Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!oxy!x1
From: x1@oxy.edu (Rodney J. Hoffman)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Computer Privacy Amendment Urged
Message-ID: <156292@tiger.oxy.edu>
Date: 28 Mar 91 15:47:47 GMT
Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA  90041
Lines: 39



Writing in Wed.'s 'Los Angeles Times' (p. A3), Henry Weinstein reports on one
of the keynote addresses from this week's Conference on Computers, Freedom, and
Privacy, sponsored by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility.

According to the article, renowned constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe called
for a 27th Amendment to the US Constitution "in order to preserve privacy and
other individual rights threatened by the spread of computer technology.... to
cope with the many questions raised by the advent of 'cyberspace,' a place
without physical walls, or even physical dimensions, where an increasing amount
of the world's communication and business -- ranging from ordinary letters to
huge global transfers of money -- is taking place, via computer and telephone
lines."

Further quotes from the article:

"The existence of such a place creates all sorts of potential problems, Tribe
noted, because the nation's constitutional order historically has carved up the
social, legal and political universe along the lines of 'physical places'
which, in many situations, no longer exist.  There is a 'clear and present
danger' that the Constitution's core values of freedom, equality and privacy
will be 'metamorphosed into oblivion' unless policy-makers come to grips with
the ramifications of technological change, Tribe said...."

"The proposed new amendment would provide that the Constitution's protections
for free speech and against unreasonable searches shall be fully applicable,
regardless of the technological method or medium used to transmit, store, alter
or control information.  The point, he said, would be to make it clear that the
Constitution, as a whole, 'protects people, not places.'.... Tribe's speech
generated lengthy applause from the audience of about 400..... [N]ormally wary
of Constitutional amendments, .... he said the computer revolution has created
'substantial gray areas' that need to be addressed."

"Lance Hoffman, a George Washington University professor of computer science
[No relation to me!  -- RH] said, ....
'We're casting about, because we're in a new age in our technological
development, an age where a person can spend $1,000 and buy the computer
equivalent of a Saturday Night Special and take down a large computer system.'"