Feds Want to Expand CALEA to Facebook/Google

"For two years now, the FBI has been talking about how new Internet communications technologies are stopping them from getting the bad guys. In 2011, the FBI's top lawyer called it the "going dark" problem. Last year, FBI Director Robert Mueller related similar concerns to Congress, stating it needs "wiretapping backdoors" into popular websites, or it would have to shut down more investigations. The FBI's position was reportedly that installing such "backdoors" should be mandatory, not optional.

Now it looks like those proposals are back, according to The Washington Post. The newspaper cites unnamed administration officials saying that Facebook and Google are specifically being pressured to allow for electronic communications to be intercepted "as they occur"—a kind of digital-age wiretap that could read, for instance, Facebook messages or Gchats."

Info on CALEA for those who aren't familiar with the 1994 law: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communications_Assistance_for_Law_Enforcement_Act


They're going to get their way in this, they've not given up and don't intend to. Both companies are already being watched, but this would make things much easier for LEA.

 

US seeks to pressure Google, Facebook et al. into installing wiretapping backdoors:

http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2013/05/01/us-google-facebook-bacldoors/

 

*sigh* That's twice now I've posted without the proper link. My brain cells are evidently rotting