IP: Europe OKs Wiretap Rules

[David Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

February 25, 1997






Report: Europe OKs Wiretap Rules




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Filed at 8:53 p.m. EST




By The Associated Press




 LONDON (AP) -- Europe has agreed to establish international standards with
the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations to enable authorities to tap
telephones and messages sent by fax, telex and e-mail, a London newspaper
reported Tuesday. 


 The Guardian newspaper said it obtained a preliminary agreement signed by
European Union nations in 1995 that calls for telecommunications companies
to provide security agencies with the key to codes installed in equipment
sold to customers. 


 The newspaper report could not be confirmed independently. 


 The aim of the alliance between U.S. and EU agencies was to set a common
standard for ``international interception,'' the newspaper reported. 


 Full details on the agreement are being drawn up by officials working in
European Union committees, it said. 


 The report said European officials drafted a memorandum of understanding
after Britain warned that mobile telephone systems in the hands of
organized criminals posed an international threat.