Their joint petition, filed with the Federal Communications
Commission, explains: "The ability of federal, state and local law
enforcement to carry out critical electronic surveillance is being
compromised today."
It seeks therefore to extend the scope of the existing 1994
Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) from
telephone companies to include cable companies for the first
time.
According to the filing, CALEA was enacted to "maintain the
ability of law enforcement to conduct lawful electronic
surveillance despite changing telecommunications technologies by
further defining the telecommunications industry's existing
obligation to provision lawful electronic surveillance capabilities
and requiring industry to develop and deploy CALEA intercept
solutions."
The FCC is the body authorised to make changes when technology
advances – and changes are needed now, according to the petition,
which could force companies to facilitate the interception of
communications in instant messaging and Voice over Internet
Protocol (VoIP) services within 15 months. New services that do not
accommodate interceptions would be forbidden.
Critics say the proposal is damaging to privacy and threatens to
slow down the development of the internet. They also point out that
the proposal calls for the ISPs' costs to be passed to
consumers.
