Wiretap, CALEA comments due to FCC by April 12 [priv]

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[Here is a client alert from Chadbourne and Parke. It's a nice summary 
of the CALEA issues. --Declan]



 Date:    March 22, 2004        Re:    Client Alert: Rulemaking 
Concerning the
Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act
Comments Due: April 12, 2004                          Reply Comments 
Due: April
27, 2004
___________________________________________________________________________
On March 10, 2004, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. 
Department of
Justice, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (collectively “Law
Enforcement”) submitted to the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) a
request for a rulemaking proceeding concerning outstanding issues 
involving the
Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (“CALEA”).
CALEA, passed by Congress in 1994, is intended to maintain law enforcement
agencies’ ability to conduct lawfully approved electronic surveillance 
despite
changing telecommunications technologies.  CALEA defines the 
telecommunications
industry’s obligations to provision lawful electronic surveillance 
capabilities
and requires the industry to develop CALEA intercept solutions.  The FCC is
charged with several responsibilities for CALEA implementation.
In the face of changing technology, Law Enforcement has expressed 
concern over
the implementation of CALEA, noting several outstanding issues that it 
seeks to
resolve through a rulemaking proceeding at the FCC.  Among the issues 
for which
Law Enforcement seeks resolution at the FCC are:
formal identification of the types of services and entities subject to 
CALEA;
formal identification of the services that are considered “packet-mode 
services”
for the purpose of developing standards for compliance with CALEA;
issuance of an FCC statement and, ultimately adopting final rules, 
finding that
broadband access services and broadband telephony services are subject 
to CALEA;
reaffirmation that push-to-talk “dispatch” service is subject to CALEA;
adoption of rules that provide for the easy and rapid identification of
CALEA-covered services and entities;
establishment of benchmarks and deadlines for CALEA packet-mode compliance;
adoption of rules that provide for the establishment of benchmarks and 
deadlines
for CALEA compliance with future CALEA-covered technologies;
outlining of the criteria for extensions of any benchmarks and deadlines 
for
compliance with future CALEA-covered technologies established by the FCC;
establishment of rules to permit Law Enforcement to request information
regarding CALEA compliance generally;
establishment of procedures for enforcement actions against entities 
that do not
comply with CALEA obligations;
confirmation that carriers bear sole financial responsibility for CALEA
implementation costs for post-January 1, 1995, communications equipment,
facilities and services;
permitting of carriers to recover their CALEA implementation costs from 
their
customers; and
clarification of the cost methodology and financial responsibility 
associated
with intercept provisioning.
As the FCC indicated it would in its recent Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
regarding Voice-over-Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) issues, the FCC initiated a
rulemaking proceeding to address Law Enforcement’s concerns.  Comments 
are due
April 12, 2004, with reply comments due April 27, 2004.  We encourage
telecommunications and information service providers subject to CALEA to
participate in this rulemaking proceeding.
******


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