WASHINGTON, July 25 (UPI) -- Privacy advocates are appealing a court ruling forcing Internet providers to make it easier for U.S. authorities to tap Web-based phone services.
The ruling in June from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, DC, circuit found that the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act empowered the FBI and telephone regulators to demand that Internet providers change the technology they use to make government wiretapping easier.
In effect, said a statement from the Center for Democracy and Technology -- one of the groups launching the appeal -- the ruling "imposed design mandates on technology companies" in an effort "to make government wiretapping easier."
The ruling applies to new Web-based telecommunications services like Voice Over Internet Protocol, or VOIP.
The appeal was filed Friday by a coalition of groups which asked the full appeals court to overturn the 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel.
