Re: CALEA

[Christopher Morrow <morrowc.lists () gmail com>]

"Encryption

The number of state wiretaps in which encryption was encountered decreased
from 41 in 2013 to 22 in 2014. In two of these wiretaps, officials were
unable to decipher the plain text of the messages. Three federal wiretaps
were reported as being encrypted in 2014, of which two could not be
decrypted. Encryption was also reported for five federal wiretaps that were
conducted during previous years, but reported to the AO for the first time
in 2014. Officials were able to decipher the plain text of the
communications in four of the five intercepts."

that's certainly interesting...

On Tue, May 31, 2016 at 3:12 AM, Martin Hannigan <hannigan () gmail com> wrote:

> Misfire. Sorry, early in the AM. The URL I intended to send is here:
>
>     http://www.uscourts.gov/statistics-reports/wiretap-report-2014
>
>
> Best,
>
> -M<
>
> On Tue, May 31, 2016 at 9:10 AM, Martin Hannigan <hannigan () gmail com>
> wrote:
> > CALEA isn't a type of request, it's a law that enabled par function
> > access for LEO's e.g. "the ladder" pin register, trap+trace, DTMF
> > translation, three-way/off hook ops and the call content (not
> > necessarily in that order).
> >
> > You can see the non national security activity here:
> >
> >
> > On Sat, May 28, 2016 at 5:37 AM, Mike Joseph <mj () doze net> wrote:
> > > I can say via firsthand knowledge that CALEA requests are definitely
> > > happening and are not even that rare, proportional to a reasonably sized
> > > subscriber-base.  It would be unlawful for me to comment specifically on
> > > any actual CALEA requests, however.  But if you have general questions
> > > about my observations, feel free to reach out directly.
> > >
> > > -MJ
> > >
> > > On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 11:28 AM, Brian Mengel <bmengel () gmail com>
> wrote:
> > > > My comments were strictly limited to my understanding of CALEA as it
> > > > applied to ISPs, not telcos.  A request for a lawful intercept can
> entail
> > > > mirroring a real time stream of all data sent to/from a customer's
> Internet
> > > > connection (cable modem/DSL/dedicated Ethernet) to a LEA.  AFAIK this
> > > > requires mediation before being sent to the LEA and it is the mediation
> > > > server itself that initiates the intercept when so configured by the
> ISP.
> > > > Perhaps some LEAs have undertaken the mediation function so as to
> > > > facilitate these intercepts where the neither the ISP nor a third
> party can
> > > > do so.  If that were the case then very little would be needed on the
> part
> > > > of the ISP in order to comply with a request for lawful intercept.  I
> can
> > > > say with certainty that these types of requests are being made of
> broadband
> > > > ISPs though I agree that they are very rare.
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 2:58 PM, Ricky Beam <jfbeam () gmail com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > On Tue, 10 May 2016 17:00:54 -0400, Brian Mengel <bmengel () gmail com>
> > > > > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > AFAIK being able to do a lawful intercept on a specific, named,
> > > > > > individual's service has been a requirement for providers since
> 2007.
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > It's been required for longer than that. The telco I worked for over
> a
> > > > > decade ago didn't build the infrastructure until the FCC said they
> were
> > > > > going to stop funding upgrades. That really got 'em movin'. (suddenly
> > > > "data
> > > > > services" people -- i.e. ME -- weren't redheaded stepchildren.)
> > > > >
> > > > > have never heard of a provider, big or small, being called out for
> being
> > > > > > unable to provide this service when requested.
> > > > >
> > > > > Where existing infrastructure is not already in place (read:
> > > > T1/BRI/etc.),
> > > > > the telco can take up to 60 days to get that setup. I know more than
> one
> > > > > telco that used that grace period to actually setup CALEA in the
> first
> > > > > place.
> > > > >
> > > > > did not perform intercepts routinely.
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > The historic published figures (i've not looked in years) suggest
> CALEA
> > > > > requests are statistically rare. The NC based telco I worked for had
> > > > never
> > > > > received an order in the then ~40yr life of the company.
> > > > >
> > > > > The mediation server needed to "mediate" between your customer
> > > > aggregation
> > > > > > box and the LEA is not inexpensive.
> > > > >
> > > > > And also is not the telco's problem. Mediation is done by the LEA or
> 3rd
> > > > > party under contract to any number of agencies. For example, a telco
> tap
> > > > > order would mirror the control and voice traffic of a POTS line
> (T1/PRI
> > > > > channel, etc.) into a BRI or specific T1 channel. (dialup was later
> > > > added,
> > > > > but wasn't required in my era, so we didn't support it.) We used to
> test
> > > > > that by tapping a tech's phone. Not having any mediation software,
> all I
> > > > > could do is "yeap, it's sending data" and listen to the voice
> channels
> > > > on a
> > > > > t-berd.
> > > > >
> > > > > --Ricky