NY TIMES– Federal law enforcement and national security officials are preparing to seek sweeping new regulations for the Internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is “going dark” as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone.
Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications — including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct “peer to peer” messaging like Skype — to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages.
The bill, which the Obama administration plans to submit to lawmakers next year, raises fresh questions about how to balance security needs with protecting privacy and fostering innovation. And because security services around the world face the same problem, it could set an example that is copied globally.
James X. Dempsey, vice president of the Center for Democracy and Technology, an Internet policy group, said the proposal had “huge implications” and challenged “fundamental elements of the Internet revolution” — including its decentralized design.
“They are really asking for the authority to redesign services that take advantage of the unique, and now pervasive, architecture of the Internet,” he said. “They basically want to turn back the clock and make Internet services function the way that the telephone system used to function.”
But law enforcement officials contend that imposing such a mandate is reasonable and necessary to prevent the erosion of their investigative powers.
“We’re talking about lawfully authorized intercepts,” said Valerie E. Caproni, general counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “We’re not talking expanding authority. We’re talking about preserving our ability to execute our existing authority in order to protect the public safety and national security.”
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????? ??? ?????? ???????????? ?????? . ??? ??????:What distinguishes “linear” and “non-linear” auvdoiisual services?Non-linear services are defined as “any auvdoiisual media service where the user decides upon the moment in time when a specific programme is transmitted on the basis of a choice of content selected by the media service provider”. The distinction between TV broadcast or linear services (“push content”), on one hand and non-linear or on-demand services (“pull content”), on the other, depends on who decides when a specific programme is transmitted and whether schedules exist. The Commission believes that this distinction is sustainable over time and will accommodate further technological developments such as personal video recorders. The differing degrees of regulation of content “pushed” by suppliers or “pulled” by users reflects differences in user choice and control and in the likely impact on society.