FBI Digital Telephony Wiretap Threat Returns

Can we talk in private?  Not if the FBI has its way.

According to FBI Dir. Louis Freeh, the development of sophisticated digital
telecom and networking technology threatens the ability of the Feds to
wiretap.  In a Dec. 8 speech at Washington's National Press Club, Freeh
annouced a renewal of the FBI's 'Digital Telephony' legislation scheme:
the return of the controverial 'Wiretap Bill'.  The bill is strongly
opposed by organizations and individuals concerned about privacy, as well
as the telecommunications and computing industries at large.  The FBI's
'need' for this legislative action is under review by the Administration
as part of its examination of security and encryption issues.

From FBI Dir. Louis J. Freeh's National Press Club Speech on 12/08/93:
 
  "One investigative technique that the FBI has used very effectively against
many criminal groups is wiretapping. The continued use of this technique,
however, is threatened. Telephone's digital technology has advanced in
such a way that criminals will be able to avoid law enforcement detection
simply by using the telephone. They will be able to conduct their illicit
businesses openly and without any fear of the consequences. In order to
keep up with the criminals and to protect our national security, the
solution is clear: we need legislation to ensure that telephone companies
and other carriers provide law enforcement with access to this new
technology. Without it, one can reasonably predict that in the
future a major terrorist or criminal act will occur involving substantial
loss of life. Such a tragedy that we could not prevent, because we could
not learn critical information through electronic surveillance. That will
not be the time to discuss what could have been or what should have been.
That time is now."

[The full text of this speech is archived as ftp.eff.org,
pub/eff/legislation/wiretap.speech.]

For the FBI to demand the hampering of future telecommunications technology
simply to make it's job easier is an outrage.  The Bureau's assertion that
somehow wiretapping will solve the problems of gang warfare, a 300%
increase in murder rates, and foreign crime syndicates, is unsupported and
unsupportable.  Wiretapping's usefulness is exaggerated, and the dangers
inherent in a phone system easily tappable should be obvious to anyone
concerned about privacy.  Furthermore, the FBI has shown itself to be
capable of handling hi-tech wiretaps, as in the MoD case.  The "Digital
Telephony" scheme has been proposed before, and found to be severely
lacking.  Why does the FBI seem to think that a new director somehow can
breath life into a dead horse?  And finally, industry is already
cooperating to solve some of these problems, only they're beginning to
wonder if there really is a problem at all. 

According to _Communications_Daily_, the reappearance of this Bureau effort
contradicts statements by Special Agent Barry Smith of the FBI's
Congressional Affairs Office, who stated less than a month previously
that the 'Wiretap Bill' had been tabled.

According to classified documents released under the Freedom of  
Information Act (FOIA), the FBI and the Electronic Communications Service
Provider Committee or ECSPC (an ad hoc industry working group, which
formed in March), are attempting to decide if technical solutions can
be found to satisify law enforcement. According to a Nynex representative
co-chairing the group, Kenneth Raymond, no solution has yet been found, but
that FBI has yet to prove any solution is needed at all.  In an interview
with Brock Meeks, Raymond likened Freeh's tactics to "yelling out the
window" - an attention-getting move that needs some sort of clarifying
followup.

Though the ECSPC claims to be attempting to evaluate the problem and to
solve it "in some reasonable way that is consistent with cost and demand",
Raymond indicated that the group considers one 'solution' to be building
wiretap access into future telecom hardware - like the  Clipper chip
backdoor, but a 'feature' of all switch specifications for phone and data
lines.

This news was just received, and a more detailed analysis and statement
from EFF will follow soon.  Much of the above was based on a report by Brock
Meeks from _Communications_Daily_, Vol. 13, No. 237, Friday, Dec 10, 1993.

 *******

The FBI wants guaranteed access to your communications - at any cost!  If
you are concerned that the FBI will have too much power to access your private
messages, join EFF and protect your privacy - AGAIN.

 *******

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