FCC Demands Universities Comply With Wiretap Law 215
tabdelgawad writes "The New York Times reports that the FCC is requiring universities to upgrade their online systems to comply with the 1994 wiretap law, which would make it easier for law enforcement to monitor communications online. The universities are not objecting on civil rights grounds (the law requires a court order before monitoring), but on cost grounds (upgrades may cost $7 billion). But with the technology infrastructure in place, what happens if congress decides to relax court order requirements in the future 'in their fight against criminals, terrorists and spies?'"
Got to love /. (Score:2, Insightful)
Every time a stroy likes this gets posted we don't complain about the facts we get cought up in "what if's"
There is something fundamentally wrong here (Score:5, Insightful)
Ex parte, friends. (Score:5, Insightful)
Wiretap orders are ex-parte. That is, only one party is present, and the judge, normally neutral, is expected to suddenly become a more active participant in the search for justice (like judges in civil/Napoleonic code type jurisdictions are), asking hard questions in place of the absent other party. Needless to say, a judge who normally acts in one paradigm (and indeed has no training in the other) isn't likely to suddenly change his stripes. Further, the police know full well which judges are likely to ask a question or two and which are likely to issue an order without question, so judge shopping inevitably occurs.
What percentage of search warrants and wiretap requests are denied? I challenge you to even find statistics about such things.
Parte on, dudes.
Secure SSH Tunneling (Score:4, Insightful)
The solution is simple, and I do it myself. I SSH Tunnel all of my traffic out of my university to my off-site server so that I don't have to worry about an insecure network. I don't have any control over their policies and sniffing is very simple, even on a switched network.
When your ISP (the university) doesn't have your security in mind, then why should I trust them? And I have even more reason to now.
And I am not forgetting that the off-site server will soon have a similar back door made by my ISP. And when that happens, I might as well look for a server in NL.
_ _ _ _ _ _
Got Teeth?
http://www.doctorgallagher.com/ [doctorgallagher.com]
"What happens if congress relaxes requirements?" (Score:3, Insightful)
If it were, you wouldn't be allowed to do anything. Well, if I pay you for my groceries, you might just take the money and run, so I don't have to pay. But officer, if you arrest me, you might beat a confession out of me, so you're not allowed to arrest me.
No, congress isn't supposed to be allowed to fuck me over things I 'might' do, and the inverse applies too.
In A Dictatorship, The Dissident Is A Criminal (Score:3, Insightful)
The most dangerous weapon a criminal can carry is a badge.
Re:Nice (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:"What happens if congress relaxes requirements? (Score:3, Insightful)
The problem with your analogies is that Congress has a history of ignoring privacy rights when it suits them. Consider how fast the Patriot Act passed Congress. And consider the 'turbo' subpoenas of the DMCA.
I think it's good to have both technological and legal barriers to invasions of privacy. I don't want to live in a world where the government has the technological capability, if not the legal right, to monitor everyone's life at will.
Re:Only criminals, terrorists and spies? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Got to love /. (Score:3, Insightful)
Quick! We must put GPS trackers, head-mounted cameras, and explosive collars on every person so the government can know what they're doing at any moment and blow their heads off at the first sign of unpatriotic activity.
Seriously, the more we give up our privacy and liberty to "protect our society", the more it becomes a society not worth protecting.
real criminals use prepaid.. not land lines... (Score:5, Insightful)
The only groups these wiretaps hurt are the law-abiding citizens. The smart (read: dangerous) criminals have it all figured out-- Prepaid cell phones.
Pre-paid cell phones are literally disposable, one-use toys to the bad guys. You don't even need a fake ID, just cash, and not all that much at that. How can they tap your phone when you use a different phone for each call? The best they could do is tap all the pre-paid phones and listen to every conversation out there -- good luck with that! (wanna bet the NSA is big into voice recognition?)
What's to stop them? (Score:1, Insightful)
with the technology infrastructure in place, what happens if congress decides to relax court order requirements in the future 'in their fight against criminals, terrorists and spies?'
Ummmm... what's to stop congress from passing a law that says all gays should be stoned to death in a public ceremony?
Answer: You! It amazes me that people are complaining about the way congress and the Bush Admin are "slowly" taking away their rights, selling out to corporations bla de bla bla...
Hey American Joe... you voted them into power!!! Twice!!! There's a reason everyone has the right to vote. Unfortunately that includes the uninformed and the easily mislead.
/Rant
Can Someone Please Tell Me ... (Score:4, Insightful)
Is is simply a case of looking for one's lost keys under the streetlight across the street, where you've not been, instead of down through the sewer grate you're standing over, just 'cause the light is better over there?
If they really want to start locally, I think they'd have more success bugging the phones and routers of the Congress and Executive branch, and posting the results on the web to further the cause of transparency and honesty in government. Nothing more would be required -- no investigations, no prosecutions, because we live in a nation with a free press and the freedom to vote our feeble minds.
Yes, let's bug every nook and cranny in the Capitol -- I believe we would root out a great many "criminals, terrorists and spies". It would not greatly surprise me to find Osama bin Laden living the good life in some Georgetown penthouse apartment.
"It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress." -- Mark Twain
Re:Nice (Score:4, Insightful)
Then again, I don't believe in the notion that "if you've got nothing to hide, what have you to be afraid of". CCTV on private property is absolutely acceptable, provided it is managed in accordance with the Data Protection Act, but Government CCTV cameras - while acceptable in certain limited circumstances - merely serve to further the "Big Brother" notion.
At risk of taking the so-called slippery slope too far, imagine how much fun a dictator would have in the UK with all sorts of CCTV and other privacy-invading tools at his/her disposal.
Re:fighting the tide (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Nice (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm not an american (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not an american but I am a university student, and I'll take a solid semester of humanities brainwashing over 5 minutes of business/marketing bullcrap. I took a CS/Admin class (CS270-Information Systems Management--It's a prerequisite for CS271-COBOL) and I swear it dropped my IQ by like 2 points alone. Five minutes with the students and faculty in Marketing or Administration will make you wish you were instead surrounded by pot smoking hippie communist liberals.