Strategic Gap
• As a result of the fundamental shift in communications services and technologies, criminal and national security investigations are unable to obtain needed evidence and intelligence despite having the legal authority to do so
Impediments
• We continue to lose ground to rapidly-changing global communications services and technologies
• Public disclosures have created an environment that makes even the discussion of new lawful intercept legislation very difficult and provider cooperation tenuous
• Regulatory process is not timely and judicial process unproductive
• Stakeholders in legislative process have different equities
• Industry is very organized and proactive in its opposition to the development of new capabilities and legislation
Encrypted Communications Applications
Modern communication applications have begun to implement encryption on data in motion, resulting in law enforcement’s inability to access the plain text of data in transit (intercepted)
Challenges with Record Requests
The lack of a mandate on the retention of communications metadata or content and the increasing globalization of communication services have greatly complicated law enforcement’s ability to obtain information on historical communications
Device-Based Encryption
Communication devices have begun to deploy encryption on stored data, resulting in law enforcement’s inability to access the plain text of data stored on a device or system (or cloud)
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