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Wednesday 5 August 2009, 1:13 PM
US VoIP wiretapping legality hazy, says EFF
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has said the legality of US law enforcement wiretapping foreign internet telephony providers is unclear.
US wiretapping law, called the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), does not make clear how legal it is for US law enforcement to intercept VoIP information packets from overseas VoIP providers, EFF told ZDNet UK on Friday.
"In context, it's difficult to say [how legal it would be]," said EFF senior staff attorney Lee Tien. "CALEA wiretapping is based on the idea that you get lawful authorization, for example a interception order or warrant. But you typically need to identify the target of a wiretap, and that could be problematic for a foreign VoIP provider. Second, the foreign VoIP carrier might be outside the US, which poses problems for the warrant procedure. "
Tien was fairly sure that Title III of the act, which deals with a standardised format that ISPs must use to present wiretap data, is not effective outside the US.
"The physical wire is in the US, so you could lawfully sniff the wire if you knew where and how, but often law enforcement needs assistance from the provider, not just access to the wire," Tien added. "If the foreign VoIP carrier had an office in the US, that would be different."
Tien was responding to a ZDNet UK request for comment prompted by the leak of a US VoIP wiretap document to whistleblower site Wikileaks.
The document, which was purportedly produced by Minnesota Joint Analysis Center, says that wiretapping foreign VoIP providers is probably not legal for US police.
"CALEA requires that VoIP carriers provide law enforcement agencies the means, with the proper warrants, to tap into and record voice
conversations and to trace the source and destination of calls made through the carrier’s networks," said the document. "However, due to the international nature of the Internet, it may be impossible to legally wiretap conversations that are supported by foreign VoIP offering companies."
US wiretapping law, called the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), does not make clear how legal it is for US law enforcement to intercept VoIP information packets from overseas VoIP providers, EFF told ZDNet UK on Friday.
"In context, it's difficult to say [how legal it would be]," said EFF senior staff attorney Lee Tien. "CALEA wiretapping is based on the idea that you get lawful authorization, for example a interception order or warrant. But you typically need to identify the target of a wiretap, and that could be problematic for a foreign VoIP provider. Second, the foreign VoIP carrier might be outside the US, which poses problems for the warrant procedure. "
Tien was fairly sure that Title III of the act, which deals with a standardised format that ISPs must use to present wiretap data, is not effective outside the US.
"The physical wire is in the US, so you could lawfully sniff the wire if you knew where and how, but often law enforcement needs assistance from the provider, not just access to the wire," Tien added. "If the foreign VoIP carrier had an office in the US, that would be different."
Tien was responding to a ZDNet UK request for comment prompted by the leak of a US VoIP wiretap document to whistleblower site Wikileaks.
The document, which was purportedly produced by Minnesota Joint Analysis Center, says that wiretapping foreign VoIP providers is probably not legal for US police.
"CALEA requires that VoIP carriers provide law enforcement agencies the means, with the proper warrants, to tap into and record voice
conversations and to trace the source and destination of calls made through the carrier’s networks," said the document. "However, due to the international nature of the Internet, it may be impossible to legally wiretap conversations that are supported by foreign VoIP offering companies."
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