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              | Date: 1999-11-19 
 
 US: CALEA [=ENFOPOL] Alert-.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.-
 
 q/depesche  99.11.19/1
 
 US: CALEA [=ENFOPOL] Alert
 
 So fügt sich eins ins andere: allüberall die nämlichen
 Vorstöße der gesetzlich ermächtigten Behörden, E-Mails,
 GSM und IP-Telefonie abhörmäßig in den Griff zu kriegen.
 Die American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] und EPIC
 [Electronic Privacy Information Center] reichen Klage ein.
 
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 WASHINGTON, DC -- The Electronic Privacy Information
 Center (EPIC) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
 today asked a federal appeals court to block new rules that
 would enable the FBI to dictate the design of the nation's
 communication infrastructure.
 
 The challenged rules would enable the Bureau to track the
 physical locations of cellular phone users and monitor
 Internet traffic.  In a petition to the U.S. Court of Appeals for
 the District of Columbia Circuit, the groups say that the rules -
 - contained in a Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
 decision issued in August -- could result in a significant
 increase in government interception of digital
 communications.
 
 The court challenge involves the Communications Assistance
 for Law Enforcement Act ("CALEA"), a controversial law
 enacted by Congress in 1994, which requires the
 telecommunications industry to design its systems in
 compliance with FBI technical requirements to facilitate
 electronic surveillance.  In negotiations over the last few
 years, the FBI and industry representatives were unable to
 agree upon those standards, resulting in the recent FCC
 ruling.  EPIC and the ACLU opposed the enactment of
 CALEA in 1994 and participated as parties in the FCC
 proceeding.
 
 Today's court filing asserts that the FCC ruling exceeds the
 requirements of CALEA and frustrates the privacy interests
 protected by federal statutes and the Fourth Amendment.
 According to EPIC's General Counsel, David L. Sobel, "The
 FBI is seeking surveillance capabilities that far exceed the
 powers law enforcement has had in the past and is entitled to
 under the law.  It is disappointing that the FCC resolved this
 issue in favor of poli
 ce powers and against privacy."
 
 Sobel said that the appeals court challenge "raises fundamental privacy issues affecting the American public.  This case will likely define the privacy standards for the Nation's telecommunication networks, including the
 cellular systems and the Internet."
 
 In a report issued last year, the ACLU warned that the Clinton Administration is using scare tactics to acquire vast new powers to spy on all Americans.
 
 "If the FBI has its way, the only communications medium invulnerable to government snooping will consist of two soup cans and some string -- and even then, I'd be careful," said Barry Steinhardt, Associate Director of the
 ACLU.
 
 "We are now at a historic crossroad," Steinhardt added. "We can use emerging technologies to protect our personal privacy, or we can succumb to scare tactics and to exaggerated claims about the law enforcement value of el
 ectronic surveillance and give up our cherished rights, perhaps -- forever."
 
 A separate challenge to the FCC ruling is being filed today in San Francisco by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which joined EPIC and the ACLU in proceedings before the Commission.
 
 The privacy groups are being represented on a pro bono
 basis by Kurt Wimmer and Gerard J. Waldron, partners at
 the Washington law firm of Covington & Burling.
 
 Background materials on CALEA, including documents filed
 by EFF, ACLU and EFF with the Federal Communications
 Commission, are available at EPIC's website:
 
 http://www.epic.org/privacy/wiretap/
 
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 edited by
 published on: 1999-11-19
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