On Thu, 08 Mar 2007 10:24:12 -0800, Jack Unger wrote > Mark and Butch, > > I want to thank both of you. > > I feared that the quality and tone of this discussion was taking a > negative turn but I WAS WRONG. > > I've found your discussion of the CALEA issue and the ramifications > to the WISP industry to be interesting, informative and valuable. > I'd like to commend both of you gentlemen for having the commitment > and the courage to share your opinions in this open forum. > > Your discussions have helped me to clarify the CALEA issues in my > mind. Hopefully it will help others to clarify their thinking as well. > > Although your political views may not be perfectly identical to each > other, I sense that you both respect the Constitution and the Rule > of Law and that you both want to do what you believe is correct. > > Thank you again. > jack
Thanks Jack. Pardon me while I say one last bit on this rant. The RIGHT way this is to be done, is for the FCC to "un" rule we're telecommunications providers, the same for VOIP and so on, and let the DOJ and FBI go back to Congress, who re-writes the rules, and supplies the funds to implement whatever it is they really want, and complies with our Constitution. In the meantime, let them ask US how data extraction works, let US find ways it can be done, develop "reasonable" levels we should be required to go through to attempt to recover the data they want. Just like CALEA did for the telcos, they can fund the software changes and implementation costs - Let law enforcement come meet us and ask US how best to get ahold of data tehy want or need. In the meantime, this idea of open-ended demands with obscure requirements and almost laughably vague language needs to be tossed down the drain. Let them develop ways and means of talking IP to us, let Congress fund that research so THEY do the conversions, not us or someone we're supposed to freaking PAY to do it for us, and then we need a target of what and how to deliver data. Yeah, we're going to have to meeet with the FBI and DOJ and develop reasonable mechanisms... but it should be them asking US, not us coming around with our hat in hand saying "please don't bury us in costs for some arcane type of mechanism that's not even workable on our networks" with a big hairy fine as a stick big enough to bury small guys like me. One single 10K fine and i'm bankrupt. And the rules offer no recourse. Doesn't actually MATTER if you think you comply. If it doesn't work in the end like they want, the fine can be levied anyway and capriciously. This is wrong too... Vague laws are unconstituional, we all know that. But most of all, it needs to be voted in Congress. Let Congress take the heat like they should, when they have to vote to spy on your internet use - and require everyone to be "ready". This whole thing is a tragedy of spineless beaurocrats. Congress wrote a law, the law was obsolete in a very short period of time, but rather than get Congress to fix its own mess, the DOJ and FBI and FCC are attempting to misapply a law, and since they cannot spend federal money without Congress voting it for them, they're attempting to dump the cost on us. The DOJ rather than face Congress and public opinion, sought to get a shortcut from the FCC, who rather than demand it be done right, simply sidestepped and dumped the responsibility to object UPON US, by writing patently wrong rules that deserve to lose instantly if legally challenged, so THEY didn't have to argue. And we, ( Yeah, I consider myself guilty ) did not object. Heck, we DIDNT EVEN KNOW BECAUSE WE WERE NOT LOOKING. This is wrong on so many levels, it reeks. What's worse, is that it CAN lose in court, it can be challenged and beaten in court, and if that happens, then literally, the FBI And DOJ are without the legal tools they probably ought to have. I know, this isn't supposed to be a political list...and I'm not being partisan here. We're businessmen second, after we're citizens. We SHOULD object when stuff is done wrong. Why do you think Congress appropriated money for CALEA in the first place? Because no way could they have gotten away with NOT doing it. It's our ( collectively... including me ) fault for not objecting long ago... But if we don't, we have done ourselves a disservice. We've done our country AND OURSELVES a disservice by letting bad law, bad precedent, bad policy be implemented that will eventually have bad results, probably for all involved. If we don't object, if we don't stand up and make it be done right, we'll simply find more of the same piled on top of CALEA. And we'll have set the precedent that it's perfectly fine and we'll cooperate. IT WILL BE TOO LATE to set things right without a HUGE fight. We need the public on our side. We need to get with the various legal groups who exist to help stop this kind of abuse. We need to indicate both our approval of the notion that lawful intercept is necessary and that we're certainly willing to do so, but that it MUST be done right. We do this, and we gain stature, with the FCC, with Congress, with the public. It won't be pretty, it won't be fun, and it can certainly turn sour. You just can't lose when you stand up for doing the RIGHT thing. It just requires leadership, clear stands on principle, and the nerve to actually take a stand, rather than just go along with the expedient means. I beg of you... Rethink... GROW A PAIR already. Get a backbone. Do the right thing. -------------------------------------------- Mark Koskenmaki <> Neofast, Inc Broadband for the Walla Walla Valley and Blue Mountains 541-969-8200 -- WISPA Wireless List: [email protected] Subscribe/Unsubscribe: http://lists.wispa.org/mailman/listinfo/wireless Archives: http://lists.wispa.org/pipermail/wireless/
