Reminder: Monday Is Wiretap the Internet Day
May 13th, 2007In The Ugly Truth About Online Anonymity, I wrote that, “I made irrationally negative assumptions,” about how pervasive the network surveillance was. As it turns out, my threat assessment was just about right.
Via: Wired:
May 14th is the official deadline for cable modem companies, DSL providers, broadband over powerline, satellite internet companies and some universities to finish wiring up their networks with FBI-friendly surveillance gear, to comply with the FCC’s expanded interpretation of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.
Congress passed CALEA in 1994 to help FBI eavesdroppers deal with digital telecom technology. The law required phone companies to make their networks easier to wiretap. The results: on mobile phone networks, where CALEA tech has 100% penetration, it’s credited with boosting the number of court-approved wiretaps a carrier can handle simultaneously, and greatly shortening the time it takes to get a wiretap going. Cops can now start listening in less than a day.
Now that speed and efficiency is coming to internet surveillance. While CALEA is all about phones, the Justice Department began lobbying the FCC in 2002 to reinterpret the law as applying to the internet as well. The commission obliged, and last June a divided federal appeals court upheld the expansion 2-1. (The dissenting judge called the FCC’s position “gobbledygook.” But he was outnumbered.)
So, if you’re a broadband provider (separately, some VOIP companies are covered too) … Hurry! The deadline has already passed to file an FCC form 445 (.pdf), certifying that you’re on schedule, or explaining why you’re not. You can also find the 68-page official industry spec for internet surveillance here. It’ll cost you $164.00 to download, but then you’ll know exactly what format to use when delivering customer packets to federal or local law enforcement, including “e-mail, instant messaging records, web-browsing information and other information sent or received through a user’s broadband connection, including on-line banking activity.”
There are also third party brokers who will handle all this for you for a fee.
Wow, thats gonna keep me awake thru the night. Again, looks like you where pretty much spot on Kevin, nice one.
Any idea if something similar is being pushed in Oz with ASIO or the DSD?
“There are also third party brokers who will handle all this for you for a fee.”
this is worse than governmental allowances only. continued ‘packet upkeep’ by those 3rd party vendors will be quite a tool won’t it?