From EFF comes the news that the FCC has issued rules expanding the scope of Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (CALEA).
The new twist?
The ruling…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.
This decision was driven by a petition to the FCC by the FBI,DOJ and the DEA. To again quote EFF:
The FBI used the “tappability principle” to justify the demands in its petition. This principle holds that if something is legally searchable sometimes, it should be physically searchable all the time. But there is a vast difference between a computer network switch created precisely to be tappable and one that can be tapped with the right tools under the right circumstances. If we applied the FBI’s logic to the phone system, it would state that every individual phone should be designed with built-in bugs. Consumers would simply have to trust law enforcement or the phone companies not to activate those bugs without just cause.
The icing on the cake of this decision, besides making our online data that much more vulnerable to theft and misuse? We get to pay for the privilege.
The NPRM’s(Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) proposed expansion of CALEA would also punish broadband providers and consumers, concluding that carriers should forced to spend millions of dollars on CALEA compliance. The FCC explores a mechanism by which these costs will pass to their customers, including a Commission mandated flat monthly charge. Quite literally, then, consumers would be subsidizing the surveillance state.
I don’t know if they supply the orange jumpsuit with the monthly fee or if it’s extra…
A friend of mine, whose electrician brother installs phone systems, explained this to me a while ago. I, and people I was talking to, kept noticing a weird clicking on the phone line, whenever we got into discussions on politics. I don’t know if there are certain trigger words, like if you say “Cheney” and “asshole” too many times or something, but I’m pretty convinced I’m being periodically observed.
That is scary! The sad thing is that people who are intent on crime probably know ways around this kind of thing-it’s the innocent people who end up on “enemy lists”. Let alone that while they waste time and resources spying on political enemies real criminals have that much more time and room to work.
EFF?
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Otherwise, a very interesting post.
Thank you! That’s what I get for posting on the way out the door! Fixed now.
I am sure most people knew what you meant anyways. lol
🙂
Hey, this is GREAT!
Under this principle, all corporations should submit all financial records (the raw data, not the gussied up filings) to the US Govt.
After all, we’ve see lots of cases where they’re eventually subpoena’d. And, if they are potentially relevant, I guess they need to be made continously available.
9/11 was a big one, no denying that. But I bet they’re using this broadband tap on smaller fish. So lets compare:
Which had the larger impact on the economy of the US again?
So, to protect against further financial malfeasance from corrupt corporations, we should require all corporations to submit their records to the Govt, which pinky-swears with sugar on top not to look at them unless something really really major is up, or they’re curious.
Republican tactics are universally dumb. Yet they smile and use tortured logic to confuse the issue and sell them. If you can’t beat em with your club, borrow theirs.
Ah, but that would infringe on the sacred rights of corporations. And we all know, corporations have rights, individuals though, that’s a different matter.