The 1994 "Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act" (CALEA, a.k.a. the "Digital Telephony Wiretapping Law"), a controversial piece of legislation even when passed, is currently a hotly debated issue. In summary, CALEA provides for ensuring that current and future digital communications infrastructure allows police and intelligence agency wiretaps, if reasonably feasible, and provides for very precise limits on the new wiretapping requirements and powers.
Since passage of the law, which requires tappable systems to be designed and deployed through an industry/police compromise process, no later than Oct. 1998, the US Justice Dept.'s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has done everything in its power to arm-twist the communications industry into building in most or all of an FBI "wish list" that includes privacy-threatening developments like remote automated wiretapping, and tracking of the physical location of any cell phone user, among many other troubling ideas. Congress specifically denied the FBI such authority, yet the FBI has essentially thwarted the implementation of CALEA as it was passed, by refusing to agree to any industry-proposed infrastructure standards that implement the letter of the law.
Beginning in late 1997, civil liberties and industry organizations have urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which has oversight of CALEA implementation, to rule that the FBI demands are improper. In 1998, we have escalated this action further, to urge Congress to repeal, or at very least place on "hold" and re-examine, this legislation in light of the bad faith shown by the FBI.
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