p2pnet - rss feed: VoIP, broadband wiretaps
p2p news / p2pnet:- Broadband providers and VoIP services have just over a year to comply with new Federal Communications Commission regulations drawn up to make it easier for US enforcement agencies to run online ‘wiretaps’.
In a September 23 document, “Our action today is responsive to a joint petition for expedited rulemaking filed by the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (collectively, DOJ) in March 2004,” says the FCC.
“In its petition, DOJ asked the Commission to declare that broadband Internet access services and VoIP services are covered by CALEA. Today we respond to that request.
“This action strikes an appropriate balance between fostering competitive broadband and advanced services deployment and technological innovation on one hand, and meeting the needs of the law enforcement community on the other.”
But, “what remains uncertain is what the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) ruling means for companies, universities, nonprofits - and even individuals offering wireless or other forms of Internet access,” says CNET News.
Of CALEA, “In response to concerns that emerging technologies such as digital and wireless communications were making it increasingly difficult for law enforcement agencies to execute authorized surveillance, Congress enacted CALEA on October 25, 1994,” says the FCC document.
“CALEA was intended to preserve the ability of law enforcement agencies to conduct electronic surveillance by requiring that telecommunications carriers and manufacturers of telecommunications equipment modify and design their equipment, facilities, and services to ensure that they have the necessary surveillance capabilities.”
CNET has Center for Democracy and Technology’s Jim Dempsey saying:
“Because of that very fundamental difference between the Internet and the public switched network, the commission has had a hard time defining who, exactly, is covered, and they have in this order completely punted on the question of who is responsible for what.”
Referring to the application of CALEA to the Internet, he’s also quoted as saying, “After a year or more of studying this question, the commission has failed to answer some basic questions. I’m afraid that the FBI will step into the vacuum and start claiming that it needs this or that.”
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See:-
CNET News - Wiretap rules for VoIP, broadband coming in 2007, September 27, 2005
September 27th, 2005 at 5:20 pm
Does this have any bearing on UK law at the moment?
Will my ISP be installing wiretapping capabilities on their routers any time soon d’ya reckon?… Hope not
Baggy
P.S. How do I recover a lost password for this site? can’t remember it for the life of me… Damn that password manager, making me (even more) lazy!
September 27th, 2005 at 7:32 pm
I wonder where this leaves eBay/Skype?
September 28th, 2005 at 5:21 am
Why do they believe they need the ability to “wiretap” voip calls? It’s the net!!! Packets go out unprotected, unhidden, it’s easy to intercept them without the sender or receiver knowing!!! Haven’t these idiots ever heard of packet sniffers?
Hell i’m waiting for the inevitable haxxored voip clients that’ll let you watch certain ip’s for incoming or outgoing calls, and let you listen in. Does anyone really think it’d be hard to do?
September 29th, 2005 at 6:55 pm
That’s all good and fine, but what about the clients that use encryption? Even better, what about the people who use encrypted datalinks for their communications between their computers?
Why do you think that we were allowed to used 128-bit SSL encryption? Because the FBI and other members of the DOJ can crack it if need be. I think that when people start to use AES-256 or better, I think they will start to scream that they need to outlaw encryption because the general public at large is using currently unbreakable encryption methods.
They say that AES will be good for a few decades.