Fergie's Tech Blog

FBI's $500 Million Wiretap Retrofitting Fund Empty

Ryan Singel writes on Threat Level:

The FBI has gone through nearly all of its $500 million budget for making old telephone switches wiretap friendly, but an FBI survey showed that nearly 40 percent of the nation's switches still aren't up to federal wiretapping standards, according to a new report from the Justice Department's inspector general.

According to a redacted report [.pdf] from the DOJ's Inspector General, the FBI has only a little more than $5000 left in dedicated CALEA funds, which mostly went towards paying switch manufacturers to write wiretapping software and issue licenses to use that software for older switches.

The audit says it is not possible to tell if the money was well-spent, since neither the telecoms nor the switch makers are keen on sharing information.

posted by Fergie @ 3/27/2008 01:35:00 PM