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Witness Testimony
Dr. Richard R. Green
Law Enforcement Access to Communications Systems in a Digital Age
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Markey, members of the subcommittee, I am Richard Green, President and CEO of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs). It has been my privilege to testify before this subcommittee on previous occasions on subjects related to emerging technology. These topics have included High Definition Television in the 1980s, digital television, and broadband technologies in subsequent years. Today, I appreciate the opportunity to testify on cable's leadership role in helping law enforcement officials apply CALEA to modern digital telecommunications technologies. I am especially pleased to describe the industry's efforts - through CableLabs - to facilitate law enforcement's legitimate access to cable's Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. I speak to you today as a scientist who has devoted a great deal of his professional career to questions involving the application of digital technology. The experience I gained during four years as Director of the CBS Advanced Television Technology Laboratory, five years as Senior Vice President of Operations and Engineering of PBS, and fifteen years as CEO of CableLabs gives me a special appreciation for the technical perspectives of manufacturers, cable operators, cable equipment manufacturers, and the need to be responsive to law enforcement's requests. CableLabs CableLabs is a research and development consortium of cable television system operators serving North and South America. CableLabs conducts and funds research and development projects to help cable companies plan for the future and apply technology to meet consumers' needs. CableLabs was incorporated under the Cooperative Research Act. The Act, which this committee played a key role in developing, encourages research and development among companies within industries like the cable industry. I believe that we have been able to realize the potential of that Act by, among other things, contributing to the development of a burgeoning broadband industry, helping to spur the transition to digital TV, and facilitating the deployment of new digital services like VoIP. For example, 29 million American homes now enjoy high-speed Internet access connections, and 18 million of those homes are served by cable's high-speed data service. The specifications for substantially all the cable modems used in those homes were developed at CableLabs. In the past, computer users knew that they could buy a modem that would work on any phone line. Cable industry leaders wanted their customers to be able to buy their own cable modem at retail and be confident that it would work on any cable system in North America. Through CableLabs' DOCSISŪ (Data over Cable Service Interface Specification) project, that goal has been achieved. Cable's broadband service is providing an important new - and competitive - high-speed data highway into American homes. The CableLabs process is open, cooperative, and as efficient as possible. We work to keep equipment development time to a minimum. We have pursued an approach similar to that used with cable modems to remove technical barriers for the deployment of telephone services over cable networks. The PacketCable project at CableLabs has issued specifications - now worldwide standards - supporting, among other services, telephone services using advanced voice over the Internet technologies. These standards go beyond compliance with CALEA but also introduce innovative Internet Protocol technologies to ensure that the United States remains a leader in the competitive marketplace of the future. Cable has Cooperated with Law Enforcement on CALEA and VoIP since 1999 The cable industry has a history of providing law enforcement with the assistance it needs. This was exemplified in the development of CableLabs' PacketCable Electronic Surveillance Specification between 1999 and the summer of 2004. PacketCable is a cable network architecture that allows a cable operator to provide guaranteed-quality VoIP as well as other services such as video games. In 1999, CableLabs' PacketCable project, at the request of cable operators and with the assistance of cable equipment manufacturers, published the first VoIP lawful surveillance specification. This specification was a voluntary effort by the cable industry to address CALEA in the event a cable operator's PacketCable service was deemed to be subject to CALEA. Law enforcement, through the FBI and its contractors, became involved in the development of subsequent versions of the PacketCable Electronic Surveillance Specification in 2001 with revisions to the specification published in 2003 and 2004. Each of these revisions reflects cable's willingness to work with law enforcement to meet law enforcement's needs - even to the extent of adding additional capabilities and attendant costs to equipment. The last version of the PacketCable Electronic Surveillance Specification was published on July 23, 2004, and provides solutions to all of the issues the FBI has identified with the previous versions of the specification. This now means that, in spite of technological differences and complexities, law enforcement will receive the same types of call identification and call content for calls placed over a PacketCable-compliant VoIP service as in calls made with traditional wireline telephones. (See Appendix I for a summary of the steps taken by CableLabs to develop the PacketCable specifications, 1999-2004.) CableLabs developed its lawful surveillance specification not only to meet law enforcement's needs as are addressed in CALEA but also to meet obligations regarding the public's privacy and security needs as required by the law. CALEA expressly states that a telecommunications provider must ensure that subscriber privacy and security are protected for telecommunications and call-identifying information not authorized to be intercepted. The devices and procedures in CableLabs' specification are only activated pursuant to a valid court order and only gather information on the specific individual named in the court order. The cable industry has met all of the FBI's needs with regard to VoIP. Specifically, CableLabs succeeded by July 2004 in resolving every issue on the FBI's "wish list" for CALEA compliance by cable's VoIP services, including:
Testing of cable equipment built to these specifications will begin in February 2005, and products that do not meet the latest version of the PacketCable Electronic Surveillance Specification will not be CableLabs' certified - nor are they likely to be purchased by cable operators. The success of the PacketCable Electronic Surveillance Specification is demonstrated in: (1) its being the only VoIP CALEA "Safe Harbor" specification listed on the FBI's AskCALEA website; (2) its consideration by other VoIP-related organizations; (3) the FCC's public commentary noting cable's contribution to the lawful electronic surveillance of VoIP calls; and (4) the FBI's cooperation in, and contribution to, the specification's development and its subsequent positive comments on the specification and the CableLabs' process. The cable industry, through CableLabs, continues to provide technical assistance to law enforcement and has worked with the FBI on how law enforcement may collect the information it lawfully needs from subjects using PacketCable-based VoIP services. We take great pride in comments from a recent FBI press release in which Kerry Haynes, FBI Assistant Director for the Investigative Technology Division, states:
Cable was the First Broadband Provider in 2004 to Cooperate with the Federal Communications Commission on Applying CALEA to VoIP Services The cable industry has long recognized that certain IP telephony services may become a replacement for some of the uses of traditional telephony, and that - at some point - providers of such services could reasonably be expected to provide efficient and effective means to allow law enforcement access to telecommunications over such services.1 For this reason, the cable industry, led by CableLabs and the member companies of NCTA, has voluntarily sought to comply with the substance of CALEA's requirements in developing its PacketCable architecture for VoIP. In particular, as I mentioned above, the industry has devoted substantial resources to developing several PacketCable Electronic Surveillance Specifications for use as "safe harbors" under 47 U.S.C. § 1006(a)(2).2 In 2004, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue a declaratory ruling determining immediately - i.e., without awaiting the outcome of the Commission's rulemaking on IP-Enabled Services3 - that CALEA applies to various kinds of IP telephony ("Broadband Telephony") as well as to cable modem service and other forms of high-speed Internet access ("Broadband Access"). In their submissions to the FCC, most communications industries urged the Commission to reject the Administration's requests - except for the cable industry. Cable companies - through their trade association, NCTA - took a different position. They supported the issuance of a declaratory ruling by the FCC that providers of Broadband Telephony are properly viewed as "telecommunications carriers" for purposes of CALEA, subject to two qualifications. First, the FCC should include within the scope of its ruling all similarly-situated providers of Broadband Telephony, including services like Vonage and AT&T's CallVantage. Second, the Commission should make clear that, when services like Vonage and AT&T's CallVantage are provided over the facilities of cable operators or other companies, the responsibility for complying with CALEA lies with the Broadband Telephony provider, not the facilities owner. In addition, NCTA supported the issuance of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) addressing whether Broadband Access should be made subject to CALEA in due course. The ultimate decision on the merits here, however, raises more complex issues. Until now, there has never been substantial reason to expect that cable modem service might ever be subjected to CALEA. Thus, there has been little investigation or debate concerning the public policy and law enforcement objectives in developing of CALEA-related technical requirements for the equipment that cable operators use to provide the service. However, the cable industry and CableLabs will continue to work with the United States Government to ensure that law enforcement is able to access lawfully the information needed to safeguard our national security. In response to the joint DOJ/FBI petition, the FCC recently commenced a rulemaking on CALEA compliance issues. It tentatively concluded that most VoIP services would be subject to CALEA - essentially echoing the cable industry's legal rationale. It also tentatively concluded that Broadband Access should be subject to CALEA. Cable companies and the NCTA will submit their own individual comments on the specifics of such a proposal to the FCC. Conclusion CableLabs and its member companies - who also belong to NCTA - look forward to continued cooperation with this subcommittee and other Federal authorities in safeguarding our national security. I would be pleased to answer any questions you might have. 1 - See H.R. Rep. No. 103-827, at 9 (1994) ("House Report")
(purpose of CALEA is "to preserve the government's ability. . . to intercept
communications involving advanced technologies").
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