News for and about the Internet2 community

["Lauren B. Kallens" <>]

EDUCAUSE Coalition Files FCC Comments on Extending Wiretap Law to Internet
Providers

For Release:
Thursday, November 11, 2004     

Washington, D.C.

EDUCAUSE, along with 15 other education and library organizations (the
"EDUCAUSE Coalition"), has filed comments with the Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) in the recently proposed rulemaking regarding the
Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). While supporting
the need for law enforcement to have access to communications under proper
legal conditions, the Coalition rejects the FCC attempt to extend CALEA to
include broadband Internet access and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).

The Coalition's comments argue two basic points:

    * the CALEA statute as currently written does not apply to broadband
Internet access or to information services, and that only Congress has the
power to rewrite CALEA; and
    * if CALEA is extended to include broadband Internet access and VoIP,
then Coalition members need to be clearly and specifically exempted from
this obligation.

"The higher education community is sympathetic to law enforcement's need to
access Internet communications," said Wendy Wigen, an EDUCAUSE policy
analyst. "However, we feel it is clear that Congress never intended CALEA to
extend to the Internet and that the negative impact on the education and
library community would far outweigh any benefit that law enforcement would
gain by including them in this ruling."

Members of the EDUCAUSE Coalition include the American Association of
Community Colleges; the American Association of State Colleges and
Universities; the American Council on Education; the American Library
Association; the Association of American Universities; the Association of
College and Research Libraries; the Association for Communications
Technology Professionals in Higher Education; the Association of Research
Libraries; the Consortium for School Networking; EDUCAUSE; the International
Society for Technology in Education; Internet2; the National Association of
College and University Business Officers; the National Association of
Independent Colleges and Universities; the National Association of State
Universities and Land-Grant Colleges; and the University of California
Office of the President.

The Coalition's complete comments filed with the FCC [PDF* 146 KB] are
available at www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EPO0420.pdf.

Contact:
Wendy Wigen
Policy Analyst
EDUCAUSE

202-331-5372

Contact:
Peter DeBlois
Director, Communication Services
EDUCAUSE

(303) 544-5665