CALEA
Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act
(Public Law 103-414)
CALEA
Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act
(Public Law 103-414)
In 1994 Congress passed CALEA to make it easier for law enforcement agencies to conduct electronic surveillance of telephone communications. It expressly excluded communication over the Internet.
On March 10, 2004, however, the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission which would expand CALEA to cover communication over the Internet. While law enforcement agencies can already place Internet users under surveillance, the proposed rulemaking would make it significantly easier to do so by forcing all broadband providers to become CALEA-compliant, including those that use VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) applications such as Vonage, email and instant messaging.
It has been suggested that, as a result of this proposed rule, innovators will be discouraged from developing technologies that protect users' privacy – that on the contrary, it would be in their interest to develop technologies that are easily tappable.
This proposed rule could be applied to users of online databases, including libraries and their patrons. Comments on it were due at the FCC December 7, 2004.
For more information, see:
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