Coming Soon: More Big Brother to Love
Note: I found this article in the Huffington Post today about some new revisions into the eavesdropping rules allowing the different agency to"tap" into data streams and voice IP packets. I do believe we should have some basic privacy even if it means we are a little less safe. The key is to respect each other and we will get along fine.
"Over the past several months, the FCC and Justice Department have been working overtime, and fighting hard to tap not only your landline phone, your cellphone, but to tap Internet phonecalls, as well. Effective in May, those who provide "voice transmission," and broadband services will have to ensure that their equipment that is wiretap-ready, and accessible to your local police force, and the FBI."
The new legislation is modeled after the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement, or CALEA, which was designed primarily to facilitate wiretaping of mobile phones. This new legislation is intended to expand governmental surveillance powers to cover companies like Vonage, so the progression evolves thus: first we can tap Ma Bell, then Cingular Wireless, then Yahoo emails, then Vonage.
The rules set to go into effect in a couple of months have been challenged by a U.S. appeals panel, back in July, at which U.S. District Judge Harry T. Edwards called courtroom arguments made by the FCC "goobledygook." (VoIP News Net) He was, in my opinion, being kind. Civil liberties groups have expressed outrage over the FCC expansionism claiming that this legislation doesn't take into account the fundamental difference between the telephone, a vehicle for conversation, and the Internet, a tool by which information is acquired and conveyed.
Lawyers for the government argued only that the 1994 intended to be applied to future technology; the Judge wasn't buying that, and neither are we. Moreover, sophistic claims by the Justice Department that not increasing wiretapping capability to encompass the rapidly proliferating Internet phone industry will transform the Web into a refuge for "criminals and terrorists" are not only hackneyed, they're transparent enough for a six year old to see through.
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Posted to VoIP Politics