no - big brother IS watching you

[Mark Whittington]

CALEA requirements apply to telecommunications carriers, not equipment.
Reading the docs that you linked, it looks like the Mikrotik calea module
is something that their customer can enable in order to comply with those
requirements if they meet the definition of a telecommunications carrier.

See more here:
https://www.fcc.gov/public-safety-and-homeland-security/policy-and-licensing-division/general/communications-assistance

Key excerpts, emphasis added by me:

CALEA requires a "telecommunications carrier," as defined by the CALEA
statute, to ensure that equipment, facilities, or services that allow a
customer or subscriber to "originate, terminate, or direct communications,"
enable law enforcement officials to conduct electronic surveillance
pursuant to court order or other lawful authorization.

A telecommunications carrier may comply with CALEA in different ways.
First, the carrier may develop its own compliance solution for its unique
network. *Second, the carrier may purchase a compliance solution from
vendors, including the manufacturers of the equipment it is using to
provide service.* Third, the carrier may purchase a compliance solution
from a trusted third party (TPP).

Also, from EFF's FAQ at https://www.eff.org/pages/calea-faq (this is from
#15):

Under CALEA's definitions, if one is "engaged in providing information
services," then one is absolutely not a "telecommunications carrier." A
telecommunications carrier is defined as "a person or entity engaged in the
transmission or switching of wire or electronic communications as a common
carrier for hire," and specifically excludes "persons or entities insofar
as they are engaged in providing information services."


In conclusion, I don't think Mikrotik is intercepting and logging your
network traffic.  They're providing a module to allow you to do so if
you're required to by law.


On Mon, Jun 19, 2017 at 8:20 AM, Samudra Haque <samudra.haque at gmail.com>
wrote:

> I was an early early adopter of Mikrotik routeros, (www.mt.lv, or
> www.mikrotik.com - good stuff) when they were established in 1996, and
> did many projects since 1997. I always wondered what the CALEA module was,
> but did not pay attention to it, nor did I order the feature.
>
> Well now I know. Chilling.
>
> https://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/CALEA. They can't be the only one having
> this requirement -- do mfrs such as Cisco and others ... tell their
> customers about features to "intercept and log network traffic" ? What are
> the industry practices in this field?
>
> I think small router companies are great for what they do, so they are not
> to blame for the situation we have at present.
>
> 73 de X
>
>
>
>
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