Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: 14 May 91 19:29:52 GMT From: Tom Gray Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: You're All A Bunch of Terrorists Message-ID: Organization: Mitel. Kanata (Ontario). Canada. Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 362, Message 8 of 11 Lines: 45 In article sao@athena.mit.edu (Andy Oakland) writes: > In article mitel!Software!grayt@uunet. > uu.net (Tom Gray) writes: >>> service equipment shall ensure that communications systems permit the >>> government to obtain the plain text contents of voice, data, and other >>> communications when appropriately authorized by law. >> All this really states is that the government should have the right to >> wire tap if it gets a search warrant. I don't see anything draconian >> about this. >> You may also note that this text does NOT specicifically refer to >> encryption. > Actually, this "sense of Congress" resolution has been causing us here > at MIT Project Athena great distress, because it effectively bans > certain types of encryption. We're working on "privacy enhanced Encryption may be important in certain areas. However shared bandwidth systems are the future of the telecom network. In these systems, communications from many users will share the same physical medium. It is important that any survelliance be restricted to only those under suspicion and not to the innocent users (and probably unknowing users) of a multiplexer system. The telephone line to your house is likely terminated on a subscriber multiplexer system. A simple piece of equipment on this multiplexer could allow the systematic monitoring of all telephone loops in your neighbourhood. I have seen accounts where such systems have been used to intercept long distance trunk traffic on microwave links. ANI and routing information is decoded. It is reasonable that systems such as this be restricted and that the reasonable use of wire tapping be allowed. Only traffic specifically authorized by the search warrant should be intercepted. Additionally users can present the network with encrypted data. Encryption will take place end to end with no involvement of the network. This will be the nature of the new ISDN networks. The network will provide a shared transport function with services being performed on the periphery.