IP: FBI national wiretap stalled for $$

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

[The rip you hear is both the taxpayers pocket and the Bill of Rights djf]




Reply-To: David Honig <honig@otc.net>
X-Loop: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net






The telcos don't want to be stuck for the > $500,000,000 cost of
installing the national surveillience infrastructure.








http://www.newsday.com/ap/rnmpwh19.htm


	
Reno: Impasse on Digital Wiretaps


WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Janet Reno says an ``impasse''
between the government and telephone companies is delaying
installation of new technology that would enable the FBI and other law
enforcement agencies to wiretap into new digital phone lines.


Under a 1994 law the government was to pay the phone companies up to
$500 million to develop new computer codes and switches and have them
installed by next October.


The effort, however, was delayed for at least two years while the FBI
and the phone companies battled with each other over the extent of how
much wiretapping capability would be provided.


Testifying Thursday before a House appropriations subcommittee, Reno
conceded that meeting law enforcement's future needs will likely cost
the phone companies more than $500 million. She said the phone
companies have balked at moving forward unless the government agrees
to reimburse their costs above that amount.


``We may be at an impasse,'' she said. ``Simply said, industry's
proposal is that all equipment, services and facilities installed or
deployed as of October 1998 would be deemed in compliance forever...
unless the government agrees to pay to modify or to upgrade it.''


Reno said the Justice Department likely will file a petition with the
Federal Communications Commission next month ``stating that the
proposed industry technical solution is deficient'' and asking the
agency to make the phone companies meet law enforcement needs.


She said the FBI's electronic surveillance is already being hampered
because of the impasse. But given the six months that the FCC says it
would need to decide the case and another 18 months required to
install the necessary software and switches, Reno said it may be two
years before police agencies' wiretapping capability fully is
restored.


Meanwhile, the Justice Department has asked for another $100 million
in next year's budget to reimburse the phone companies.


The subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Harold Rogers, R-Ky., told Reno to
not expect any more money until the dispute is resolved.


``I not only hope that it's going to happen; I'm going to make it
happen,'' he said, ``or you won't get any money. I don't know how more
bluntly I can put it. You dragged your feet for three years ..., the
industry has dragged their feet. I think it's a plague on both your
houses.''


------------------------------------------------------------
      David Honig                   Orbit Technology
     honig@otc.net                  Intaanetto Jigyoubu


The Internet Protocol's only guarantee is that your packets will not clog
the network.














	




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