more re proposed wiretap bill

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

A note will follow this weekend about this more complete original article
about the Wiretap Bill and its relationship to the earlier one I sent out
yesterday from Stanton McCandlish.


Dave




Date: Fri, 10 Dec 1993 22:40:33 -0800
From: "Brock N. Meeks" <brock () well sf ca us>
To: farber () central cis upenn edu




Dave --


...




Freeh made his speech Wednesday during an open National Press
Club luncheon.  The room was *packed* with journalists, of
course.  I caught it on C-Span that day;  I was home sick.  No
other reporter picked up on his digital wiretap comments.  I
followed on Thursday with the FBI to make sure Freeh hadn't
misspoke or that I hadn't misinterpreted his remarks.


The FBI confirmed what I thought I'd heard:  The new director was
making a renewed call for the legislation.  I wrote my story on
Thursday and it ran on Friday.  The story was an exclusive;  it
appeared no where else but in CommDaily.


...


Copyright 1993
COMMUNICATIONS DAILY
Friday December 10, 1993
For personal use only.  May not be copied or redistributed in any
form beyond this mailing list.




FBI RENEWS CALL FOR DIGITAL WIRETAP BILL
by Brock N. Meeks


     Rapidly advancing digital telephone network will hamper law
enforcement's wiretap ability, allowing criminal activity to take
place with impunity, FBI Dir. Louis Freeh said.  He renewed call
for legislation in speech Wed. at National Press Club in
Washington:  "Without legislation giving us the ability to tap
these [digital] conversations," crimes will go unsolved, he said.
"Criminals will be able to just pick up the phone and conduct their
business in the open" with no fear of being wiretapped.


     FBI's push for wiretap legislation has been center of
controversy since Bureau made its proposal public (CD March 9/92
p1).  Legislation never found sponsor in Congress.  Proposed bill
also is opposed strongly by privacy advocates and industry.  Whole
issue of FBI's need for legislative solution is now under
consideration by Administration as part of reevaluation of nation's
encryption-security policies.


     Renewed push for legislation comes as surprise.  Two weeks
ago, FBI special agent Barry Smith of Bureau's Congressional
Affairs Office told us wiretap bill had been tabled, waiting for
outcome of Administration's review.  Yet FBI spokesman John Kundts
told us Thurs. that digital wiretap bill is "significant
legislation" that Bureau needs.  He said FBI will continue to push
for legislation "that hasn't passed... yet."


     While Bureau works congressional angle, industry and FBI set
up ad hoc working group to ascertain whether technical solutions
could be found to satisfy law enforcement.  That group was formed
at March 26, 1992 meeting at FBI's Quantico, Va., facilities,
according previously classified FBI documents released under
Freedom of Information Act.  Group recently has been formalized,
working under auspices of Alliance for Telecommunications Industry
Solutions (ATIS).  Joint industry-FBI group operates under name of
Electronic Communications Service Provider Committee (ECSPC).


     ESCPC meets monthly with intent of recommending solutions to
FBI to help solve wiretap problems, said Kenneth Raymond, Nynex
employee who is industry co-chmn. of group.  To date, no industry
solution has been found for digital wiretap problem, he said, but
FBI hasn't provided concrete basis that such solutions are needed.
Fact that digital technologies are impediment to FBI investigations
is "at odds with Mr. Freeh's statement," Raymond said.  "Unless he
has some specific issue that he wants to address, its kind of like
yelling out the window... People look up and you get their
attention.  After that, you have to ask, 'What do you want me to
do?'"


     Raymond said FBI has been "working with us in an outright and
upright way."  He said "we all recognize that there are other
things going on in the congressional side," but industry hasn't
discussed "nor been involved in any of that work."  Industry is
focused on "trying to evaluate just what is the nature of the
problem and how we can best solve it in some reasonable way that is
consistent with cost and demand," he said.  One solution might be
to write digital wiretap access into future switch specifications,
he said.
                          --end--