IP: ISPI Clips 5.32: FBI & Privacy Advocates Battling Over Wiretapping

From: "ama-gi ISPI" <offshore@email.msn.com> Subject: IP: ISPI Clips 5.32: FBI & Privacy Advocates Battling Over Wiretapping Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 00:10:29 -0700 To: <Undisclosed.Recipients@majordomo.pobox.com> ISPI Clips 5.32: FBI & Privacy Advocates Battling Over Wiretapping News & Info from the Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) Monday October 12, 1998 ISPI4Privacy@ama-gi.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This From: ABCNews.com, October 8, 1998 http://www.abcnews.com Privacy on the Line http://www.abcnews.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/wiretap981006.html Law enforcement and privacy advocates are battling over wiretapping boundaries in the digital age. By Michael Martinez ABCNEWS.com The FBI wants to be able to tap your cell phone. And it wants your phone company to pay for the privilege of allowing the FBI to tap your cell phone. That, at least, is the contention of privacy advocates and of the telephone industry, which is under federal mandate to open all new telecommunications technologies to wiretap access. Under the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act, telecommunications companies are required provide wiretap capabilities for all of their new systems. Passed by Congress in 1994, CALEA mandated that telecommunications companies comply with access requirements by Oct. 25 of this year. That deadline, however, has been pushed back until June 2000 by the Federal Communications Commission as it tries to sort out just what the FBI is entitled to, and how much reimbursement telecom companies should get. Originally, CALEA set aside $500 million to pay for infrastructure upgrades on systems installed prior to Jan. 1, 1995. The United States Telephone Association and other industry groups want that cutoff point extended until 2000 as well, so that current systems are covered. Voice Mail for Dope Dealers? The telecommunications industry has introduced a wide range of popular — and profitable — services in recent years, everything from prepaid calling cards to Internet telephony to three-way calling. Cellular phones have become nearly ubiquitous, and newer models are almost entirely digital. Many customers have turned to third party voice-mail systems for message services. When most of these systems were designed and implemented, no thought was given to allowing federal or local law enforcement agencies access. The FBI says it’s entitled to access these services under current wiretap laws. Privacy advocates disagree. “The FBI has been trying to use CALEA to greatly expand its surveillance capabilities in ways never anticipated by Congress when it passed the law,” contends Barry Steinhardt, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The telephone companies also disagree, at least in principle. More important, if forced by the government to comply, they want the federal government to pay for the technology necessary to make it happen. The FBI claims that a compromise proposal by the USTA, which represents local telephone companies, was too narrow, and excluded many of the technological advances that have made law enforcement’s job more difficult. “There have been situations in which we’ve obtained permission to wiretap, and we’ve been frustrated by the technology,” says Stephen Colgate, assistant U.S. attorney general for administration. “And the criminals know it. Things like voice mail and prepaid calling cards, these are the things used by the dope dealer or the bomb maker.” The Communications Haystack The USTA, however, says the FBI is overreaching by including services not covered by the original law. “The rules the FBI put forth in CALEA don’t follow the intent of Congress,” says Michelle Tober, communications manager for the USTA. “If the FBI wants this capability, it has to be granted to them by the FCC or under a new law by Congress.” The Electronic Frontier Foundation, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, have petitioned the FCC to limit law enforcement’s ability to gain access to new telecommunications services. “The problem with a wiretap is that it’s a general search,” Steinhardt says. “Only one in six conversations that are recorded are criminal in nature. Increasing law enforcement’s powers will mean more conversations recorded that have no bearing on investigations. We’re giving them the power to find a needle in a haystack.” The FBI defends its proposed rules, saying that they still fall under the original law allowing wiretaps, and that privacy will still be protected by the judiciary system. “We still have to go before the judge. We still have to justify the invasion of privacy in the courts,” Colgate says. “We’re not lowering the bar by any means. This industry has been investing significant amounts of capital into the infrastructure, and we’ve been losing (wiretap) capability steadily.” Copyright (c)1998 ABCNEWS and Starwave Corporation. --------------------------------NOTICE:------------------------------ ISPI Clips are news & opinion articles on privacy issues from all points of view; they are clipped from local, national and international newspapers, journals and magazines, etc. Inclusion as an ISPI Clip does not necessarily reflect an endorsement of the content or opinion by ISPI. 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