Centralizing the Internet??. CNet. The long-awaited proposal, submitted to the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday, has been crafted so broadly that it would outlaw the introduction of new broadband services that did not support ready wiretapping access. Companies currently offering broadband would be given 15 months to comply.
Basically, CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act) is being used by the Homeland security department to force rewiring of the Internet. The original act was aimed at forcing open call forwarding (etc.) enabled phones to wiretaps. It is now being applied to VoIP (particularly due to Skype, since systems like Vonage route calls through a central hub and are therefore easily accessed). The Skype “hole” is being used to force broadband companies to create central hubs for all Internet traffic (on a per ISP basis) where the FBI can place Carnivore. It is basically going to turn the Internet on its head… [John Robb's Weblog]