> Here's the story from Comm Daily, Dec. 17 > > 'Optimistic and Damned Silly' > > INTERNET CHANGE FOCUS OF INTERNATIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT > > Law enforcement officials of U.S. and 7 other industrialized > countries want to make fundamental changes in Internet technology > in order to aid in their ability to track and catch criminals, > Justice Dept. sources said. > > Program to consider changes in Internet architectures comes as > part of agreement announced last week by Attorney Gen. Janet Reno > and Justice ministers from around world after meeting in Washington > (CD Dec 11 p10). However, one leading Internet authority, MCI > Senior Vp Vinton Cerf, said international group's plan wouldn't > work. > > Justice ministers are considering approach similar to that of > Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) program in > U.S., which would make traffic from advanced telecom networks more > accessible to law enforcement entities. Representatives of Canada, > France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and U.K., as well as U.S., > agreed as part of "statement of principles" issued in communique > following 2-day session that: "To the extent practicable, > information and telecommunications systems should be designed to > help prevent and detect network abuse, and should also facilitate > the tracing of criminals and the collection of evidence." Several > items on "action plan" issued in support of those principles refer > to working with new technologies to collect critical evidence, > developing standards for authenticating electronic data for use in > investigations and encouraging standards-making bodies to provide > public and private sectors "with standards for reliable and secure > telecommunications and data processing technologies." > > DoJ officials said Dept. may want to talk later with telephone > industry on trap and trace issues, but it's premature to involve > them now in follow-up to international summit. Instead, they said, > they are looking at broader picture of telecom networks that > haven't worked as closely with law enforcement as they could, and > have begun thinking about Internet protocols. Internet operates > globally with common protocols, currently Internet Protocol version > 4. Internet engineers are working on next iteration, version IPv6 > (Internet Protocol version 6 -- 5 was experimental attempt that was > dropped). Justice official said that one problem now is that it's > easy to send and receive e-mail with false address, called > "spoofing." > > It would be helpful to law enforcement if information sent > over Internet were tagged, and packets would transmit information > reliably as to where they came from, including user and service > provider, officials said. Loose analogy would be to compare e-mail > messages to tagging of explosives, so law enforcement can track > explosive material to its source. DoJ said new protocols could be > designed to make it easier to authenticate messages and to make > system more reliable. Law enforcement wants to work with industry > to accomplish goal, saying it would help "keep people who are > abusing information technologies from continuing to do it." > > There will be substantial obstacles to law enforcement > concept, however. Not least of them is that IPv6 will include > sophisticated encryption capabilities as part of protocols. Such > security isn't built in to Internet now, one of reasons why > electronic commerce has yet to take off, said Mark McFadden, > communications dir. for Commercial Internet eXchange Assn. (CIX). > That feature will make it harder for law enforcement to gain access > to information, he said. > > Cerf, co-inventor of Internet protocols, said in interview > that law enforcement's concept of tagging e-mail messages wouldn't > work: "To imagine that we would instantly create the > infrastructure for that throughout the entire Internet strikes me > as optimistic and damned silly, at least in the short term. Anyone > who anticipates using tools to guarantee that everything will be > traceable is not going to have a successful outcome." Technically, > such project could be accomplished, Cerf said, but having > administrative infrastructure to administer it is quite different > issue. > > It's possible to have digital signature for every packet of > data, but it would take "an enormous amount of processing, and it's > not clear we have any network computers and routers that could do > that and maintain the traffic flow that's required," Cerf said. It > also would require that each sender affix digital signature to each > piece of mail, idea that Cerf said couldn't be enforced: "Frankly, > the idea of trying to guarantee traceability of that kind is far > from implementable." He said he didn't want to be misunderstood > that his objections were "an argument in favor of criminality." > But Cerf said he worries that "someone relies on what they think is > a technical solution without recognizing all of the administrative > mechanics that need to be put in place." > > Law enforcement has some time to work with Internet community. > McFadden said IPv6 isn't scheduled to be implemented at consumer > level for at least 5 years, possibly as much as 10. There was some > urgency when it appeared that reservoir of Internet addresses would > dry up, but with progress being made to protect addresses as scarce > resource there's less pressure for new set of protocols, he said. > > > posted with permission Warren Publishing > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology > To subscribe: send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with this text: > subscribe politech > More information is at http://www.well.com/~declan/politech/ > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- >
