[71657] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: [Fwd: [IP] Feds: VoIP a potential haven for terrorists]
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven M. Bellovin)
Sun Jun 20 11:13:17 2004
From: "Steven M. Bellovin" <smb@research.att.com>
To: Sean Donelan <sean@donelan.com>
Cc: North American Noise and Off-topic Gripes <nanog@merit.edu>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Sat, 19 Jun 2004 16:23:55 EDT."
<Pine.GSO.4.58.0406191533030.384@clifden.donelan.com>
Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 11:12:38 -0400
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
In message <Pine.GSO.4.58.0406191533030.384@clifden.donelan.com>, Sean Donelan
writes:
>On Sat, 19 Jun 2004, Steven M. Bellovin wrote:
>> There's a lot more to it than that -- there's also access without
>> involving telco personnel, and possibly the ability to do many more
>> wiretaps (have you looked at the capacity requirements lately), but
>> funding is certainly a large part of it. From Section (e) of
>> http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/2518.html :
>>
>> Any provider of wire or electronic communication service,
>> landlord, custodian or other person furnishing such facilities
>> or technical assistance shall be compensated therefor by the
>> applicant for reasonable expenses incurred in providing such
>> facilities or assistance.
>
>That is not part of CALEA.
I know; that's precisely my point. (CALEA is 18 USC 2522, I believe.)
The passage I quoted is from the older wiretap law -- and it requires
the government to pick up the costs. As you note below, that cost was
shifted by CALEA.
>
>Carriers found to be covered by CALEA must provide certain capabilities
>to law enforcement. For telecommunication equipment, facilities or
>services deployed after January 1 1995 the carrier must pay all reasonable
>costs to provide the capabilities.
>
>The capacity requirements are interesting. In some cases, the carrier is
>required to have more law enforcement tapping capacity than customer
>capacity. The government sets the capacit requirements without any
>regard for the cost of maintaining the capacity. If there are multiple
>competitive carriers in the same area, all of the carriers must have the
>same capacity. If you have a single customer in Los Angeles, you must
>provide the capacity for at least 1,360 simultaneous interceptions. How
>many SPAN ports do you have?
>
>As I mentioned, the wiretap acts and CALEA are really independent.
>
--Steve Bellovin, http://www.research.att.com/~smb
