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FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping

By TChris, Section Civil Liberties
Posted on Sat Oct 22, 2005 at 04:25:47 PM EST
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by TChris

The Big Brothers in Washington are perturbed that it's so difficult to spy on your email. By means of an unfunded mandate, they're working to make it easier.

The federal government, vastly extending the reach of an 11-year-old law, is requiring hundreds of universities, online communications companies and cities to overhaul their Internet computer networks to make it easier for law enforcement authorities to monitor e-mail and other online communications.

...

The 1994 law, the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, requires telephone carriers to engineer their switching systems at their own cost so that federal agents can obtain easy surveillance access.

An FCC order, instigated by the Justice Department, extends the law's reach "not only to universities, but also to libraries, airports providing wireless service and commercial Internet access providers."

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    • FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping | 13 comments (13 topical)
    Re: FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:16 PM EST
    Let's not forget that there are a lot of Democrats that think this kind of fascism is a good idea. Totalitarian tendencies aren't solely the domain of Conservatives.

    Re: FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:16 PM EST
    The New York Times is such a reliable source of misinformation. This isn't about email. It's about voice over IP (VoIP). All the FCC is requiring is that VoIP calls be as easy to wiretap as calls on the traditional phone network. The irony is that hackers claim that VoIP calls are already easy to listen in on. The FCC may be mandating a function that already exists but no one wants to acknowledge. If you really want to secure your data there are legal means for doing that. It really doesn't make a lot of sense to send your data out unprotected and then complain because somebody looked at it.

    Re: FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:16 PM EST
    allen:
    It really doesn't make a lot of sense to send your data out unprotected and then complain because somebody looked at it.
    It certainly does if the people doing the looking are breaking the law. I can complain about that, and I can expect the government to work to further secure communications, as opposed to working to undermine what little security exists. Or do you think it is the individual's responsibility, not the government's, to counter hackers? And how are we to counter those government agencies who are intent on violating our privacy rights and making it easier for hackers to do the same? Why should hackers be accepted as a fact of life? Are bank robbers, highwaymen and pirates the next to get a free pass?

    Re: FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping (none / 0) (#4)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:16 PM EST
    et al - Here's a look at new tracking program. Link

    Re: FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping (none / 0) (#5)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:16 PM EST
    Darn Link

    Re: FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping (none / 0) (#8)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:16 PM EST
    Hmm. They hate our freedom, yet none dare call it terrorism.

    Re: FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping (none / 0) (#6)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:17 PM EST
    Allen - Right. All VoIP is, is voice over the Internet. If data can be hacked, so can voice. The question is, are they talking about ease of listening, or ease of intercepting? I can see where every bit/packet could just he duplicated and sent straight to the government.

    Re: FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:17 PM EST
    Just wondering, but does every issue have to be "Democrat" or "Republican?" Can't you agree with or disagree with something without having to check your party's talking points? The govt has been in your bedroom since the word "government" came around...this is no different. The only thing that changes is the name of the party abusing real freedom- and that is always the party in power...right or left...

    Re: FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:17 PM EST
    The CDT has a good page on this issue. I don't agree with some of their arguments on this, but they provide a reasonably complete perspective. CALEA has been around since 1994. The capabilities have been built into the standard telephone network for several years. There's an old analogy about the internet. Sending personal data, such as personal email, on the internet is like writing a personal letter on the back of a postcard. Anyone can read it. If you really want to send personal stuff you put it in an envelope. Technology for providing envelopes for email exists, but no one wants to use it. Expecting the government to provide the envelope results in solutions like the Clipper chip.

    Re: FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:17 PM EST
    "The only thing that changes is the name of the party abusing real freedom- and that is always the party in power...right or left..." The persistence of that FANTASY is amazing. First off, there is no 'right and left' to American government. There is a rightwing of the R party, which is a gang of fanatic traitors who have seized the country through illegal voting and threats, and are presently moving THOUSANDS OF TONS OF ONE HUNDRED DOLLAR BILLS to the other side of the earth, aka their own pockets. There is no 'leftwing' in government. Never has been. Treason is not SOP. Neither is spying on Americans. The party in power that did the spying on Americans was otherwise known as the FBI. What party was that? It's pretty clear that J. Edgar wasn't a leftist. Democrats are not leftists. And it used to be that Rs were not rightists, but that line has evaporated entirely. Your entire R party is complicit with traitors.

    Re: FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:17 PM EST
    >sound of Jackal Laughing his @ss off< You've got the wrong dude, I swear!! Jackal a conservative or Republican? Paul, stop shooting!! Friendly Fire!! Paul, if you have read any of my postings here, you'd know Jackal is the furthest thing from from the "R" word that you'll ever know...it must be my lack of partisanship that so confuses you. The govt is full of crooks, whatever their political affiliation. That is not to say that these current crooks aren't the most egregious to come down the pipe, but that is what America deserves for having let so many "Jesus-Juice" drinking gain so much credibility in the past fifteen years. Before that, you had Iran-Contra, Water-Gate, Gulf of Tonkin, the internment of Japanese-Americans, the Democratic Chapter of the Southern KKK, Tuskeegee-should I go on, or are you getting the hint? The problem with most white people, I'm ashamed to say, is that they're only outraged if it's their ox getting gored....ten years ago, Clinton was a saint...now George is...the next prez will be the same... The only things that change for the poor and dispossessed is the color of the banners...all else goes on as usual...

    Re: FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:18 PM EST
    Jack, your cynicism is worthless tripe. The idea that 'America deserves' any of this is just bigotry. We are 300 million people, almost all of whom has ZERO influence on government. So who are you blaming? The flag? You have a serious case of having your telescope turned around the wrong way. China suffered through THREE THOUSAND years of tyranny. Prior to the American revolution, there was NOTHING in the way of representative democracy on a large scale in the world. Did the founding of our system of government eliminate racism from the country? No, it didn't, and of course IT COULDN'T. All your point of false historical perspective produces is the FALSE idea that these criminals are a legitimate administration. I've lived through a lot that were borderline, but these people are WAY over that. And meanwhile the military/oil/industrial complex continues to spin out of control. Your solution? Shoot the only party left. No thanks, Jack.

    Re: FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:05:18 PM EST
    Paul, don't be such a knee-jerker. Who the hell deserves what America is getting, if America doesn't? Iraq? Syria? Iran? North Korea? Yeah, poor America...think for a minute about all of the non-Americans who've died in the last five years because George stole the election in 2000 and the country stood back and let him. I said before the '04 elections, very loudly to anyone who knows me, in fact, that "If Bush gets re-elected in November, America deserves what it gets afterward." I stand by my words. Don't blame a guy shovelling alongside you for telling it like it is...this sh!t didn't fall out of the sky, did it? I think not. I saw Bush coming down the pipe in '99 and said, "If this half-wit becomes President, I'll eat my hat." I'm still spitting out cotton.

    FCC Simplifies Gov't Snooping | 13 comments (13 topical)