[Fwd: [IP] Feds: VoIP a potential haven for terrorists]

Fri Jun 18 19:44:50 UTC 2004

On 6/18/04 3:30 PM, "Scott Weeks" <surfer at mauigateway.com> wrote:

> 
> 
{snip}
> 
> 
> Anyone know yet if they've they said who would have to pay for it, and
> what they specifically mean by "broadband Internet providers"?
> 
> scott
> 
> 

Well, that's the issue, now isn't it. It all comes down to money and
control.

There are three schools of thought here.

One is that the VoIP should not be wiretapped at all. This seems a little
unrealistic considering that we allow other calls to be tapped. The second
school is that VoIP calls should be made no easier or harder to tap than the
technology itself warrants through its natural evolution. The FBI or
whomever would just have to learn how to work with it as it evolves. The
third school of thought is that all VoIP boxes should come with a red rj45
that says "FBI use only" and a big red button to start the data flowing to
said jack. 

Pickering and the FBI are asking for the third option. Some technologists
and civil libertarians seem to be advocating the first option. These might
be negotiating tactics rather than honest positions - welcome to Washington.

The amount of money the FBI would need to spend to tap a VoIP call is
highest with the first option, intermediate with the second, and lowest with
the last. Some services companies are really salivating for the chance to
add CALEA hardware to VoIP networks. I won't mention any particular
companies here, as they have taken a recent beating on this list. Piling on
seems rather cruel.

The second option is probably the most sensible. We'll see how far sensible
gets in the halls of Congress. I suggest crossing fingers, now.

-- 
Daniel Golding
Network and Telecommunications Strategies
Burton Group