---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: 18 Jun 2001 10:02:15 -0400 From: "Perry E. Metzger" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: from IP: Feds will data tap under CALEA Forwarded from Interesting People ------- Start of forwarded message ------- Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2001 21:34:44 -0400 Subject: IP: Feds will data tap under CALEA >From: "PAUL JULIEN" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Feds will data tap under CALEA >Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2001 12:48:49 -0400 >X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 > >Dave: > > >From the article below: >"Communications companies carrying packet data have until Sept. 30 to >demonstrate that their systems will permit law enforcement officials to >conduct wiretaps. " > >Paul Julien >Rutherford NJ > > >* > > >http://www.zdnet.com/intweek/stories/news/0,4164,2773783,00.html > >Unresolved Issues Dog Fed's Data-Tap Efforts >By Doug Brown, Interactive Week >June 11, 2001 > > >Rapid changes in communications technology threaten to make "a big mess" out >of the federal government's ambitious plans to weave wiretapping into the >fabric of the digital age, while a 1994 law grows increasingly outdated. > >While parts of the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act >(CALEA) have already been implemented by phone and other communications >carriers, important areas of the law are being disputed in courtrooms and >mulled over by bureaucrats in the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the >Federal Communications Commission. > >One unresolved issue is how to handle packet data, a technology that was in >its infancy when the law was written, but has since emerged as the leading >method for transmitting voice and data in the Internet age. > >Communications companies carrying packet data have until Sept. 30 to >demonstrate that their systems will permit law enforcement officials to >conduct wiretaps. The industry has filed requests with the FCC to extend the >deadline. The FBI argues that extensions should not be granted. Industry >representatives say they need to figure out a way to separate the packets' >header data from content before they can implement any standards, and the >technological solution to the problem could take years to figure out. It's >up to the FCC to decide how to proceed. > >"We believe the packet issue is going to be around for a long time," said >Rodney Small, an economist in the FCC's office of engineering and technology >who handles CALEA. Industry has "decided it's too expensive to do this, and >they aren't sure what the privacy implications are," Small said. "They are >getting cold feet, legally and financially. Meanwhile, these new >technologies keep developing. . . . On the packet data [issue], there could >be more petitions and it could be a big mess." > >An industry official agreed. "You will see more lawsuits or court >challenges. You'll certainly see carriers filing extensions on packet data >deadlines," said Grant Seiffert, vice president of external affairs and >global policy at the Telecommunications Industry Association, a trade group >representing many telecommunications carriers implicated in the CALEA >regulations. "In a packet world, somebody has to open the packet to look for >the information the FBI is seeking. Is the FBI going to do it? We're not >going to do it unless we are paid to do it. Who is going to be looking over >everyone's shoulders when we open up this information?" > >As the packet data issue looms, industry and civil liberties advocates await >signals from the Bush administration about how new regulators - particularly >FCC commissioners and the new FBI director - plan to approach government >surveillance issues. The agencies' decisions could affect the depth of the >debates. > >"Congress may be re-engaged," Seiffert said. "It's sort of a wait-and-see >game right now." > >"The FBI's credibility is at an all-time low here," said Barry Steinhardt, >associate director at the American Civil Liberties Union. "Attorney General >[John] Ashcroft in the Senate expressed skepticism about a number of >government surveillance programs." > >An FBI spokesman defended work to date, saying: "There has been significant >progress made with the implementation of CALEA," and citing technical >solutions available for wireline and wireless segments of the telecom >industry. > >Some CALEA experts question some of what the FBI has managed to implement >already, charging that the agency installed sophisticated data collection >systems in communications networks that require expensive equipment to >decipher. > >"It's close to a scandal," said Stewart Baker, an attorney and former >general counsel at the National Security Agency who has been involved with >legal challenges to CALEA. "After industry has spent all of this money, it >turns out it's generating all of this data that has to be translated by >special-purpose machines that have to be bought by local law enforcement. >This may have the effect of pricing wiretaps out of the market for a lot of >smaller jurisdictions." > >Baker also said that while CALEA is supposed to apply only to voice >communications, the FBI has been "pretty aggressive" when it delves into the >packet data realm, "trying to persuade people who build data networks that >sooner or later they will have to provide wiretap capability." > >"A year ago, when times were good, everybody leaned towards the view that it >was better to not pick a fight with the FBI," Baker said. "Now it's less >clear that people have the funds to spend on development or to purchase this >stuff, so there could be a serious conflict over this and there is certainly >a difficult question for people who are building Internet Protocol systems." For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/ ------- End of forwarded message ------- -- Perry E. Metzger [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Quality NetBSD CDs, Support & Service. http://www.wasabisystems.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- ____________________________________________________________________ "...where annual election ends, tyranny begins;" Thomas Jefferson & Samuel Adams The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------
