try again - the IETF's bad call

[Scott Bradner <sob@harvard.edu>]

  Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 12:52:33 -0700 (PDT)
  From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
  To: politech@politechbot.com
  Subject: FC: Stu Baker on MetaSwitch, VOIP spying, and IETF's bad call
  
  Background on IETF decision not to bow to FBI request:
  http://www.politechbot.com/p-00652.html
  http://www.politechbot.com/p-00711.html
  http://www.politechbot.com/p-00709.html
  
  ---------- Forwarded message ----------
  Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 15:22:46 -0400
  From: "Baker, Stewart" <SBaker@steptoe.com>
  To: "'declan@well.com'" <declan@well.com>
  Cc: "Albertazzie, Sally" <SAlbertazzie@steptoe.com>
  Subject: RE: MetaSwitch embeds police spy features in new Net-phone switch
  
  Declan,
  
  I do a lot of CALEA law.  This announcement is no surprise.  And it's just
  the tip of the iceberg.
  
  While VOIP should be treated as an information service and thus exempt from
  CALEA's wiretap functionality requirements, there are two big uncertainties
  for manufacturers of Internet hardware.  First, the FCC has hinted that it
  will treat VOIP as covered by CALEA in some circumstances.  Second, the law
  itself says that it will cover new technologies once they become substitutes
  for a substantial portion of the public switched network.  So if you're
  planning for success, or just hedging your legal bets, it makes sense to
  build in CALEA functionality.
  
  In addition, if you're a hardware maker, it's tempting to offer a new
  generation of equipment that the FBI may require your customers to buy.  
  
  For all these reasons, Cisco and perhaps Juniper also seem to be working
  hard to build extensive wiretap functionality into their new products.  
  
  The IETF's long-ago refusal to consider this issue was hailed as a civil
  liberties victory at the time.  In fact, it has had the ironic effect of
  making it more likely that wiretap solutions will be proprietary and
  designed in quiet consultation with the FBI.  Bottom line: the notion that
  the Net inherently resists government control is in for a bad decade.
  
  Stewart Baker
  Steptoe & Johnson LLP
  1330 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.
  Washington, DC 20036
  phone -- 202.429.6413
  email fax -- 202.261.9825
  main fax -- 202.429.3902
  sbaker@steptoe.com
  
  
  
  
  
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
  You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
  This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
  Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
  Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------