Lawful Intercept Description
The term "Lawful Intercept" is used to describe the process by which law enforcement agencies conduct electronic surveillance of circuit and packet-mode communications as authorized by judicial or administrative order. There are various methods and technologies that are used to intercept telecommunications. Therefore, the process used may vary on a case-by-case basis. However, for reasons of cost and expediency, legislation and regulation are increasingly being adopted that require providers of public and private communication services (Service Providers) to design and implement their networks to explicitly support authorized electronic surveillance.

National Laws Define Local Intercept Requirements
The means and authority of conducting Lawful Intercept is often recorded in government legislation or regulatory mandates. Examples of such a mandates include but are not limited to the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) in the United States; the United Kingdom's Regulation of Investigatory Powers (RIPA) Act 2000, Section 88 of Germany's Telekommunikationsgesetz, and The Netherlands' Telecommunicatiewet of 1998. The types of Service Providers who are subject to such Lawful Intercept mandates, as well as the services included, vary greatly from country to country. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that customers consult with legal counsel knowledgeable in the laws and regulations applying to their situation in order to determine their responsibility for complying with Lawful Intercept requirements.

Cisco Internet-Drafts: Lawful Intercept Control and Architecture
Cisco Internet-Draft document:

Lawful Intercept In IP Networks

The 'Lawful Intercept Control' draft that was submitted to the IETF has expired, but can be accessed here.

Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet- Drafts.

Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet- Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

Comments on these documents may be sent to: li-comment@external.cisco.com

Where to Direct Inquiries
Contact your Cisco representative for information on future Product features. Please direct general inquiries to
li-comment@external.cisco.com. Please include the phrase "Lawful Intercept Inquiry " in the SUBJECT field of your message.

Additional Resources
Government Resources
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Communication Commission

Privacy Advocate Organizations
Center for Democracy and Technology (US)
Cyber-Rights & Cyber-Liberties (UK)
Associazione per la Libertà nella Comunicazione Elettronica Interattiva (IT)
Bits of Freedom (NL)

Standard Setting Organizations
PacketCable [Cable]
International Softswitch Consortium
Third Generation Partnership Program (3GPP) [Wireless]
European Telecommunications Standards Institute
 - SEC LI [Circuit & Packet]
 - TC AT [Cable]
 - Tiphon [VoIP]
Telecommunications Industry Association
 - TR-45 [Circuit & Packet]
Committee T1
 - T1P1 [Wireless]

U.S. CALEA Consultants
TeLEA
Network Engineering Consultants, Inc. (NECI)

Cisco Preferred Mediation Device Equipment Suppliers:
AQSACOM
ETI
Group 2000
Pine
Verint Systems
SS8
Utimaco Safeware AG

Alternative Mediation Device Equipment Suppliers
Accuris
ATIS, Ltd (US website, EMEA website)
DigiVox
GTEN AG (DE)
Nice
Teletron
Urmet Group

Service Bureaus
Apogee
Subsentio
Fiducianet
VeriSign NetDiscovery