EFF-Austin just received this press release from the Computer and Communications Industry Association:

Contact:
Heather Greenfield
202-783-0070 ext 113
hgreenfield@ccianet.org
Ed Black
202-783-0070 ext 110

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 12, 2012

Washington – Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy has put out a statement may add a provision to study the impact of DNS blocking before that provision within the controversial PROTECT IP bill (PIPA) would take effect. The offer to suspend the timing of DNS blocking comes after cybersecurity experts in the Obama administration and those implementing the latest cybersecurity measure known as DNSSEC have warned PIPA and the latest cybersecurity measures the government has spent the last ten years developing are incompatible. Internet engineers and cybersecurity experts have written to Congress about their serious concerns.

The following can be attributed to Computer & Communications Industry Association President & CEO Ed Black:

“I hope this statement signals a recognition they didn’t understand this issue when the bill was drafted. We hope this means they will step back, talk to stakeholders, identify and focus on the real problem they’re trying to solve and target that. But it seems more likely to be aimed at newer opponents of the bill that haven’t absorbed how harmful the legislation would still be, even if there was a firm commitment to remove DNS blocking, which there isn’t.

“This DNS blocking was the tip of the iceberg in terms of the broad range of real problems with the approach of SOPA and PIPA. The DNS blocking was easy to understand and remove. Those who value the functioning of the Internet and the jobs that depend on it should now focus on the provisions of the legislation that still cause much collateral damage to the Internet.

“Those pushing this flawed bill discounted a lot of early concerns voiced by Internet experts about the bill. The DNS blocking was just one glaring flaw that would harm cybersecurity. There are a lot of other concerns they seem to continue to ignore about the collateral damage to the Internet that are also well founded. If the offer to further study the DNS blocking provision were a sign of real willingness to step back in general and rethink this bill, then it would be meaningful.”

About CCIA:
CCIA is an international, nonprofit association of computer and communications industry firms, representing a broad cross section of the industry. CCIA is dedicated to preserving full, fair and open competition throughout our industry. Our members employ more than 600,000 workers and generate annual revenues in excess of $200 billion.

Official seal of the Office of the Attorney General of Texas

In late September, the Austin Police Department (APD) aimed to identify open residential wireless access points around the city and educate their owners about the risks of providing free Internet access. The initiative, dubbed Operation Wardrive, was announced by an APD Public Information Office press release which was quickly picked up by local ABC-affiliate KVUE. Word circulated throughout the community and back to local officials, who quashed the nascent effort by APD’s Digital Analysis Response Unit (DART) prior to deployment. It remains uncertain whether the project will be restarted.

One facet of the community response to #OpWardrive was an open records request filed by EFF Austin with the City of Austin’s Communications and Public Information Office on September 21st. We made ten distinct requests for information, ranging from details about the inception and planning of the initiative, to the technologies and techniques DART intended to employ to reliably associate an omnidirectional access point signal with a particular residence in a densely populated metropolitan area.

Why did we make these requests? If the Austin Police Department gathers data about open wireless access points operated by local citizens and organizations, we think it’s important to have a full and complete understanding of both intention and process. How will this data be used? Where will it be stored? Will it be retained and mapped? Is there a surveillance aspect to this activity? IF this activity is limited in scope, as suggested by one email we acquired suggesting that the wardrive would be only one time for a few hours, what is the target area, and why was it selected?

As compared to other states, Texas has admirable Open Records laws defined in Chapter 552 of the Texas Government Code. Conforming with § 552.301(b), the City of Austin (CoA) responded to our request on October 5th (within 10 business days) providing a handful of documents responsive to our inquiry while simultaneously requesting a decision from the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) on the disclosure of additional records.

Operation Wardrive Open Records Request – City of Austin Response (Oct 5, 2011) – Letters

The documents withheld are alleged to fall under the protection of the attorney-client privilege (§ 552.107(1)) or potentially interfere with law enforcement and crime prevention efforts (§ 552.108(b)(1)). The documents provided to EFF Austin included emails discussing the Operation Wardrive press release and a heavily redacted document detailing APD DART’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).

Operation Wardrive Open Records Request – City of Austin Response (Oct 5, 2011) – Records

The Texas Attorney General had 45 business days to issue a ruling on the CoA’s request, and dutifully responded on December 13th (EFF Austin opted not to exercise its right to comment in support of the release of the requested materials as described in § 552.304). The Office of the Attorney General concurred with the City of Austin concerning records protected by attorney-client privilege, but did not entirely agree with the assertion that the remaining documents could be withheld for fear of disrupting law enforcement efforts. The remaining documents include an “operational briefing” and the redacted sections of the SOP (with the exception of the cellular phone numbers of DART detectives, which are wisely protected pursuant to Open Records Decision 506 at 2 (1988)).

Operation Wardrive Open Records Request – Attorney General Response (Dec 13, 2011)

The City of Austin now has ten calendar days to either provide the requested information or access to it, or contest the OAG’s decision in court. We’ll post updates as the story unfolds.

Steven Levy

Steven Levy, author of In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives, will give a free talk in Austin this Thursday, November 10, at 7pm at the Jewish Book Fair.Orignally Steven was going to give a second talk to EFF-Austin Friday, but he couldn’t stay over, so EFF-Austin supporters are encouraged to attend the Thursday event, which is at 7300 Hart Lane.

Steven sent this description of this planned talk: “I will be talking about everything Google, but am more than happy to talk about the issues that arise from the company’s considerable power. During the time that I was immersed in the company, it was completing its unwilling morph from a feisty David into an intimidating Goliath. This caused considerable cognitive dissonance in areas like privacy, market power, and book search. EFF’ers are encouraged to ask plenty questions!”

Anonymous, ZModem, and Whiskey
Image Credit: Jacob Dexe - "Hacktivismen som demokrativerktyg"

“How in Hell Did We Get Here?: Online identity and the fight for cyberfreedom in the age of the Military-Industropolitical Complex”
by Allucquére Rosanne (Sandy) Stone

A fast-forward, semifictional history of online identity, with particular attention to the present collisions of massive political power and individual and collective agency, including how the speaker was transformed into a cat and survived the Great Hurricane of ’39 to become complicit in a Mexican Revolutionary Movement; with Graphical Illustrations, Extremely Bright Lights, and the Sound of Explosions. Maybe.

DATE: Thursday October 6th 7-9pm
NEW LOCATION: B.D. Riley’s Irish Pub and Restaurant [ @BDRileysAustin ], 204 E. 6th Street, Austin, Texas 78701; between Brazos and San Jacinto. We’ll be meeting in a dedicated space towards the back.
RSVP: Plancast
HASHTAG: #EFFatx

Allucquére Rosanne (Sandy) Stone [ website, wikipedia, cyborg anthropology entry ] is an academic theorist, media theorist, author, performance artist, and general troublemaker. She is Professor Emerita in the College of Communication at the University of Texas at Austin and Founding Director of the Advanced Communication Technologies Laboratory (ACTLab) in the department of Radio, Television and Film. Concurrently she is Wolfgang Kohler Professor of Media and Performance at the European Graduate School (EGS) and Founding Director of the radical new Experimental Media program ACTLab@EGS, senior artist at the Banff Centre for the Arts, and Humanities Research Institute Fellow at the University of California, Irvine. Stone has worked in and written about film, music, experimental neurology, writing, engineering, and computer programming. She is transgender and is considered a founder of the academic discipline of transgender studies, is the author of numerous books, novels, and essays, has been profiled in ArtForum, Wired, Mondo 2000, and many other publications, and Jon Lebkowsky has referred to her as “a force of nature.” She loves chocolate, cats and, apparently, getting herself into hair-raisingly scary situations from which escape is nearly impossible. Nevertheless she finds time to be a loving wife, boon companion, caring mother, and exemplary grandmother, while still running the hell all over the world to perform at conferences in too many disciplines to mention.

B.D. Riley’s on 6th Downtown

Map

The Joy of Tech #354 - They always dreamed of having a home in the range

On Wednesday September 21st, EFF Austin [ @EFFaustin ] was notified about the Austin Police Department’s (APD) Digital Analysis Response Team’s [ DART, @APDDART ] “Operation Wardrive” [ #OpWardrive ] via the KVUE [ @KVUE ] news article that originally appeared at the following URI (it’s relatively common for journalism operations to reuse the same URI to track stories as they develop, sometimes redirecting to new articles):
http://www.kvue.com/news/local/APD-conductiong-Operation-Warfare-to-keep-internet-users-safe-130218768.html

For reference, the text of the original KVUE article is cited in EFF Austin’s response.

Beginning with KVUE’s article, which appears to have been the only source of information and perspective on APD’s intent, a largely uncoordinated but similarly informed collective action took place across multiple points of interface and communication with APD and the Austin City Council [ @AustinTexasGov, #ATXCouncil ]. This seems to have ensured that officials and decision makers in a position to intervene were made aware of public sentiment in a timely manner. Sufficient public concern was observed to motivate officials towards action.

There is uncertainty about whether “Operation Wardrive” has been canceled or postponed, as reflected in this sequence of tweets from KVUE’s account on Thursday morning.

@KVUE (Thu Sep 22 10:23am, 10:20am, 9:30am CST)

APD Chief of Police Art Acevedo is more clear in his email response (Thu Sep 22 10:13:55am CST) to Austinite Mark Boyden‘s thoughtful email addressed to all Austin City Council members, several local activists, Acevedo, and APD Public Information Office Manager Anna Sabana.

Thank you for sharing your concerns with me. This WarDrive idea was not approved by APD Executive Staff and in fact has been disapproved. We will be releasing a statement later today. Although the involved unit’s intent was noble (educating the public about the risks to your personal information), a PSA or other educational effort would be much more effective. To place you further at ease, the idea was killed before actual implementation.

The APD Public Information Office did not publish a formal statement on Thursday via APD News Releases nor the City of Austin Communications and Public Information Office.

KVUE’s Shelton Green [ @SheltonG_KVUE, bio, email ] reached out to EFF Austin seeking our perspective for a follow-up story. EFF Austin President Jon Lebkowsky [ @jonl, wikipedia, homepage ] sat for that interview, which was crafted into the following story, which led the news on KVUE last night (Thu Sep 22 10:00pm).

What’s Next?

As Shelton Green mentions at the end of the story, EFF Austin would like to work with the Austin Police Department Digital Analysis Response Team to craft a winning public education campaign on the risks as well as the virtues of operating an open, publicly-accessible wireless access point. We’ve begun to compile information and gather existing recommendations in this space (if you have sources, please add as a comment or mention to @EFFaustin with hashtag #OpWardrive).

EFF Austin has also decided to continue with our Texas Public Information Act Open Records request. We expect to receive an assessment of the viability of each of our 10 specific inquiries along with an estimate of fees we must pay to have the records processed.

Yesterday, some members of the EFF Austin Board of Directors were frankly shocked by the arrival of an unsolicited $10 donation. I had forgotten we even have a Paypal account. But it made us feel good, and reminded us that we are embarking on a path which will have attendant fees and expenses. We would like to help serve the public interest by walking that path, and would therefore like to ask if you can help support our efforts. If you like what we’re doing, please consider donating (we’re a nonprofit) to help us defray approaching expenses. There’s a Paypal donate button at the upper right of this page.

We believe in transparency and sunlight’s powers of disinfection. EFF Austin will provide transparency into our expenses and you can be sure we will sing praises to our supporters for their role in helping us act. Thank you.

If you’d like to get more involved, consider following us on Twitter, liking us on Facebook, joining our interesting email discussion list, or coming to our next meetup.

Open Wireless Access Points - security threat?

Update (Sep 22 @ 1:07pm) – The Austin Police Department has decided to cancel Operation Wardrive and focus on the public education facet of this work. See Mark Boyden’s comment, an email response from APD Chief Art Acevedo. Thanks go to Scott Henson at Grits For Breakfast for his attention to this matter.

Yesterday (September 20th @ 2:46pm CST), KVUE News published an article relaying the Austin Police Department‘s intention to identify open residential wireless access points (WAPs) throughout the city.

Police will soon conduct an operation to find open wireless Internet connections in the city.

The APD Digital Analysis Response Team, or DART, will hold “Operation Wardrive” Thursday, Sept. 22. DART unit members will make contact with residents who have open wireless connections and teach them the importance of securing them.

This raises a number of immediate questions, perhaps the most simplistic and potentially revealing being simply: “why?” The answer to that question appears to be the same answer provided for lots of questions lately: safety.

From the article:

Leaving your wireless network open invites a number of problems:

• You may exceed the number of connections permitted by your Internet service provider.
• Users piggy-backing on your internet connection might use up your bandwidth and slow your connection.
• Users piggy-backing on your internet connection might engage in illegal activity that will be traced to you.
• Malicious users may be able to monitor your Internet activity and steal passwords and other sensitive information.
• Malicious users may be able to access files on your computer, install spyware and other malicious programs, or take control of your computer.

The EFF Austin Board of Directors finds nothing wrong with this analysis of the potential risks Internet users undertake when intentionally or unintentionally leaving their wireless access points open for shared use. In fact, we could cite a few more. However, these are much the same risks that Internet users undertake when using ANY shared wireless access point, such as those provided by cafés, public parks, or the Austin Public Library.

Missing from the cited analysis is any recognition of potential benefits to be gained from publicly sharing one’s wireless access point. Lately, the virtues of contributing to any shared commons tends to be overshadowed by fears of bad actors (both real and imagined). For some facts, it’s worth reviewing cryptographer and computer security specialist Bruce Schneier‘s discussion on the virtues and risks of running an open wireless network.

More importantly, missing from the cited analysis is any recognition of the unintended consequences of APD collecting this information. The Austin Police Department is a public agency and is thus subject to the Texas Public Information Act (TPIA), Chapter 552 of the Texas Government Code, which guarantees the public’s access to information in the custody of government agencies. As a result of undertaking “Operation Wardrive” the records generated by that operation are subject to open records requests. That information is potentially valuable to perpetrators interested in undertaking the kind of malfeasance outlined in the KVUE article.

The EFF Austin Board is not interested in this data beyond knowing what is collected and why. We are more interested in the provenance of this Austin Police Department operation, and doing what we can to help APD increase public education about the virtues and risks of running an open wireless access point. To that end, we have decided to file an Open Records request today seeking information on this operation.

“Operation Wardrive” Open Records Request (Sep 21, 2011)

Last night, Michael Hathaway of Tiga Energy Services brought us up to speed on the real story behind Smart Grid, which his organization sees as “a business strategy, not a technology.” He pointed out several pitfalls that utilities are walking into, not the least of which is a speculative investment-driven bubble formed by disruptive technology vendors who are largely ignorant of the history and state of the electric utility industry. Efforts towards creation of parallel, proprietary two-way communication networks into customer homes will likely be abandoned once it is recognized that privacy and security concerns will outweigh any potential benefits.

Here’s the slidedeck from Michael’s presentation:
EFF Austin (Sep 7, 2011) – Michael Hathaway – Smart Grid and the Internet

Thanks to everyone who came out last month to hear Jon Lebkowsky [ @JonL ] guide us through and to the past and future Internet.

This month, we’ll be hearing former EFF Austin Board member Michael Hathaway present information from the world of modernizing electric utilities and the regulatory bodies that love them in a talk entitled “Smart Grid and the Internet.” Here’s the summary:

Michael Hathaway, CEO of Tiga Energy Services, Inc, www.tigaenergy.com, will share his unique and controversial perspective on the Smart Grid as it mirrors the evolution of the Internet.

He will outline the similarities between these two industries, explore lessons learned from the Internet and ponder the various scenarios for Smart Grid ranging from it transforming our lives to becoming a dot-com bubble.

This will not be a conventional industry overview of the Smart Grid, so bring an open mind and lots of questions!

Michael Hathaway is a technology executive whose career spans the the early days of digital audio, the broadband & multimedia revolution, to the rapid evolution of the energy industry occurring today. He currently heads up Tiga Energy Services, a network communications and cyber security firm that serves the energy industry.

Michael is always an engaging and passionately rational speaker and conversationalist. It’ll be a good talk and we’re all sure to learn.

We meet on First Wednesdays at The Flying Saucer [ @FlyingSaucerAus ] from 7-9pm. So that puts us on Wednesday September 7th. Parking is available on the surface lots, in the garages, and in the field adjacent to the SFC Farmer’s Market, which takes place every Wednesday in the commons field. We’re in the reserved room in the back right corner as you walk into the Saucer. We’re raising bandwidth issues with Flying Saucer, so for now bring your wireless access device of choice if you got em; any less pressure on the network infrastructure helps. And we have our own VGA cable this time to avoid that “everything is yellow” jaundiced-effect. Power strips will be available on side tables.

Map

When: 7PM Wednesday, September 7th, 2011
Where: Flying Saucer, 815 W 47th St at the Triangle.
Hashtag: #EFFatx

You can also sign up for the event on the Facebook. Like us if you do.

Collaborative Conference to Explore Open Government Best Practices

AUSTIN, Texas, January 10, 2011 – In collaboration with local and state government officials, advocacy groups and private industry, the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and EFF-Austin will present Texas Government 2.0 Camp (TXGov2.0Camp): Making Transparency Work on Jan 28 and 29 at the Austin Community College Eastview Campus.

TXGov2.0Camp will bring together leading thinkers from all levels of government, academia, media and industry to explore the best ways to make open government in Texas work for everyone.

Organized in part by LBJ School of Public Affairs graduate students, this conference will serve as an extension of a previously existing LBJ School policy research project on state finance and online transparency.

The policy research project was designed to analyze what is and should be available online regarding state government finances in the United States,” said Sherri Greenberg, LBJ School lecturer, former Texas state representative, and faculty sponsor for the project. “This conference offers an excellent opportunity for my students to interact with the people on the ground on this issue, to be involved directly with advocates, government officials and members of the media as they champion and work towards a mutual goal of a transparent government.”

The first day of the conference will include a student panel where members of the state finance and online transparency course will present their research. Evan Smith, CEO and Editor-in-Chief for the Texas Tribune, will deliver the keynote address from 1 to 2 p.m.

The first afternoon panel, titled Transparency and Open Government, will include Dustin Haisler, Director of Government Innovation for Spigit and Jon Lee of the Texas Department of Information Resources. The second panel, titled Social Media and Government, will feature Julia Gregory and Lydia Saldana of Texas Parks and Wildlife and Jon Lebowsky of Plutopia Productions.

The second day of the Texas Government 2.0 Camp will be an “unconference” event building on the presentations and panels from the day before. Where a conference is a formally structured event with an agenda set in advance, an unconference is a more loosely structured event where the participants determine the agenda collaboratively.  Anyone can volunteer to lead a session on any relevant topic. Examples of sessions already suggested are the implications of Wikileaks, open Internet, government use of technology and community technology.

Tickets are $10, which covers lunch on the first day, and can be purchased online at http://txgov20.org/. Wireless Internet will be available. For those following the event or twitter or those who would like to tweet about the event, the hash tag for the event is #TxGov20.

EFF-Austin advocates establishment and protection of digital rights and defense of the wealth of digital information, innovation, and technology. EFF-Austin also promotes the right of all citizens to communicate and share information without unreasonable constraint as well as the fundamental right to explore, tinker, create, and innovate along the frontier of emerging technologies.

For more information on the event, including an agenda and registration information, please visit: http://txgov20.org/