By: Charlie Savage of The New York Times
Published: September 27, 2010.
According to a New York Times article, the Obama Administration is expected to submit a bill to Congress next year that would require "all services that enable communications – including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct 'peer to peer' messaging like Skype – to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order" (emphasis added).
The proposed bill comes as a response to law enforcement and national security officials concluding that as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone, "their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is 'going dark.'"
Responding to the proposed bill, James X. Dempsey with the Center for Democracy and Technology, "said the proposal had 'huge implication' and challenged 'fundamental elements of the Internet revolution' – including its decentralized design."
Law enforcement officials see it differently, arguing that the ability to eavesdrop via these Internet-based communications services would only be possible with a federal warrant in hand.
"'We're talking about lawfully authorized intercepts,' said Valerie E. Caproni, general counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 'We're not talking expanding authority. We're talking about preserving our ability to execute our existing authority in order to protect the public safety and national security.'"
Interestingly, a law with a similar effect already exists. The Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act, passed in 1994, "aimed to ensure that government surveillance abilities would remain intact during the evolution from a copper-wire phone system to digital networks and cellphones."
The full text article can be found here, or by clicking on the link above.
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