Feds want new ways to tap the Web

The Obama Administration is considering new regulations to require Web-based communications services to incorporate surveillance capabilities in their products, so law enforcement can conduct digital wiretaps if suspects message Facebook “friends” or conspire via Skype.

FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni told the House Judiciary Committee in late February about a case the agency was investigating involving a pimp allegedly trafficking underage girls and producing child pornography on a social-networking service. But that social network — which she didn't name — lacked “the necessary technological capability to intercept the electronic communications.” The result was “a weaker case and a lighter sentence than might otherwise have occurred,” she said. The Administration has not yet submitted a formal proposal to Congress, but already forces are mobilizing against the idea, warning that new regulations may jeopardize privacy and deter innovation. “It’s clear that some kind of mandate at the application level to build in what’s essentially a back door is going to be chilling to innovation,” said Leslie Harris, president of the Center for Democracy & Technology.