VOIP, call records & Homeland inSecurity
I ran into an interesting thread in the "FAQs" files (really, the user forum) over at GizmoProject.com. Here's the good-parts version:
Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 12:25 am
Post subject: Info on Gizmo's compliance with gov't wiretap regs?
bookishboy wrote:
I realize that this is of particular interest to people in North America, but:
There has been a lot of buzz lately in both Canada and the USA that laws will soon require all VoIP providers to allow backdoor listening on-request to law enforcement officials, possibly without a search warrant. Please, I'd very much like to see from GizmoProject/Sipphone a stickied thread, with up-to-date info describing:
1. What the current state of the law is (what is being proposed, and what has passed) for my country (USA).
2. What steps Gizmo/Sipphone is taking to ensure my privacy, and to notify me when my call records, or access to my voice conversations has been requested by any outside entities, government or otherwise.
3. What criteria Gizmo/Sipphone will require of 3rd parties who request access to my private info/conversations. Also, whether Gizmo will apply different standards of privacy protection to paid and unpaid levels of users.
Thanks for any help with this. I'm not especially nervous that I'd be targetted for monitoring, but I don't enjoy the ever-increasing police state of things. Since I am purchasing phone service from Gizmo, I'm interested to know where the company stands with regards to my records and communications.
Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:20 am
Post subject: Re: Info on Gizmo's compliance with gov't wiretap regs?
enerefsipphone [responding to bookishboy]
The current state of the law is this:
The FCC has made regulations that all interconnected VoIP providers must conform to CALEA. This is due in stages... with the first being E911 access., and the last being full CALEA compliance in 2007 (allowing wiretapping, etc, etc). The E911 deadline has passed, and there are still a HUGE majority of VoIP providers who simply cannot meet the requirements. The technology's just not in place. After all, the cell phone companies were given 15 years and TONS of money to come up with a solution, and they STILL don't have 100% coverage for E911. VoIP companies were given 180 days and told to pay for it out of pocket.
An interconnected VoIP provider, for the sake of the FCC mandate, is any VoIP provider who provides access to and from the PSTN. Now, that's really as far as it goes, and there may be some legal loopholes around that as well as some loopholes in the mandate, but no one will really know until it starts getting enforced (which isn't on the radar yet).
If you ever have a VoIP provider who tells you it's not something to worry about because they don't think they'll be asked for record, don't go near them. I can tell you that a freind of mine who does the handling of this at Sprint gets DAILY requests for multiple people to obtain call logs and install taps. The government has the power and they WILL use it.. frequently.
We're a budding VoIP provider ourselves, and I'm still trying to decide if we should just dissolve and reincorporate in the Bahamas (yay tax exemtpions) just to avoid the hassle. The problem is that it is a violation of international law to record or make available for recording the conversations of certain individuals who do not reside in the US. It's almost impossible to both comply with the FCC mandate and the laws of other sovereign nations in a multinational scenario.
Right now, in congress, there are two bills up for a vote. BITS in the House and BICCA in the senate... both of which have some similar sort of negatives in them for VoIP providers, but BITS doesn't mention CALEA in any way specifically. They BOTH, however, give boilerplate authority of creating mandates to the FCC as a regulatory power, so I doubt we'd see a big change in the way things are currently handled.
Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 12:25 am
Post subject: Info on Gizmo's compliance with gov't wiretap regs?
bookishboy wrote:
I realize that this is of particular interest to people in North America, but:
There has been a lot of buzz lately in both Canada and the USA that laws will soon require all VoIP providers to allow backdoor listening on-request to law enforcement officials, possibly without a search warrant. Please, I'd very much like to see from GizmoProject/Sipphone a stickied thread, with up-to-date info describing:
1. What the current state of the law is (what is being proposed, and what has passed) for my country (USA).
2. What steps Gizmo/Sipphone is taking to ensure my privacy, and to notify me when my call records, or access to my voice conversations has been requested by any outside entities, government or otherwise.
3. What criteria Gizmo/Sipphone will require of 3rd parties who request access to my private info/conversations. Also, whether Gizmo will apply different standards of privacy protection to paid and unpaid levels of users.
Thanks for any help with this. I'm not especially nervous that I'd be targetted for monitoring, but I don't enjoy the ever-increasing police state of things. Since I am purchasing phone service from Gizmo, I'm interested to know where the company stands with regards to my records and communications.
Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:20 am
Post subject: Re: Info on Gizmo's compliance with gov't wiretap regs?
enerefsipphone [responding to bookishboy]
The current state of the law is this:
The FCC has made regulations that all interconnected VoIP providers must conform to CALEA. This is due in stages... with the first being E911 access., and the last being full CALEA compliance in 2007 (allowing wiretapping, etc, etc). The E911 deadline has passed, and there are still a HUGE majority of VoIP providers who simply cannot meet the requirements. The technology's just not in place. After all, the cell phone companies were given 15 years and TONS of money to come up with a solution, and they STILL don't have 100% coverage for E911. VoIP companies were given 180 days and told to pay for it out of pocket.
An interconnected VoIP provider, for the sake of the FCC mandate, is any VoIP provider who provides access to and from the PSTN. Now, that's really as far as it goes, and there may be some legal loopholes around that as well as some loopholes in the mandate, but no one will really know until it starts getting enforced (which isn't on the radar yet).
If you ever have a VoIP provider who tells you it's not something to worry about because they don't think they'll be asked for record, don't go near them. I can tell you that a freind of mine who does the handling of this at Sprint gets DAILY requests for multiple people to obtain call logs and install taps. The government has the power and they WILL use it.. frequently.
We're a budding VoIP provider ourselves, and I'm still trying to decide if we should just dissolve and reincorporate in the Bahamas (yay tax exemtpions) just to avoid the hassle. The problem is that it is a violation of international law to record or make available for recording the conversations of certain individuals who do not reside in the US. It's almost impossible to both comply with the FCC mandate and the laws of other sovereign nations in a multinational scenario.
Right now, in congress, there are two bills up for a vote. BITS in the House and BICCA in the senate... both of which have some similar sort of negatives in them for VoIP providers, but BITS doesn't mention CALEA in any way specifically. They BOTH, however, give boilerplate authority of creating mandates to the FCC as a regulatory power, so I doubt we'd see a big change in the way things are currently handled.