VoIP Now: Can VoIP Providers Implement CALEA?

August 15, 2006

Can VoIP Providers Implement CALEA?

CALEA, or Communcations Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, has a lot of misconceptions surrounding it in terms of its applicability to VoIP, as well as security issues. The IT Association of America (ITAA) has isued a report (PDF, 21 pgs) to educate VoIP service providers. [source: TMC Net]

The deadline for CALEA compliance for VoIP providers is May 14, 2007, and the ITAA questions the ability of smaller providers to comply in time, due to the expected financial cost. Amongst other things, they also question whether standards can be developed for CALEA for VoIP because of all the different VoIP types. The ITAA paper includes Vinton Cerf of Google as an author.

Another group, GLIIF (Global Lawful Interception Industry Forum) issued a rebuttal (PDF, 8 pages) with pretty much the exact same title as the ITAA document.

My pure gut instinct says that the GLIIF report sounds like a bunch of companies protecting their own investment in future CALEA solutions, because my educated guess indicates that their main rebuttal points are in turn refutable. In fact, from the glance I had at the GLIIF document, it contradicts the opinions and public statements about CALEA made by many well-known Internet experts earlier this year.

However, that's just my feeling, and without reading both documents thoroughly, I'm not make any definitive declarations. Ultimately, whether I support it or not, I think all types of VoIP calls will be wiretapped - maybe not immediately because of technical issues, but eventually. It's been that way for decades with PSTN lines, and governments are just not going to give up that kind of surveillance power. (Having worked for telcos, I've heard things that worry me, but things aren't going to change, especially in the current climate of fear.)

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August 15, 2006 in Privacy, Regulation, Security | Permalink