Fighting crime requires the ability to react quickly to information, which is the intent of the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which gives investigators access to telephone networks in short order, once appropriate legal hurdles have been crossed. The implications on broadband Internet and VoIP networks has been hung up in red tape for quite a while now, but the FCC has officially expanded CALEA to data networks as well.

This isn’t all that bad, since Internet crime is so rampant, but with so many small ISPs providing data services for relatively tiny markets, having to implement surveillance avenues is just one more expense that they may not be able swallow. For large ISPs, it’s part of doing business, but I know of many very small DSLAM setups that are barely able to pay for the equipment as it is, much less see a healthy profit that would allow expansion or compliance with CALEA requirements. Though the preliminary could meet with further legal challenges, it’s clear that this will be the way of the ISP world from now on.