CALEA Irks Carriers

The FCC recently adopted technical requirements for wireline, cellular and PCS carriers to comply with CALEA. Although the Department of Justice and the FBI view it positively, wireless carriers are not pleased with the ruling.

"The FBI request for additional authority went beyond the intent and scope of CALEA and will represent a significant cost to the wireless industry and its customers," said Jonathan Marshall, AirTouch spokesperson.

Andrea Linskey, Bell Atlantic Mobile (BAM) spokesperson, said the cost will be significant for wireless carriers due to specific technological issues they must resolve to comply.

"We're concerned that the FCC did not focus enough on wireless in this ruling," she said. "It lumped us all into the same group."

Two types of wiretap court orders exist today. One allows a law enforcement agency (LEA) to obtain information about a call. The other allows a LEA to hear (or see, in the case of e-mail messages or pages) a call's content. Michael Altschul, CTIA vice president & general counsel, said if a LEA obtains packet-mode data right now, it can see a call's content, even if a LEA only needs information about a call's address.

"You don't have the ability to get address information without getting content," he said, adding that some civil liberties groups have indicated they will challenge the ruling.

Linskey said BAM is trying to give the FBI what it wants without compromising the privacy of all of its customers.

Marshall said AirTouch is counting on network vendors to create solutions to the new "punch list" items over the next two years. Linskey said BAM is looking to vendors for solutions also, but vendors still are waiting for a reimbursement fund to help pay for new technologies.

"My understanding is the reimbursement fund that was supposed to be established has not been fully approved, and the FBI has made no contracts with vendors to move forward," Linskey said.

Altschul explained that Congress initially indicated it would appropriate $500 million to pay for CALEA upgrades.

"($500 million) will cover the software," he said. "It doesn't cover the equipment necessary to upgrade the switches."

Linskey said BAM would like to engage in more dialog.

"I would think there would be a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff going on, and if we can get enough carriers on the same page, maybe we will challenge this, but I don't know if that will happen," she said.