18 July 1997
Communications Daily:
Wireless Assn. Seeks FCC Intervention to Resolve Digital
Wiretap Impasse
CTIA asked FCC Wed. to open proceeding on standards needed to
meet digital wiretap law, conceding that opposition by FBI
and law enforcement entities had made it "monumentally
frustrating" to reach agreement without Commission
intervention. CTIA Pres. Thomas Wheeler said petition seeks
to draw FCC into process based on language in
Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act
(CALEA) that requires industry "in consultations with law
enforcement" to develop standards that allow law
enforcement units to monitor phone calls in digital format.
Wheeler said meeting of standards body in Boston last week,
at which he said FBI opposed any compromises, triggered
application to FCC.
In recent weeks, CTIA sent letters to FBI Dir. Louis Freeh
and FBI Electronic Surveillance Technology Section Chief Ed
Allen offering final compromise to adopt standards while
resolving more critical disagreements separate from
standards-setting. Wheeler said FBI had refused to accept
offer. "We still have no consensus standards," he said. "We
now need to change the venue." He pledged to continue
negotiating with FBI even as FCC considers petition and
vowed to continue talks even if Commission opens
proceeding. FCC official said no decision had been made on
petition by our deadline.
Law enforcement field has taken firm stand on requirements
for gaining access to telecom traffic carried in digital format.
FBI spokesman Barry Smith told us current industry
standards, which CTIA said comply with CALEA "100%,"
fall short of requirements. "In our view, the standards being
proposed are lacking items law enforcement needs," he said.
CTIA acted alone, Wheeler said. Although digital wiretap law
applies to all telecom carriers, he said, only CTIA has been
aggressive in publicizing its continuing disputes with FBI. He
said he and USTA Pres. Roy Neel met with FBI executives
last year to discuss issue, but he didn't seek USTA
endorsement when petition was filed. USTA said Wed. it
didn't plan separate filing at Commission but didn't comment
immediately on CTIA petition. Other trade groups didn't
comment.
In petition, CTIA accused FBI of "stuffing" ballots in industry
voting on standards that had been adopted separately from
FBI proposals. Wheeler said that by mid-May,
Telecommunications Industry Assn. -- which routinely
circulates proposed standards among "interested parties" to
achieve consensus -- received 60 ballots, 35 in opposition,
with 33 of those from law enforcement agencies, including
28 that attached FBI rationale to ballot. "This stopped the
standards setting in its tracks," Wheeler said. Further balloting
under auspices of American National Standards Institute
(ANSI) is expected to produce additional opposition, mostly
from law enforcement: "This ballot box stuffing has further
delayed the standards process," CTIA said.
Wheeler said industry opposes FBI demands for 500-millisec.
response time for linking call set up with actual call, saying
existing wireline technology can't support such standards. He
also complained about requirement that law enforcement be
able to continue monitoring conference calls even after party
being monitored has dropped off call. FBI also has sought
technology that would turn wireless phone into homing
device, allowing agents to pinpoint location of call. Delays
threaten to put telecom industry in violation of law, which
takes effect in Oct. 1998, although without standards,
Wheeler said, it can't meet tests. He described 2 issues as
"double whammy," forcing industry to raise costs to meet
FBI standards while running afoul of mandates. He also
feared civil rights groups would file suit when companies
provide access without approved court orders.
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July 16, 1997, San Jose Mercury News:
Phone firms resist FBI wiretap gear New York Times
Asserting that the FBI is trying to force the development of wiretapping
equipment that goes beyond the law, telephone industry executives said
Tuesday they would petition the Federal Communications Commission to resolve
a dispute over the limits of digital surveillance in the information age.
Industry executives are expected to ask the commission to step in today
after more than two years of negotiations with law enforcement authorities
over standards for advanced digital telephone switching gear intended to
permit the police and FBI agents to listen to suspected criminals.
The two sides failed to reach an agreement at a meeting last week in Boston.
``We've come to an impasse and only the FCC can resolve it,'' said Stewart
Baker, a Washington lawyer representing the industry.
FBI officials said Tuesday they were still confident that disagreements with
the industry could be worked out. Another negotiating session is scheduled
for next week.
``We're still committed to the negotiating process,'' said Edward Allen,
section chief in the Information Division at the FBI. The Communications for
Law Enforcement Act, which was signed into law by President Clinton in 1994,
calls for spending $500 million to modify the nation's telephone network for
wiretapping and specifies a standard-setting process to redesign the
equipment.
Telephone industry officials have warned that the cost of making the
modifications requested by law enforcement might run into the billions of
dollars. They also contend that the FBI has overstepped its mandate and is
trying to control the process of setting standards. The law, they say,
specifies only that the agency will be consulted in setting the standard.
Industry executives say their companies will be at risk of being sued by
civil liberties groups over privacy invasions.
Law enforcement is asking for the ability to maintain a wiretap in a
conference call even after the individual who is the object of the court-
authorized wiretap drops out of the phone call. Such a capability would
require costly modifications to the telephone network, industry officials
said.
``We're taking this action out of monumental frustration,'' said Thomas
Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, a
trade group in Washington.
The telephone industry is facing an October 1998 deadline to comply with the
law. Wheeler said the members of his association were growing increasingly
concerned that in the absence of a standard they would have insufficient time
to develop new products that comply with the law. The legislation provides
for $10,000 a day in penalties for companies that fail to meet the
requirements.