Fw: Israeli compromise of U.S. telecommunications?

[Elyn Wollensky]

fwd from cryptography list:
some interesting points on CALEA -
elyn

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ronald L. Rivest 
Sent: Thursday, December 20, 2001 10:41 AM
Subject: Israeli compromise of U.S. telecommunications?


> 
> I found the following four-part report by Carl Cameron rather shocking:
> 
> Part 1: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,40684,00.html
> Part 2: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,40747,00.html
> Part 3: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,40824,00.html
> Part 4: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,40981,00.html
> 
> Why should we be freely giving to Israeli corporations
> information (call records, CALEA information) that requires
> court orders to obtain in this country?  Such information
> is obviously sensitive, and the well-motivated efforts to
> strengthen and protect our national infrastructure should
> reasonably include mandating that such information not be
> routinely handled by any foreign entities...
> 
> A more recent story indicates that the compromise was
> probably severe; criminals were escaping detection
> because of the compromise:
>    http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/12/18/224826.shtml
> 
> This vindicates concerns many of us have expressed
> over the years about creating single points of failure
> in wiretapping systems (e.g. the vulnerability of key
> escrow, etc.).  Of course, in this case the vulnerability
> was intentionally created, it seems, by giving critical
> capabilities to foreign entities...
> 
> Ronald L. Rivest