Fergie's Tech Blog

Wiretapping Could Stifle VoIP Technology

Dean Takahashi writes in The Mercury News (SiliconValley.com):

In its zeal to pursue terrorists and criminals, the federal government could crush a nascent technology and, ironically, jeopardize the nation's security. That's one of the consequences of enabling wiretapping in the digital age.

At the request of the FBI, the Federal Communications Commission is soon expected to require companies that provide certain kinds of Internet phone calls to enable law enforcement to conduct wiretapping, given court approval.

Conventional phone calls are already subject to wiretapping when law enforcement obtains a court order.

Internet phone calls, also called VOIP for voice over Internet protocol, can bypass phone-system charges by using the Internet to route calls from one Internet user to another. That makes for cheap or free calls -- but complicates wiretapping.

posted by Fergie @ 2/06/2007 10:13:00 AM