WASHINGTON-The leaders of the four telecommunications trade associations, which are suing the Department of Justice over implementation of the digital wiretap act, met with Assistant Attorney General Stephen Colgate on May 7.
“The coalition hopes this meeting laid the groundwork for further discussions and information sharing to find a solution for the implementation of” the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994, said a statement released by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, the Personal Communications Industry Association, the Telecommunications Industry Association and the United States Telephone Association.
Many participants in the meeting said that no new ground was broken in the often-acrimonious debate over CALEA implementation.
Colgate said the main purpose of the meeting was to bring the association leaders up to speed on testimony Attorney General Janet Reno and others gave on Capitol Hill in the appropriations process. During such testimony in March, Reno said the Justice Department had signed a letter of intent with a telecommunications manufacturer to buy software and give it to carriers to implement CALEA.
Nortel Networks later was identified as the company negotiating with DOJ. Colgate said other manufacturers have given revised proposals to DOJ but agreements have not been reached.
There has been some confusion as to whether DOJ intends to allow the software to be available to carriers who did not have equipment in place before Jan. 1, 1995. Colgate said there is no restriction on who can use the software as long as it works with the equipment installed. “If it works with [X] switch, it doesn’t matter if that switch was installed before or after the grandfather date,” he said.
Some in the telecommunications community were surprised that representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Democracy in Technology also attended the meeting. Colgate said they were invited because they are parties to a lawsuit that has been filed regarding CALEA implementation.
