FAQ on the FCC CALEA Expansion

Tags: 1990s 2000s 2010s CALEA

Published: 2015

URL: https://www.eff.org/issues/calea

Abstract: In 2014 the Electronic Frontier Foundation published an article on the evolving history of the The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) of 1994. Initially, CALEA “forced telephone companies to redesign their network architectures to make it easier for law enforcement to wiretap digital telephone calls.” In 2004, several law enforcement agencies petitioned the FCC to expand the scope of CALEA to all Internet communications services, and the FCC issued a final rule which expanded CALEA “to broadband Internet access providers and managed VoIP systems.” In 2010, the FBI tried to persuade legislators to pass legislation that “would have forced all communications services to build secret backdoors for the government to spy on users and to decrypt any encrypted messages exchanged via the service”, but they were unsuccessful. In 2013 the FBI again pushed “for a wholesale expansion of CALEA to all Internet communications services”. While this did not succeed, the article noted the FBI will resurface its argument on a yearly basis. The purpose of the article is to stress that “CALEA must not be expanded”, and any expansion in CALEA entails less Internet security and a reduction in the rights of Americans.