Anticipated VoIP Regulation in the US
The U.S. telecommunications sector was once again brought to the foreground of public interest as the FCC announced its support of legislation requiring law enforcement surveillance for VoIP, similar to those currently used for wireless and wirelines under CALEA.
As VoIP use is on the rise with an estimated 17% of North American phone lines anticipated to be replaced by 2008 (Gartner) and the Internet calling market forecast to increase to $776.9 million by the end of 2005 (In-Stat/MDR), this piece of policy raised concern regarding the direction of this hot communication technology.
Based on our experience and expertise, we feel there are several reasons why this FCC announcement should be embraced rather then viewed with skepticism, including:
- A clear need for Law Enforcement Agencies to be able to capture digital communications such as VoIP, email and instant messaging in much the same way as they do for landlines and mobile. Surveillance measures will help to identify and prevent fraud, misuse and other criminal activity, including terrorism
- There is nearly no additional cost or application impact, as proven by the deployment of Narus' own IP Platforms in global carrier networks. In fact these systems are capable of supporting multiple services that provide a real return on investment from billing for data services, analysis of network efficiencies and performance, and early warning of security events such as worms, DDOS and hacking
- IP monitoring is easily enabled
These IP monitoring capabilities exist today and the core technology needed is already embedded within networks of most service providers. In fact, Narus has been pursuing its lawful intercept initiative since 2001 with tier-one carriers worldwide. Addressing the challenges associated with IP protection and monitoring and the lawful intercept of VoIP is part of our core business priority and we continue to work maintain secure carrier networks on a global basis.
