U.S. Judges Speak Out Against Wiretapping

The current order to extend CALEA to VoIP and broadband providers has been scrutinized by federal judges required to approve it. The FCC recently confirmed a previously issued a compliance order to VoIP and broadband providers saying that they were to be subject to the 1994 law that was designed to regulate wireless phones. Judges harshly criticized the proposed order to confirm and extend the wiretapping law.

This is good news for privacy advocates and others who see the extension of CALEA as a bad precedent. Opponents of the recent application of CALEA to broadband services say that using this law for broadband services would stifle innovation and violate civil liberties. One of the finer points of the law is that it requires that networks be easily searchable, the problem is that they are already searchable through legal channels. This law would just serve to streamline the process and effectively give the "back door" a neon sign. This could open up vulnerabilities to hackers who are ahead of the curve, in comparison to many law enforcement agencies who are behind the curve. Opponents of CALEA say that the entire Internet would be less secure as a result of this law.