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Friday, June 9, 2006 12:37 a.m. EDT
White House Wins Web Phone Wiretap Appeal
A divided federal appeals court Friday sided with the Bush administration over rules that make it easier for police and the FBI to wiretap Internet phone calls.
In a 2-1 ruling, the court said the Federal Communications Commission was correct when it decided that providers of Internet phone service and broadband services have obligations similar to those of telephone companies.
The FCC was responding to Justice Department complaints that companies must ensure their equipment using new technologies and can accommodate police wiretaps under the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, known as CALEA.
''We cannot set aside the commission's reasonable interpretation of the act in favor of an alternatively plausible or an even better one,'' wrote appeals court judge David Sentelle.
Judge Harry Edwards disagreed, saying that CALEA contains an exemption for information services and that the FCC ''has altogether gutted'' it.
In determining that broadband Internet providers are subject to the law just as telecommunications carriers are, the FCC ''apparently forgot to read the words of the statute,'' Edwards wrote in dissent.
FCC chairman Kevin Martin said the decision ensures that law enforcement's ability to conduct lawful court-ordered electronic surveillance will keep pace with new technology.
Sentelle is an appointee of President Reagan, Judge Janice Rogers Brown, who sided with Sentelle, is an appointee of President George W. Bush. Edwards was appointed by President Carter.
Once again the media gets it wrong and then instead of being stand-up people and announcing the mistake 'Front Page', they bury the story and hope nobody will notice.
Sorry, its internet time now and we are watching...
USA Today acknowledged in a "note to our readers" Friday that it could not establish that BellSouth or Verizon contracted with the National Security Agency to provide it with customer calling records, as it previously reported.
But spokesman Steve Anderson said "this is an important story that holds up well. At the heart of our report is the fact that NSA is collecting phone call records of millions of Americans."
"What we address in the editors' note," he said, "deals with the fact that we originally reported that the telephone companies were working under contract with the NSA. We've concluded that we cannot establish that BellSouth or Verizon entered into a contract with the NSA to provide the bulk calling records."
In an accompanying story, the newspaper reported Friday that lawmakers on House and Senate intelligence committees have said that while the NSA has amassed a huge database calling records, cooperation with the NSA by telephone companies was not as extensive USA Today initially reported on May 11.
[snip]
So once again, scream at the top of your lungs the Big Lie and then whisper the apology.
