FCC votes 5-0 to tap VoIP calls
Looks like the unsecure rap Voice over IP was getting before is pretty irrelevant now, as the FCC ruled today five to zip that VoIP communications must always be tappable. News.com calls it "a major step toward regulations designed to help police and spy agencies eavesdrop on all forms of high-speed Internet access". What it really means right now is your Vonage line or your WiFi phone, for instance, which were already tappable before through traditional means, can now be tapped right through the Internet. In other words, now those kinds of wiretaps can be done by the government in aggregate, and the telcos won't get to supervise (at least before they had to go through the phone company to place a wiretap, now they can just do it themselves courtesy of this mandatory backdoor). It also means that VoIP and broadband providers must use reversible-encryption if they want "secure" calling, which, of course, is a matter of time before it's broken and anyone can tap anything at anytime. Precautionary measures for dangerous times, or 1984+20?
[Via BoingBoing]
