Original Article Wiretap law could force network upgrade at ASU FCC wants ability to monitor univerisites by Grayson Steinberg published on Tuesday, November 8, 2005 Chris Atwood / THE STATE PRESS Civil engineering freshman Warren Gerber logs on to a computer in the Computing Commons Monday. According to University officials, ASU needs to increase computer security. The recent expansion of a federal law designed to help law enforcement monitor communications technologies could force ASU to conduct a costly upgrade of its Internet network. The Federal Communications Commission wants the ability to wiretap online communications on university networks from a distance instead of having law enforcement agencies install equipment personally, said William Lewis, chief information officer for ASU. "We believe we can comply with little additional expense," he said. "If we have to do a total redesign of our network, it would be very expensive." Lewis could not specify how much upgrades would cost because the FCC hasn't released hardware compliance specifics. But Wendy Wigen, a policy analyst for non-profit educational organization EDUCAUSE, said the decentralized nature of campus networks could require a total of $7 billion in redesigns for all colleges and universities in the country. The American Council on Education and EDUCAUSE, national organizations representing institutions of higher education across the country, hope an appeal they filed in the District of Columbia appellate court would exempt universities from the network upgrade requirement. The suit, filed Oct. 24, challenges the expansion of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act As a member of EDUCAUSE, ASU is represented in the lawsuit, Lewis said. But Paul Ward, vice president for University Administration and General Counsel, said ASU could not directly challenge the order. "The Board of Regents has not authorized ASU to initiate litigation on this matter," Ward said. The Justice Department petitioned the FCC jointly with the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration in March 2004 to clarify the law's effect on the Internet, said Paul Bresson, a Justice Department spokesman in a written statement. "Court-authorized electronic surveillance is a critical law enforcement tool to protect public safety and national security," Bresson said. But with an estimated 10 wiretaps served against U.S. college campuses annually, it's not cost-effective to overhaul whole networks, Wigen said Lewis said he hopes the spring 2007 deadline for compliance would be extended so the University wouldn't have to change its equipment until it's time to upgrade the network again. ASU is in the middle of a $22 million, bond-funded overhaul, Lewis said. EDUCAUSE is in negotiations with the U.S. Department of Justice to forge a compromise, Wigen said. Potential solutions include an extension of the installation deadline and making staffers familiar with legal and technical procedures available 24 hours a day on campuses. Reach the reporter at grayson.steinberg@asu.edu. http://www.statepress.com/issues/2005/11/08/opinions/694810 Editorial: Who's watching? Wiretapping requirements a waste of money published on Tuesday, November 8, 2005 The stakeout scene -- it's a staple of any cops show. Law enforcement officials with a hot tip go to the scene of the crime to catch bad guys doing questionable things in the act. But thanks to the Internet and a federal law that can compel universities to spend their own cash on technology upgrades, the feds may soon be able to skip out on that "to-the-scene" part. It's no secret that the Internet is not the safest place in the world -- hackers can break even the most clever password to read someone's e-mail if they feel like it. But the government wants universities across the country to fork over an estimated $7 billion all together to make it easier for them to keep track of online communication -- in other words, they want ASU to pay for an upgrade that would make it easier for them to read your e-mail, if they find it necessary. The reason for this law is, of course, national security. The government argues that if law-enforcement officials need to wiretap a university's communications, it would be much easier to force colleges to upgrade their systems so monitoring could be done offsite instead of sending officials to the college campus to install equipment themselves. This might be a good argument if the federal government was reading the devious plots mixed into undergraduates' spam mail every day. But according to figures from Wendy Wigen, a policy analyst for non-profit educational organization EDUCAUSE, the government only installs 10 such wiretaps at university campuses across the country each year. And these upgrades have the potential to cost individual campuses millions of dollars. ASU hasn't estimated a figure for the upgrades yet, but at least one other university has managed to. Illinois' News Gazette reported the University of Illinois would have to spend $13 million to comply with the law. A figure like that might be manageable if the university in question needed a network upgrade anyway. But ASU is already in the middle of a $22 million upgrade, and there's no guarantee the modifications already in progress will comply with the federal law. Since ASU seems to be in a perpetual budget crisis, the last thing the school needs is to spend money it doesn't have on technology that would let the government intrude on users' privacy. If the government installs 10 wiretaps a year, it makes a lot more sense -- and puts a lot less strain on colleges -- to pay for the plane tickets and equipment that would let federal officials monitor questionable communications onsite when the need arises.