IP: read it and be silent (NYT)

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

http://www.nytimes.com/auth/login?Tag=/&URI=/library/tech/99/08/biztec 
h/articles/28phone.html

New Rules Expand Ability of Police to Monitor
           Talk on Cell Phones

           By STEPHEN LABATON

                  WASHINGTON -- Over the objections of civil liberties 
groups and
                  privacy advocates, the federal government Friday announced new
                  technical standards for cellular phones that will 
broadly expand the
           ability of law enforcement agents to monitor conversations and locate
           criminal suspects.

           Federal and local agents can already monitor
           cellular phone calls after obtaining a court
           warrant. But under the rules announced Friday by
           the Federal Communications Commission, they
           will also be able to determine the general location
           of a cell phone user by identifying which cellular
           antenna was used by the phone company to
           transmit the beginning and end of any call under
           surveillance.

           The rules will permit agents to identify all callers on a 
conference call and
           monitor such conversations even after the target of the 
inquiry is no longer
           part of the conversation. And they will enable agents to 
determine whether
           suspects are making use of such common cellular phone 
features as call
           forwarding and call waiting.