Groups representing higher education are lobbying for a revision to the recently updated Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act that could cost universities millions of dollars in network changes.
Tim Griffin, director of information technology services systems and networks for Mississippi State University, said that CALEA, as the act is called, was passed in 1994 to require telephone companies to install equipment that made it easier for law enforcement agencies to perform wiretaps when needed.
A Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking released by the Federal Communications Commission Sept. 25 states that all facilities-based broadband Internet providers, which includes universities that provide network access, must become compliant with CALEA.
Griffin said that what CALEA compliance currently refers to is impossible for MSU.
“For networks our size, there is no equipment made that complies with CALEA,” he said. “It just doesn’t exist. The equipment that has been manufactured by big companies has been aimed at carriers. Really big, really expensive switches that have the capability to monitor a certain IP address or telephone number.”
The FCC has yet to say exactly what universities must do to comply with the updated CALEA, Griffin said.
“It could range from what we already do, which is if law enforcement shows up here with a subpoena, we have to help them,” he said. “We might just need a software upgrade from Cisco [the networking system used by MSU]. The worst case scenario would mean they would require us to replace everything we have, which would be atrociously expensive.” The Association for Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education, ACUTA, is one of 16 organizations trying to gain exemption from the act for universities.
Dave Ostrom, chair of ACUTA’s legislative and regulatory affairs committee, said that if a university was required to replace all of its network equipment, it could cost up to $10 million, but he is doubtful that will happen.
“I doubt that anything approaching this scenario would ever be required,” he said. “The Department of Justice does not intend on killing the messenger.”
The FCC’s Further Notice said the organization is seeking comments on how to best implement the act and decide on compliance exemptions before the deadline of May 14, 2007. The higher education organizations lobbying for exemption are working to keep the worst-case scenario from happening.
“We have filed joint comments regarding CALEA with the FCC,” Ostrom said. “The main issue is the cost of implementing CALEA compliance. In addition, if the scope of CALEA was expanded to include all communications over the data network including instant messaging, etc., we believe it to be impossible to provide wiretapping on all of those communications.”