Companies that sell high-speed Internet access and Web-based telephone service have a year to upgrade their systems to allow wiretapping by law-enforcement agencies, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday.
The FCC upheld a May 14, 2007, deadline set last year for companies to comply with the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.
The wiretap law has covered traditional phone service since its enactment in 1994. Trade groups sought an extension of the deadline for broadband and Internet-phone compliance. They said the FCC didn’t give enough guidance when it ruled last August that those services are subject to the law as well.
In adopting the order, the FCC said carriers can hire “trusted” companies to help them comply with wiretapping rules.
The U.S. Telecom Association – whose 1,200 member companies include AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., the nation’s biggest telephone companies – had said broadband carriers face “significant technical difficulties” in helping law enforcement monitor their lines for suspected criminal activity.
Unlike traditional phone calls, high-speed Internet communications “do not run in a single direction or together in a single stream,” so intercepting calls is more difficult, the association said in a Jan. 30 FCC filing.
Broadband providers can’t distinguish among voice, video and data communications without information from users or content providers, so intercepting the right calls is “extremely difficult” and “protecting users’ privacy is almost impossible,” the group said.
Louisville-based CableLabs, a nonprofit research-development consortium formed by the cable industry, finalized technical specifications, or blueprints, for modems that handle Internet-based phone calls in 2004. The company sets technical guidelines for manufacturers of cable-TV set- top boxes and modems. CableLabs spent five years working with the FBI to make products compliant with federal laws covering wiretapping.
Comcast was among the cable providers working with CableLabs on the new specifications. The Philadelphia-based company began rolling out its Digital Voice telephone service in 2005. The service was made available to its 700,000 Colorado subscribers in November.
Denver-based Qwest had no comment as of Wednesday night.
Denver Post staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson contributed to this report.
