Justice, FBI Seek Rules for Internet Taps

[OneBlueSky]

By Ted Bridis
AP Technology Writer
Guardian Unlimited
Saturday, March 13, 2004

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3856719,00.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - Technology companies should be required to ensure that law enforcement agencies can install wiretaps on Internet traffic and new generations of digital communications, the Justice Department says.

The push would effectively expand the scope of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, a 1994 law that requires the telecommunications industry to build into its products tools that U.S. investigators can use to eavesdrop on conversations with a court order.

Fearful that federal agents can't install wiretaps against criminals using the latest communications technologies, lawyers for the Justice Department, FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration said their proposals ``require immediate attention and resolution'' by the Federal Communications Commission.

They called wiretaps ``an invaluable and necessary tool for federal, state, and local law enforcement in their fight against criminals, terrorists, and spies.''

- more . . .

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3856719,00.html

[bluestateguy]

1. Just another incentive for software programmers

It's an arms race they will never win. There will always be an incentive to develop software technologies to circumvent cyber-spying. As the government updates their technology, the software producers will do so accordingly.