-Caveat Lector- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > ------------------------------------------------------------ > > Subject: > Date: Mon, 2 Aug 1999 18:38:38 -0400 (EDT) > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Judith P. Lindsey) > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Tiny TMI trapped in FBI's national security web > FBI objects because it can't wiretap satellite phone calls > Peter Morton > Financial Post > > Dave Chan, National Post > Ted Ignacy of TMI Communications says his firm is blazing the trail for > other satellite phone firms -- at the price of a tussle with the FBI. > WASHINGTON - All tiny TMI Communications Inc. wanted was to sell its > satellite telephone service in the United States. > Little did the Ottawa-based firm owned by BCE Inc. and Telesat Canada, > know that, before long, its application would be swept up in a complex > web that includes the FBI, the major U.S. government departments, and > ultimately the White House -- with nothing less than the integrity of > America's national security at stake. > The FBI is continuing to block TMI's 16-month-old bid to get a licence > that would allow it to sell mobile telephone service to Americans. > That's because new U.S. wiretap laws demand the FBI be able to listen to > all kinds of telephone calls, including ones on satellite telephones. > But the agency cannot easily do this in TMI's case, because the company > is in Canada. > "The nightmare scenario for us is the word gets around in the drug > trafficking community that the thing to do if you are a Detroit drug > trafficker or a New York one or a New Orleans one, for that matter, is > to go to a telephone reseller in Toronto," said one senior U.S. Justice > Department official. "And that shows up on the system as a Canadian > person." > >From the FBI's perspective, it cannot legally use the evidence from a > wiretap on TMI's equipment because it cannot prove the call was made on > U.S. soil or by an American. > TMI is not alone in getting caught up in the FBI's new national security > concerns. Iridium LLC, the troubled U.S. satellite company, is facing > the same FBI objections because of its plans to build a groundstation in > eastern Canada to serve the U.S. northeast. The groundstation has been > temporarily shelved because of Iridium's restructuring. > As well, Globalstar Canada LP, a partnership of U.S. Globalstar and > Canadian Satellite Communications, is facing a similar FBI threat > because of its plans to use groundstations in Smith Falls, Ont., and > High River, Alta., to reach the market in the United States. > But TMI is the first to run the new U.S. national security gauntlet and > is now being seen by dozens of other satellite companies as the stalking > horse for how wiretapping will be handled on the cutting edge of > telephone technology. > "And we're just a rinky-dink company," said Ted Ignacy, TMI's > vice-president of finance. > TMI's slide into U.S. regulatory limbo began innocently enough in March, > 1998. It was just one month after the U.S., Canada and 131 other > countries in the World Trade Organization ratified an sweeping agreement > to liberalize telecommunications services around the world. > "We adopt a presumption that entry by WTO member satellite systems will > promote competition in the U.S. satellite services market," said the > Federal Communications Commission in trumpeting the deal. > TMI wasted little time, becoming the first foreign satellite > telecommunications company to apply for an FCC licence. > Largely overlooked at the time was a tiny clause included in the U.S. > enabling legislation. The clause said that, before the FCC can give a > foreign satellite company a "common carrier" licence to operate, > national security concerns must be met first. > But few people, even the FCC, thought that the FBI and its boss, the > Department of Justice, would be so worried about being able to wiretap > satellite telephones that they would take the extraordinary step of > blocking a foreign licence. > "The FBI was somewhat late in letting us know their concerns," said one > senior FCC official. "This is the very first time we had any kind of > sense the FBI had a national security concern about these satellites." > The source of the FBI's worry is both simple and intensely complex. > The FBI and other U.S. security agencies have been fretting for years > about their technical inability to track money launderers, drug > smugglers, kidnappers and murderers who are beginning to use the new > wireless telephone world to hide their whereabouts and their criminal > deeds. > In 1994, Congress passed a law updating existing wiretap laws, called > the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA. > Among other things, the law would force U.S. telephone companies to give > the FBI the technical ability not only to tap into wireless telephone > calls but also pinpoint the calls' point of origin. Still, to do that, > the FBI must have physical access to the U.S. ground stations, called > gateways. > Enactment of the law has long been delayed because of the U.S. telephone > industry's concerns about costs, and concerns about privacy by U.S. > civil liberties groups. > After all that, the law will be adopted in FCC regulations this > September. However, there's a wrinkle. > Somehow overlooked was how the FBI would get the same access to foreign > satellite telecommunications companies with their gateways outside the > U.S. > "You have technology that leapfrogs national boundaries," said the > senior Justice Department official. "And we have to figure out what then > is in our national interest." > Because it has no jurisdiction outside the United States, the FBI wants > the ability to tap telephones from any foreign satellite companies with > a U.S. licence, if a call is being made to what it calls an "American > person" -- either a U.S. citizen or a foreigner on U.S. soil. > But that is not an easy or cheap thing to do. > TMI is using Telsat Canada's new MSAT-1 satellite, now parked over the > equator, to offer satellite telephone service to as many as 400,000 > subscribers in Central America, the Caribbean, the United States and > Canada. But TMI's telephone technology, at least from the FBI's > perspective, is not new. > Ideally, what the FBI and the Department of Justice wants is TMI to > retrofit -- at its own expense -- all of its suitcase telephones to > include a global positioning satellite receiver, much like those used in > boats and now cars. That way, the FBI reasons, the built-in GPS receiver > could always tell whether a telephone call was being made to or in the > United States. > In on-again, off-again talks between the two sides over the past year, > TMI balked. It argued the GPS solution was too expensive and instead > suggested to the Justice Department that it would simply route all calls > it thought were being made by or to "American persons" to a U.S. > gateway, called a "point of presence," that it would set up. There, the > FBI could simpy tap in. > But that would not work, countered the Department of Justice. > The main problem, it said, is that the only way TMI call tell if a call > is being made by a Canadian or an American is via a code built into the > handset, which only shows where it was purchased. And that leads > directly to the FBI's nightmare scenario. > "This is really crucial for us," the Justice official said. "Even if the > company is willing to bring all calls we think we can identify as U.S. > across the border, the problem is that we don't know where the call is > from but just where the subscription was purchased." > The "bad guys," he said, would waste little time in figuring out that > Canada -- or another country -- is the place to buy satellite telephones > hidden from U.S. authorities. > Ottawa is not particularly happy about TMI's proposal either, saying > Canada's privacy laws may be violated if the FBI can listen in on calls > made by Canadians. > There has also been some talk, as well, about Canada and the United > States signing a bilateral agreement that would allow the FBI to more > easily get wiretaps in Canada. > Again, though, that does not satisfy the Justice Department. > "It's not the silver bullet," the official said. > Quick to defend the close Canada-U.S. law enforcement relationship, the > official also points to some Canadian realities: "We know Canadian > governments have changed over the years, your laws may change or you > simply would not be able to comply with the speed we need." > And then, finally, there is the secrecy issue. U.S. court orders for > wiretaps are relatively rare -- about 200 a year at the state and > federal level -- and they are only given if the FBI or other law > enforcement agencies cannot find another way to collect evidence. > "The fact you are conducting electronic surveillance must be kept secret > from the target," the Justice official said. "One of the concerns we > have is if we go to a foreign country we have less control over security > conditions." > What worries the FCC and the "open trade" side of the Clinton > administration is the dangerous message such national security concerns > send to countries looking for ways to keep U.S. satellite telephone > companies out of their own markets. Other countries may adopt U.S.-style > national security rules as a way of keeping U.S. firms out. "We > certainly wouldn't want every other country adopting those kinds of > requirements," the FCC official said. "It would be expensive." > Despite some skepticism about its motives, the FCC insists that for its > part all it wants to see is more competition in the U.S. satellite > telecommunications market. "We want to reach an accommodation that would > be reasonable but, at the same time, keep our markets open and not > impose such onerous burdens on the industry to make it difficult for > them to do business," said the official. "This is a high-priority > issue." > So high, in fact, that a rare inter-agency group has been put together > within the administration. The group includes the U.S. trade > representative, the commerce, state and treasury departments as well as > the National Security Council in the White House. Janet Reno, the U.S. > attorney general, and Lawrence MacAulay, the Canadian solicitor general, > have also talked about the stalemate. > For its part, TMI insists it is not being unreasonable. "We're prepared > to do what is necessary, as long as it's same requirement for other > carriers," Mr. Ignacy said. > The Department of Justice is also firm in its stance, especially because > TMI will be seen as a crucial precedent for other foreign satellite > companies. "We need to be able, when we have lawful authority, to go to > the carrier at the point where they got those calls and execute a > wiretap order," the Justice official said. > As a result, no one believes a solution is just around the corner. "The > timing is not tomorrow," the FCC official admitted. > Mr. Ignacy says he takes a little comfort in the fact that TMI is being > a trailblazer for other satellite companies. > "We are the first," he said. "But we won't be the last." > > DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! 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