IP: FBI Unveils National Wiretap

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

The New York Times reports today that the FBI has proposed "a
national wiretapping system of unprecedented size and scope that
would give law enforcement officials the capacity to monitor
simultaneously as many as one out of every 100 phone lines"
in some regions of the country. ("FBI Wants to Vastly Increase
Wiretapping," NYT, Nov. 2, 1995, at A1)


The story follows the October publication in the Federal Register 
of the FBI plans to implement the Communications Assistance
for Law Enforcement Act, the controversial "digital telephony"
bill that was opposed by many groups last year but supported by
an industry association called the "Digital Privacy and Security
Working Group" after the government put up $500,000,000 to pay
for the new surveillance features. (See EPIC Alert 2.12)


The Times article also notes that there is now some question about 
whether the law will ever go into effect.  A provision to provide 
funding was deleted last week after "several freshman Republicans, 
including Representative Bob Barr of Georgia, a former federal 
prosecutor, said he objected to the way the money for wiretapping 
would be raised and that he had concerns about how the FBI might use 
such a sweeping surveillance ability."


The article also says that "The scope of the FBI plan has startled
industry telephone executives, who said it was difficult to estimate
how much it would ultimately cost to carry out the capacity
increases."


EPIC is urging the on-line community to object to implementation of
the wiretap plan.  More information can be found at our web page:


   http://www.epic.org/privacy/wiretap/.




Marc Rotenberg
rotenberg () epic org