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Snooping on VOIP
EvilAlien writes "SecurityFocus is running an article on a joint Justice Department and FBI filing to the FCC which asks for broader communications interception powers:
FBI seeks Internet telephony surveillance. The move is very similar to the Lawful Access Consultation launched by the Canadian Government in August 2002. Both initatives discuss technological challenges and fears of communication "safe havens" for criminals on broadband services such as Internet, VoIP, and wireless services. Holes in existing legislation, such as Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), can provide unintended exclusions for services such as Free World Dialup."
In other news, orwell rolled over in his grave today, as a confused nation scrambled to hand over their individual freedoms for the sake of percieved security.
Do not surrender your freedoms, granting increased voip snooping is just one more step to a totalitarian nation, where we justify acts like pre-emptive wars, racial profiling, internetwide snoop network with evil McCarthy databases,...
Oh shit it already happened...
Seriously. I know most people send postcards (e-mail) and not letters (encrypted e-mail) but wouldn't you at least do a simple public key exchange for VoIP? I feel I have much more privacy in a phone call than I do on an unencrypted Internet chat that is being relayed through a bunch of unknown servers.
;)
Even the simplest of key exchanges would stop any eavesdroppers, and making a man-in-the-middle attack requires so much more work, not to mention being detectable if verified through a secure channel.
That being said, I can understand the law enforcement agencies. It's not like it's the difference between a postcard and an envelope - it's the difference between a postcard and an indestructable envelope. Giving the police special permissions (e.g. to open your letters with a court order) doesn't work well in a world where encryption is in black and white - secure and insecure. Escrow keys and stuff like that to make it work like in the "real world" doesn't work well either.
Personally, I think I'd just write a AES wrapper if I'm busy planning to Take Over The World(tm Pinky & the Brain). Either that or I'll just send some PGP'd blueprints over freenet through a proxy from a webcafe wearing gloves or something
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
We can give up all our remaining freedoms but the only "tech" a "terrorist" really needs is the commitment to die for their cause. How do you 100% guard against that? I fear for our children's children.