The Security Blog

As promised, in this entry, I  discuss why Lawful Interception is needed (or not) and some of my thoughts on the subject.

OK, so let’s try and tackle the question of why Lawful Interception is needed.   Keeping in mind that I am a Privacy advocate, this is not an easy question for me to answer.   I believe that generally conversations someone has should be sacrosanct.  That being said,  I believe that only in three cases Lawful Intercept is warranted:

1) Risk for Life:  Let’s suppose that a person on the phone is being attacked, or having a medical emergency, and as such emergency services need the ability to listen in on a conversation to prevent further medical hurt or provide emergency services.

2) Terrorist / Criminal investigation – this one is very contentious.  I, however, believe that an important tool in the prevention of attacks and/or crimes is the ability to gather intelligence about pending actions and plans of malicious nature.

3) The "Statistical" exemption – Telecommunication companies may need, from time to time, rarely, and without a specific individual being targeted, measure quality of services – such as Voice over IP (VoIP) by "listening in" on a small part of a conversation.   I do not like this particular exemption, but I know of times in which it is needed and irreplaceable.

In the US, the legislature generally agrees with my beliefs and codified the law, in general, to read as follows:

(2)(a)(i) It shall not be unlawful under this chapter for an operator of a switchboard, or an officer, employee, or agent of a provider of wire or electronic communication service, whose facilities are used in the transmission of a wire or electronic communication, to intercept, disclose, or use that communication in the normal course of his employment while engaged in any activity which is a necessary incident to the rendition of his service or to the protection of the rights or property of the provider of that service, except that a provider of wire communication service to the public shall not utilize service observing or random monitoring except for mechanical or service quality control checks.

and

(ii) Notwithstanding any other law, providers of wire or electronic communication service, their officers, employees, and agents, landlords, custodians, or other persons, are authorized to provide information, facilities, or technical assistance to persons authorized by law to intercept wire, oral, or electronic communications or to conduct electronic surveillance, as defined in section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, if such provider, its officers, employees, or agents, landlord, custodian, or other specified person, has been provided with—

(A) a court order directing such assistance signed by the authorizing judge, or

(B) a certification in writing by a person specified in section 2518 (7) of this title or the Attorney General of the United States that no warrant or court order is required by law, that all statutory requirements have been met, and that the specified assistance is required,

- US Code Title 18, Section 2511

In the next blog in this series, I will discuss the "How" of Lawful Intercept.  How it is accomplished, where, and give some examples of its utility.

Wow.

I just found out that in my beautiful hometown, Haifa, the famous Carmel Tunnels project is nearing completion.  It’s about time.

Originally envisioned by the Ottoman Empire, the Turks thought the designing a tunnel under the gorgeous Carmel Mountain would shorten the travel time between northern Israel, Lebanon (and thus Turkey) and southern Israel (and thus Egypt).  What would have saved horse-and-camel caravans several days has a new meaning today.  As Haifa grows and develops, traffic traveling the main North-South highway in Israel skids to a halt 5 miles north of Haifa and does not ease up until about 2 miles south

While the delay length seems minuscule in American standards, it adds up to two hours in travel time to a trip that should last one and a half hours.  Further, the famous Israeli driving mentality, that demand that the brake pedal be constantly connected to the horn, creates a huge, often work-day-long traffic snarl in Israel’s 2nd busiest city.

Due to the vagaries of Israeli law, a law that was built in unique combination of the Ottoman Empire legal code, English (British) jurisprudence and Talmudic dictation, this project took many years to get started.  Once it has started, it was subject to many court challenges, some around the IMPORTANT question of just how deeply, beneath one’s house, does one’s land possession end.  Apparently, the answer is NOT “to the center of the Earth”….

The tunnels are two sets of two tunnels each (one in either direction), and they meet in each direction about a mile from my parents’ home.  You can see pictures of the current status here, here (description in Hebrew), and here. You can also see some of the 500 Chinese Workers Imported Just for This Project to Israel dancing.  For detailed pictures and maps, see here (I could not post these on this page due to (C) concerns).

The tunnels should open for travel by July 2009 ce.

Enjoy, Israel!