§ 1002. — Assistance capability requirements.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 47USC1002]
TITLE 47--TELEGRAPHS, TELEPHONES, AND RADIOTELEGRAPHS
CHAPTER 9--INTERCEPTION OF DIGITAL AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS
SUBCHAPTER I--INTERCEPTION OF DIGITAL AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS
Sec. 1002. Assistance capability requirements
(a) Capability requirements
Except as provided in subsections (b), (c), and (d) of this section
and sections 1007(a) and 1008(b) and (d) of this title, a
telecommunications carrier shall ensure that its equipment, facilities,
or services that provide a customer or subscriber with the ability to
originate, terminate, or direct communications are capable of--
(1) expeditiously isolating and enabling the government,
pursuant to a court order or other lawful authorization, to
intercept, to the exclusion of any other communications, all wire
and electronic communications carried by the carrier within a
service area to or from equipment, facilities, or services of a
subscriber of such carrier concurrently with their transmission to
or from the subscriber's equipment, facility, or service, or at such
later time as may be acceptable to the government;
(2) expeditiously isolating and enabling the government,
pursuant to a court order or other lawful authorization, to access
call-identifying information that is reasonably available to the
carrier--
(A) before, during, or immediately after the transmission of
a wire or electronic communication (or at such later time as may
be acceptable to the government); and
(B) in a manner that allows it to be associated with the
communication to which it pertains,
except that, with regard to information acquired solely pursuant to
the authority for pen registers and trap and trace devices (as
defined in section 3127 of title 18), such call-identifying
information shall not include any information that may disclose the
physical location of the subscriber (except to the extent that the
location may be determined from the telephone number);
(3) delivering intercepted communications and call-identifying
information to the government, pursuant to a court order or other
lawful authorization, in a format such that they may be transmitted
by means of equipment, facilities, or services procured by the
government to a location other than the premises of the carrier; and
(4) facilitating authorized communications interceptions and
access to call-identifying information unobtrusively and with a
minimum of interference with any subscriber's telecommunications
service and in a manner that protects--
(A) the privacy and security of communications and call-
identifying information not authorized to be intercepted; and
(B) information regarding the government's interception of
communications and access to call-identifying information.
(b) Limitations
(1) Design of features and systems configurations
This subchapter does not authorize any law enforcement agency or
officer--
(A) to require any specific design of equipment, facilities,
services, features, or system configurations to be adopted by
any provider of a wire or electronic communication service, any
manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, or any provider of
telecommunications support services; or
(B) to prohibit the adoption of any equipment, facility,
service, or feature by any provider of a wire or electronic
communication service, any manufacturer of telecommunications
equipment, or any provider of telecommunications support
services.
(2) Information services; private networks and
interconnection services and facilities
The requirements of subsection (a) of this section do not apply
to--
(A) information services; or
(B) equipment, facilities, or services that support the
transport or switching of communications for private networks or
for the sole purpose of interconnecting telecommunications
carriers.
(3) Encryption
A telecommunications carrier shall not be responsible for
decrypting, or ensuring the government's ability to decrypt, any
communication encrypted by a subscriber or customer, unless the
encryption was provided by the carrier and the carrier possesses the
information necessary to decrypt the communication.
(c) Emergency or exigent circumstances
In emergency or exigent circumstances (including those described in
sections 2518(7) or (11)(b) and 3125 of title 18 and section 1805(e) \1\
of title 50), a carrier at its discretion may comply with subsection
(a)(3) of this section by allowing monitoring at its premises if that is
the only means of accomplishing the interception or access.
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\1\ See References in Text note below.
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(d) Mobile service assistance requirements
A telecommunications carrier that is a provider of commercial mobile
service (as defined in section 332(d) of this title) offering a feature
or service that allows subscribers to redirect, hand off, or assign
their wire or electronic communications to another service area or
another service provider or to utilize facilities in another service
area or of another service provider shall ensure that, when the carrier
that had been providing assistance for the interception of wire or
electronic communications or access to call-identifying information
pursuant to a court order or lawful authorization no longer has access
to the content of such communications or call-identifying information
within the service area in which interception has been occurring as a
result of the subscriber's use of such a feature or service, information
is made available to the government (before, during, or immediately
after the transfer of such communications) identifying the provider of a
wire or electronic communication service that has acquired access to the
communications.
(Pub. L. 103-414, title I, Sec. 103, Oct. 25, 1994, 108 Stat. 4280.)
References in Text
Section 1805(e) of title 50, referred to in subsec. (c), was
redesignated section 1805(f) of title 50 by Pub. L. 106-567, title VI,
Sec. 602(b)(1), Dec. 27, 2000, 114 Stat. 2851.
Effective Date
Section effective on the date that is 4 years after Oct. 25, 1994,
see section 111(b) of Pub. L. 103-414, set out as a note under section
1001 of this title.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 229, 1005, 1006, 1007, 1008,
1010 of this title.
