Cisco’s Eavesdropping Apparatus

In response to what it terms its “customer’s needs,” Cisco will start to embed “lawful interception” capability into its router products. [C|Net News.com] What’s really going on here is that the convergence of packet-switched and circuit-switched networks is accelerating. So the law enforcement community is no longer content to give the Internet and ISPs a free ride when it comes to digital wiretapping, despite the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). Cisco can’t be blamed, since it’s job is to sell products, but this is just another sign that the days of anonimity on the Internet are numbered.