FBI asks Internet companies' cooperation in wire tapping.

• Position: CYBERCRIME

The shift in communications from telephones to the Internet is making it tougher for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to catch the bad guys. That's why the crime-fighting agency is asking Internet companies not to oppose a proposal that would require them to build in code that would allow the agency to wiretap individuals suspected of illegal activities.

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The proposal would amend the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which currently applies only to telecommunications providers. The Federal Communications Commission also may be looking into how CALEA can be reinterpreted to require products that allow video or voice chat over the Internet to include surveillance back doors.

Subsentio, a Colorado-based company that sells CALEA compliance products, told CNET that the FBI's draft legislation was prepared with the compliance costs of Internet companies in mind. In a statement to CNET, Subsentio President Steve Beck said the measure provides a "safe harbor for Internet companies as long as the interception techniques are 'good enough' solutions approved by the attorney general."

Beck said another option would be for companies to "supply the government with proprietary information to decode information" obtained through a wiretap of other type of lawful interception.

An FBI representative told CNET that a "growing gap exists between the...