ZDNet: FBI wants to tap Net phones; Internet calls becoming threat

[Atlant]

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105_2-5056424.html

FBI wants to tap Net phones

By Declan McCullagh
CNET News.com

Internet telephone calls are fast becoming a national security threat that must be countered with new police
wiretap rules, according to an FBI proposal presented quietly to regulators this month.

Representatives of the FBI's Electronic Surveillance Technology Section in Chantilly, Va., have met at
least twice in the past three weeks with senior officials of the Federal Communications Commission to
lobby for proposed new Internet eavesdropping rules. The FBI-drafted plan seeks to force broadband
providers to provide more efficient, standardized surveillance facilities and could substantially change
the way that cable modem and DSL (digital subscriber line) companies operate.

The new rules are necessary, because terrorists could otherwise frustrate legitimate wiretaps by
placing phone calls over the Internet, warns a summary of a July 10 meeting with the FCC that the FBI prepared.
"Broadband networks may ultimately replace narrowband networks," the summary says. "This trend offers increasing
opportunities for terrorists, spies and criminals to evade lawful electronic surveillance."

<snip>

According to the proposal that the FCC is considering, any company offering cable modem or DSL service to residences
or businesses would be required to comply with a thicket of federal regulations that would establish a central hub for
police surveillance of their customers. The proposal has alarmed civil libertarians who fear that it might jeopardize
privacy and warn that the existence of such hubs could facilitate broad surveillance of other Internet communications
such as e-mail, Web browsing and instant messaging.

<more>

[htuttle]

1. We went over this issue when Clinton was President -- 'Clipper chip'?

During the Clipper Chip debate, It was determined that it would do several things:
1) cripple US telecom manufacturers, since why would someone elsewhere in the world buy a phone with a built-in backdoor for the FBI.
2) lead to a plague of personal and politically motived surveillance
and finally
3) nobody trusted the FBI to be able to keep the 'secret key' a secret, thus possibly compromising the entire nation's phone system.

It was a bad idea in 1996, and it's still a bad idea.

[Sushi_lover]

2. circumvention too easy, anyway

Software encryption on the sender and receiver PC will encode any messages.

Sure there are supercomputers that are capable of cracking encryption keys. but there are also adaptive algorithms now that change the key on the fly.

They cannot stop the proliferation of encryption software.

The whole idea is a big waste of money.

[AndyTiedye]

3. Which is why they are into keystroke monitoring these days

The crypto is too hard to break, much easier to install a virus on the subject's machine to get everything you type (and get McAfee and Norton to not report it, something both companies have already agreed to).

[Atlant]

7. So the sensible terrorist runs Linux, MacOS/X, ...

> much easier to install a virus on the subject's machine to get
> everything you type (and get McAfee and Norton to not report it,
> something both companies have already agreed to).

So that just means that the sensible terrorist runs Linux, MacOS/X,
FreeBSD, NetBSD, Solaris, VMS, MVS, etc. rather than Windows.

On any of those operating systems, it's a bit harder for a virus to
install spyware, especially undetected spyware.

Atlant

[gandalf]

4. circumvention is easy, right. But who would use it?

It is quite easy to encrypt at least your important mails with, say, PGP. But which percentage of the average group of mail users even know the word PGP?
I know very few people who encrypt some of their mails. Typical answer: "I do not have anything to hide. If eavesdropping prevents crime, it's ok with me.". While this attitude is prevailing, it may not be bad to eavesdrop, from the feds' point of view.
And it is not that easy to find a safe encryption algorithm. NSA is the biggest employer of mathematicians, and the biggest researcher on cryptography. Can you trust PGP? The source code of the newest version is no longer public.

[damnraddem]

5. Internationally, the net is a threat to the powers that be.

Those in the US want the FBI to be able to monitor it. Net-phone is just the excuse.

[saigon68]

6. JON ASSCROFT MASTURBATING OVER THIS.

This is the kind of stuff that gets Asscroft aroused and excited. Just think of the dirt this pervert can monitor.

I'll bet he's already reserving large time blocks so he can really practice self-abuse.

[this_side_up]

9. Aha! Remember

ashcroft's bong raids?

He said that the net should be for business use only.
I guess he wants to define legitimate business?


And dump individuals off the net??


That will be just great for the economy.


SHUT UP fool! Ignorant, uptight, tightassed fool


(shudder) I wonder what he dreams about at night

[this_side_up]

8. I guess this also includes

net phone calls made using a dial-around telephone number?

We pay $20/mo for unlimited long distance 24/7 within the
lower contiguous 48 states.

Edited to add that we have dialup, not DSL or cable. Not sure
how this effects us? Guess they'd just spy on the provider's
hub?

And what business is it of theirs who is on the phone,
the time on and off, how long, who they called?

[ParanoidPat]

10. This needs a......

......:kick: