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Arnold Kling has a Ph.D. in economics from MIT; founded homefair.com, one of the very first commercial websites, in 1994; separated from Homefair in January 2000 after it was sold to Homestore; is author of Under the Radar: Starting Your Internet Business without Venture Capital, and is an essayist. Send comments to us at econ@corante.com

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January 22, 2004

Law Enforcement vs. Stupid Network

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Posted by Arnold

According to this NY Times story, the homeland security types don't like the stupid network. The FCC is right to favor the stupid network, but I could see them being forced to buckle.


Law enforcement officials have also warned the F.C.C. that the approach that Mr. Powell has begun to articulate to have few regulations over the emerging technology that will permit consumers to use the Internet to send and receive phone calls could make it significantly more difficult for prosecutors and federal agents to monitor those calls.

The FBI thinks it has a God-given right to tap phones, and they are prepared to strangle new technology in order to maintain that right. Remember the Clipper chip controversy in the Clinton Administration?

My message to the FBI (not that anyone would listen to me) is that there are plenty of technological advances that make their job easier. Maybe it will be harder to tap phone conversations in the future, but get over it. The biggest problem for law enforcement is not voice over IP. It's internal bureaucratic stupidity.

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