The US equivalent  to ETSI ES 201.671  called J-STD-025 is being developed in the TIA TR 45 LAES [Telecom Industry Association - Lawfully Authorized Electronic Surveillance]  und T1P1  standardization committees. Despite the difference of the European and US fixed and mobile telecom networks the methods and aims of law enforcement and are quite the same.

On both sides of the Atlantic law enforcement have been demanding  interception capabilities close to real time. That is the core of the International User Requirements [IUR] developed jointly in the ILETS [International Law Enforcement Telecom Seminars].  The European participants are the Police Cooperation Working Group  [PCWG] who use ENFOPOL [plus uprising numbers] as an acronym for their internal documents.

Members of this group have been active in the working groups ETSI SEC LI and ETSI SEC ESI. Until 1999 working group SEC ESI was known as SEC TTP -  they developed standards for a so called "Trusted Third Parties" system for encryption keys, otherwise known as "key escrow." As nobody would have "key escrow" they turned to standardization of digital signatures by the middle of 1999.

The key document members both of of SEC LI and PCWG are currently  labouring on  is called "Requirements of Law Enforcement Agencies" [Draft TR 101 331 V.0.2. 2001-1]  that shall replace  ETR 101 331 [Dec 1996].  Both documents define their scope as to providing "a set of requirements relating to handover interfaces for the interception by law enforcement and state security agencies." [bold by me]

Upon those requirements all valid ETSI standards have been developed. That much about "lawful interception" and wiretapping standards developed for police interception purposes only, ordered by the decision of an independent court.

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