The Washington Post just ran a good article on the CALEA wire-tapping act and the implications for extending it to the VoIP industry. Brad Templeton, the head of the EFF, spoke on this issue at ETel and is quoted extensively in the article. Brad points out that requiring regulatory approval for new Internet-based communications products will stifle innovation, and the CALEA mandate of installing a backdoor for government wire-tapping to all new products will also greatly increase security risks for these products. The Post also notes that among the politicians opposing the FCC’s Internet wiretap plan is Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who was the chief sponsor of the original CALEA legislation. Leahy claims that extending CALEA to the Internet of today is counter to what Congress intended.

The EFF, in conjunction with EPIC, the COMPTEL association of communications service providers, and the ACLU, have filed a brief this week with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, attempting to stop the proposed extension of CALEA to Internet communications providers.