There is a new legislation coming down the pipe for universities to keeps tabs on who is on their wireless networks.
At Washburn, we have our media/visiting SIDs enter a password that I give them for access to the wireless network. I've included an email from our internet gurus on campus.
Please email me back at
gene.cassell@washburn.edu with how your school handles visiting media/SIDs with access to your wireless internet. Thanks, Gene
What is CALEA: In October 1994, Congress took action to protect public safety and national security by enacting the Communications Assistance for law enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA), Pub. L. No. 103-414, 108 Stat. 4279. The law further defines the existing statutory obligation of telecommunications carriers to assist law enforcement in executing electronic surveillance pursuant to court order or other lawful authorization and requires carriers to design or modify their systems to ensure that lawfully-authorized electronic surveillance can be performed. May 3, 2006 Second Report, Memorandum Opinion, and Order -- The primary goal of the Order is to ensure that Law Enforcement Agencies have all of the resources that CALEA authorizes with regard to facilities-based broadband Internet access providers (ISP) and interconnected voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) providers. (This second report affects entities that provide Internet access and became effective May 2007.) The purpose of CALEA is to preserve the ability of law enforcement to conduct electronic surveillance in the face of rapid advances in elecommunications technology.
Question: Who must be CALEA-compliant?
Answer: All telecommunications carriers as defined by Section 102(8) of CALEA. Basically, this includes all entities engaged in the transmission or switching of wire or electronic communications as a common carrier for hire. Washburn has made the decision/statement that we are NOT a common carrier for hire and thus CALEA does not apply to us. However,that brings with it certain assumptions about the services we provide including the item we discussed about not allowing anonymous access to the campus network. I imagine attorneys everywhere are interpreting CALEA differently and future court cases will determine exactly how it affects different entities.