Carnal Reason

CALEA is a 1994 law designed to turn the phone system into a surveillance system on the consumer’s dime. The FBI wanted this, the Clinton administration pushed it hard, and Congress approved it overwhelmingly. It was truly a bi-partisan POS. Recently the FCC has approved expanding CALEA to turn the internet, even the privately owned parts, into a surveillance system. On the consumer’s dime.

In an almost unique instance of a United States senator showing a bit of spine, Patrick Leahy has spoken out against the expansion.

Reaction of Senator Patrick Leahy,
Primary Sponsor Of CALEA,
And Ranking Member, Judiciary Committee,
On The Extension Of CALEA To Voice Over Internet Protocol
October 26, 2005

“The expansion of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) to the Internet is troubling, and it is not what Congress intended. Law enforcement agencies should be able to intercept those communications with appropriate court orders but stretching this law without changing it, and without properly examining the implications of doing that, invites a basketful of potential new problems. It could give the government the authority to dictate network and software designs, impede innovation, drive innovators offshore, raise costs for both businesses and consumers, and threaten both privacy and network security.

“I worked hard to bring together law enforcement agencies, privacy and consumer advocates, telephone companies and other stakeholders together to bridge competing interests in order to meet a well-defined law enforcement need. CALEA was passed to apply only to the public telephone network — and only after careful analysis over several years by the Congress of the costs, burdens, alternatives and security risks posed by a new regulatory scheme.

“Congress recognized the unique architecture of the Internet and explicitly excluded it from the scope of CALEA’s surveillance design mandates, and we did that to allow Congress to re-visit the appropriateness of such an extension as the Internet developed. Any extension of CALEA – a law written for the telephone system in 1994 – to the Internet in 2005 would be inconsistent with congressional intent.

“There are certainly legitimate law enforcement interests concerning ‘tapping’ the Internet, and they must be addressed appropriately. We need to develop suitable solutions after reaching a broad consensus. Congressional hearings are a good place to start.

“We certainly need to hear whether law enforcement agencies are actually experiencing interception problems on the Internet, since the last thing we should do is fix a problem that does not exist. We should also carefully examine any approach that would allow law enforcement agencies to set technology mandates, particularly given the challenges we have seen this year in the FBI’s own mishaps in its technology development.

“The federal government so far has successfully allowed the Internet to flourish by avoiding design mandates and other limitations. We all must keep that important lesson in mind as we consider law enforcement concerns. The United States developed and nourished the Internet, and the world watches whenever we attempt to regulate it. Whenever we venture down that road, we have a special responsibility to get it right, and it’s in our best interests to get it right. Recent proposals to change Internet governance and threaten Internet stability remind us of the need to be particularly vigilant in maintaining the essential freedom that has kept the Internet flourishing. We should proceed prudently and knowledgeably. We must find ways to ensure that law enforcement agencies have the tools they need, without jeopardizing the innovation that benefits consumers and our economy.”

Posted on October 27th, 2005 by pwyll
Filed under: law