For thos who haven't read some of the recent (compelling) newsbytes on Digital Telphony II - Forwarded message:

Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk From: catalyst-remailer@netcom.com Message-ID: <199403190626.WAA25701@mail2.netcom.com> Subject: FBI Wiretaps. Old news.... Date: Fri, 18 Mar 1994 22:26:45 -0800 X-Received: by usenet.pa.dec.com; id AA17267; Fri, 18 Mar 94 22:30:46 -0800 X-Received: from mail2.netcom.com by inet-gw-1.pa.dec.com (5.65/13Jan94) id AA08698; Fri, 18 Mar 94 22:25:42 -0800 X-Received: from localhost by mail2.netcom.com (8.6.4/SMI-4.1/Netcom) id WAA25701; Fri, 18 Mar 1994 22:26:45 -0800 X-To: comp.org.eff.talk.usenet X-Remailed-By: Remailer <catalyst-remailer@netcom.com>

Today's news.

WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The FBI warned Friday that wiretaps might soon become impossible unless Congress updates a law requiring telephone companies to cooperate with law enforcement agencies on electronic surveillance. ``Unless Congress creates a new law, law enforcement's ability to protect the public against crime will be gravely eroded and the national security will be placed at risk,'' FBI Director Louis Freeh told a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Freeh said new technology such as cellular telephones, call forwarding and digital switching was making it more difficult for the FBI and other agencies to operate wiretaps, which he called one of law enforcement's best tools against crime and terrorism. ``We could be out of the wiretap business in a very short time,'' Freeh said. He said 91 court-approved wiretaps were abandoned last year because telephone companies could not solve technical problems. ``They (telephone companies) have told us they will not be able to provide the access we need. We have certain requirements which they tell us are not going into the software,'' he said. Freeh said he wanted the 1968 law rewritten to require all telephone companies to meet technical requirements for wiretaps of new equipment. He said it would cost less than $1 billion and would be paid in part by the federal government. He said wiretaps had helped prevent several terrorist attacks in the United States in recent years, including a 1986 plot to shoot down an airliner, and helped convict over 22,000 felons in the past decade. Freeh said a new law would not jeopardize privacy, but Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said he was still concerned: ``My hope is that we can serve legitimate law enforcement needs without jeopardizing privacy rights or frustrating innovation and development of new technologies or undercutting the competitiveness of America's high tech industries.'' The U.S. Telephone Association, which represents more than 1,100 local telephone companies including the regional Bell companies, said it believed the current law was adequate. It said its members were cooperating with law enforcement. Freeh said he had been meeting with representatives of the telephone industry but had been unable to get a voluntary agreement that would cover all companies.

- paul