Expanded CALEA compliance likely in digital age

Like it or not, nontraditional communications service providers are going to have to comply with federal regulatory laws like digital wiretapping as people increasingly communicate via the Internet. The challenge will be how to balance legitimate privacy concerns with legitimate public-safety needs and the policy goal of regulating the Internet as lightly as possible.
The New York Times reported earlier this week that the Obama administration is planning to introduce legislation that would force nontraditional communications providers to be able to provide wiretaps to law enforcement. Wireless service providers are very familiar with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, not-so-fondly known as CALEA. Implementing the capabilities to enable digital wiretapping was a big headache for wireless operators, but it was resolved eventually.
New media companies like Facebook and Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) providers will have to find ways to legitimately let law enforcement tap their networks for law enforcement needs, simply because the bad guys are aware of the limits that law enforcement agencies have so they probably favor these technologies. It’s going to be even trickier for companies like Research In Motion Ltd., which encrypt data and say there is no way to get information from end users. While we watch the United Arab Emirates and India talk about banning BlackBerry Messenger services from their countries, our own government also likely wants access to RIM servers in the name of national security.
Privacy concerns about the government having access to e-mail exchanges and the like are also legitimate, so the battle between privacy advocates and law enforcement is likely to be an ugly one. However, I see no way around giving law enforcement access to communications across these new technologies and services, just like the government got access to cellular communications when they were new. In the changing world of digital communications, regulations are following the technology advances, and expanded CALEA compliance likely is one of those areas.