[SATLUG] Deli owner wishes to set up own hotspot cheaply

[Don Wright]

On Mon, 03 Sep 2007 00:10:42 -0500, Bruce Dubbs <bruce.dubbs at gmail.com> wrote:

>As far as CALEA goes, what is that?  A quick google says Commission on
>Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies.  Is there a law that says
>records have to be kept if offering free wifi access?  Not that I know
>of.  I'll bet there are a lot of public offerings of wifi that keep
>none.  Examples would be libraries, restraunts, San Antonio College, etc.

Try your search again.
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/CALEA/

"Congress passed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) in 1994
to make it easier for law enforcement to wiretap digital telephone networks. CALEA
forced telephone companies to redesign their network architectures to make wiretapping
easier. It expressly did not regulate data traveling over the Internet.

"But now federal law enforcement agencies want to change that. On March 10, 2004, the
Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA) filed a joint petition with the FCC. The petition
requested that CALEA's reach be expanded to cover communications that travel over the
Internet. Thus, Broadband providers would be required to rebuild their networks to make
it easier for law enforcement to tap Internet "phone calls" that use VOIP applications
such as Vonage, as well as online "conversations" using various kinds of instant
messaging (IM) programs like AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)."

"On August 5, 2005, the FCC announced a Final Rule, expanding CALEA to Internet
broadband providers and certain Voice-over-IP (VoIP) providers."


(Don's note: The FCC claims cyber cafes with wifi hotspots aren't really included in
CALEA. Until the FBI asks them to change their mind, of course.)