The connection between NSA wiretapping and telephone industry concentration

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Andy Oram <andyo () oreilly com>
Date: January 5, 2006 9:31:30 AM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: The connection between NSA wiretapping and telephone  
industry concentration

http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/8924

   Andy Oram

   Jan. 05, 2006 06:20 AM

   I have reported in detail, in a companion blog, about an [95] 
historic
   public forum on NSA wiretapping. Here I'll report on one
   technology-related aspect of particular interest to me: the  
collusion
   of the telephone companies, which has not been played up in the  
press.

   All the warrantless wiretapping we've recently heard about required
   help from the telephone companies and Internet service providers.
   These companies knew they were not only aiding the government in
   breaking the law, but were themselves violating terms of service for
   their customers--and in the case of telephone companies, also  
breaking
   the law. One law mentioned at the public form (and submitted  
years ago
   by the forum's moderator, Congressman Ed Markey) forbids cell phone
   companies from revealing the location of cell phone users--except  
with
   a court warrant.

   In fact, the NSA wiretapping scandal represents one of the largest
   conspiracies in recent years: a conspiracy between telephone  
companies
   and the government to defraud Americans out of our Fourth Amendment
   rights.

   Pertaining to this is the issue of industry concentration--the death
   of small phone companies and the mergers of larger ones into
   behemoths--which was also one of the goals of the Bush  
administration,
   pursued with determination by Michael Powell as FCC chair.  
Provisions
   for competition set up in the Telecom Act of 1996, and enforced by
   relatively even-handed regulations passed by earlier FCCs, were
   systematically weakened and discarded under Bush. (For some history,
   see an [96]earlier blog of mine.

   Admittedly, it's hard for any company to buck a demand from law
   enforcement. The PATRIOT Act's secrecy provisions (when the FBI
   approaches you, you can't even publicize the very fact that they  
have
   done so) leaves the impression that you'll be prosecuted for going
   public with government misbehavior, and thus contributes to the
   growing unaccountability of government. A few Internet service
   providers have done challenged illegal wiretaps, but not enough to
   establish the pattern we now see in the wiretap scandal.
   Overwhelmingly, the phone companies and ISPs just went along.

   One might argue that the pressure would have been even stronger if
   ISPs and phone companies were smaller, but size obviously hasn't
   helped them put up any resistance. Believe me, if we had an industry
   of scrappy Mom-and-Pop providers like in the 80s and 90s, word about
   this civil liberties horror would have come out sooner.

   Andy Oram is an editor for O'Reilly Media, specializing in Linux
   and free software books, and a member of Computer Professionals for
   Social Responsibility. His web site is www.praxagora.com/andyo.

   Weblog authors are solely responsible for the content and  
accuracy of
    their weblogs, including opinions they express, and O'Reilly Media,
   Inc., disclaims any and all liabililty for that content, its  
accuracy,
                        and opinions it may contain.

     This work is licensed under a [103]Creative Commons License.

References

  95. http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/8923
  96. http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/4616
 103. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/


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