Surveillance Is on the Rise, Straining Carriers 336
Carl Bialik from the WSJ writes "The number of telephone wiretaps from 2000 to 2004 authorized by state and federal judges increased by 44%, the Wall Street Journal reports, in part because of a rise in terrorism investigations after 9/11, and because the Patriot Act extended surveillance to Internet providers. All the surveillance activity can put a strain on carriers. 'Smaller telecom companies in particular have sought help from outsiders in order to comply with the court-ordered subpoenas, touching off a scramble among third parties to meet the demand for assistance', the WSJ reports, adding, 'Government surveillance has intensified even more heavily overseas, particularly in Europe. Some countries, such as Italy, as well as government and law-enforcement agencies, are able to remotely monitor communications traffic without having to go through the individual service providers. To make it easier for authorities to monitor traffic, some also require registering with identification before buying telephone calling cards or using cybercafes.'"
Re:Careful..... (Score:4, Informative)
Evidently you didn;t hear that Cindy Sheehan was arrested at the SOTU for the completely legal action of wearing a T-Shirt with a slogan on it. BTW, visitors have STREAKED there before, so the "crime of innappropriateness" of wearing a T-Shirt is essentially just saying "Thought Crime"
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
CALEA (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, I have worked for various carriers though out my professional career; everything from RBOC/LECs, CLECs, CAP's, Cellular. The current state of affairs is freakin depressing. The old school method of getting a wire tap is:
1) Get a court order
2) Submit it to a carrier to get a tap
3) Carrier puts on tap and makes all sessions available to authorities.
Ya want to know how it works now.
1) Remote login (law enforcement)
2) Start recording (aka run a few commands)
3) WTF happened to the court order
All companies that make communications equipment have CALEA access built into their equipment. The system is getting freakin abused and no one has a clue that this *hit is going on.
PS: Yeah, I am just a wee bit touch about the situation.
PSS: The telco folks have always done their job; but that wasn't good enough... Direct access is what has been given away.... and that is a load of horse *hit. By the way; CALEA stands for Communications Assistance Law Enforcement Act.
Re:Careful..... (Score:1, Informative)
The reason these steps were taken was in an attempt to bring dignity to the office of the President. This is a good thing, regardless of one's political leanings. If you want examples of Thought Police in action, a better place to look would be in the speech codes on college campuses.
Re:Careful..... (Score:3, Informative)
From http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/7438 [afterdowningstreet.org]
"Sure, I'm outspoken and don't normally shy away from protesting. But that wasn't my plan. Just hours before the speech, I had been given a ticket by Rep. Lynn Woolsey of Petaluma, who has worked to press Congress to bring the troops home.
At first I didn't really want to go, and I gave the ticket away to someone who gave it back. I would not have been disruptive out of respect for Lynn and the many other members of Congress I deeply admire.
I intended to make a statement, not a scene. Had I wanted to create a disruption, I would have waited until the president arrived to reveal my shirt.
My ticket was in the fifth gallery, front row. An officer -- who a few minutes later would arrest me -- helped me to my seat. I had just sat down and was warm from climbing three flights of stairs, so I unzipped my jacket. I turned to the right to take my left arm out when the officer saw my shirt and yelled "protester!" He then hauled me out of my seat and shoved me up the stairs."
Try http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/7579 [afterdowningstreet.org] for a series of other incidents involving people being harrassed and arrested for wearing T-shirts.
Re:Careful..... (Score:2, Informative)
Who wears a Tshirt to an event like a State of the Union address anyway? She was being disrespectful to every other person in that room. An event like the State of the Union requires at least modicum of decorum, despite how you feel about the man giving the speech.
Further, if your going to link to a news story try to make it an unbiased one. The article you linked to was on a site that's about as biased as you can get.
Re:Careful..... (Score:2, Informative)
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/01/sheehan.ar