WASHINGTON-Did the Federal Communications Commission’s further notice of proposed rule making on implementing the digital wiretap act show the industry interim standard is deficient, as the government claims? Or did the notice show that law enforcement has overreached in its interpretation of the act, as the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association claims?
These are the questions the FCC was asked last week as the various parties in the battle over the digital wiretap act filed comments with the FCC on the FNPRM.
“The [FCC’s FNPRM] represents a significant step forward in the process of implementing the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act … once the [FCC] has determined that the [industry interim] standard is deficient, the question is how to correct the deficiencies, not whether to correct them,” said the Department of Justice and the FBI in a joint filing. Numerous law enforcement agencies sent letters to the FCC supporting these comments.
The Personal Communications Industry Association said the industry interim standard is not deficient and urged the FCC to reject the punch list. The punch list is nine technical capabilities that law enforcement says are necessary to implement CALEA, which the telecommunications industry and privacy advocates claim go beyond the scope of CALEA. In the FNPRM, the FCC tentatively agreed with law enforcement on five of the items. It rejected three others and did not comment on the ninth item.
CTIA saw the answer to the root question differently. In a letter submitted with its formal comments, CTIA President Tom Wheeler said, “The FBI has spent millions on consultants to design and promote the expanded wiretap capabilities that they now ask the FCC to foist on the industry and consumers. The [FCC’s] dismissal of four of the FBI’s expansive demands is prima facie evidence of the over-reaching nature of the FBI’s efforts.”
Additionally, the two sides battled over the release of cost data. Earlier this month, CTIA joined with PCIA, the United States Telephone Association and the Telecommunications Industry Association in urging Attorney General Janet Reno to release cost data that had been used to justify the more than $2 billion Reno and FBI Director Louis Freeh said it would cost the government if Congress extended the grandfather date.
The grandfather date refers to CALEA language that requires the government to reimburse telecommunications carriers for CALEA-related upgrades to equipment in place before Jan. 1, 1995. Any equipment in place that has not been significantly upgraded and that the government chooses not to pay to be upgraded would be considered in compliance.
In its comments, DOJ and the FBI did not release the cost data. The government said it is “severely limited in its ability” to provide the kind of detailed cost information sought by the FCC and the telecom industry.
