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[techguru]

The FBI has drafted a legislation that requires internet providers in the US to create wire tapping hubs for police surveillance. The FBI says that expanding the 1994 ‘Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act’(CALEA) is necessary to keep tabs on criminals and terrorists who have turned to technologies like voice over Internet Protocol,(VoIP).

According to the new draft, net providers will now have to identify VoIP calls for the police and wiretap all commercial internet services, including in- game chats like those offered by Microsoft’s Xbox 360 gaming system. The newly drafted bill will replace the present Net-surveillance bill which is being challenged by universities and some technology companies. They claim the Federal Communications Commission’s broadband surveillance directives are unauthorized by the congress.

The draft bill now has solid legal back up after a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C upheld the FCC’s extension of CALEA to broadband providers. So now, if the newly drafted bill becomes a law, organizations like Sun Microsystems, Pulver.com, the American Association of Community Colleges, the Association of American Universities and the American Library Association who had filed the lawsuit will not have any grounds to argue against the bill.