| 1. | What is CALEA? |
| | CALEA stands for the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. The original act was passed in 1994 in response to a request for help from law enforcement. It requires providers of commercial voice services to engineer their networks in such a way as to assist law enforcement agencies in executing wiretap orders. For a copy of the act, go to http://www.techlawjournal.com/agencies/calea/47usc1001.htm. |
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| 2. | Why are we hearing about it affecting higher education only now? What has changed? |
| | Higher education institutions were exempt from CALEA compliance under the 1994 act because they were considered "private networks." On August 5, 2005, the Federal Communications Commission, in response to a request by law enforcement, extended CALEA compliance to include facilities-based Internet service providers. This includes most campuses in their capacity of providing access to the public Internet. A private network is now defined as a network that does not have the capacity to interconnect with the public Internet, or, in the case of VoIP, to interconnect with the public switched telephone network (PSTN). For a copy of the FCC report and order passed on August 5, go to http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=EPO0528. |
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| 3. | What is a "facilities-based Internet service provider"? |
| | Facilities-based Internet service providers are defined as "entities that provide transmission or switching over their own facilities between the end user and the Internet service provider." |
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| 4. | Does CALEA mean that law enforcement can now wiretap the Internet? |
| | Yes and no. The right to legally intercept all forms of communication, including the Internet, and use the results as evidence in a court of law has existed since 1968. CALEA does not change the legal requirements to wiretap. What CALEA does is require providers to engineer their systems to make wiretapping easier and less expensive. To read about wiretapping or legal intercept procedures and laws, go to http://www.askcalea.net/faqs.html. |
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| 5. | Why does law enforcement need these changes now? |
| | As communications systems have grown more complex and more providers have entered the business, wiretapping has become more difficult. CALEA evolved in the 1980s in response to the appearance of multiple carriers, the growing popularity of cell phones, and the transition from analog to digital signals. When CALEA was passed in 1994, the Internet was being used for communications. Since it was primarily accessed over dial-up connections and therefore still accessible to law enforcement, law enforcement accepted a compromise that limited CALEA to commercial voice services and excluded the Internet and private networks. By 2004, however, the climate had changed. VoIP was becoming mainstream and broadband was becoming the dominant way of connecting to the Internet. Currently, law enforcement feels that sufficient criminal activity takes place on the Internet to justify facilities-based Internet providers becoming CALEA compliant. For a copy of law enforcement's petition to the FCC, go to http://www.askcalea.net/jper.html. |
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| 6. | We frequently receive subpoenas for information from law enforcement. How is CALEA different from what we already do? |
| | The difference mainly concerns the type of information and whether it is real-time or historical. The vast majority of subpoenas are for information (excluding content) about past communications such as caller ID, time, date, and length of call. CALEA pertains to wiretap orders, which concerns the content of real-time communications. Law enforcement wants to be able to hear (or read) the exchange as it is taking place. The law makes wiretap orders difficult for law enforcement to obtain. They must prove to the court that they have exhausted all other methods of obtaining the necessary evidence in the investigation. In comparison, subpoenas for historical information are relatively easy for law enforcement to obtain. |
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| 7. | Are wiretaps a frequent occurrence on campuses or elsewhere? |
| | Every year, the courts are required to report how many wiretap orders they have issued. The figures for 2004 are 1,714 for all local, state, and federal courts and an additional 1,754 under Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)courts (national security). In an informal survey of 700 campuses, there were no reports of wiretap orders being served in 2003. Law enforcement reports that there were "a few" served on campuses under FISA. By any account, the number of wiretap orders on campuses is extremely small. For more information on the number of wiretaps reported by U.S. courts, go to http://www.uscourts.gov/wiretap04/Table4-04.pdf. For the FISA court, go to http://www.epic.org/privacy/wiretap/stats/fisa_stats.html. |
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| 8. | Who is ACE? Why are they mentioned in all of the press releases instead of EDUCAUSE? |
| | ACE, the American Council on Education, is a professional association based in Washington, D.C. ACE is the coordinating association for all college and university presidential associations, as well as organizations like EDUCAUSE and NACUBO that work directly with college and university presidents. ACE is recognized as the unified "voice of higher education" in matters before the federal government. EDUCAUSE will be working closely with ACE in all aspects of the CALEA issue. For more information on ACE, visit their Web site at http://www.acenet.edu/. |
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| 9. | How is wiretapping on campus done at the present time, without CALEA compliance? |
| | Currently, without CALEA compliance, law enforcement can, and do, wiretap Internet networks on campuses when they have the proper legal authorization. This normally involves law enforcement personnel coming to campus, bringing the necessary equipment with them, and working with the campus IT department to isolate the necessary communications. Law enforcement has expressed several problems with this, mainly that it is expensive and very time consuming…. it has been known to take weeks to find and isolate the correct information. |
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| 10. | Is there an EDUCAUSE CALEA Discussion list that I can join? |
| | Yes, go to CALEA Discussion List to join or leave the list. To post to the list use "CALEA-HE@listserv.educause.edu". |
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