Reply #11: Appeals Court Sides With White House on Wiretaps--WaPo

[Demeter]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/09/AR2006060900864.html?referrer=email

Appeals Court Sides With White House on Wiretaps

By Kim Hart
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 10, 2006; D01



Companies that provide Web-based telecommunications services must allow wiretapping by law enforcement officials, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday.

The ruling upholds a Federal Communications Commission decision that companies such as Vonage Holdings Corp., the country's largest provider of Internet phone service, are under the same legal obligation as telephone companies. The requirement for a wiretap-compatible system could mean higher expenses for broadband service companies, and it marks the further spread of regulation into Internet phone services.

The FCC issued its ruling based on Justice Department concerns that new technology would not accommodate police wiretaps under the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, known as CALEA.

Judge David B. Sentelle, writing for a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, said that the FCC "offered a reasonable interpretation" of the law.


THERE'S A LOT MORE TO THIS ARTICLE--IT'S IMPORTANT, IT'S TECHNICAL, AND IT'S SCARY.