September 28, 2005
As mentioned yesterday, the FCC released an order that allows law enforcement to apply the same wiretap laws used for traditional landlines, to VoIP. Those laws never allowed the monitoring of information systems (broadband), but some legal experts argue the FCC has manipulated and stretched the language to imply such. As it stands, the FCC is forcing ISPs to include network backdoors and rewire their networks to accommodate wiretaps by 2007.
It's a move the Electronic Frontier Foundation has announced they will fight in court, by suggesting that the FCC has over-stepped their mandate, and stepped on the toes of Congress. "A tech mandate requiring backdoors in the Internet endangers the privacy of innocent people, stifles innovation, and risks the Internet as a forum for free and open expression," says Kurt Opsahl, EFF staff attorney. "The FCC's overreach is an attempt to overrule Congress's decision to exclude 'information services," (in the original CALEA wiretap laws) argues EFF attorney Lee Tien.
This has been a two-pronged attack on the part of Uncle Sam. While the FCC has worked to try and stretch CALEA to fit VoIP and broadband networks, the FBI has been working closely with hardware vendors to include backdoors in network gear.
Since 2003, Company's like MetaSwitch have created hardware that embeds police spy features to comply with the CALEA. "We simplified providing CALEA compliance for our customers by incorporating CALEA functionality on-board the MetaSwitch VP3500 rather than requiring additional external equipment", said John Lazar, Vice President of Sales and Marketing explained at the time. Cisco's Lawful Intercept Control technology is another result of that collaboration.
The FCC & FBI's approach isn't shocking, and many privacy advocates point back to 1999 when the door was left ajar on the issue of internet monitoring by the Internet Engineering Task Force. By not settling the issue then (which at the time was seen as a privacy and civil victory), you've now got the FBI and FCC making the decision for you.
It's a move the Electronic Frontier Foundation has announced they will fight in court, by suggesting that the FCC has over-stepped their mandate, and stepped on the toes of Congress. "A tech mandate requiring backdoors in the Internet endangers the privacy of innocent people, stifles innovation, and risks the Internet as a forum for free and open expression," says Kurt Opsahl, EFF staff attorney. "The FCC's overreach is an attempt to overrule Congress's decision to exclude 'information services," (in the original CALEA wiretap laws) argues EFF attorney Lee Tien.
This has been a two-pronged attack on the part of Uncle Sam. While the FCC has worked to try and stretch CALEA to fit VoIP and broadband networks, the FBI has been working closely with hardware vendors to include backdoors in network gear.
Since 2003, Company's like MetaSwitch have created hardware that embeds police spy features to comply with the CALEA. "We simplified providing CALEA compliance for our customers by incorporating CALEA functionality on-board the MetaSwitch VP3500 rather than requiring additional external equipment", said John Lazar, Vice President of Sales and Marketing explained at the time. Cisco's Lawful Intercept Control technology is another result of that collaboration.
The FCC & FBI's approach isn't shocking, and many privacy advocates point back to 1999 when the door was left ajar on the issue of internet monitoring by the Internet Engineering Task Force. By not settling the issue then (which at the time was seen as a privacy and civil victory), you've now got the FBI and FCC making the decision for you.
