-Caveat Lector-
Reuters · UPI
FCC wiretap rules delight FBI, disappoint critics
Updated 4:25 PM ET August 27, 1999
By David Lawsky
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Communications
Commission Friday gave the FBI new authority to tap digital and
wireless phones, delighting the Justice Department and bitterly
disappointing privacy advocates and local phone companies.
FCC Chairman William Kennard declared his agency's actions "will
help ensure that law enforcement has the most up-to-date
technology to fight crime."
Traditional wiretap techniques do not work with digital technology,
which would be impenetrable without assistance from the phone
companies. The question has been how far phone companies
should go in assisting law enforcment.
The new rules force phone companies to turn over information so
that law enforcement authorities can determine the rough location
of cell phone callers and gather other kinds of detailed information.
Attorney General Janet Reno said the new rules carry out a 1994
law preserving law enforcement's ability to wiretap in the digital
age, but privacy advocates said the decision expands government
surveillance into new areas.
Local phone companies said the new rules go beyond the
requirements of the law and would be expensive and technically
difficult to implement.
The new law permits law enforcement to use the power of digital
technology to locate cell phone callers and gather new kinds of
technical information from phone calls -- when a judge permits it.
FBI Director Louis Freeh called the decision "an extremely
important and positive public safety ruling," adding that it "goes a
long way to balance public safety, privacy and the needs of
telecommunications carriers to remain competitive."
But the Center for Democracy and Technology, a high-tech civil
liberties group, said the decision was lopsided in favor of the FBI
and law enforcement, far from what the group had expected when
the 1994 law was passed.
"We thought that we had achieved a balanced statute when it
passed," said Jim Dempsey, senior staff counsel for the center.
"We took at face value the assurances of the FBI that this statute
would be used only to preserve and not enhance surveillance
power."
Dempsey said that did not happen. "The FBI violated the spirit of
that deal," he said.
A spokesman for the U.S. Telephone Association, representing
1,200 local phone companies including the Bell companies, agreed
the new rules were far too expansive.
"They go beyond what the law calls for," said David Bolger. He said
phone companies would seek an extension of a Sept. 30, 2001,
deadline to carry out the rules, because they imposed burdensome
costs and were technically difficult to meet.
The FCC decision gives police agencies with court permission the
right to obtain the locations of the cells, or local antennas, that
people use to make wireless phone calls.
Critics say that is the first step toward identifying the location of
cell phones, something they predict the government will seek when
that technology becomes cheap and available.
But an FCC official said in an interview that it was desirable to
know location.
"If a child were kidnapped, wouldn't you want (law enforcement) to
know the location where a (ransom) call was made?" said the
official.
The official added that police agencies have always known the
location of telephones, and said: "What we have done is provide
them the same capability in the wireless world," where people are
able to move around while making calls.
Under the order, police agencies may listen to all parties in a
conference call initiated by a court-ordered target of surveillance,
even when the person targeted is no longer part of the conversation.
But in the past, such orders had never permitted agencies to
gather information during the call itself.
The new FCC order changes things so that any numbers punched
into a phone during a conversation are recorded. A person entering
credit card or other private codes would also have that information
recorded.
Government agencies that cannot get permission to wiretap, or do
not seek it, sometimes convince a judge to let them record
telephone numbers sent and received on an instrument.
The new FCC order expands that ability, so any numbers punched
into a phone during a conversation are recorded. A person entering
credit card or other private codes would have the information
recorded.
The FCC said law enforcement would ignore such information. But
Dempsey said: "The FBI has convinced the commission to give it
more information than it ever had before."
The FCC issued a press release summarizing the new rules, but
the rules themselves will not be be released until next week, an
FCC spokeswoman said.
I feel your pain. You better put some ice on that.
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