Joseph Fitsanakis - Redesigning Wiretapping: The Digitization of Communications Interception (History of Information Security)

Series Description

The Springer book series History of Information Security publishes monographs about all aspects of the history of cryptology, signals intelligence, computer security, and information assurance, focusing on the interplay between technological change and organizational requirements. There are no limits in time period monographs dealing with information assurance and warfare in antiquity are as welcome as those dealing with cybercrime but subjects should be clearly defined, limited, and treated comprehensively. Prospective authors are invited to submit proposals or manuscripts, aimed at academic and/or non-expert audiences.

Series Editor

Karl de Leeuw (Amsterdam)

Advisory Board

John F. Dooley (Knox College)

Joseph Fitsanakis (Coastal Carolina University)

Ioanna Iordanou (Oxford Brookes University)

Benedek Lang (Budapest University of Technology)

Jean-Jacques Quisquater (Universit catholique de Louvain)

Betsy Rohaly Smoot (Independent Scholar / Retired NSA Historian)

John Tucker (Swansea University)

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/16513 Joachim von zur Gathen (Bonn-Aachen International Center

for Information Technology and Universitt Bonn)

This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

The concept of informatization was introduced in political research in 1977. In the ensuing 43 years, scholars have become increasingly cognizant of the powerful interaction between information technology and social development. This research follows in the footsteps of this increased awareness and explores the sociotechnical impact of digitization on information security andby extensionprivacy.

This book seeks to contribute to a wider body of literature in information security that desires to provide meaningful answers to the following questions: (1) What sociotechnical trends have been evident in the recent history of information-security policy in the United Kingdom and the United States? (2) What particular political visions do these trends seem to favor and what do they appear to suggest for the future of information security in the West? (3) What is the importance of digital information security for practices of policing, both by governmental decision centers and commercial bodies?

To answer these questions, this book examines the historical emergence of two legislative frameworks: the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), enacted by the United States Congress in 1994, and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA), enacted by the British Parliament in 2000. The two Acts, which remain active to this day, make it mandatory for telecommunications service providers to, among other things, ensure that their customers communications can be intercepted by law enforcement and security agencies, whose interception capabilities were seriously hampered by the digitization and deregulation of telecommunications after 1984.

The project rests on previously unpublished qualitative data on RIPA and CALEA. These have been acquired through open-source, restricted, or leaked government and industry reports on the subject, as well as through over 40 in-depth interviews with some of the protagonists representing different sides in the negotiations over RIPA and CALEA, nearly 20 years ago. The development of communications interception as a component of information security is thus examined historically within the context of complex relationships between political actors, such as national policy experts and government advisors, state and corporate decision-makers, and members of regulatory bodies.