Digital Telephony Act

[Jim McCoy]

> 
> Whats going to happen when direct satellite phone service becomes a
> reality ( as in the joint Loral/Qualcomm effort ) ?
[...]
> Do the Feds think this is can be won?


There is a clause in the Digital Telephony Act that states that the
wiretapping requirements are waived if the technology is fundementally
unable to provide this service to law enforcement due to it's design.  This
little bit leads me to believe that we might see telco designers putting a
bit of effort to make the designs untappable from the start to get around
such requirements if there is a market for it.  It was probably put in for
sats and wireless services, but in the right hands it might be a useful
loophole to drive a crypto truck through...

jim