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Wiretap Act Does Not Cover Message 'in Storage' For Short Period (was Re: BNA's Internet Law News (ILN) - 2/27/03)
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 04 Mar 2003 09:40:18 -0500
------ Forwarded Message From: "Ronald L. Rivest" <rivest () mit edu> Date: Sun, 02 Mar 2003 14:27:00 -0500 To: Tim Dierks <tim () dierks org>, "R. A. Hettinga" <rah () shipwright com>, cryptography () wasabisystems com Subject: Re: Wiretap Act Does Not Cover Message 'in Storage' For Short Period (was Re: BNA's Internet Law News (ILN) - 2/27/03) Yes, I was amazed at this ruling as well. This ruling seems to fly in the face of the likely intent of Congress when it passed Wiretap Act. If things continue in this direction, we will soon have rulings and regulations that say: -- Carriers must put all calls in storage for a minimum period of time, sufficient to allow wiretapping. (Indeed, regulation may not be necessary, as digitization and buffering of communications is common practice; the transient use of storage to effect communications efficiency and reliability should not provide a wiretap loophole.) -- Wiretapping is OK for any phone calls that are routed through a satellite. -- It is OK for the government to house soldiers in your house, as long as there is even the tiniest opening somewhere in your house (e.g. a window open, or a chimney flue) so that "inside" and "outside" connect. -- Etc. I can also see a market developing for "storage-free" communications carriers. What happens when you inquire of your carrier as to whether it can provide such a guarantee or option? Cheers, Ron At 09:42 PM 3/1/2003, Tim Dierks wrote:
At 01:39 PM 2/27/2003 -0500, R. A. Hettinga wrote:At 9:01 AM -0500 on 2/27/03, BNA Highlights wrote:WIRETAP ACT DOES NOT COVER MESSAGE 'IN STORAGE' FOR SHORT PERIOD BNA's Electronic Commerce & Law Report reports that a federal court in Massachusetts has ruled that the federal Wiretap Act does not prohibit the improper acquisition of electronic communications that were "in storage" no matter how ephemeral that storage may be. The court relied on Konop v. Hawaiian Airlines Inc., which held that no Wiretap Act violation occurs when an electronic communication is accessed while in storage, "even if the interception takes place during a nanosecond 'juncture' of storage along the path of transmission." Case name is U.S. v. Councilman. Article at <http://pubs.bna.com/ip/BNA/eip.nsf/is/a0a6m6y1k8> For a free trial to source of this story, visit http://web.bna.com/products/ip/eplr.htmThis would seem to imply to me that the wiretap act does not apply to any normal telephone conversation which is carried at any point in its transit by an electronic switch, including all cell phone calls and nearly all wireline calls, since any such switch places the data of the ongoing call in "storage" for a tiny fraction of a second. - Tim --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo () wasabisystems com
Ronald L. Rivest Room 324, 200 Technology Square, Cambridge MA 02139 Tel 617-253-5880, Fax 617-258-9738, Email <rivest () mit edu> --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Cryptography Mailing List Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to majordomo () wasabisystems com ------ End of Forwarded Message ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- Wiretap Act Does Not Cover Message 'in Storage' For Short Period (was Re: BNA's Internet Law News (ILN) - 2/27/03) Dave Farber (Mar 04)