Government eavesdropping on private communications is as old as government itself. Telecommunications providers are but an instrument for government wiretapping. As blunt as this may sound and regardless of whether this practice is justified, this is the relationship between law enforcement agencies and private telecom providers. The issue of whether government should eavesdrop on its citizens is left to constitutional lawyers, but there are extents to which telecom providers are required to cooperate.
The Wiretapping Law
In 1994, the U.S. Congress passed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) in response to concerns that emerging technologies, such as digital and wireless communications, were making it increasingly difficult for law enforcement to execute authorized surveillance. Wiretapping authority actually is derived from the Electronics Communications Privacy Act, and a court order is required before any such surveillance can take place. What CALEA does is impose a duty on telecommunications carriers to cooperate with law enforcement in surveillance efforts.
The 1990s represented the technological culmination of a transition from circuit-switched to packet telephony and from analog to digital communications. Similarly, the new millennium prompted a revision of CALEA regulations due to the emergence of Internet-related technologies. Thus, CALEA obligations were extended to facilities-based broadband providers, and interconnected VoIP providers.
Satellite Service Providers and CALEA
The answer to the question whether satellite service providers are subject to CALEA lies with the type of services they offer; most importantly, whether they provide broadband services. A facilities-based carrier owns transmission facilities and/or routing equipment. A service is defined as broadband when data rates are at least 200 Kbps. Hence, a satellite service provider that provides facilities-based broadband access most likely would be subject to CALEA.
Furthermore, a satellite service provider also may qualify as an interconnected VoIP provider. To do so, the provider would have to facilitate two-way voice communications to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) over broadband, where the customer used IP-compatible equipment (e.g., the Vonage model). On the other hand, it is quite possible that satellite service providers only provide enterprise solutions to private networks. In this case, CALEA obligations would not apply. However, the private network must be totally isolated from public access (PSTN or the Internet).
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