I hope that you'll use your position on the Commerce Committee to oppose
amendments to S.2281 that would require developers of Internet telephone
systems to build wiretapping capability into their technologies.   Such a
capability would be similar to that imposed on traditional telephone services
by the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA),
even though Congress in enacting CALEA specifically excluded the Internet from
its scope.  The capabilities demanded by CALEA have been costly to implement,
and the privacy ramifications are particularly dangerous in the wake of the
USA PATRIOT Act which has scaled back judicial oversight on wiretapping.
Extending CALEA-style requirements to the nascent voice-over-IP telephony
market would stifle innovation and violate privacy.

Again, I urge you to oppose amendments to S.2281 that would CALEA-style
wiretapping capability to be built into Internet telephone services.  I look
forward to hearing your thoughts on this important issue.

Sincerely

Matthew Belmonte