FC: BARTEC, eavesdropping, and "open source" wiretap software

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

BARTEC is an interesting company. It describes itself as being the
best choice for police "telephone surveillance equipment." BARTEC's
product line is extensive, featuring "the intelligent choice for all
your telephone surveillance investigations - pen register, audio
wiretap or PCS/cellular." (http://www.bartec.com/products.html)

BARTEC products include:

* DLP-14/400 WIRELESS INTELLIGENT TRANSMITTER, described as a
"PCS/cellular intercept device designed for use by both law
enforcement and wireless companies for telephone surveillance
investigations." (http://www.bartec.com/content/wit.html)

* D A R E / DIGITAL AUDIO RECORDING ENVIRONMENT, described as a tool
for "streamlining and simplifying wiretap operations. This is
accomplished by taking advantage of the latest in digital audio
recording technology which automatically places both voice and data
together on CD-ROM." (http://www.bartec.com/content/whatshotDARE.html)

* C O P S / CALEA OPERATIONS, the recommended way for BARTEC customers
to perform surveillance under the controversial Communications
Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), aka Digital Telephony law.
To summarize: COPS essentially links the telephone company with
police. COPS includes a dedicated PC, an 8-port Cisco router / modem
pool, and a 100 base T Hub.  The protocol used to share info is called
J-025. (http://www.bartec.com/content/whatshotCOPS.html)

J-025 is more properly called J-STD-025, and was jointly developed by
the Telecommunications Industry Association and the Alliance for
Telecommunications Industry Solutions. It came out in December 1997
and soon became the focus of litigation, with privacy groups and some
industry groups saying it went beyond what Congress intended. The DC
Circuit agreed in part (http://www.epic.org/calea/dc_cir_decision.html).

For more background, consider a report by a Telecommunications
Industry Association working group dated May 2000 that arose after a
meeting at the Excalibur hotel in Las Vegas. The document is here:
http://www.tiaonline.org/standards/CALEA_JEM/CJEM503-105.pdf

What's interesting is that the report, authored by Mark A. Montz, a
product architect at Compaq, talks up the benefits of open source
softwware as a way to keep the Feds honest -- in much the same way
that some of us have recommended the release of Carnivore's source code.

Excerpt:
> The connection point may also allow access to data packets not
> authorized for surveillance to be collected as well as the ones
> covered by a subpoena. Also, while the PC/hard disk system above
> substitutes for a tape recorder, there is nothing currently equivalent
> to a "pen trace device". Indeed, one of the major concerns with the
> industry suggestion of delivering all the information to law
> enforcement agencies was that the agencies could not be trusted to
> discard data they were not authorized to receive. A novel solution to
> this problem may be possible by the success of a new concept: Open
> Source... A neutral organization such as UL Labs or some other agency
> would be responsible for downloading the software into the computer,
> and the delivering it to the law enforcement agency...

Politech archive on CALEA:
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=calea

-Declan

---

http://www.bartec.com/content/whatshotCOPS.html

                                  C O P S
                             "CALEA OPERATIONS"
   ______________________________________________________________________
                                      
        BARTEC's simple, affordable, intelligent solution for CALEA
                                intercepts!
                                      
   Click here for COPS diagram 
   Click here for a diagram of a typical COPS configuration.
   What Is COPS?
   CALEA Operations (COPS) is BARTEC's solution for the Communications
   Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) which will begin
   implementation on June 1, 2000. COPS serves as the primary interface
   for delivery of J-025 standard messages from the Telecommunications
   Service Provider (TSP) to the law enforcement agency (LEA), as defined
   in CALEA legislation.
   A COPS workstation consists of:
   
     BARTEC COPS Software
   
     PC (configured for COPS specs)
   
     8 Port Cisco Router / Modem Pool
   
     100 base T Hub
   How Does COPS Work?
   A COPS workstation supports three critical tasks in the CALEA pen
   register intercept environment, as follows:
    1. CALEA "D" and "E" Interface
       CALEA legislation defines "D" and "E" interfaces for telephone
       surveillance. The "D" interface is located in the TSP switch or
       regional facility. The "E" interface is located at the LEA. The
       "D" interface will require a TCP/IP wide area network (WAN) to be
       established between the TSP and the LEA. The WAN may be on a
       dial-up or dedicated private lease line (PVC) that is defined by
       the TSP or LEA. To meet interface requirements, the COPS
       workstation includes a Cisco router with eight modem ports. Modem
       ports one to seven are dedicated for "E" interface - one for each
       TSP. Modem port eight is reserved for communication with existing
       BARTEC devices for analog pen register intercepts. Remote command
       and control and automatic downloads for BARTEC's Micro DNR, SSL-12
       Smart Slave and DLP-14/400 Wireless Intelligent Transmitter will
       be accessible via port eight. This feature is not available on any
       other CALEA intercept system, and will prove important and useful
       as telephone surveillance makes the transition from analog to
       digital over the next several years.
    2. Data Compilation
       In a CALEA pen register intercept environment, TSPs will deliver
       J-025 standard messages, as defined in the CALEA legislation, over
       a call data channel (CDC). Each of the modem ports on the Cisco
       router supports CDC delivery of data in a number of formats.
       Analog data received on port will be in ASCII format. COPS
       assembles and converts all data in all formats for compatibility
       with many different analytical software packages.
    3. Creation of Files and Distribution of Collected Data
       Once data is assembled and converted, it is compiled into files.
       Once files are created at the COPS workstation, data can be
       distributed for analysis or other CALEA functions. Distribution
       can take place via the LEA network to a secure server, on a daily
       or periodic basis. Data may be loaded manually or on demand to the
       server by the LEA network administrator. Analysis software
       typically resides on the server.
       
   In a CALEA wiretap intercept environment, COPS will test J-025
   messages received from the TSP to determine if immediate distribution
   is required. Messages are routed through the LEA network to the
   appropriate BARTEC Digital Audio Recording Environment (DARE)
   workstation. At the DARE workstation, analog voice and data will be
   assembled by the COPS Micro DNR for real time access by the DNR.
   Why Buy COPS?
   
     COPS offers multiple CALEA intercept capability and supports both
   pen register and wiretap configurations
   
     COPS can interface with BARTEC analog pen registers/remote devices
   as telephone surveillance transitions to CALEA
   
     COPS offers future expansion to accommodate additional CALEA
   interfaces
   
     COPS is affordably priced, allowing even small law enforcement
   agencies to perform CALEA intercepts
   ______________________________________________________________________
   



-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------