You’ve Got Mail! And so does the CIA, DEA, DIA, FBI…
While Yu Ling, wife of a Chinese dissident jailed for publishing articles on the Internet, is preparing her suit against Yahoo for allegedly helping to put her husband in jail in China there is a storm brewing in the U.S. over privacy that may make make suits like hers moot in America.
While Yahoo’s Hong Kong branch freely gave Chinese authorities information about the dissident’s e-mail accounts–and landed him in the slammer for 10 years–they may soon be required to provide open portals for law enforcement agencies in America to collect data they want in your mail, your chats and your Internet phone calls.
In recent years, human rights groups have accused Yahoo of providing authorities with information that has led to the imprisonment of several dissidents. Yahoo may soon have the protection of US authorities within American borders if the federal government gets the power to monitor cyber-transmissions. According to a report by Declan McCullagh as reported in South by Southwest: “The FBI has drafted sweeping legislation that would require Internet service providers to create wiretapping hubs for police surveillance and force makers of networking gear to build in backdoors for eavesdropping.” As noted in by CNet, the proposed legislation would require any manufacturer of “routing” and “addressing” hardware to offer upgrades or other modifications that are needed to support Internet wiretapping — it would also authorize the expansion of wiretapping requirements to commercial Internet services including instant messaging if the FCC deems it to be in the public interest. The FCC?!
Reporters Without Borders says China has imprisoned at least 50 individuals, including Wang Xiaoning, for their activities on the Internet.
No responses yet
Don’t forget the NSA!
I quote you
”they may soon be required to provide open portals for law enforcement agencies in America to collect data they want in your mail, your chats and your Internet phone calls”.
Isn’t it already done?
Probably, but now it would be admissible in court
“While Yu Ling, wife of a Chinese dissident jailed for publishing articles on the Internet, is preparing her suit against Yahoo for allegedly helping to put her husband in jail in China there is a storm brewing in the U.S. over privacy that may make make suits like hers moot in America.”
There is a big difference between the laws in the US and China. Yahoo has to abide by the laws in China otherwise they won’t be able to do business. Tis the mighty dollar at work. If people don’t like yahoo policy of following the laws; don’t look at the symptom look at the problem.
“they may soon be required to provide open portals for law enforcement agencies in America to collect data they want in your mail, your chats and your Internet phone calls.”
Yes, this has been done in the Telecommunications industry for years. Personally I have implemented surveillance system with respect to the DMS and 5ESS switches here in the US. This was done under CALEA (Communications Assistance Law Enforcement Act). Enjoy the links:
http://www.calea.org/
http://www.askcalea.net/
To Truffles:
“Isn’t it already done?”
Yes, it has been done in the communications industry. In essence those connections can be tapped at any point in time; this includes land lines and cell phones. On a related note; data over your cell can also be tapped.
“The FBI has drafted sweeping legislation that would require Internet service providers to create wiretapping hubs for police surveillance and force makers of networking gear to build in back doors for eavesdropping.”
I find this very odd. Your communications needs IE: Cell and Land Lines can be tapped at the blink of an eye. No one has ever mentioned anything about the above CALEA. Now when someone wants to tap your net connection; it is now like holy shit.
Think about the Patriot Act. Law enforcement can tap your like without a court order by claiming it is about terrorism. Great; give the magic word and you can avoid all legal chasms. Now only was the Patriot Act passed; it was extended. If this is such a big deal they why have these laws been passed and extended.
Taps on phone could be placed on a phone line at any given point in time. Thanks to CALEA; any gov agency can VPN into the telecom network and set up a tap. This completely removes the Telecom personal from the equation. There weren’t any problems the way it was done; but yet, unsupervised access has been granted. Did anyone complain? Nope.
Patriot Act; accepted and extended. Some people cared but not enough. What’s the tag line:
What, do you support terrorists or something?
The average US citizen doesn’t care if their rights keep getting eroded away. They get what they deserve. Here is a tag line for the US citizen:
We are fucktards.
Regards
Yahoo! was under no legal obligation to rat him out! Yes, ’twas about the dough…