Pubdate: Thu, 8 Jan 2004
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2004, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Declan McCullagh

U.S. WANTS TO TAP VOIP

The FBI and the U.S. Justice Department have renewed their efforts to 
wiretap voice conversations carried across the Internet.

The agencies have asked the Federal Communications Commission to order 
companies offering voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service to rewire 
their networks to guarantee police the ability to eavesdrop on subscribers' 
conversations.

Without such mandatory rules, the two agencies predicted in a letter to the 
FCC last month that "criminals, terrorists, and spies (could) use VoIP 
services to avoid lawfully authorized surveillance." The letter also was 
signed by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

This is not the first time the Bush administration has expressed concern 
about terrorists and other lawbreakers using VoIP to avoid wiretaps. As 
previously reported by CNET News.com, a proposal presented quietly to the 
FCC in July sought guaranteed surveillance access to broadband providers. 
But the latest submission, which follows a recent FCC forum on Internet 
telephony, is more detailed than before and specifically targets VoIP 
providers as a regulatory focus.

In general, VoIP providers have pledged to work with police, and some, like 
Level 3 Communications, do not oppose the regulations the FBI is seeking. 
Others, like a coalition of 12 smaller VoIP providers including BullDog 
Teleworks and PingTone Communications, have told the FCC that "there are 
various industry initatives under way and the commission should allow those 
initiatives time to succeed before preemptively regulating."

Federal and local police rely heavily on wiretaps. In 2002, the most recent 
year for which information is available, police intercepted nearly 
2.2-million conversations with court approval, according to the 
Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Wiretaps for that year cost 
taxpayers $69.5-million, and approximately 80 per cent were related to drug 
investigations. Those statistics do not include approximately the same 
number of additional wiretaps authorized by the Foreign Intelligence 
Surveillance Act.

When weighing the FBI's request, the FCC will have to decide whether a 1994 
law called the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) 
applies to VoIP providers. The law is ambiguous. It clearly requires 
"telecommunications carriers" to provide ready wiretapping access while 
explicitly exempting "information services." If the FCC decides CALEA does 
not apply, the debate would shift to Congress, which could decide to amend 
the law.

When Internet links are used to carry voice calls that begin and end in the 
traditional, circuit-switched network - a move that Verizon Communications 
announced Wednesday - that would easily fall within CALEA's existing 
definitions. But Internet-to-Internet voice links like those offered by 
VoIP companies Vonage and Skype are closer to information services and fall 
into a regulatory gray area. The status of voice conversations carried 
through instant-messaging programs is even more unclear, as is the FCC's 
ability to compel overseas VoIP providers to comply with U.S. rules.

"The FCC should ignore pleas about national security and sophisticated 
criminals because sophisticated parties will use noncompliant VoIP, 
available open source and offshore," said Jim Harper of Privacilla.org, a 
privacy advocacy Web site. "CALEA for VoIP will only be good for busting 
small-time bookies, small-time potheads and other nincompoops."

One unusual section of the FBI letter is that it claims the bureau is 
seeking to protect Americans' privacy rights: "Mandatory CALEA compliance 
by VoIP providers would better protect the privacy of VoIP users than a 
voluntary approach. CALEA protects the privacy of surveillance suspects by 
requiring carriers to provision the surveillance in a confidential manner." 
Otherwise, the FBI argues, a VoIP company might turn over a "full pipe" to 
police that would include conversations of more people than necessary.

At least one FCC commissioner has expressed strong support for sweeping 
VoIP into CALEA's requirements, which currently apply only to telephone 
companies.

"We must understand the concerns raised by DOJ and FBI that classifying 
Vonage's VoIP as an information service severely undercuts CALEA," Jonathan 
Adelstein said last month. "VoIP jeopardizes the ability of federal, state 
and local governments to protect public safety and national security 
against domestic and foreign threats. Public safety is not negotiable."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens