As though the FCC's passing new wiretap rules for wireless telephones and other digital networks wasn't quite enough, Washington's policymakers are preparing for a brawl over e-mail and other personal computer file privacy.
Two weeks ago, the FBI took a small win from Federal regulators - the bureau will be allowed to listen in on wireless phone conversations and track user locations, so long as it gets a court order. But now, according to CNET, the FBI wants new powers to break through computer security software which makes your e-mail and other Internet communications incoherent when traveling along a digital network.
However, CNET adds, a "growing cadre of tech-friendly legislators" are joining privacy advocates and the software industry in opposing the FBI effort. They say giving law enforcement such easy access to protected e-mail and other files "could open a door to malicious hackers - or even official abuse," CNET says.
Congress plans to take up regulating security questions with encryption software. The FBI opposes the leading bill in that debate. Its author, Virginia Republican Senator Bob Goodlatte, says the 1994 digital wiretap law didn't exactly guarantee the FBI or other law enforcement could actually get message content.
Technology advances may have made it easier for criminals to elude the law, but privacy advocates fear high-tech efforts to catch them will leave too many holes through which privacy can be abused, if not abrogated entirely. But the FBI insists that without some means of access through encryption software to plain text, public safety is vulnerable.
