FCC Gores College Oxen II

I've previously blogged about the FCC efforts to demand that colleges allow law enforcement entities the ability to remotely "wiretap" their networks (under subpoena).

Now Slashdot has posted a story on the contoversy. Amusingly. the article's headline proclaims "Carnegie Mellon Resists FBI Tapping Requirement". Following the link shows that Carnegie Mellon really isn't doing much to resist the requirement; it's the American Council on Education that's filed an appeal in federal appellate court to block the FCC regulations. And the "tapping requirement" is being promulgated by the FCC, not the FBI. The FBI would be only one of the law enforcement agencies with access.

And the Slashdot comments have an even tinier signal/noise ratio than usual. Entirely missing (as near as I can tell) is the realization that all ISPs, not just colleges, are affected by the rule. A large fraction of commenters got their civil-libertarian hackles up, but there's no indication if they think that government should not be able to wiretap communications, or if they even know that the underlying law has been around since 1994.

So, low-quality coverage by Slashdot, but if you're interested, the links will bring up more accurate information.


Last Modified 2012-10-26 5:50 AM EDT