From: Ari Schwartz <ari@cdt.org> Subject: IP: FCC Proposes Location Tracking for Wireless Phones Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1998 11:12:21 -0500 (EST) To: policy-posts@cdt.org The Center for Democracy and Technology /____/ Volume 4, Number 27 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A briefing on public policy issues affecting civil liberties online ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CDT POLICY POST Volume 4, Number 27 October 28, 1998 CONTENTS: (1) FCC Proposes Location Tracking for Wireless Phones (2) Public Comment Sought - CDT Launches Citizen Action Site (3) FCC Opens Inquiry into Wiretapping in Packet Networks (4) Other Surveillance Features (5) Subscription Information (6) About CDT ** This document may be redistributed freely with this banner intact ** Excerpts may be re-posted with permission of <ari@cdt.org> _____________________________________________________________________________ (1) FCC PROPOSES LOCATION TRACKING FOR WIRELESS PHONES Rejecting privacy arguments, the Federal Communications Commission on October 22 proposed turning wireless phones into location tracking devices. Ruling under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA), the Commission proposed requiring cellular and other wireless phone companies to track the location of their customers, identifying the cell site at the beginning and end of every call. This decision, if finalized, would allow the FBI to get out of the privacy deal it struck in 1994 when CALEA was adopted. At the time, the FBI said that location information was not required by CALEA, and the Congressional intent is 100% clear on the point. For background on CALEA and the FCC's proceeding, see CDT's digital telephony page: http://www.cdt.org/digi_tele/ _____________________________________________________________________________ (2) PUBLIC COMMENT SOUGHT - A CHANCE TO TELL THE FCC THAT CELL PHONE TRACKING IS NOT ACCEPTABLE! The FCC decision on cell phone tracking is only a tentative decision, known as a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The Commission is seeking public comment on its proposal. The public comment period has not been set, but could be between 30 and 60 days. Until now, the discussion on this issue has been held by policy-makers in Washington, but this decision will affect the entire nation. Since this will likely be the only chance for those outside the beltway to weigh in with a comment, CDT urges citizens to let their voice be heard. CDT has established a special "Action" page to make it easy for citizens to contact the FCC and file comments opposing the location tracking proposal: http://www.cdt.org/action/filing.html _____________________________________________________________________________ (3) FCC LAUNCHES INQUIRY INTO WIRETAPPING IN PACKET NETWORKS On a separate issue in the same CALEA proceeding, the Commission agreed with CDT and other privacy advocates. The FCC said that industry's initial plan for conducting surveillance in so-called "packet" networks was insufficient, and the Commission asked for further technical and legal comment. Packet networks break communications up into many small packets, each one consisting of a segment of content with addressing information attached to rout it to its intended destination. Under the industry's proposal, carriers could have provided to the government a person's entire packet stream, including both routing information and content, even when the government did not have the authority to intercept the content of the communications. CDT argued that the carriers should be required to separate addressing information from the content of communications and only give the government what it was authorized to intercept. The Commission decided that it needed to launch a technical inquiry. This could determine the future of surveillance. The question is whether carriers have an obligation to protect the privacy of communications the government is not authorized to intercept. For CDT's discussion of the packet issue, see: http://www.cdt.org/digi_tele/980426_fcc_calea.html#ivc _____________________________________________________________________________ (4) OTHER SURVEILLANCE FEATURES PROPOSED On other items sought by the FBI, the Commission tentatively decided that carriers should be required to continue tapping parties on a conference call after the subject of the court order has dropped off the call, and to extract dialed number information from the content stream and provide it to the government under a minimal standard. In all, the Commission tentatively accepted five out of nine new surveillance capabilities sought by the FBI. As of today, only a sumamry of the Commission's decision, not the full NPRM, was not publicly available. CDT will make the full text of the NPRM available on-line as soon as it becomes public. ____________________________________________________________________________ ____ (5) SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION Be sure you are up to date on the latest public policy issues affecting civil liberties online and how they will affect you! Subscribe to the CDT Policy Post news distribution list. CDT Policy Posts, the regular news publication of the Center For Democracy and Technology, are received by Internet users, industry leaders, policymakers and activists, and have become the leading source for information about critical free speech and privacy issues affecting the Internet and other interactive communications media. To subscribe to CDT's Policy Post list, send mail to majordomo@cdt.org In the BODY of the message (leave the SUBJECT LINE BLANK), type subscribe policy-posts If you ever wish to remove yourself from the list, send mail to the above address with NOTHING IN THE SUBJECT LINE AND a BODY TEXT of: unsubscribe policy-posts ____________________________________________________________________________ ____ (6) ABOUT THE CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY/CONTACTING US The Center for Democracy and Technology is a non-profit public interest organization based in Washington, DC. The Center's mission is to develop and advocate public policies that advance democratic values and constitutional civil liberties in new computer and communications technologies. Contacting us: General information: info@cdt.org World Wide Web: http://www.cdt.org/ Snail Mail: The Center for Democracy and Technology 1634 Eye Street NW * Suite 1100 * Washington, DC 20006 (v) +1.202.637.9800 * (f) +1.202.637.0968 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- End Policy Post 4.27 10/28/98 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------ Ari Schwartz Policy Analyst Center for Democracy and Technology 1634 Eye Street NW, Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20006 202 637 9800 fax 202 637 0968 ari@cdt.org http://www.cdt.org ------------------------------------ **************************************************** To subscribe or unsubscribe, email: majordomo@majordomo.pobox.com with the message: (un)subscribe ignition-point email@address or (un)subscribe ignition-point-digest email@address **************************************************** www.telepath.com/believer ****************************************************