden's big four banks in quick succession. He was then able to show how to conceal his tracks, making detection difficult afterward.

[ ... ]

The four Swedish banks are not unique. Many of the world's major financial institutions are similarly vulnerable because they rely on software using the industry-accepted SSL protocol, computer experts say.

All four major Swedish banks said they were not aware of any break-ins into their systems. But spokesmen at some of them said no system could be perfect.

"If man can fly to the moon, sooner or later someone will be able to circumvent the security systems," said Jesper Berggren, Swedbank's head of press relations.

CNET NEWS.COM - Microsoft puts privacy policy on display.

Microsoft has begun to incorporate new privacy policies and procedures in upcoming products, apparently in response to this month's settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.

The newest beta, or test, version of Windows Media Player 9 Series prominently displays Microsoft's privacy policy for the program and offers consumers options for controlling just how much information they share when using the product. Unlike competing products, Windows Media Player 9 Series presents consumers with these options the first time the program is used.

The Atlantic | September 2002 | Homeland Insecurity | Charles Mann's primer on public-key encryption.

Public-key encryption, as noted in the profile of cryptographer Bruce Schneier, is complicated in detail but simple in outline. The article below is an outline of the principles of the most common variant of public-key cryptography, which is known as RSA, after the initials of its three inventors; a mathematically detailed explanation of RSA by the programmer Brian Raiter, understandable to anyone willing to spend a little time with paper and pencil, is available here.

Business News from Wired News - DoubleClick to Open Cookie Jar.

For years, ad-serving cookies have crept about the Web like silent, virtual stalkers -- tracking surfers as they hop from site to site in the name of targeted marketing.

Now, Net users may finally get a glimpse of some of the data such tracking applications collect.

[ ... ]

The feature, described by the New York Attorney General's office as a "cookie viewer," will show the categories in which DoubleClick (DCLK) has placed individuals, based on information about their surfing habits. DoubleClick uses the category system to sell advertising targeted to particular interest groups.

It's unclear when the cookie viewer will actually be available, however. DoubleClick officials declined to provide a timeframe.

Nonetheless, the mere mention of providing some public access to cookie records came as welcome news to privacy activists, who have been pushing for greater disclosure by data collectors.

"It's vaporware so far, but it's the first announcement that they're providing a little bit of access," said Jason Catlett of Junkbusters, a site that helps consumers avoid unwanted direct marketing. Catlett called the plan a "significant step" for DoubleClick, the largest server of online ads and an extensive user of cookies.

Evan Hendricks, publisher of Privacy Times, compared the rationale behind the DoubleClick settlement to that of the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970, amended in 1996, which ensures that people have access to their credit histories. Both rely on the same principle that individuals have a right to know when and how they're being profiled.

[ ... ]

For those who haven't found a way to block cookies entirely, privacy advocates cautioned against taking too much encouragement from the DoubleClick settlement. Although the cookie viewer plan is a step in the right direction, DoubleClick's intention to provide information only about the categories of sites that users visit, rather than access to all profile data, is somewhat troubling, they said.

"It's like letting the weapons inspectors into the lobby of the nuclear power plant but not ... into the control room," Catlett said.

Slashdot | Your Rights Online - DoubleClick Settles Privacy Investigation.

guttentag writes "DoubleClick ended the 30-month probe into its business practices with an agreement to pay $450,000 for the investigative costs of the states and 'consumer education.' It also agreed to allow a third-party to audit it for compliance with its privacy policy for four years and give individuals access to their profiles. However, it will continue to use to track users with cookies. The Washington Post also has an article, but it is conspicuously missing the standard disclosure statement that informs readers of The Post's business relationship with DoubleClick." --- Well, let me be sure to point out then that Slashdot also serves Doubleclick ads. If you recall, this all started when Doubleclick merged with a database company and announced plans to merge its online and offline databases.

New York Times - free registration required Court Backs Open Deportation Hearings in Terror Cases. Ths article contains the New York Times 'Quote of the day' "Democracies die behind closed doors." -JUDGE DAMON J. KEITH, in a ruling declaring that the Bush administration acted unlawfully in holding deportation hearings in secret.

[ ... ]

The federal appeals court in Cincinnati declared yesterday that the Bush administration acted unlawfully in holding hundreds of deportation hearings in secret based only on the government's assertion that the people involved may have links to terrorism.

The decision, which was laced with stinging language questioning the administration's commitment to an open democracy, is the first major appellate ruling on the government's legal tactics concerning Sept. 11.

"Democracies die behind closed doors," wrote Judge Damon J. Keith for the unanimous three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The Bush administration has sought, the panel said, to place its actions "beyond public scrutiny."

"When the government begins closing doors," the panel continued, "it selectively controls information rightfully belonging to the people. Selective information is misinformation."

Barbara Comstock, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said the government had not decided whether to appeal.

"The Justice Department has an obligation to exercise all available options to disrupt and prevent terrorism within the bounds of the Constitution, and will review today's opinion in light of our duty to protect the American people," Ms. Comstock said in a statement.

[ ... ]

In April, a federal district judge in Detroit rejected the government's argument that it should be allowed to decide which hearings must be closed without presenting arguments and evidence to immigration judges. The judge, Nancy G. Edmunds, ruled that future hearings in Mr. Haddad's case must be open, and the government has released transcripts of the sealed hearings. Judge Edmunds was appointed by the first President Bush.

In similar decisions that have yet to be tested on appeal, trial court judges in Newark and Washington have also recently ordered the government to open hearings and release information about people held in connection with terrorism investigations.

[ ... ]

The appeals court decision was also notable, experts said, for a warm embrace of news organizations not seen in most courts since the Vietnam and Watergate eras. The public, the court wrote, has deputized the press "as the guardians of their liberty."

The panel emphasized that the government might well be able to meet its burden of persuading immigration judges case by case that given proceedings may be closed.

The panel wrote that the government has already outlined "compelling interests sufficient to justify closure."

[ ... ]

The panel held that the general interest in preventing terrorism must be argued to and accepted by immigration judges in the context of particular cases. The judge in Mr. Haddad's case made no such findings. Rather, she relied on a blanket directive issued by the chief immigration judge, Michael J. Creppy. It instructed immigration judges to keep so-called special-interest cases secret.

"Each of these cases is to be heard separately from all other cases on the docket," Judge Creppy wrote. "The courtroom must be closed for these cases -- no visitors, no family, and no press."

"This restriction," he continued, "includes confirming or denying whether such a case is on the docket."

The appeals court panel said the directive violated the Constitution.

"The task of designating a case special interest is performed in secret, without any established standards or procedures, and the process is, thus, not subject to any sort of review," Judge Keith wrote. "A government operating in the shadow of secrecy stands in complete opposition to the society envisioned by the framers of our Constitution."

New York Times - free registration required Technology Briefing: E-Commerce. The second entry is on DoubleClick

Doubleclick Settles Privacy Inquiry - To avoid an investigation into its privacy practices, the online advertising provider DoubleClick agreed yesterday to accept stiff privacy restrictions and to pay a $450,000 settlement. The 30-month investigation by attorneys general from 10 states had looked at DoubleClick's gathering of Web users' personal information and Web-surfing habits. DoubleClick is based in New York and sells its services to advertisers and major Internet sites. It deposited unique "cookie" files on a user's computer that tracked the machine's online travels, allowing the company to display Web ads tailored to a person's shopping and surfing preferences. Under the settlement, DoubleClick will adopt privacy restrictions that include giving consumers access to their online profiles, verifying its compliance with the agreement and paying $450,000 for the states' investigative costs and consumer education. Privacy advocates say the settlement pries open the murky business of online advertising while serving as a precedent for other advertisers who want to avoid similar inquiries.