Bob, Technically, since their signal speed is slower than light, even transmission lines act as storage devices. Wire tapping is now legal. <Somebody> ----- Original Message ----- From: "R. A. Hettinga" To: Clippable Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2003 3:04 PM Subject: Re: Wiretap Act Does Not Cover Message 'in Storage' For Short Period (was Re: BNA's Internet Law News (ILN) - 2/27/03)

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Status: RO Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2003 14:27:00 -0500 To: Tim Dierks , "R. A. Hettinga" , cryptography@wasabisystems.com From: "Ronald L. Rivest" Subject: Re: Wiretap Act Does Not Cover Message 'in Storage' For Short Period (was Re: BNA's Internet Law News (ILN) - 2/27/03)

Yes, I was amazed at this ruling as well.

This ruling seems to fly in the face of the likely intent of Congress when it passed Wiretap Act.

If things continue in this direction, we will soon have rulings and regulations that say:

-- Carriers must put all calls in storage for a minimum period of time, sufficient to allow wiretapping. (Indeed, regulation may not be necessary, as digitization and buffering of communications is common practice; the transient use of storage to effect communications efficiency and reliability should not provide a wiretap loophole.)

-- Wiretapping is OK for any phone calls that are routed through a satellite.

-- It is OK for the government to house soldiers in your house, as long as there is even the tiniest opening somewhere in your house (e.g. a window open, or a chimney flue) so that "inside" and "outside" connect.

-- Etc.

I can also see a market developing for "storage-free" communications carriers. What happens when you inquire of your carrier as to whether it can provide such a guarantee or option?

Cheers, Ron

At 09:42 PM 3/1/2003, Tim Dierks wrote:

...

At 01:39 PM 2/27/2003 -0500, R. A. Hettinga wrote:

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At 9:01 AM -0500 on 2/27/03, BNA Highlights wrote:

...

WIRETAP ACT DOES NOT COVER MESSAGE 'IN STORAGE' FOR SHORT PERIOD BNA's Electronic Commerce & Law Report reports that a federal court in Massachusetts has ruled that the federal Wiretap Act does not prohibit the improper acquisition of electronic communications that were "in storage" no matter how ephemeral that storage may be. The court relied on Konop v. Hawaiian Airlines Inc., which held that no Wiretap Act violation occurs when an electronic communication is accessed while in storage, "even if the interception takes place during a nanosecond 'juncture' of storage along the path of transmission." Case name is U.S. v. Councilman. Article at http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/eip.nsf/is/a0a6m6y1k8 For a free trial to source of this story, visit http://web.bna.com/products/ip/eplr.htm

This would seem to imply to me that the wiretap act does not apply to any normal telephone conversation which is carried at any point in its

transit

...

by an electronic switch, including all cell phone calls and nearly all wireline calls, since any such switch places the data of the ongoing call in "storage" for a tiny fraction of a second.

- Tim

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-- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/ 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

--- end forwarded text -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/ 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo@wasabisystems.com