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Re: [Raven] Should Tin Cans and String Comply With CALEA?
As a bit of background -- I believe that the FCC has clarified its intent
since this time -- here's an article I wrote earlier this year.
Chris, do you have info on more recent decisions?
-Declan
http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/16146.html
Wiretapping Internet Phone Lines
by Declan McCullagh
4:00 a.m. 10.Nov.98.PST
A federal wiretapping law designed to let
police snoop on telephone calls could
have profound implications for companies
that offer Internet phone service. Then
again, it might not affect them at all.
The 1994 Digital Telephony law, which
requires telecommunications companies to
wire surveillance technology into their
networks, could force Internet telephony
firms to configure their systems to be
easily wiretapped by law enforcement
agencies. A Federal Communications
Commission official, who declined to be
identified, said the FCC is trying to decide
how the law should apply to IP telephony
and what types of Internet phone calls
should be covered.
In a report released Thursday, the FCC
said the law applies to "packet-switching
technology" that is "used to provide
telecommunications services."
"It's a major issue that has to be sorted
out," said James Dempsey, senior staff
counsel for the Center for Democracy and
Technology. "What side of the line does
Internet telephony fall on? [Companies]
should definitely wake up and pay
attention."
The wiretapping law, also known as the
Communications Assistance for Law
Enforcement Act, or CALEA, gave the
FCC the authority to set standards and
timetables. The agency said in September
that companies must comply with CALEA
by 30 June 2000.
The FCC has tentatively ruled that IP
telephony using computers is an
"information service" and, therefore, not
covered by CALEA.
But the agency has also said that
phone-to-phone IP telephony falls into
the category of telecommunications
services. That category includes firms like
IDT and Qwest, which allow long-distance
customers to phone a local gateway and
forward those calls over the Internet to a
gateway at the other end.
"I think, fundamentally, this is one of the
sleeper issues that is going to be
affecting the Internet telephony industry
into the year 2000 and beyond," said Jeff
Pulver, co-founder of the VON Coalition.
"We all need to be aware of what the
legal issues are," Pulver said. "I'm all for
what I call 'intelligent regulation.' If we
need to comply, then damn it, we should
comply. Ignorance is no excuse."
"Internet telephony will eventually be
included in CALEA," said Alyson Ziegler,
director of legislative affairs for the
United States Telephone Association. "It's
a matter of time."
CALEA's backers say the law was
designed to allow authorities to monitor
conversations surreptitiously on digital
phone lines just as they are now able to
tap into analog phone lines. But privacy
advocates oppose the measure, arguing
that it expands the government's
surveillance power.
"This is something we've been warning
about for years, that the convergence
between these technologies will make the
distinctions originally contemplated in
CALEA ultimately moot," said David
Banisar, a lawyer at the Electronic
Privacy Information Center. "CALEA will be
applied to the Net regardless of what the
intent of the law actually was."
Even before CALEA became law,
indications surfaced that law enforcement
would like it to include the Internet.
When asked about that possibility during
a hearing in August 1994, FBI Director
Louis Freeh replied, "It's certainly a
possibility -- if, God forbid, someone
blows up the World Trade Tower using a
PC to PC network."
Making an already prickly issue even
thornier is the fact that some IP
telephony companies use encryption to
scramble conversations. NetSpeak, for
example, uses RSA encryption.
If two IP phone customers are using
public key cryptography to chat in a way
that even the IP telephony company
can't decode, law enforcement agents
are out of luck -- one reason why the FBI
has lobbied to ban the manufacture and
distribution of encryption devices without
key escrow backdoors.
Not all companies are complaining about
CALEA.
Aplio CEO Olivier Zitoun believes his
company's products fall into the FCC's
definition of computer-to-computer IP
telephony. Aplio sells boxes that can be
plugged into normal touch-tone phones
and used to call an Internet provider,
which routes calls over the Net.
"We are very different than other
phone-to-phone devices or solutions,"
Zitoun said. "In a way, the discussion of
IP-telephony regulation doesn't really
apply to us."
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