FCC INFLATES CALEA

The FCC's recent Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act order angered just about everyone, except probably the FBI. The decision makes packet data subject to CALEA and includes six of nine items on the so-called FBI punch list. That list detailed capabilities that the FBI wanted, which the industry argued surpassed the intent of CALEA.

"The punch list falls most heavily on wireless carriers," said Mike Altschul, general counsel for the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. That's partly because the wireless industry will be responsible for paying for implementation. Operators with switches installed past Jan. 1, 1995, must absorb the cost of upgrading those switches. That deadline includes all PCS and most cellular operators.

But some wireless players are holding out hope for some government aid. The Justice Department has proposed a plan to use the funds appropriated for CALEA to buy the software licensing rights from major manufacturers and then make those licenses available to operators for free, said John Chambers, vice president of regulatory affairs for Sprint PCS.

Until that decision is made, operators are in a tough position. Bell Atlantic Mobile, for example, has been working with its vendors to implement some of the requirements. "For us to contract with them, we have to tell them how they're going to get paid," said Margaret Bavuso, executive director of integrity, security and compliance at Bell Atlantic Mobile.

One of the six punch list items added to the recent order, post-cut-through dialed digit extraction, is particularly troublesome for wireless operators from a technical and cost standpoint. The capability requires operators to provide law enforcement officials with numbers dialed after the switch connects a call to the public network. Wireless operators don't normally collect those numbers. "That feature alone is going to cost as much as the other punch list items combined," Bavuso said.

Cost even worries wireline operators that pass the grandfather clause. The DOJ and the FBI have recommended that carriers pass costs onto users. "We think it's a substantial sum and it remains to be seen in a competitive market how much you can pass on to customers," said Larry Sarjeant, vice president of regulatory affairs and general counsel for the United States Telephone Association.

Wireless and wireline operators alike also are concerned with the implementation timelines. "We feel they're unreasonable," said Grant Seiffert, vice president of government relations for the Telecommunications Industry Association. "At this point, it's a recipe for disaster." The FCC has asked the TIA to modify the six punch list items into a standard by March 30, 2000.

In addition to the voice portion of the new CALEA ruling, the FCC snuck in the packet data requirement. "That ruling comes as a complete surprise," Bavuso said. Although the industry has discussed the wireless data wiretap issue with the FCC, the technological feasibility has not yet been determined. "We believe those issues should have been addressed before it was included in the order," she said.

The wireless data portion of the decision particularly angered privacy rights groups. "We believe that the FCC, on all the issues that mattered, rejected a privacy concern and aligned itself with the FBI's efforts to expand the surveillance capabilities of the nation's telephone systems," said Jim Dempsey, senior staff counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology.

The industry found that it would be difficult to separate header information from content in data transmissions. So rather than offer destination information to a law enforcement agent authorized to get just that information, the industry offered to also give that agent content. "If the government only has the authority to intercept addressing information, that is all they should get," Dempsey argued.