[Politech] eWeek's David Coursey: What's more important, VoIP or catching criminals? [priv]

From: Declan McCullagh (declan@private)
Date: Mon Sep 27 2004 - 12:37:26 PDT


[I welcome rebuttals. --Declan]


http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/zd/20040922/tc_zd/135742

Wiretap Law Should Apply to VOIP, Too

Wed Sep 22, 8:48 AM ET
David Coursey - eWEEK

Which do we need more: VOIP or the ability to wiretap terrorists and
criminals?

Given that we've lived this long without VOIP (voice over IP) while
wiretap evidence has proven its value in nailing bad guys over and
over, I have to come out in favor of law enforcement. Yes, I know this
will cause temporary disruption of some vendors' plans to get rich off
VOIP and may even increase the cost of VOIP service to customers, but
if the technology is as cost-effective as promised, we'll never
notice.

[...]

 The telecom industry should stop bellyaching and accept a law that
was written to help keep the good guys and bad guys on a mostly level
playing field. Yes, I know a smart crook can use crypto technology,
but most crooks aren't all that smart. Thus we find wiretaps useful
all the time against people who ought to know they are being
wiretapped, such as murder suspect Scott Peterson (news - web sites)
and the late mob boss John Gotti.

[...]
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