Critical of a new federal order that could cost colleges and universities an estimated $7 billion to renovate their existing computer networks so law enforcement officials could conduct remote wiretaps, a coalition of university presidents, lobbyists, and other education stakeholders on Nov. 15 filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requesting an exemption.

The filing represents the latest salvo in an ongoing dispute between the federal government and academic institutions over the reach of an 11-year-old law known as the Communication Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA. The law, intended to help catch terrorists and other criminals, originally was written with telephone carriers in mind. But thanks to the rapid evolution of the internet and other forms of digital communication, federal officials at the Justice Department and elsewhere want to extend the law to cover broadband and voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) services as well. As with traditional wiretaps, the law stipulates that a court order must precede internet surveillance, thus muting the debate over civil liberties and shifting argument to costs.

First written in 1994, the law's original intent was to outfit existing telephone networks with devices that would enable federal agents to eavesdrop on phone conversations from remote locations. The law was extended last year after Justice Department officials said the growth of the internet and other broadband-based communications was making it difficult to keep tabs on tech-savvy criminals. Under the extension, public computer networks that transmit voice communication via IP telephony also must be equipped with wiretapping capabilities.

Published to the Federal Register in late October, the FCC's order--which applies this extension to schools, too, at the schools' own expense--met with heavy criticism from university lawyers and others in the education community, who estimate that the cost to colleges and universities alone could top $7 billion, while doing little to help the government apprehend suspected felons.

"The higher-education community is sympathetic to law enforcement's need to access internet communications," said Mark Luker, vice president of the nonprofit EDUCAUSE, a leading voice in the opposition to expand CALEA. "However, we feel it is clear that Congress never intended CALEA to extend to the internet, and that the negative impact on the education and library community would far outweigh any benefit that law enforcement would gain by including them in this ruling."

Critics contend the new order, meant to extend CALEA to the internet, values the government's pursuit of fugitives above the interests of education. According to the FCC, organizations, including universities and large K-12 school districts, that serve as providers of internet access and broadband phone service to customers must purchase and install the required technology by spring 2007.