TRADE ORGANIZATIONS REPRESENTING most of the world's largest Internet backbone operators and service providers have established a hotline where operators can get legal advice when they receive U.S. federal government wiretap requests.

   ADVERTISEMENT
  

Free IT resource

Hear how top CIOs turn change into a competitive advantage.

Sponsored by HP

Free IT resource

Try Sun servers, workstations and storage products free for 60-days.

Sponsored by Sun Microsystems

RELATED LINKS
»  Google delivers ad-supported video clips via AdSense
»  3Com waiting for details of Bain/Huawei acquisition bid
»  Indian outsourcers' U.S. shopping spree
»  Business RSS feed 

IDG ENTERPRISE NETWORK
• The Broader the E-Biz, the Bigger the Lawsuit  (CIO)
• Time To Change  (CIO)

TOP NEWS 


IT SOLUTION SEARCH
Callers to the hotline will be referred to independent lawyers experienced in electronic surveillance and law enforcement issues, the organizations said in a joint statement Wednesday. The hotline will be established by the Commercial Internet eXchange (CIX) and Internet Service Providers' Consortium (ISP/C), which have announced plans to combine their operations, and the ISP Business Forum.

While recognizing the rights of law enforcement in situations concerning surveillance, the organizations sponsoring the hotline said it is also important that ISPs understand their own rights and those of their members.

Together the three organizations bring together hundreds of companies operating in the Internet industry, including some of the largest names in telecommunications such as AboveNet Communications, AT&T, British Telecommunications, Cable & Wireless, Fujitsu, Hitachi, PSINet, Qwest Communications International, Sprint, UUNet Technologies, Verio, and WorldCom.

The hotline will supplement a planned Web site that will provide ISPs with information on the subject and is being formed as federal wiretap and surveillance issues hit the headlines in the light of revelations over the FBI's Carnivore program.

Carnivore, an Internet surveillance tool, has been used in at least 25 criminal investigations by the FBI and has caused outrage among privacy advocates and citizen groups. Documents recently obtained under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act by such groups indicate the program is still active, with an enhanced version of the software under development that can intercept telephone calls routed over the Internet (Voice-over-IP calls), according to the groups.

The surveillance issue was also at the heart of a recent investigation into the acquisition of Web backbone operator and hosting provider Verio by Japan's NTT Communications. The FBI called for a probe into the deal because it had concerns over whether information on its surveillance activities at Verio would be fed back through NTT Communications to the Japanese government, which owns a majority stake in NTT.

The hotline number is (202) 216-1999.