Does anybody know about the anti-terror legislation (USAPA) and how this might be used to hassle peer networking? As I read this law and the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), it seems that peer networking is in trouble for two main reasons: 1) together, the laws require that the physical infrastructure be accessible to surveillance, and 2) lack of judicial oversight in USAPA would allow law enforcement to surreptitiously sabotage peer networks.
CALEA requires that law enforcement access to call-identifying information be unobtrusive and with a minimum of interference with any subscriber's telecommunications service. [47 USCS ? 1002 a(4) (2001)]. This law also requires that law enforcement cannot require or prohibit carriers from implementing equipment or services. [47 USCS ? 1002 b(1)(A)(B) (2001)]. Law enforcement cannot, under CALEA, require a carrier to discontinue access to Freenet. The carrier would only need to provide access to facilities to intercept communications made by a suspect. In USAPA, due to absence of judicial oversight, law enforcement has no duty to respect virtual networks like Freenet that permit anonymous speech. In addition, the Act requires the Treasury Department (FinCEN) to "combating [sic] the use of informal, nonbank networks and payment and barter system mechanisms that permit the transfer of funds or the equivalent of funds without records and without compliance with criminal and tax laws." [310 b(F)]. Under the aegis of USAPA, there is no reason not to believe that a network like Freenet could be assaulted without judicial oversight by authorities because it might provide terrorists a place to transfer funds anonymously. Just wondering if my reading is correct here. Thanks! "The great moral question of the twenty-first century is this: if all knowing, all culture, all art, all useful information can be costlessly given to everyone at the same price that it is given to anyone; if everyone can have everything, anywhere, all the time, why is it ever moral to exclude anyone?"-Eben Moglen _______________________________________________ Chat mailing list Chat at freenetproject.org http://lists.freenetproject.org/mailman/listinfo/chat
