The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act first arrived from the U.S. Congress in 1994 with a simple goal: improving wiretapping effectiveness for law-enforcement in an increasingly digital PSTN. Advances in telecommunications made prior wiretapping methods less effective and CALEA was intended to force all carriers and carrier-grade equipment vendors to provide consistent and accessible electronic monitoring capabilities. For private equipment, including PBX and similar business-class voice equipment, CALEA doesn t apply except when that equipment was deemed a substantial replacement for the public telephone service.

Between 1994 and 2004, CALEA eventually progressed to a rough set of technically feasible standards backed by FCC regulations (and deep involvement by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ), though packet communications was still a CALEA minefield. These VoIP and broadband issues came to a head in August 2004 when the FCC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Declaratory Ruling (NPRM) for public comment, stirring up anew the privacy and civil-liberties debate (see the sidebar, CALEA and the Xbox? ). Lost to many observers was the fact the new NPRM might now be broad enough to force enterprises, universities, and other previously excluded organizations that deploy VoIP to become subject to the revised regulations. Although several requests for clarification on that topic still are pending at the FCC, it s clear these rules could substantially affect the design and deployment of enterprise VoIP.

If you re a carrier (of Voice, VoIP, or even just broadband...