Clash over digital wiretap bill escalates

WASHINGTON — The U.S. telecommunications industry is stepping up its campaign to limit the surveillance implications of a digital wiretap law that industry groups argue is being unduly expanded by the FBI.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is currently reviewing implementation of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (Calea) to clarify technical requirements. Wireless telecommunications and privacy groups have told the Commission the FBI is exceeding congressional authority by seeking greater surveillance capabilities under Calea. They also say the Bureau is attempting to pass along added costs for network upgrades to consumers.

"The issue before [the FCC] is whether law enforcement will be able to use Calea as a back-door means to expand existing wiretap capabilities and whether consumers in their monthly bills will shoulder the multibillion dollar costs of that expansion," Thomas Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, argued in a Dec. 15 letter to FCC chairman William Kennard.

The group estimated that expanded wiretapping capabilities sought by the FBI would shift the $5 billion to $10 billion cost of implementing the added surveillance features to consumers.

Wheeler said the FBI has refused to release cost data on implementing Calea. Nevertheless, he predicted the cost of the wiretap law will be 10 to 20 times more than the Congress authorized to be spent.

According to FBI estimates, implementation of the law in three years would cost nearly $86.8 million. Local exchange carriers would be responsible for $71.3 million while wireless carriers would pick up the remaining $15.4 million, according to FBI estimates.

The dispute over the scope of the Calea capability requirements prompted the FCC to launch a review that will consider modifications to an interim industry standard for Calea technical requirements. The telecommunications industry adopted the standard, J-STD-025, last December.

In comments to the FCC on the Calea review, the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA; Arlington, Va.) said it backed the agency's decision to limit its review of the standard to 11 specific modifications proposed by the FBI and the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based privacy group. The group views the standard as providing law enforcement with too much information while the FBI views it as providing too little.

The FCC has tentatively concluded that at least four of the 11 proposed modifications are not required by the wiretap law. "As for the other seven items," said TIA president Matthew Flanigan, "TIA believes that the Commission should eventually decide that these proposed modifications also are not required."

The digital wiretap law, enacted by Congress in 1994, is designed to allow law-enforcement agencies to continue to conduct electronic surveillance in the wake of rapid advances in telecommunications technology. Calea requires telecommunications carriers to ensure their equipment, facilities and services will meet the assistance-capability requirements specified under the law.

In September, the FCC extended the date for industry compliance with the law by 20 months to June 30, 2000, after AT&T Wireless Services Inc., Lucent Technologies Inc. and Ericsson Inc. jointly filed for an extension.