Court backs gov't broadband wiretap access

FYI…

- http://tinyurl.com/owdst
Jun 9, 2006 5:56pm ET
"A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld the government's authority to force high-speed Internet service providers to give law enforcement authorities access for surveillance purposes. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected a petition aimed at overturning a decision by regulators requiring facilities-based broadband providers and those that offer Internet telephone service to comply with U.S. wiretap laws. In a split decision, two of three judges on the panel concluded that the 2005 Federal Communications Commission requirement was a "reasonable policy choice" even though information services are exempted from the government's wiretapping authority. The FCC has set a May 14, 2007, deadline for compliance… In a dissenting opinion, one of the judges, Harry Edwards, called the argument "convoluted." "The agency has simply abandoned the well-understood meaning of 'information services' without offering any coherent alternative interpretation in its place," Edwards wrote. A lawyer who represents some of the groups that challenged the FCC said Edwards' dissent makes the case a good candidate for appeal."

http://news.com.com/FBI+plans+new+Net-tapp…_3-6091942.html

Read the rest of the article at the link above, but here's the meat of it:

"Breaking the legislation down
The 27-page proposed CALEA amendments seen by CNET News.com would:

• Require any manufacturer of "routing" and "addressing" hardware to offer upgrades or other "modifications" that are needed to support Internet wiretapping. Current law does require that of telephone switch manufacturers–but not makers of routers and network address translation hardware like Cisco Systems and 2Wire.

• Authorize the expansion of wiretapping requirements to "commercial" Internet services including instant messaging if the FCC deems it to be in the "public interest." That would likely sweep in services such as in-game chats offered by Microsoft's Xbox 360 gaming system as well.

• Force Internet service providers to sift through their customers' communications to identify, for instance, only VoIP calls. (The language requires companies to adhere to "processing or filtering methods or procedures applied by a law enforcement agency.") That means police could simply ask broadband providers like AT&T, Comcast or Verizon for wiretap info–instead of having to figure out what VoIP service was being used.

• Eliminate the current legal requirement saying the Justice Department must publish a public "notice of the actual number of communications interceptions" every year. That notice currently also must disclose the "maximum capacity" required to accommodate all of the legally authorized taps that government agencies will "conduct and use simultaneously." "

=====================================================


This is the fifth tactic - "regulation". Bypasses both Legislative and Judicial Branches - unless someone brings suit and the suit is allowed to stand (given the Executive's penchant for claiming "national security", the prospects for successful suits become dimmer and dimmer).

The other four "tactics" - in case you were wondering - are:

(1) Give it a patriotic, flag-waving/tear-jerking name

(2) If that doesn't work, re-name it and try it again

(3) If that doesn't work, slip it in with some entirely un-related legislation on a bill that simply has to pass

(4) Say it's to protect women or the kids

If all that fails, simply go "black ops" with it, fund/develop/deploy it secretly and insist that no elected official (outside the Executive branch, of course) has a sufficient enough "security clearance" to examine, question or stop it.

Are you hearing the swelling sound of jackboots marching in lock-step yet?

You should be. Pete