FBI: Build Wiretapping Into the Internet
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), founded in 1986, is the private
international organization that sets standards for Internet technology.
The group is now debating whether future Internet technology should be
constructed in such a way as to allow the U.S. government to easily conduct
wiretaps of online telephone communication -- in other words, to wire
government surveillance into the next generation of Internet protocols.
IETF members are girding for an explosive debate at their meeting next
month. But the FBI has already given its opinion - and, big surprise, they
are pro-wiretap.
"We think it's a wise and prudent move," said Barry Smith, supervisory
special agent in the FBI's Digital Telephony and Encryption policy unit.
"If court-authorized wiretaps are frustrated, effective law enforcement is
jeopardized, public safety is jeopardized, and policymakers are going to
have to figure out how to rectify the problem."
It's Smith's last point - a veiled threat, really -- that concerns some
IETF leaders. They argue that if the IETF doesn't build in Internet
telephone wiretapping capability voluntarily, the government will pass laws
mandating such changes anyway - and those laws could be more invasive
and/or technologically unwieldy than the changes IETF might make.
The FBI's Smith agrees.
"If this standard-setting body chooses to turn a blind eye to reality, they
can make a statement, but companies are going to have to function in the
real world and meet their governmental obligations," Smith said.
But Jeff Schiller, an IETF executive committee member, disagrees. "We
should not be building surveillance technology into standards. Law
enforcement was not supposed to be easy. Where it is easy, it's called a
police state."
(Of course, the United States, like most other countries, already requires
telephone companies to configure their networks so police can easily
wiretap calls.)
(Source: Wired News: "Net Wiretapping: Yes or No?" by Declan McCullagh Oct.
13)
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