Law enforcement calling the shots instead of Congress


The FCC is going to make it easier to watch you on the internet

This is older news, but still scary.

Congress passed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) in 1994 to make it easier for law enforcement to wiretap digital telephone networks. CALEA forced telephone companies to redesign their network architectures to make wiretapping easier. It expressly did not regulate data traveling over the Internet.

But now federal law enforcement agencies want to change that. On March 10, 2004, the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) filed a joint petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The petition requested that CALEA's reach be expanded to cover communications that travel over the Internet. Thus, Broadband providers would be required to rebuild their networks to make it easier for law enforcement to tap Internet "phone calls" that use Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications such as Vonage, as well as online "conversations" using various kinds of instant messaging (IM) programs like AOL Instant Messenger (AIM).

As the article points out later, this is designed to make it easier for law enforcement. The agencies can already tap anything that connects to the internet.

But the end run around Congress is what caught my attention.

Remember, government is not your friend.

Hat tip to Hammer of Truth.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Thu - November 3, 2005 at 05:05 AM  Tag


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