[83181] in North American Network Operators' Group
FCC Issues Rule Allowing FBI to Dictate Wiretap-Friendly Design for In
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Fergie (Paul Ferguson))
Sat Aug 6 19:21:56 2005
From: "Fergie (Paul Ferguson)" <fergdawg@netzero.net>
Date: Sat, 6 Aug 2005 23:20:18 GMT
To: nanog@merit.edu
Errors-To: owner-nanog@merit.edu
Via the EFF website.
[snip]
Today the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a release announcing its new rule expanding the reach of the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). The ruling is a reinterpretation of the scope of CALEA and will force Internet broadband providers and certain voice-over-IP (VoIP) providers to build backdoors into their networks that make it easier for law enforcement to wiretap them. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has argued against this expansion of CALEA in several rounds of comments to the FCC on its proposed rule.
CALEA, a law passed in the early 1990s, mandated that all telephone providers build tappability into their networks, but expressly ruled out information services like broadband. Under the new ruling from the FCC, this tappability now extends to Internet broadband providers as well.
Practically, what this means is that the government will be asking broadband providers - as well as companies that manufacture devices used for broadband communications – to build insecure backdoors into their networks, imperiling the privacy and security of citizens on the Internet. It also hobbles technical innovation by forcing companies involved in broadband to redesign their products to meet government requirements.
"Expanding CALEA to the Internet is contrary to the statute and is a fundamentally flawed public policy," said Kurt Opsahl, EFF staff attorney. "This misguided tech mandate endangers the privacy of innocent people, stifles innovation and risks the functionality of the Internet as a forum for free and open expression."
[snip]
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_08.php#003876
- ferg
--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
Engineering Architecture for the Internet
fergdawg@netzero.net or fergdawg@sbcglobal.net
ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/
