Foes To Court - Cut Those Wiretap Rules!

The Justice Department and some heavy privacy advocacy hitters squared off May 17 over a proposal to give the FBI the power to intercept Internet communications without warrants. nrnThe hubbub centers around a Federal Communications Commission guideline from 1999 outlining the ways in which telecommunications providers will comply with the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act search warrant, which requires in-built capabilities for telephone communications and other advanced communications systems. The FCC adopted the rules after telecommunications companies and the FBI couldn't agree on how to go about it. nrnThe arguments began before Jim Dempsey, senior staff counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology, said the FCC was wrong to adopt such a broad translation of the CALEA given constitutional privacy rights. The Justice Department, however, denies that the law or the FCC reading of it means new eavesdropping powers; only that if an agent is authorized by law to get information, telecommunications providers are obliged to provide it. nrnA Justice official speaking anonymously told MSNBC that yes, under some circumstances agents might get material they weren't entitled to legally, but that's because telecommunications firms say they can't separate the content from the destination information. nrnAn MSNBC poll at midday May 17 showed an overwhelming majority urging the FCC rules to be dumped. Privacy advocates say federal eavesdropping has jumped 33 percent since President Clinton first took office in 1993. nrnDempsey fears the FCC rules - which also cover cellular telephone communications - would give government the content of communications it has no authority or business intercepting. "(O)n a normal phone call, carriers distinguish between the content and the dialing of a number. Agents don't get content of the communication unless law enforcement has a court order issued under strict legal standards."