View source for Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act

{{Short description|U.S. law governing telecommunications}}
The '''Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act''' ('''CALEA'''), also known as the "Digital Telephony Act," is a [[United States]] [[wiretapping]] law passed in 1994, during the [[presidency of Bill Clinton]] (Pub. L. No. 103-414, 108 Stat. 4279, codified at 47 USC 1001–1010).

CALEA's purpose is to enhance the ability of [[law enforcement agency|law enforcement agencies]] to conduct [[lawful interception]] of communication by requiring that [[Telephone company|telecommunications carriers]] and manufacturers of telecommunications equipment modify and design their equipment, facilities, and services to ensure that they have built-in capabilities for [[targeted surveillance]], allowing federal agencies to selectively wiretap any telephone traffic; it has since been extended to cover broadband Internet and VoIP traffic. Some government agencies argue that it covers [[mass surveillance]] of communications rather than just tapping specific lines and that not all CALEA-based access requires a warrant.

Journalists and technologists have characterised the CALEA-mandated infrastructure as government [[Backdoor (computing)|backdoors]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/07/the-30-year-old-internet-backdoor-law-that-came-back-to-bite/ | title=The 30-year-old internet backdoor law that came back to bite | date=7 October 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author1=Michael Kan |title=Chinese Hackers Reportedly Breached ISPs Including AT&T, Verizon |url=https://www.pcmag.com/news/chinese-hackers-reportedly-breached-isps-including-att-verizon |access-date=8 October 2024 |work=[[PC Magazine]] |date=7 October 2024 |language=en |quote=privacy researchers to call out the US government for maintaining a confidential "backdoor" to enable internet-based wiretapping. "Case in point: there's no way to build a backdoor that only the 'good guys' can use," tweeted Meredith Whittaker, president of the encrypted chat app Signal}}</ref>  In 2024, the U.S. government realized that China had been tapping communications in the U.S. using that infrastructure for months, or perhaps longer.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Sarah Krouse |author2=Dustin Volz |author3=Aruna Viswanatha |author4=Robert McMillan |title=U.S. Wiretap Systems Targeted in China-Linked Hack |url=https://www.wsj.com/tech/cybersecurity/u-s-wiretap-systems-targeted-in-china-linked-hack-327fc63b |access-date=8 October 2024 |work=[[Wall Street Journal]] |date=5 October 2024 |language=en |quote=For months or longer, the hackers might have held access to network infrastructure used to cooperate with lawful U.S. requests for communications data}}</ref>

The original reason for adopting CALEA was the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]'s worry that increasing use of digital [[telephone exchange]] switches would make tapping phones at the phone company's central office harder and slower to execute, or in some cases impossible.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Trope|first1=Konrad L.|title=US Government Eavesdropping on Electronic Communications: Where Are We Going?|journal=SciTech Lawyer|date=2014|volume=10|issue=2}}</ref> Since the original requirement to add CALEA-compliant interfaces required phone companies to modify or replace hardware and software in their systems, [[U.S. Congress]] included funding for a limited time period to cover such network upgrades.<ref name="Figliola, Patricia Moloney. 2005">{{Cite book|title=Digital surveillance : the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act|last=Figliola, Patricia Moloney.|date=2005|publisher=Congressional Research Service [Library of Congress]|oclc=61280196}}</ref>  CALEA was passed into law on October 25, 1994, and came into force on January 1, 1995.<ref name="Figliola, Patricia Moloney. 2005"/>

In the years since CALEA was passed it has been greatly expanded to include all [[Voice over IP|VoIP]] and [[Internet access|broadband Internet]] traffic. From 2004 to 2007 there was a 62 percent growth in the number of wiretaps performed under CALEA{{snd}}and more than 3,000 percent growth in interception of Internet data such as email.<ref name="point-click-eavesdrop">{{cite web |last=Singel |first=Ryan |url=https://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2007/08/wiretap? |title=Point, Click ... Eavesdrop: How the FBI Wiretap Net Operates |publisher=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] |date=29 August 2008 |access-date=14 March 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100314213702/http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2007/08/wiretap |archive-date=March 14, 2010 }}</ref>

By 2007, the FBI had spent $39 million on its [[Digital Collection System Network]] (DCSNet) system, which collects, stores, indexes, and analyzes communications data.<ref name="point-click-eavesdrop"/>
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