Feds' Net-wiretap order set to kick in

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By Anne Broache

Staff Writer, CNET News.com

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Published: November 11, 2005, 12:15 PM PST

 

Feds' Net-wiretap order set to kick in

 

 

 

On Monday, the clock starts ticking for broadband and Net-phone

providers to make it easier for law enforcement to conduct

surveillance on users of their networks.

 

According to a final order issued by the Federal Communications

Commission in late September, all broadband Internet service providers

and many Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, companies will have 18

months--until spring 2007--to ensure their systems have backdoors that

allow police to eavesdrop on their customers' communications for

investigative purposes.

 

The 59-page order (click for PDF) followed years of pressure from the

FBI, the Justice Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

It would broaden the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act

(CALEA), an 11-year-old wiretapping law that currently applies only to

" telecommunications carriers. "

 

 

 

The FCC has justified the expansion on the basis of terrorism and

homeland security concerns, echoing Bush administration officials who

have warned, for example, of the perils of VoIP services in rogue hands.

 

 

 

But even as the order kicks in, it remains unclear exactly what

classes of providers within those broad categories must comply with

the new rules or what exactly they must do to achieve compliance.

 

 

 

The FCC said in its original order that it reached " no conclusions "

about whether universities, research institutions, and small or rural

broadband providers should be subject the requirements. It sought

comments on that topic through subsequent FCC notice. The deadline for

receiving that initial round of suggestions also happens to be Monday.

 

 

 

The order's vagueness has perplexed some groups hoping to submit

constructive suggestions. In comments filed last week with the agency,

C & W Enterprises, a small broadband provider in rural Western Texas,

wrote, " it is difficult to assess what the costs would be for our

company or what type of exemption we would advocate without knowing

what we will be required to do under the CALEA rules. "

 

 

 

The FCC also sought comments on whether to broaden the scope of

wiretapping requirements for VoIP services. The original order imposes

that burden only on " interconnected " VoIP providers, such as Vonage

and SkypeOut, which route calls through the public telephone

network--leaving others, such as peer-to-peer services, unaffected by

the rules.

 

An FCC representative acknowledged last week that the existing order

does not set specific requirements. Instead, it is designed to " get

the industry thinking " about making the changes " so they can begin to

incorporate CALEA compliance, " he said.

 

 

 

The agency plans to release another order clarifying those

points--though as for when, the representative said, " I don't have any

sense for that now. " (The original order said a follow-up should be

expected " in the coming months. " )

 

Some industry representatives reported that they're already seeking

ways to comply as they await the more detailed rules. The cable

broadband industry, which counted about 1.2 million VoIP customers and

23.5 million Internet rs as of the second quarter of this

year, is " working with the FBI on a CALEA solution for cable broadband

service, " said Brian Dietz, spokesman for the National Cable and

Television Association.

 

 

 

Verizon executive Douglas Sullivan said Friday that his company

supports the government's " legal conclusions " about expanding the

reach of CALEA and has been working with vendors over the past few

years to build compliant equipment. He noted that several unanswered

questions remained, including how to recover costs associated with the

changes and how enforcement will operate. " We understand that the

commission intends to address these issues in a follow-up order we

hope will be issued very soon, " Sullivan said in an e-mail interview.

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Meanwhile, preliminary legal challenges to the rules linger. The first

one came from the American Council on Education, which has said

universities and research institutions deserve to be exempted from the

regulations because the changes required are too expensive and would

prompt inevitable tuition hikes. A day later, a coalition of groups,

including the Center for Democracy and Technology and the VoIP company

Pulver.com, issued their own one-page notice of appeal. They intend to

argue that Congress never intended for CALEA to apply to the Internet

and that the FCC has stepped outside its bounds.

 

 

 

 

The court, as expected, consolidated both groups' challenges into one

proceeding but has not yet taken any other actions, said John Morris

of the Center for Democracy and Technology. The groups have until late

November to file more detailed statements about the claims they're

alleging.

 

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