U.S. Defends New Internet Wiretap Rules

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. Defends New Internet Wiretap Rules
By TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer
Friday, May 5, 2006
(05-05) 02:44 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

The Bush administration is defending new federal rules making it easier for police and the FBI to wiretap Internet phone calls.

A broad group of civil liberties and education groups — and a leading technology company — say the U.S. has improperly applied telephone-era rules to a new generation of Internet services.

Lawyers were expected to square off Friday over the Federal Communications Commission regulations before a three-judge panel for the U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Columbia. In an unrelated case last year affecting digital television, two of the same three judges ruled that the FCC had significantly exceeded its authority and threw out new FCC rules requiring anti-piracy technologies.
(snip)

The 1994 law was originally aimed at ensuring court-ordered wiretaps could be placed on wireless phones.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/05/05/national/w024406D95.DTL

[Theduckno2]

1. "And when once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak

as you saw fit, you now have sensors and systems of surveilance, coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission."
(from V for Vendetta)

A rather unnerving way to start my day, but it is nice to see someone calling them on this.