Washington: Federal law enforcement and national security officials are preparing to seek sweeping new regulations for the internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is “going dark” as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone.
Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications—including encrypted email transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking websites like Facebook and software that allows direct “peer to peer” messaging like Skype. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages. The bill, which the Obama administration plans to submit to lawmakers next year, raises fresh questions about how to balance security needs with protecting privacy and fostering innovation. Investigators have been concerned for years that changing communications technology could damage their ability to conduct surveillance. In recent months, officials from the FBI, the Justice Department, the National Security Agency, the White House and other agencies have been meeting to develop a proposed solution.
There is not yet agreement on important elements, like how to word statutory language defining who counts as a communications service provider. But they want it to apply broadly, including to companies that operate from servers abroad, like Research in Motion, the Canadian maker of BlackBerry devices. In recent months, that company has come into conflict with the governments of Dubai and India over their inability to conduct surveillance of messages sent via its encrypted service. In US, phone and broadband networks are already required to have interception capabilities, under a 1994 law. It aimed to ensure government surveillance abilities would remain intact during the evolution from a copperwire phone system to digital networks and cellphones.
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