Cox closes wiretap hole for VoIP (Cox able to wiretap their customers

[Florida_Geek]

http://news.com.com/2100-7352_3-5184774.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=news

Cox closes wiretap hole for VoIP

By Ben Charny
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
http://news.com.com/2100-7352-5184774.html

Story last modified April 5, 2004, 5:00 AM PDT

Cox Communications said Monday it can now wiretap Internet telephone calls, beginning a new era for law enforcement.
Cox turned to security specialists Verisign to supply the know-how, Verisign announced Monday.

By doing so, law enforcement officers can once again eavesdrop on every call made by Cox's nearly 1 million voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone subscribers. Cox already taps calls in 12 of its 13 Net telephone markets because they rely on traditional phone equipment already equipped with eavesdropping abilities. But in December, Cox deployed VoIP, a much cheaper alternative that uses the unregulated Internet. Roanoke, Va., is the first of several small markets where Cox will deploy VoIP technology

more at article....

[kiahzero]

1. Article title is silly

It's not "closing" a "wiretap hole," unless they can no longer wiretap.

Creating a new privacy vunerability != closing a hole... it's opening one.

[0007]

2. I have a Cox cable connection

Four months I had problems that led me to become suspicious of Cox. Looks like I'll be looking for another DSL outlet.

Is SBC any better?

[ZR2]

3. Sounds like an opportunity

for a software maker to develop scrambling software for VoIP.

[ret5hd]

5. i thought PGP already had voice scrambling capabilities...

i may be wrong tho.

[electricmonk]

4. That's where I live

and I was recently thinking about switching to their phone service. Guess not now. The odds of me being tapped would be extremely low but it's the principle of the thing. Not giving up my cable internet though.