[asterisk-biz] CALEA

[Trixter aka Bret McDanel]

On 3/6/07, Matt <mhoppes at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> CALEA support is generally more than just log files, thge government likes
> > those log files in specific formats, they like the recordings done such that
> > they can tell which leg of the call
> >
>
> To that I'd say touch noogies.. here's a comma delimited version with
> headers :)
>

that may work, however in my experience if you upset the government they
will spend years doing everything they can to 'get even'.  Often spanning
more than a decade.  They also work it so that even if they lose in court
they still win.

If its not a problem to convert it and play nice, why not - and its unlikely
that anyone on this list will ever receive a title III warrant anyway given
how few are issued.


noise occured on (for background analysis), often they have a stereo
> > recording where left channel is A leg, right channel is B leg, I have seen
> > mp3 as well as regular CD audio for that.
> >
>
> I still don't see why the system can't do this out of the box?
>

I never said it couldnt, I was addressing a specific persons comments with
mine.

CALEA support also means being able to record without alerting the user,
> > since there is a
> >
>
> Again.. by DEFAULT Asterisk doesn't alert the user when recording begins.
>

reinviting the media off to the real provider (if you do that) except when
recording is happening is a grey area, and that is what I was addressing.
It causes a change that can be observed by the person being recorded and the
government can argue that is notification, whether or not its a valid
interpretation.  I know that when the government decides something its
generally very difficult to change their mind, and generally by the time you
do they  already got what they wanted.


provision against notification.  If you are a "interconnected VoIP provider"
> > as defined in the CFR (ie 911, USF, etc apply to you) you have to be able to
> > record all calls that go through you, not just the pstn ones - this means
> > pc->pc if its through you.  I want to clarify before
> >
>
> Again.. Asterisk already acomplishes this.
>

Again, I was addressing a specific persons comments, I never once indicated
whether or not asterisk was capable of anything in the original post.  Had
you left those comments in it would have been easier to reference, but you
omitted them so it requires someone going to the archives to see that I
really was only addressing the persons comments who said 'here is a log
file'.


We have a call center and we record every single call that comes through
> there.... granted the caller DOES know.. but only because we tell them in a
> message.
>

Many do, and with some of the mixing apps you can create a single wav with
left/right channel representing the a/b legs of the calls.  I do not know
that a/b leg seperation is reqired but it is desirable, and if you read
transcripts of wiretaps (written by the agents typically littered with
opinions of the agents written as fact) you will see that they do make notes
of background voices that are audible corelating it with which side of the
call it came from.



On a side note..... am I expempt from CALEA if all I handle are CDR
> records... and I issue re-invites for ALL traffic?  That is.. if someone
> from me makes an outbound call and I terminate IP.. if I connect my
> terminator directly to my client... does that absolve me? (I certainly don't
> intend to do that.. but an interesting thought).
>

that is a grey area which I tried to address earlier.  Its unclear what the
governments position will be and any position statement you get can change
at will.  Further, changing from reinviting everything to not for recorded
calls is grey as to whether or not it qualifies as notification to the end
user.  The original laws were written in the 80s (1984 iirc) and as a result
they didnt take into account anything but traditional phone systems where
you had to handle the media as well as the signalling.

The reason its grey on reinvites is that there is a provision in the calea
statutes that exempts entities where its not technically feasable to
record.  If you dont have the capacity to handle reinvites, or cant do it in
a way that doesnt alert the customer you might qualify.  Then again the
government can say  you arent in compliance and the fine is something like
$10k/day/switch (which they would likely assess as per asterisk box).  IIRC
you dont have to be served to be in violation and subject to the fine,
although they shouldnt be able to know until you are and cant comply.

There is also a bit of time you have to enable a warrant, but that is
measured in days not weeks.  So if you are served, you dont want to scramble
to write a bunch of CALEA hooks in and all, you should have a plan ahead of
time just in case.

Also note, calea generally doesnt cover stuff that isnt covered by a title
III warrant (of which only about 3500 are issued annually anyway for 300M
people and billions of minutes of calls).  But the patriot act changed it to
allow for tapping a person not just a specific line.  So 1 warrant can now
cover multiple lines.  title III warrants have to go for judicial review
regularly, I believe every month, and extensions have to be granted or it
expires.  Common grounds for extensions are 'the suspect is aware of our
tapping efforts', so tipping your hand just gives cause to prolong your
recording, which if you dont generally do that does have an impact on your
capacity since it is extra cycles running on your system.

Stuff calea doesnt cover, nor do title III warrants are things like business
records, which CDR data qualifies as.  Business records (according to the
federal rules of criminal procedure as well as civil procedure) are
generally anything the business uses in its day to day operations.
Subpoenas are all that are required on that, unless the company wants to
voluntarially give them up, which it can do should it choose to.




-- 
Trixter http://www.0xdecafbad.com     Bret McDanel
Belfast +44 28 9099 6461        US +1 516 687 5200
http://www.trxtel.com the VoIP provider that pays you!
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