jan06c.indd


Ber nadette Murphy W a s h i n g t o n  H o t l i n e  

CALEA and libraries 
The Communications Assistance for Law 
Enforcement Act (CALEA), passed in October 
1994, forces telecommunications carriers to 
comply with law enforcement’s wiretapping 
requests. When the act was passed, Congress 
drew a distinction between telecommunica­
tions services (telephony, fax, and the like) 
and “information services” in order to balance 
privacy and regulatory interests. Consequently, 
CALEA applies only to telecommunication 
services; it explicitly exempts information 
services such as Internet services. But the 
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 
is attempting to extend CALEA wiretaps to 
broadband networks. This change could force 
providers of broadband access, including some 
public and academic libraries and library net­
works, to re­engineer their networks at their 
own expense. 

CALEA draws a line between the public, 
circuit­switched telecommunications network 
and private telephone networks. While the 
public network is subject to CALEA, private 
networks (such as a university’s private PBX 
system) are not. Both of these bright lines, 
developed by Congress and supported by 
legislators, FCC, and the executive branch, 
have provided a policy framework for law 
enforcement’s interaction with telecommunica­
tions for nearly a decade. 

The development of Voice Over Internet 
Protocol (VOIP) services—essentially, tele­
phone service running over the Internet—has 
made these separations harder to maintain. 
Law enforcement agencies petitioned the 
FCC in 2004 to provide the same kind of 
CALEA access to VOIP and other broadband 
packet­switching services, citing national se­
curity concerns. ALA, along with a coalition 
of library and higher education organizations, 
responded to the petition by encouraging the 
commission to more carefully analyze the 

Bernadette Murphy is communications specialist at ALA’s 
Washington Offi  ce, e-mail: bmurphy@alawash.org 

implications of such a move and consider the 
potential impact on libraries. 

In September 2004, the commission re­
leased a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
(NPRM) outlining how CALEA could be 
extended to include Internet service provid­
ers. Although NPRM exempts libraries and 
education organizations—citing their role as 
providers of broadband access—ALA feels that 
the NPRM doesn’t explicitly exempt the private 
networks of which many libraries are part. 

In November, ALA, along with ACRL and 
ARL, filed comments before the FCC seeking 
exemption from CALEA for libraries. Addition­
ally, ALA and ACRL are part of a petition before 
the court arguing that FCC does not have juris­
diction to extend CALEA to the Internet. 

While there is currently no legislation 
pending on the issue of CALEA, it may move 
into the Congressional arena in the com­
ing months. Please continue to be aware 
of this issue by subscribing to ALAWON, 
the Washington Office’s free e­mail news­
letter. You can subscribe at www.ala.org 
/washoff/alawon. 

Sunshine Week 2006: Are we safer in 
the dark? 
Hurricane Katrina made clear the important 
role of government in protecting the Ameri­
can public. Sadly, the federal government has 
expanded secrecy and limited the public’s 
ability to know what government is doing. 
What about your community? Is the govern­
ment at all levels telling the public enough 
to ensure the safety of our families and our 
communities? 

Join us March 13, 2006, in Washington, 
D.C. (linked via satellite to locally hosted 
discussions across the country), as a national 
panel of experts from around the country 
discuss open government and secrecy—the 
problems we are facing with it, how it im­
pacts communities, and what the public can 
do about it. 

(continued on page 34) 

January 2006  33 C&RL News 

http:www.ala.org
mailto:bmurphy@alawash.org


Jane Hedberg P r e s e r v a t i o n  N e w s  

Video about fi lm care 
Video Aids to Film Preservation (VAFP) is a 
new Web site designed to complement print­
ed motion picture film preservation guides. It 
contains short video clips that illustrate basic 
principles of film handling and treatment. As 
of this writing, the clips include “What does 
mildew damage look like?” “What does a 
film with shrinkage look like?” “What to do 
if the film on a reel is loose?” “How do you 
identify film gauge from the reel it is on?” 
“How do you identify film by its container, 
size and shape, and sprocket holes?” “How do 
I identify optical or magnetic sound tracks?” 
“How do you make a cement splice in regular 
8mm?” “How do you inspect a cement splice?” 
and “How do you make a splice using a 
simple splicing block and press tape?” 

There are also three short films made by 
professional film laboratories to illustrate 
procedures they have used in fi lm restoration. 
Contributors include Littlefi lm.org, Cineric, 
Film Technology Company, and Colorlab. 
The clips and films may be streamed in 
MPEG­4 and either Real­Surestream or Real­
Broadband, and downloaded in MPEG­4 fi les. 
They are governed by the rules of Creative 
Commons, so may be used with appropriate 
attribution. 

The URL for VAFP is www.folkstreams. 
net/vafp. 

Magnetic and optical media repair 
The Canadian Conservation Institute has 
published “Remedies for deteriorated or 
damaged modern information carriers” by Joe 
Iraci as number 27 in its Technical Bulletin 
series. This 23­page booklet reviews the types 
of deterioration sustained by magnetic and 
optical media as they age or encounter poor 
handling and storage conditions. It goes on to 
present remedies for that deterioration to en­

Jane Hedberg is preservation program offi  cer at Harvard 
University Library, e-mail: jane_hedberg@harvard.edu; 
fax: (617) 496-8344 

able playback of audio, video and computer 
tapes and discs, plus CDs and DVDs. 

This booklet costs $15 US and may be 
purchased through the CCI online bookstore 
at https://www.cci­icc.gc.ca/bookstore/index­
e.cfm or their Publications Sales Office at (613) 
998­3721, ext. 250. ISBN: 0­660­19527­5. 

Labeling hazardous chemicals 
The September 2005 issue of AIC news (v.30: 
no.5) contains a special insert, “A conserva­
tor’s guide to labeling hazardous chemicals” 
by Judith Bischoff. This article offers an over­
view of the OSHA regulation and other laws 
that pertain to safe labeling of the chemicals 
typically found in conservation laboratories, 
and the importance of using labels that con­
form to the law. 

The regulation doesn’t specify type of 
label, so the article describes two rating 
systems, the National Fire Protection Asso­
ciation National Fire Rating and the National 
Paint and Coatings Association Hazardous 
Materials Identification System. Lastly, it 
recommends an inventory of all chemicals 
in the lab, acquisition of the appropriate 
Material Safety Data Sheets, application of the 
necessary labels to all chemical containers, 
and explanation of the label system to staff 
members. The article also contains a table 
of the health, flammability and instability 
(reactivity) codes for common conservation 
chemicals; a list of acronyms; a glossary; and 
a list of Web sites. 

(“Washington Hotline” continued from 
page 33) 

Brought to you by ALA, American Asso­
ciation of Law Libraries, American Society of 
Newspaper Editors/Sunshine Week, Coalition 
for Open Government, League of Women 
Voters, the National Freedom of Information 
Coalition, and OpenTheGovernment.org 

For more infor mation visit www. 
sunshineweek.org/. 

C&RL News January 2006  34 

http:sunshineweek.org
http:OpenTheGovernment.org
https://www.cci-icc.gc.ca/bookstore/index
mailto:jane_hedberg@harvard.edu
www.folkstreams