a call to arms

By emile 16 Jul 2004

From the Center for Democracy and Technology:

The Senate Commerce Committee may decide on Tuesday, July 20, whether to extend to VOIP and the Internet the FBI design mandates contained in a law called the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). That law required traditional phone companies to meet certain design standards to allow phone calls to be wiretapped easily, but when it was passed in 1994 Congress recognized the unique architecture of the Internet and explicitly excluded the Internet from the scope of its surveillance design mandates. Congress should not extend CALEA to VOIP and the Internet -- it would be bad for innovation, cost, privacy and security. Everyone should tell their Senator that CALEA is a straightjacket, ill-suited to the Internet. While there may be legitimate law enforcement concerns with regard to wiretapping the Internet, they must be addressed in a way appropriate to the Internet. See http://www.cdt.org/action/voip/ for more information.

Tags: fbi cdt wiretapping