[NEWS] FBI To Require ISPs To Reconfigure E-mail Systems (fwd)

Sean Donelan sean at donelan.com
Thu Oct 18 07:43:25 UTC 2001


On 17 Oct 2001, Paul Vixie wrote:
> > Funny you should mention that, as I think we are about to find out.
>
> It's possible that the feds are going about this in the wrong way.  Rather
> than seeking ways to expose that wrongness if any, we ought to be putting
> our effort into figuring out what they're trying to do and then making a
> recommendation (or several) as to how to actually get it done.

I would if I could.

Some of it is confused by "we can't tell you," so no one can evaluate if
there is a less disruptive, less expensive and maybe even more effective
way to accomplish the same thing.

Some of my best friends work for the FBI :-)  I talk to them at
conferences, by e-mail, and so forth.  They are all very reasonable
and intelligent people.  They are very good at what they do, but
their expertise is focused in other areas.   But something happens
between the meetings and the publishing of the "punchlist."  I've
never met a person willing to admit they wrote any of the punchlist
items.  They just seem to appear anonymously out of thin air.

The majority of the information law enforcement requests (court order,
subpoena, etc) is handed over without (much) argument by most ISPs.

The most pushback comes from items carriers/providers believe may
corrupt, disrupt or otherwise impact the service of other customers.
There are people very good at designing tools for building doors, and
people very good at designing tools for breaking down doors.  While
you might use a hammer to do both, the mistake is thinking the same
hammer is always the best tool for every job.  If you happen to use
screws instead of nails, I guess you are out of luck.

Unless law enforcement is willing to tell us what the problem is, we
can't engineer the correct hammer for their needs.  Instead it appears
the FBI will design the hammer for us, and still not tell us what the
problem is.


Hey, FBI.  Tell us what you are trying to build and maybe we can
design a cool tool to help you build it.


> Put your shoulder to this wheel, folks.  Or find someplace else to live.
> (There's a four year sunset provision in the law they're passing tonight.)

I doubt the house is voting on any laws tonight.




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