[49104] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: packet inspection and privacy
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (batz)
Mon Jun 24 14:18:14 2002
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2002 14:07:57 -0400 (EDT)
From: batz <batsy@vapour.net>
To: Mark Kent <mark@noc.mainstreet.net>
Cc: nanog@merit.edu
In-Reply-To: <200206241631.g5OGVw2q037988@noc.mainstreet.net>
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
On Mon, 24 Jun 2002, Mark Kent wrote:
:I recently claimed that, in the USA, there is a law that prohibits an
:ISP from inspecting packets in a telecommunications network for
:anything other than traffic statistics or debugging.
A similar sentiment was expressed in a presentation at a conference
recently by a lawyer, in regards to Canadian law. He(?) suggested
that IDS in its current form contravened data interception laws, and
maybe some labour laws, I can't remember off hand.
Also, debugging and meta-data (mail and packet headers) may be
an exception, but only because of of a possible interpretation of this
meta-data as equivalent to a postal address or or phone caller information.
This may ultimately be the correct interpretation, but it will depend on
the influence of the person whose opinion it is. :) It doesn't matter
whether you or I think that packet instpection is a legitimate form of
network debugging. It matters whether a judge does.
Or maybe in this case, a lawyer.
--
batz
