An Update On CALEA
Implementation In Packet Communications Networks
BY MICHAEL KHALILIAN & MATT
HOLDREGE
Wiretapping. The word brings up all sorts of
connotations related to the FBI, the Mafia, or increasingly to
anti-terrorism investigations. Yet for public telecommunications carriers it
is a daily responsibility and legal requirement to provide such Lawful
Intercept (LI) services to law enforcement agencies (LEAs). The relationship
between public carriers and LEAs goes back many years, but now with the
digital revolution followed by the Internet revolution the relationship has
grown somewhat strained.
CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law
Enforcement Act) was enacted in 1994 to update the technical assistance
requirements of carriers due to the use of advanced services provided by
digital switches. Telecommunications carriers never made services such as
call forwarding and call waiting available to law enforcement. This was due
to the fact that the then existing statutory requirement of carriers was to
provide � . . . all information, facilities, and technical assistance
necessary to accomplish the interception . . .� without ever addressing the
question of system design.
Worse still, with the breakup of AT&T and the
explosion of CLECs and 10-10 access codes, criminals could escape
surveillance merely by routing their calls from the LEC to the CLEC. Yet the
government and the carriers fought over the cost of upgrading networks to
support CALEA and the methods by which carriers and equipment vendors would
provide the information the LEAs needed. This was happening all before any
of the concerned parties gave a thought about Internet telephony.
Then came 9/11, and all of a sudden the many difficulties of CALEA
implementation received renewed public attention. The FBI had been putting a
lot of pressure on the FCC to resolve technical and legal challenges,
putting a lot of pressure on carriers to cooperate, and involving themselves
in telephony standards efforts to support new protocols and procedures for
supporting CALEA. Also, the FBI had focused on VoIP. Fortunately, VoIP
vendors in the IPCC realized before 9/11 that their solutions would
eventually require support for CALEA. In 2000 they chartered a Legal
Intercept group and began work on a new standard for supporting CALEA in
VoIP networks.
Soon the FBI began participating in the IPCC Legal Intercept
group as well as groups from TIA and ANSI T1. The TIA and ANSI groups had
traditionally worked on normal PSTN networks, but they knew that they had to
include VoIP eventually. Liaisons went out from each group to coordinate
efforts. The IPCC, being the body with the most experience in packet voice
networks, had the most advanced work done for VoIP networks. They decided to
contribute their work to the T1 group which was creating an overall PSTN/VoIP
standard for CALEA. That standard was recently agreed upon by the industry
and is called T.678.
Since the publication of the IPCC�s informational report entitled, �Lawfully
Authorized Surveillance for Softswitch-based networks� in July of 2003, the
U.S. government has stepped up its efforts to insure that its entitled law
enforcement activities related to wiretapping are not jeopardized by new
technology. On March 10, 2004, the DOJ, FBI, and DEA filed a Joint Petition
for Expedited Rulemaking before the FCC. The purpose of the petition is to
clarify that CALEA applies to all public telecommunications carriers, and
its application is technology neutral. The FBI is upset that despite a clear
statutory mandate, full CALEA implementation has not been achieved � and in
some instances outright ignored.
Although the Commission has taken steps to
implement CALEA, there remain several outstanding issues that are in need of
immediate resolution. Before you read further, it is important to note that
the language of the law clearly states that CALEA may not inhibit nor
prevent the development or deployment of new technologies. Law enforcement
has asked the FCC to clarify or preferably rule on 13 issues in question
related to identifying services, procedures, and responsibilities for CALEA.
This action has created a lot of buzz in the industry and naturally some of
the talk has diverged from reality. Some are saying that the FBI wants
access to all forms of communication including instant messaging, e-mail,
etc. Yet only broadband Internet access service and broadband telephony
service are specified in the filing. Other online services, including
instant messaging, e-mail, and visits to Web sites, would not be covered.
Broadband service providers are nervous about how this might affect their
network plans. It is important to note that, under CALEA, the FCC is the
final arbiter of coverage, not the FBI.
The government says in its petition that CALEA should apply to certain
broadband services but does not address the issue of what technical
capabilities those broadband providers should deliver to Law Enforcement.
CALEA already permits those service providers to fashion their own technical
standards as they see fit. If Law Enforcement considers an industry
technical standard deficient, it can seek to change the standard only by
filing a special �deficiency� petition before the Commission. It is the FCC,
not Law Enforcement, which decides whether any capabilities should be added
to the standard. The FCC may refuse to order a change in a standard on many
different grounds. For example, a capability may be rejected because it is
too costly. Therefore CALEA already contains protections for industry
against paying undue compliance costs.
Matt Holdrege is one of the principal authors of the IPCC�s CALEA
document published in July. He is Director of Business Development at Strix
Systems. He notes that he is not a lawyer! Please consult your own legal
counsel as needed.
Michael Khalilian is chairman and president of the International Packet
Communications Consortium (IPCC), an industry consortium of carriers and
solutions providers advancing packet-based communication technologies. For
more information, please visit
www.packetcomm.org.
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