IP: ECPA

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2001 20:18:48 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Mike O'Dell" <mo () ccr org>
To: dave () farber net


heard you on Public Interest today.
sent in an email too late for it to get on, so i'll
ask now....

i fully agree that we should beat the crap outta this silly
notion of "security by no-peeky", but that also includes
the cellular frequency exclusions in the infamous ECPA
the Electronic Communications Placation Act. that was done
in the most venal, cynical manner, to allow the cellular
operators to claim they had "done something" about cellular
security, when everyone with half a brain knew it was utter
bullshit.

so don't leave the ECPA out of the barage. it actually
set the precedent for this kind of organized assault
on reality.

as usualy, you were great.
cheers,

note 2  from Mike also

also, it is indeed the FCC who is on the front line policing
the ECPA cellular exclusions with the type acceptance hammer.
while it's unclear who prosecutes if you modify a radio, the
FCC, bowing to further pressure, has now mandated that
manufacturers dramatically increase the tamper resistance of
radios so they cannot be modified. if they can be, the FCC will
not approve and they can't be sold in the US.
so everyone that makes a wide-band receiver *must* make two
versions - a US one and an everywhere else one, and they all
suffer the anti-tamper restrictions which makes some radios
essentially unrepairable. the FCC has been forced by Congress
to lacky for the cellular operators in duping their customers
into a false sense of security.
-mo



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