CNET’s Declan McCullagh has great sources in the Internet business when it comes to matters of wire-tapping. His latest scoop on this topic: the FBI has drafted sweeping legislation that would require Internet service providers to create wiretapping hubs for law enforcement surveillance.
The Feds plan to make this push a top priority for legislation in 2007 and have supposedly arranged for Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH) to introduce a bill that spells out the requirements. Declan has got a hold of a 27-page paper that spells out the amendments to the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act needed to accomplish this goal.
The amendments are scary indeed. Among them are requirements that would
—force any manufacturer of routing or addressing hardware to make modifications to their gear so that wiretapping can occur. Right now only switch makers have to design equipment with wiretapping in mind.
—force Internet providers to filter their customers’ communications so that any VoIP calls can be identified. This means that Comcast, for example, will have to keep track of its customers’ usage of independent VoIP provider traffic, such as that provided by Vonage.
—eliminate the current legal requirement that DOJ publish a public notice of how many communications interceptions it engages in each year.
The good news in all of this: Senator DeWine is in a reelection fight for his life against Representative Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
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