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IP: Secret Calea Meetings
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Tue, 10 Mar 1998 06:55:46 +0000
Date: Fri, 06 Mar 1998 08:17:47 -0500 From: Barry Steinhardt <Barrys () eff org> Attached is a joint letter from EFF,CDT and EPIC to Attorney General Janet Reno objecting to secret meetings the Justice Department and FBI has been holding with the telephone industry in efforts to reach a "compromise" about implementation of CALEA (the digital wiretapping law). This is part of the FBI's effort to gain new surveillance powers well in excess of anything provided for in the statute. We have previously filed comments with FCC objecting law enforcement's overreaching. Barry arch 5, 1998 BY FACSIMILE The Honorable Janet Reno Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice 950 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 RE: Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act ("CALEA") Dear Attorney General Reno: We are writing to object to the way in which decision-making about implementation of CALEA has been taken behind closed doors. We understand that the Justice Department has scheduled for this Friday, March 6, another meeting with telephone industry representatives to discuss a potential "compromise." There will be no public participation in tomorrow's meeting, nor has there been any public participation in the series of meetings held by Justice over the past 6 months regarding implementation of CALEA It is clear that CALEA is not working. Taking the unresolved issues behind closed doors will not make it work any better. To the contrary, the effort to agree on a design of the nation's telephone system without privacy input violates the intent of Congress to ensure public participation in the process, through an open industry standards process, public proceedings at the FCC, and notice and comment rulemaking. The interim industry standard already goes too far, as we have argued and will argue at the Federal Communications Commission. The failure of the FBI to issue a capacity notice further undermines the viability of CALEA. Adding additional capabilities in a process where privacy interests are not represented further invalidates the implementation. We respectfully urge you to abandon the course the Department is pursuing. Implementation of CALEA, if it can be implemented, should be returned to the industry standards process, as Congress intended, with public oversight on the record by the FCC. Sincerely, Center for Democracy and Technology Electronic Frontier Foundation Electronic Privacy Information Center __________________________________________________________________________ Barry Steinhardt (Barrys () eff org),President Electronic Frontier Foundation East Coast: tel/fax:+ 1 203 226 4897 West Coast: tel: + 1 415 436 9333 (V) West Coast: fax + 1 414 436 9993 (f) 1550 Bryant Street Ste 725 San Francisco,CA 94103 You can find EFF on the Web at <http://www.eff.org> EFF supports the Global Internet Liberty Campaign <http://www.gilc.org>
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