Compromise Reached on Telecom Measure

Congressional negotiators have reached a compromise on an Administration-backed proposal to ensure that the evolving telecommunications networks do not shut out law enforcement’s ability to do wiretaps.

The new bill, being introduced today by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on technology and the law, and Rep. Don Edwards (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on civil and constitutional rights, was hammered out in four months of often-intense negotiations with law enforcement officials, industry representatives and civil liberties activists.

Although the bill is already being denounced by some privacy proponents, supporters of the “digital telephony” bill say the new version offers more protection to businesses and consumers than initial forays by the Bush and Clinton administrations.

“The bill is certainly light-years ahead of the original bill,” said Larry Clinton, executive director of government relations for the U.S. Telephone Assn.

One key privacy group that has been sharply critical of the Administration’s efforts showed qualified support for the compromise bill. While saying the legislation is not necessary, Jerry Berman, policy director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a high-tech civil liberties and policy group, said, “If they’re going to pass a bill, it should be the Leahy-Edwards version.”

The proposal was first floated in 1992 by the Justice Department out of fear that changing communications technologies would render current surveillance tools obsolete. The Bush Administration withdrew the proposal in the face of vocal protests by industry and civil liberties activists.

A new version of the proposal was unveiled earlier this year but was assailed as an unnecessary yoke on technological progress and a threat to privacy.

Industry officials especially objected to provisions in the Clinton Administration bill that would have given the attorney general veto power over technological changes that could impair the ability of law enforcement officials to tap communications. The Justice Department could impose stiff penalties on common carriers that did not conform to government wiretap standards.

The original bill “made everyone’s hair stand on end,” said Edwards.