Major Technical Difficulties

[Commentary] Behind closed doors in Washington, American officials are shaping an overhaul of the 1994 federal statute that requires phone and broadband carriers to ensure their networks can be wiretapped.

Based on a chilling recent precedent, the risk is substantial that this so-called technical updating will spread far beyond what's said to be contemplated -- and greatly expand the already expansive power of the government to spy on Americans. Congress should be especially cautious about the scope of the revision. The problem is that the hub-and-spoke design of phone and broadband communication is very different from the decentralized design of the Internet -- and even more so from peer-to-peer connections. If, as some experts say, requiring Internet providers to be able to unscramble encrypted messages or intercept any transmitted communication also calls for them to function like centralized carriers, the shift will reverse what made the Internet -- and made it a fount of economic growth. The huge scale of the potential disruption underscores how little we know about why this overhaul is needed. Officials have recounted how some carriers have been unable to carry out wiretap orders and how the F.B.I. has spent tens of millions of dollars to help fix the problems. But there is no public data about how often a communication service's technical makeup thwarts surveillance approved by a court. Congress must understand why these changes are so pressing before it considers the likely major new legal requirements needed to ensure that new technologies can be wiretapped.