FCC says internet phones must be buggable

[donsu]

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,69277,00.html

Furor Grows Over Internet Bugging

A recent government order mandating that voice over internet protocol services must include the same government-approved wiretapping capabilities as traditional phone companies threatens to cripple peer-to-peer telephone innovation, according to new warnings from civil liberties groups and an internet telephony pioneer.

The new rules from the FCC were published last month and take effect Nov. 14 , though companies have 18 months to comply. The order expands a controversial 1994 law known as the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA, which required phone companies to buy or retrofit switching equipment to meet stringent, government-approved wiretap standards that permit law enforcement to more easily wiretap digital phone calls, and to capture information such as voicemail PINs typed on a phone after a call is completed.

Under the new order, VOIP services that can both dial into, and be called from, the traditional phone network also have to comply with the costly requirements, pulling services like AT&T CallVantage and Vonage into the wiretap regime.

Critics say the rules make it harder for new U.S. internet telephony companies to get off the ground.
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what a country - the phones must be buggable

[longship]

1. Screw them.

They can have my encryption keys when they pull them out of my cold, dead hand.

[Democrats_win]

2. "The Russians are coming, The Russians are coming!"

Nothing. If this had been a real emergency, we'd all be dead.

[papau]

3. The order was to ISP's providing software - peer to peer software

is not covered by the order - and I do not think can be - but they are trying to pressure the peer to peer software folks.

[converted_democrat]

4. This is crazy.....Phones "must" be "buggable?" Man, I'm not a paranoid

person by design, but this country is beginning to scare the crap out of me. WTF is up with this? Privacy is dead in this country.

[nashbridges]

5. Phones have always had to be "buggable"

Since just after WWII. It's not a new law.

[rkc3]

7. Repubs believe there is no right to privacy - not spelled out in

the Constitution or in the Bible, so they're doing everything they can to take it away from us.

[porphyrian]

6. Fuck the FCC.

They only exist to allow corporations to own certain frequencies and to enforce arbitrary decency rules on how they're used.

[mmonk]

8. All honest people

need to bug others. Bug off FCC!

[sweetheart]

9. This is just a land-grab by big-old-telephony

They're being sideswiped by a replacement technology (VOIP) and so they
are using their superior lobbying power at the criminal congress to
fuck things up. So they've sold the "security" paranoia mantra, oh how
droll.

[shenmue]

10. Do what?

Did they just say...no, they couldn't have...

they did?

:o

:wtf:

:scared:

:nuke:

I'm insane now. Thank you, FCC.

FCC you.

[applegrove]

11. Of course they should be buggable!!! What - do you want the narcs

sitting outside some cocaine kings house with an empty tin can held against the wall of the house and wire leading to his police issued mule - so they can hear?

Duh!

[AnnieBW]

12. For an Informed Opinion On this...

Read Jeff Pulver's blog entries for yesterday at http://pulverblog.pulver.com/. He's a major VoIP guru, and has briefed the FCC many times on CALEA and E-911 issues. The VoIP industry has been working towards solutions to the CALEA issue for at least two years, but the FCC has now stepped in to mandate it. (So much for the "free market", huh?)

Ironically, a lot changed when Michael Powell left the FCC. For all that was said about him during the Janet Jackson bullshit, Powell was very pro-technology, and encouraged the VoIP industry. The new chairman, Kevin Martin, is a jerk-off who is the traditional telephone companies' best friend. He pissed off a LOT of people by forcing the industry to comply with 911 rules after that incident in Texas where someone couldn't get through to 911 because they were a Vonage subscriber, even though the Vonage consumers WILLINGLY chose not to pay for 911 service.

I follow this industry for my job, and I've been to several conferences - one of them just recently. If you're really, really paranoid about the Evil Government spying on your phone calls, use Skype (http://www.skype.com). It's encrypted, and it's not a U.S. company, so it doesn't have to conform to U.S. rules. Although it's recent acquisition by eBay may change that. But, remember, it's a LOT easier to tap a regular phone line than a VoIP line. So, don't let that scare you away from using the new technology.