A federal appeals court ordered the FCC and Dept. of Justice to r...
A federal appeals court ordered the FCC and Dept. of Justice to respond to a rehearing petition filed in the CALEA case by a group including the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), American Library Assn., American Civil Liberties…
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Union and others. Voting 2-1, the U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., ruled June 12 that an FCC order applying CALEA to VoIP and broadband access providers was legal (CD June 12 p1). The petitioning group, representing most of the entities that brought the case, asked the court July 28 for an en banc hearing. The court Aug. 2 signaled interest in the petition by asking the U.S. to answer it in 15 days. The court turns down at least 75% of such petitions, so that request is worth noting, Media Access Project (MAP) Pres. Andrew Schwartzman, representing CDT in the case, said: “It’s indicative that the court is treating this petition as nonfrivolous,” Schwartzman said. The American Council on Education and Educause, lead challengers of the FCC order, didn’t join in the rehearing petition. “The education entities were comfortable that the FCC brief and the court opinion together clarified the private network exemption” from CALEA application, said the education groups’ attorney, Matthew Brill. The petition said CALEA excludes information services such as the Internet. “In 1994, Congress flatly exempted Internet access and software applications from the reach” of CALEA, the petition said. “By extending CALEA to reach both Internet access and software applications like [VoIP], the FCC -- and a 2-1 panel majority -- overrode the clear statutory language of CALEA.”