U.S. Wants to Peer Into Phone Service Networks

[Nomad559]

http://thedaily.washington.edu/news.lasso?-database=DailyWebSQL&-table=Articles&-response=wnpage.lasso&-keyField=__Record_ID__&-keyValue=14511&-search

The federal government wants to peer into your computer communications, forcing companies that provide high-speed access or Internet-based telephone service to design -- or redesign -- their networks to accommodate surveillance.

On Monday, the Federal Communications Commission gave broadband Internet service and voice-over-Internet Protocol services, or VoIP, 18 months to ensure that their networks are wiretap-ready. This followed the FCC's formal release of the order in September.

Privacy advocates say law enforcement agencies already can wiretap Internet services. They criticize the FCC for overstepping its bounds by requiring businesses to devise systems to the specifications of the federal government.

"This is like saying, `Everybody has to keep their doors unlocked because the FBI might need to get in,"' said Mark Rasch, a former attorney who handled computer crime cases for the Justice Department and is now senior vice president and chief security counsel of Solutionary Inc., an Omaha, Neb., computer security consulting company. "The harm of everybody keeping their doors unlocked all the time is much greater than the benefit."

[Mutley]

1. Oh, this won't end up badly.

Not at all.