FCC Releases Orders on Broadband, Wiretaps - mandated that they and Internet telephone companies design their networks to facilitate surveillance by l

FCC RELEASES ORDERS ON BROADBAND, WIRETAPS

Posted By: LightEye <Send E-Mail>
Date: Tuesday, 4 October 2005, 2:11 p.m.

[link to www.tbrnews.org]

FCC Releases Orders on Broadband, Wiretaps

September 27, 2005
by Drew Clark
National Journal

The FCC released rules for the newly "deregulated" providers of high-speed Internet service over digital subscriber lines -- and mandated that they and Internet telephone companies design their networks to facilitate surveillance by law enforcement.

The agency issued two separate orders: One declared that broadband over DSL provided by telecommunications companies is now an unregulated "information service." The other order requires all broadband and companies capable of being linked to the public-switched telephone network to help law enforcers implement wiretaps.

The FCC unanimously approved both moves in principle on Aug. 5. The obligation to comply with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act was seen as a necessary, simultaneous action because -- without it -- DSL providers would have been exempt from the wiretapping law.

Two of the agency´s four commissioners questioned the legality of the FCC´s action with regard to CALEA. And at least two groups -- the Center for Democracy and Technology, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation -- said they are likely to sue because Internet services were specifically exempted from CALEA, which was passed in 1994.

The decision "is built on very complicated legal ground," Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps said in a statement released Friday. He added, "The statute is undeniably stretched to recognize new service technologies."

"An approach like the one we adopt today is not without legal risk," Republican Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy said in an Aug. 5 statement repeated on Friday.

[link to www.surfingtheapocalypse.net]