(2010-09-27) Govt Seeking Expand Calea To Everything

The bill, which the Barack Obama administration plans to submit to lawmakers next year... require all services that enable communications — including encrypted EMail transmitters like Blackberry, Social Networking Web sites like FaceBook and software that allows direct “peer to peer” (P2P) messaging like Skype — to be technically capable of complying if served with a WireTap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages. (Extending CALEA.)

Feb'2011: Originally it seemed the FBI was focused on just updating CALEA (which could be bad enough if it included some of the things we wrote about here), but now it appears the FBI plans to seek changes to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) and other laws, and may also propose new laws.

May'2012: In an appearance this week on Capitol Hill, (FBI Director) Robert Mueller downplayed privacy concerns, saying the FBI's wiretap proposals -- social-networking Web sites and providers of VoIP, Instant Messaging, and WebMail are the primary targets -- would still require a court to be involved.

Jun'2013: Bruce Schneier lays out "The Problems with CALEA-II". Think of it this way: We don't hand the government copies of our house keys and safe combinations. If agents want access, they get a warrant and then pick the locks or bust open the doors, just as a criminal would do. A similar system would work on computers. The FBI, with its increasingly non-transparent procedures and systems, has failed to make the case that this isn't good enough.