FITUG e.V. Förderverein Informationstechnik und Gesellschaft

FC: BARTEC, eavesdropping, and "open source" wiretap software

------- Forwarded message follows ------- Date sent: Tue, 12 Feb 2002 22:49:01 -0500 From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> To: politech@cluebot.com Subject: FC: BARTEC, eavesdropping, and "open source" wiretap software Send reply to: declan@well.com

BARTEC is an interesting company. It describes itself as being the best choice for police "telephone surveillance equipment." BARTEC's product line is extensive, featuring "the intelligent choice for all your telephone surveillance investigations - pen register, audio wiretap or PCS/cellular." (http://www.bartec.com/products.html)

BARTEC products include:

* DLP-14/400 WIRELESS INTELLIGENT TRANSMITTER, described as a "PCS/cellular intercept device designed for use by both law enforcement and wireless companies for telephone surveillance investigations." (http://www.bartec.com/content/wit.html)

* D A R E / DIGITAL AUDIO RECORDING ENVIRONMENT, described as a tool for "streamlining and simplifying wiretap operations. This is accomplished by taking advantage of the latest in digital audio recording technology which automatically places both voice and data together on CD-ROM." (http://www.bartec.com/content/whatshotDARE.html)

* C O P S / CALEA OPERATIONS, the recommended way for BARTEC customers to perform surveillance under the controversial Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), aka Digital Telephony law. To summarize: COPS essentially links the telephone company with police. COPS includes a dedicated PC, an 8-port Cisco router / modem pool, and a 100 base T Hub. The protocol used to share info is called J-025. (http://www.bartec.com/content/whatshotCOPS.html)

J-025 is more properly called J-STD-025, and was jointly developed by the Telecommunications Industry Association and the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions. It came out in December 1997 and soon became the focus of litigation, with privacy groups and some industry groups saying it went beyond what Congress intended. The DC Circuit agreed in part (http://www.epic.org/calea/dc_cir_decision.html).

For more background, consider a report by a Telecommunications Industry Association working group dated May 2000 that arose after a meeting at the Excalibur hotel in Las Vegas. The document is here: http://www.tiaonline.org/standards/CALEA_JEM/CJEM503-105.pdf

What's interesting is that the report, authored by Mark A. Montz, a product architect at Compaq, talks up the benefits of open source softwware as a way to keep the Feds honest -- in much the same way that some of us have recommended the release of Carnivore's source code.

Excerpt:

>The connection point may also allow access to data packets not
>authorized for surveillance to be collected as well as the ones
>covered by a subpoena. Also, while the PC/hard disk system above
>substitutes for a tape recorder, there is nothing currently
>equivalent to a "pen trace device". Indeed, one of the major concerns
>with the industry suggestion of delivering all the information to law
>enforcement agencies was that the agencies could not be trusted to
>discard data they were not authorized to receive. A novel solution to
>this problem may be possible by the success of a new concept: Open
>Source... A neutral organization such as UL Labs or some other agency
>would be responsible for downloading the software into the computer,
>and the delivering it to the law enforcement agency...

Politech archive on CALEA: http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=calea

-Declan

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http://www.bartec.com/content/whatshotCOPS.html

C O P S "CALEA OPERATIONS" ___________________________________________________________________ ___

BARTEC's simple, affordable, intelligent solution for CALEA intercepts!

Click here for COPS diagram Click here for a diagram of a typical COPS configuration. What Is COPS? CALEA Operations (COPS) is BARTEC's solution for the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) which will begin implementation on June 1, 2000. COPS serves as the primary interface for delivery of J-025 standard messages from the Telecommunications Service Provider (TSP) to the law enforcement agency (LEA), as defined in CALEA legislation. A COPS workstation consists of:

BARTEC COPS Software

PC (configured for COPS specs)

8 Port Cisco Router / Modem Pool

100 base T Hub How Does COPS Work? A COPS workstation supports three critical tasks in the CALEA pen register intercept environment, as follows: 1. CALEA "D" and "E" Interface CALEA legislation defines "D" and "E" interfaces for telephone surveillance. The "D" interface is located in the TSP switch or regional facility. The "E" interface is located at the LEA. The "D" interface will require a TCP/IP wide area network (WAN) to be established between the TSP and the LEA. The WAN may be on a dial-up or dedicated private lease line (PVC) that is defined by the TSP or LEA. To meet interface requirements, the COPS workstation includes a Cisco router with eight modem ports. Modem ports one to seven are dedicated for "E" interface - one for each TSP. Modem port eight is reserved for communication with existing BARTEC devices for analog pen register intercepts. Remote command and control and automatic downloads for BARTEC's Micro DNR, SSL-12 Smart Slave and DLP-14/400 Wireless Intelligent Transmitter will be accessible via port eight. This feature is not available on any other CALEA intercept system, and will prove important and useful as telephone surveillance makes the transition from analog to digital over the next several years. 2. Data Compilation In a CALEA pen register intercept environment, TSPs will deliver J-025 standard messages, as defined in the CALEA legislation, over a call data channel (CDC). Each of the modem ports on the Cisco router supports CDC delivery of data in a number of formats. Analog data received on port will be in ASCII format. COPS assembles and converts all data in all formats for compatibility with many different analytical software packages. 3. Creation of Files and Distribution of Collected Data Once data is assembled and converted, it is compiled into files. Once files are created at the COPS workstation, data can be distributed for analysis or other CALEA functions. Distribution can take place via the LEA network to a secure server, on a daily or periodic basis. Data may be loaded manually or on demand to the server by the LEA network administrator. Analysis software typically resides on the server.

In a CALEA wiretap intercept environment, COPS will test J-025 messages received from the TSP to determine if immediate distribution is required. Messages are routed through the LEA network to the appropriate BARTEC Digital Audio Recording Environment (DARE) workstation. At the DARE workstation, analog voice and data will be assembled by the COPS Micro DNR for real time access by the DNR. Why Buy COPS?

COPS offers multiple CALEA intercept capability and supports both pen register and wiretap configurations

COPS can interface with BARTEC analog pen registers/remote devices as telephone surveillance transitions to CALEA

COPS offers future expansion to accommodate additional CALEA interfaces

COPS is affordably priced, allowing even small law enforcement agencies to perform CALEA intercepts ___________________________________________________________________ ___

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