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5.5 Getting Clipped

The telephone industry isn't the only potential target of the Digital Telephony bill. Any public communications network that carries both voice and data also is affected. For example, if TV coaxial networks became avenues for two-way communications, they would be subject to the bill's regulations. Whether the Internet, with its relatively primitive voice-communications facilities, should be immune to this bill's regulations hasn't been decided.

There is a catch, however. If you `re calling your Internet provider via a long-distance line or you `re using an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), your Internet communications would be susceptible to Digital Telephony-authorized taps.

Under the bill, telecom carriers not only have to ensure that the government can tap their communication lines, they have to aid the government in its snooping. Telephone companies are required to be able to find a suspect's numbers and report where his or her phone calls are originating and where they're going.

The bill could have been worse. One version would have given the attorney general the right to stop any technological advance that could interfere with the government's ability to make wiretaps. Another early model of the bill would not have required search warrants to engage in wiretapping.


next up previous
Next: 5.6 An Orwellian Future? Up: 5 The legal issue: Previous: 5.4 Uncle Sam is
Denis Arnaud
12/19/1997