White House Wiretap Bill - CyberWire Dispatch

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

CyberWire Dispatch//Copyright (c) 1994//


Jacking in from the Budget Busting Port:


The White House today began floating its version of the controversial
digital wiretap bill that requires all communications systems to be made
wiretap ready.  The bill has teeth.  It gives the Feds the right to shut
down any telephone, cable or computer network that fails to give law
enforcement what it wants:  Easy access to any and all conversations.  Bar
none.


The new bill, a copy of which was obtained by Dispatch, is a "new and
improved" version of the fatally flawed FBI digital wiretap bill that
atrophied on Capitol Hill during the Bush Administration.  That bill was in
flames before the ink dried on the draft copies.  It mandated compliance
from industry within 120 days of passage ("fucking impossible," one
telephone executive said at the time) and required you and me to pay for
making the FBI's job easier.  "No fucking way," was the general consensus,
from industry as well as a wellspring of privacy and civil liberties
groups.


The Clinton policy wonks, however, seem to be twisted students of history.
They've bought off on the general principle of the bill, but sought to take
the sting out of it.  Here's what those brilliant Thirtysomething
workaholics have decided:  They'll allow telephone companies to pay
"reasonable costs" for all software and equipment upgrades to make this
happen.  Then these phone companies can send the bill to the Feds, and
Uncle Same will pay them back all "reasonable costs" for the wiretap
access.


Brilliant scheme, right?  Except, what's wrong with this picture? First,
there's absolutely no definition of reasonable cost. Second, although the
government pays for it, where the hell does the government get its funds?
That's right:  Joe and Jane Taxpayer.


Or perhaps Clinton will simply cut the appropriations budget for the
Headstart Program?  Or how about trimming a few Cruise missiles from the
procurement list?  After all, as Dispatch has reported, someone is going to
have to pony up more than $1 billion for all this.  Talk about a budget
buster.


Three Years or Yer Out
======================


If the bill passes, and it must first find a sponsor, industry will have 3
years to comply with its mandates.  But the heavy lifting is left to the
switch manufacturers and equipment makers. Once they get their act
together, all this software and hardware is turned over to the carriers to
install. But they have to hustle:  No grace period.  Three years, max.  And
just for comparison sake, it's taken the phone companies more than 7 years
to code in equal access dialing, a job that was supposed to take three.


If that wiretap deadline isn't met, the Feds can actually shut down the
telephone network, a cable system or even computer networks like
CompuServe.  That aspect of the bill is "unconstitutional," says Jerry
Berman, director of Washington office for the Electronic Frontier
Foundation.  "Injunction power over communications of the U.S. is a prior
restraint and far too broad under the First Amendment," he said.


And if those sexy digital calling features such as call forwarding or ISDN
applications foil the Feds *at all* they can demand that those services be
*shut down* until they are brought into compliance.  Oh yeah, and while all
that complying is going on, the telephone companies get kicked in the ass
to the tune of $10,000 per day.  That's the motivation factor.


Senator Patrick Leahy said Congress "wants to ensure that the
Administration's law enforcement goals are met."  However, that can't be
played off other concerns.  "We can't jeopardize the legitimate concerns of
business by empowering the attorney general to have the final say in how
far and how fast technology advances," he said.


Of course, there's the National Security Agency to deal with here too, but
nobody's saying a damn thing about them.  The NSA, however, had a direct
hand in helping craft this bill.


The White House meets Thursday with industry officials to break the news to
them.  The Administration will trot out the FBI to give its usually dog and
pony show rap that "we need to stop child pornographers" so pass this bill.
White House meetings with privacy and civil liberty groups takes place on
Friday. Stay tuned...


Meeks out...