Comments on: Internet pioneers speak out on VoIP wiretapping http://voipsa.org/blog/2006/06/14/internet-pioneers-say-voip-wiretapping-complicated/ Collective thoughts and musings on the state of VoIP security today. Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:16:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: voip priviuders http://voipsa.org/blog/2006/06/14/internet-pioneers-say-voip-wiretapping-complicated/#comment-234957 voip priviuders Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:58:16 +0000 http://voipsa.org/blog/2006/06/14/internet-pioneers-say-voip-wiretapping-complicated/#comment-234957 <strong>voip priviuders...</strong> Serbia’ s Republic Agency for Telecommunications (RATEL), published the instructions (text in Serbian) on Internet traffic interception and redirection. Basically, it allows Serbian government to read each and every bit of our communication, includin... voip priviuders…

Serbia’ s Republic Agency for Telecommunications (RATEL), published the instructions (text in Serbian) on Internet traffic interception and redirection. Basically, it allows Serbian government to read each and every bit of our communication, includin…

]]> By: Geoff Devine http://voipsa.org/blog/2006/06/14/internet-pioneers-say-voip-wiretapping-complicated/#comment-223 Geoff Devine Sun, 18 Jun 2006 22:05:58 +0000 http://voipsa.org/blog/2006/06/14/internet-pioneers-say-voip-wiretapping-complicated/#comment-223 Personally, I think the ITAA study was written in Never Never Land. If you are selling a commercial product that interfaces to the PSTN and uses E.164 telephone numbers for addressing, you are subject to all the regulations of the PSTN. Period. I'm constantly amused by naive software engineers who create voice communications products without first researching the requirements. Aspects of telecommunications requirements like lawful intercept, emergency services, and taxes to support rural subsidies are good public policy. The FCC and DOJ are perfectly entitled to insist that voice vendors comply with their public policies rather than hide under smarmy words like "value added data services" and "it stifles innovation". In the long run, I don't see the SBC as the solution to this problem. That function really belongs in the edge router. Maybe I'm drinking the purple Kool Aid from that Large Router Company in San Jose but I view the SBC as being a real kludge. Given the proclivity of that Large Router Company to insist that you forklift upgrade your router to get these functions, I guess the SBC will be with us for a while but it's pretty much inevitable that functions like CALEA will get rolled into the router. That's already where CableLabs has placed the function in the PacketCable VoIP solution. Personally, I think the ITAA study was written in Never Never Land. If you are selling a commercial product that interfaces to the PSTN and uses E.164 telephone numbers for addressing, you are subject to all the regulations of the PSTN. Period.

I’m constantly amused by naive software engineers who create voice communications products without first researching the requirements. Aspects of telecommunications requirements like lawful intercept, emergency services, and taxes to support rural subsidies are good public policy. The FCC and DOJ are perfectly entitled to insist that voice vendors comply with their public policies rather than hide under smarmy words like “value added data services” and “it stifles innovation”.

In the long run, I don’t see the SBC as the solution to this problem. That function really belongs in the edge router. Maybe I’m drinking the purple Kool Aid from that Large Router Company in San Jose but I view the SBC as being a real kludge. Given the proclivity of that Large Router Company to insist that you forklift upgrade your router to get these functions, I guess the SBC will be with us for a while but it’s pretty much inevitable that functions like CALEA will get rolled into the router. That’s already where CableLabs has placed the function in the PacketCable VoIP solution.

]]> By: Robert Welbourn http://voipsa.org/blog/2006/06/14/internet-pioneers-say-voip-wiretapping-complicated/#comment-168 Robert Welbourn Fri, 16 Jun 2006 02:00:49 +0000 http://voipsa.org/blog/2006/06/14/internet-pioneers-say-voip-wiretapping-complicated/#comment-168 The ITAA study doesn't reflect reality, I'm afraid. The authors' premise is that VoIP networks are inherently distributed, and so not amenable to wiretapping. But this is not true: the necessity of deploying session border controllers to handle NAT and firewall traversal means that both signaling and media streams <i>do</i> traverse the VoIP service providers' networks, and are effectively funneled through a few entry points. And guess what: SBC vendors tout the products' capabilities to support CALEA, for exactly that reason. This is certainly true for VoIP services that are just a cheap replacement for the PSTN; where the ITAA report might have some real applicability is with P2P VoIP services, like Skype, which are truly distributed. The CALEA language that mandates wiretapping capability if the VoIP service provider merely interconnects with the PSTN may be enough to bring Skype into play, because SkypeIn and SkypeOut provide that connectivity. More here: http://welbourn.blogspot.com/2006/06/itaa-slams-feds-regs-on-voip.html Rob The ITAA study doesn’t reflect reality, I’m afraid. The authors’ premise is that VoIP networks are inherently distributed, and so not amenable to wiretapping. But this is not true: the necessity of deploying session border controllers to handle NAT and firewall traversal means that both signaling and media streams do traverse the VoIP service providers’ networks, and are effectively funneled through a few entry points.

And guess what: SBC vendors tout the products’ capabilities to support CALEA, for exactly that reason.

This is certainly true for VoIP services that are just a cheap replacement for the PSTN; where the ITAA report might have some real applicability is with P2P VoIP services, like Skype, which are truly distributed. The CALEA language that mandates wiretapping capability if the VoIP service provider merely interconnects with the PSTN may be enough to bring Skype into play, because SkypeIn and SkypeOut provide that connectivity.

More here: http://welbourn.blogspot.com/2006/06/itaa-slams-feds-regs-on-voip.html

Rob

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