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Another open question is what portion of a university's or library's network must be rendered wiretap-friendly. One possibility is that only the pipe (or pipes) connecting a school with the rest of the Internet must be made CALEA-compliant. Another is that the entire network would be covered.
The FCC adopted its second order on Wednesday but released only a two-page summary, which didn't offer much clarity. In its initial ruling last year, the FCC said only that it had reached "no conclusions" about exactly what universities and libraries would have to do, prompting a flurry of comments filed with the agency and the federal lawsuit. (Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Sun Microsystems, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the American Library Association, the American Council on Education and VoIP firm Pulver.com.)
Commissioner Copps acknowledged that there is "still some clarity to be provided" for library and university network operators, but he suggested that additional clarity would not be forthcoming from the FCC. Instead, "all those agencies and offices of government who are involved in CALEA implementation should be working together to provide clarity there to avoid confusion and possibly expenses for these institutions," Copps said.
At the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference here Wednesday, John Morris of the Center for Democracy and Technology said libraries and universities are still left with more questions than answers.
"There's some serious uncertainty about how it will really play out for universities," Morris said. Even if the FCC technically calls for Internet interception at the edge of a campus network, that likely won't be enough to satisfy law enforcement demands for all of an individual student's network traffic, including on-campus activities, he added.
Injecting additional uncertainty is whether the FCC's action is legal. It represents what critics call an unreasonable extension of CALEA--which was designed to address telephone features such as three-way calling and call waiting--to the Internet.
A House of Representatives committee report (click here for PDF) prepared in October 1994 emphatically says CALEA's requirements "do not apply to information services such as electronic-mail services; or online services such as CompuServe, Prodigy, America Online or Mead Data (Central); or to Internet service providers."
When Congress was debating CALEA, then-FBI Director Louis Freeh reassured nervous senators that the law would be limited to telephone calls. "So what we are looking for is strictly telephone--what is said over a telephone?" Sen. Larry Pressler, R-S.D., asked during one hearing.
Freeh replied: "That is the way I understand it. Yes, sir."
Two of the four FCC commissioners who voted for the initial CALEA ruling last fall acknowledged that the federal government was on shaky legal ground. The FCC's regulation is based on arguing that the law's definition of "telecommunications carrier" applies to broadband and VoIP providers.
Then-FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy, a Republican, said, "Because litigation is as inevitable as death and taxes, and because some might not read the statute to permit the extension of CALEA to the broadband Internet access and VoIP services at issue here, I have stated my concern that an approach like the one we adopt today is not without legal risk."
The FCC is no stranger to having its decisions rejected by a federal appeals court that can be hostile to what it views as regulatory overreaching. Last May, for instance, the FCC's "broadcast flag" was unceremoniously tossed out by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
See more CNET content tagged:
CALEA, FCC Commissioner, university, broadband provider, broadband
And, of course, end users are fee to pick up the tab as well.
Welcome to the new world.
out how to use this gaping hole in internet security.
Thanks, once again, to legislators who are completely clueless
as to how technology functions and wouldn't know the 7-step
model from a 12-step program, our rights as citizens to be
protected from intrusion into our private lives has, once again,
been removed.
Who says reincarnation isn't a fact? Joe McCarthy lives on in the
FCC!
Lee Darrow, C.H.
Chicago, IL
He said "terrorists hate us because of our freedoms."
So.. it's entirely logical that once our freedoms are eliminated we'll no longer be hated. Right?
Which rights have disappeared? We don't have a constitutional right to low gas prices, nor have we ever had the freedom to speak freely with those who are at war with the U.S. Clearly, there has been no curb on the right to dissent, freedom of the press, or any other of our Constitutionally-protected rights. You and Franklin are right - those would give up God-given rights for freedom deserve neither, but that doesn't apply. Not yet, anyway. People like you desperately want rights to disappear, I know, so that you can feel good about yourselves and your anti-productive rhetoric. I hope that day doesn't come.
Reportedly they already have the ability to enable wiretapping...
If US citizens continue to abrogate their rights, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Write and/or call your representatives and let them know this is unacceptable.
And now , we have to pay an extra impost to allow big brother to bug us all in daily life, truly amazing!, what's next, burn the constitution?
Oh well, there is always the ballot box?, for even a simple ficus tree can do a far better job, then the current house majority!(it can't fall asleep, and is too wooden, to take bribes or free lunches, from the corporate sector!)
Taxes, arbitrarily imposed without representation, are truly evil!!!!!!
Oh that's right...>WE THE PEOPLE!
Since when did this jackass-run 'government' obtain total authority and power over WE THE PEOPLE, and create a nation of SLAVES?
Buy more guns, take a stand!
Fight fire with fire!
Vote OUT those people bent on creating a dictatorship, and prevent this current MORON from usurping more power than he has a constitutional right to!
Wasn't his OATH OF OFFICE to DEFEND AND PROTECT the CONSTITUITION to the BEST of HIS ability when he was sworn in?
Is he DOING THIS NOW?
NO!
I say IMPEACH AND SEND HIM TO PRISON FOR TREASON!
Bush is allowing this chicken s***t government to do whatever it pleases and with NO accountability to the people anymore.
Time to charge and sentence Bush for: Treason and high crimes, and shove his ass in for LIFE for his despotic methods, THEN have him tried INTERNATIONALLY for WAR CRIMES AND TORTURE!
20 LIFE TERMS IN PRISON FOR BUSH!!!
If you don't the governments ability to fight terrorism will be severely restricted.
It's a well known fact that terrorists are fat (actually one of the terrorists on a cliche'd Chuck Norris movie was fat, and as such provides a clear link between the loss of 50s style exercise programs and 9/11) so if obese America drops a few lbs we will be able to implicate all remaining fat people as terrorists.
Not working for you?
Well then unfortunately, and although we recognise every American's right to religious freedom, this should not be mistaken as an excuse to for everyone to forget to carry a Bible on their persons at all times.
It is a well known fact that if a member of Al Quaeda was to even touch an official US Jesus Manual he would burst into flames.
Remember that while you have the right to religious freedom, this should not excuse your patriotic duty to be a Christian. In our revisionist version of the Constitution, not only does the President have the right to overall all levels of Government, but religious freedom is simply a reference to each American's duty to forsake Godless paganism.
Apparently they have identified a clear link between Bird Flu and Al Quaeda, and are holding meetings at the highest level to decide how to use the invasion of Iraq to explain why tax cuts and placing wire taps on all Americans phone lines will prevent the next pandemic.
Clearly the only way to combat this threat is the unrestricted ability of the NSA to record each and every American's phone sex conversations, not too mention the suspicious increase in the use of the internet to purchase unChristian reading material or worse, booking a vacation in Al Quaeda's closest Ally - France.
The most important thing to remember is that the desire for privacy is clearly a subversive tendancy, and any such people the express such a desire should clearly be watched at all times.
Remember "Nothing to Hide, Nothing to Fear".
Next on the President's agenda, auto-voting. To circumvent immigrant voter fraud, all valid citizens should sign up for auto-votes immediately.
You will be allocated your Republican Voter Registration Identity Number, and your local Republican Senator will cast your vote for you.
This will prevent not only voter error, which nearly proved catestrophic in the 2000 election, and without timely intervention of the Supreme Court could have resulted in a non-Republican party approved president being elected.
Whilst we wouldn't want you to stop being in fear of terrorism, at least we can comfort you with the knowledge that terrorists will not hijack your vote.
why not just use it? If everyone used it then it
would be commonplace. Perhaps PGP should be
included by default in more software? I know
people who refuse to pay their bills from their
own bank's website out of fear that hackers
might SSL packets. Ironicly those same people
think nothing of handing their credit cards to a
waitress or bartender.
It is not very difficult for even the average
computer user to install and run encryption
software that makes ISP or government snooping
practically impossible. This can easily be done
with email as the technology is very mature, but
unfortunately very few people even bother using
it. Encryption also exists for VOIP and will
probably improve but most likely people will not
use it preferring to complain how "the man" is
able to snoop in on their business.
?Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,? Bush screamed back. ?It?s just a ********* piece of paper!?
?I?ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution ?a ********* piece of paper.?? Thompson adds. (Doug Thompson - Capitol Hill Blue)
...Would accept being able to spy-on, track, and record everything that every single American-citizen does, in the name of "...catching terrorists, and [other] criminals".
...And, only a TRAITOR would seriously propose it.
Once, the U.S. government decided that it no longer had to obey "The U.S. Constitution", the Law, ...or "...the will of the people..." it gave up every right to call itself a legitimate-government.
Let me put this more bluntly...
Those currently in control of the United States are nothing more than heavily-armed CRIMINALS, who have ILLEGALLY seized control of our nation. And, they clearly have no qualms about using ANY force necessary to completely control "...the people", solely for the benefit of a powerful few.
I just hope I can get my children out of the country before the shooting starts.
what really needs to happen
what really needs to happen
- screw the police
- by 03296 May 3, 2006 10:11 PM PDT
- and screw the federales and screw georgie porgie.
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