IP: FBI blocks Canadian sat-phone company, insists on wiretaps

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

> Pardon the format djf 
> > Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 10:22:58 -0400 
> > To: Declan McCullagh 
> > From: Barry Steinhardt 
> > Subject: FBI Blocks Canadian Sattelite Telephone 
> >
> > Declan,
> >
> > I though your list would  be interested in this story from the Financial
> Post
> > about the FBI blocking a Canadian Satellite Telcom from operating in the US
> > because it couldn't wiretap its users.
> >
> > Barry
> >
> > To: <Undisclosed.Recipients () earthlink net> 
> > From: "Ama-gi ISPI" <ispi4privacy () earthlink net> 
> > Subject: ISPI Clips 14.84: Cdn Satellite Phones Bug FBI, It Can't Wiretap
> > Them! 
> > Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 00:28:32 -0700 
> >
> > ISPI Clips 14.84: Cdn Satellite Phones Bug FBI, It Can't Wiretap Them! 
> > News & Info from the Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) 
> > Tuesday July 20, 1999 
> > ISPI4Privacy () ama-gi com or alternate ISPI4Privacy () earthlink net 
> > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
> > This From: The Financial Post via NatPost, Friday, July 16, 1999 
> > http://www.nationalpost.com
> >
> > Tiny TMI trapped in FBI's national security web 
> > FBI objects because it can't wiretap satellite phone calls 
> > http://www.nationalpost.com/financialpost.asp?f=990716/29896.html
> > By 
> > Peter Morton 
> > Financial Post
> > WASHINGTON - All tiny TMI Communications Inc. wanted was to sell its 
> > satellite telephone service in the United States.
> > Little did the Ottawa-based firm owned by BCE Inc. and Telesat Canada, know 
> > that, before long, its application would be swept up in a complex web that 
> > includes the FBI, the major U.S. government departments, and ultimately the 
> > White House -- with nothing less than the integrity of America's national 
> > security at stake.
> > The FBI is continuing to block TMI's 16-month-old bid to get a licence that 
> > would allow it to sell mobile telephone service to Americans. That's
> because 
> > new U.S. wiretap laws demand the FBI be able to listen to all kinds of 
> > telephone calls, including ones on satellite telephones.
> > But the agency cannot easily do this in TMI's case, because the company is 
> > in Canada.
> > "The nightmare scenario for us is the word gets around in the drug 
> > trafficking community that the thing to do if you are a Detroit drug 
> > trafficker or a New York one or a New Orleans one, for that matter, is to
> go 
> > to a telephone reseller in Toronto," said one senior U.S. Justice
> Department 
> > official. "And that shows up on the system as a Canadian person."
> > > From the FBI's perspective, it cannot legally use the evidence from a 
> > wiretap on TMI's equipment because it cannot prove the call was made on
> U.S. 
> > soil or by an American.
> > TMI is not alone in getting caught up in the FBI's new national security 
> > concerns. Iridium LLC, the troubled U.S. satellite company, is facing the 
> > same FBI objections because of its plans to build a groundstation in
> eastern 
> > Canada to serve the U.S. northeast. The groundstation has been temporarily 
> > shelved because of Iridium's restructuring.
> > As well, Globalstar Canada LP, a partnership of U.S. Globalstar and
> Canadian 
> > Satellite Communications, is facing a similar FBI threat because of its 
> > plans to use groundstations in Smith Falls, Ont., and High River, Alta., to 
> > reach the market in the United States.
>
>
> [...]
>
> Largely overlooked at the time was a tiny clause included in the U.S. 
> > enabling legislation. The clause said that, before the FCC can give a 
> > foreign satellite company a "common carrier" licence to operate, national 
> > security concerns must be met first.
> > But few people, even the FCC, thought that the FBI and its boss, the 
> > Department of Justice, would be so worried about being able to wiretap 
> > satellite telephones that they would take the extraordinary step of
> blocking 
> > a foreign licence.
> > "The FBI was somewhat late in letting us know their concerns," said one 
> > senior FCC official. "This is the very first time we had any kind of sense 
> > the FBI had a national security concern about these satellites."
>
>
> [...]
>
>
> > ________________________________________________________
> > Barry Steinhardt                                212 549 2508 (v)
> > Associate Director                              212 549 2656 (f)
> > American Civil Liberties Union          Barrys () aclu org
> > 125 Broad Street
> > New York, NY 10004                              http://www.aclu.org 
>
>
>
>
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