Five years after Congress approved a law designed to help law enforcement catch criminals, rules to implement the digital wiretap act have been decided. Now comes the difficult part-carrying out those mandates.
Instead of playing tug-of-war in the public eye about the problems industry is going to have implementing these rules, the government should be proactive in working to assist industry to find ways to resolve the technical and financial problems surrounding the law, or at least be realistic about the time frame in which industry must meet those requirements.
The Federal Communications Commission late last month concluded that six additional items the FBI thought necessary to be able to wiretap phone conversations were within the scope of the law.
As such, telecom carriers now have to comply with the interim requirements by June-10 months away-and include the additional six capabilities in their networks within two years.
The Communications for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 has been a thorn in the side of telecom carriers and the FBI and Congress since before 1994. Lawsuits, quarrels in the press and admonitions from Congress have marked the issue for too long now. The rules are in place. It is time to end the arguments between all the involved parties and address the remaining problems:
Problem No. 1: Cost. It seems obvious there is no way PCS carriers could have foreseen how to implement the technical specifications required under CALEA in 1994 when standards were not decided until August 1999.
The government has to concede on this. If, however, the government deems PCS carriers cannot be compensated for making the necessary upgrades to their network, carriers should be told as quickly as possible so they can include those capital expenses in their business plans.
Problem No. 2: The September 2001 deadline is unrealistic, according to the Telecommunications Industry Association, which one assumes has expertise in this area.
“CALEA compliance is one of the most complicated sets of features ever developed by manufacturers,” said TIA President Matthew Flanigan. “A CALEA solution is not like buying a software program at the office supply store.”
Wireless technology could change dramatically by September 2001. Mega-carriers may be implementing third-generation technology by then. By working together, carriers, manufacturers and government may be able to address future technology issues, rather than work backwards.
It has taken five years to determine the technical specifications and funding issues to implement CALEA. That is five years of government not being able to use the tools they say they need to catch the bad guys.
It will be up to government to decide if there is going to be another five years of battles on the issue. It’s time to work with the industry, instead of against it. The ultimate goal is putting criminals behind bars, and government should fix its eyes on that goal.
