VoIP/CALEA: EFF, Others Call for Reversal of FCC CALEA Expansion for VoIP

> http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004624.php

May 03, 2006

EFF Urges Reversal of FCC's Forcing Internet Services To Be
Wiretap-Friendly

On May 5, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral
arguments in a suit brought by EFF and a coalition of public
interest, industry, and academic groups challenging the FCC's
unjustified expansion of the Communications Assistance for Law
Enforcement Act (CALEA)
(http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/CALEA/). By forcing
broadband Internet and interconnected voice over Internet
Protocol (VoIP) services to become wiretap-friendly, the FCC
ignored CALEA's plain language and threatened privacy, security,
and innovation.

When Congress controversially passed CALEA in 1994 and gave the
FCC powers to mandate backdoors in traditional telephony systems,
it expressly exempted "information services" such as the
Internet. Yet after a petition from the FBI and other federal law
enforcement agencies, the FCC ruled last year that companies like
Vonage and private institutions that provide Net access must
redesign their networks to facilitate wiretaps. On Wednesday, the
FCC announced that these service providers would have to foot the
bill -- an estimated $7 billion dollars for the universities
alone
(http://news.com.com/FCC+approves+Net-wiretapping+taxes/2100-1028_3-6067971.html?tag=nefd.lede).