new internet protocol worries FBI

[DeeDee Halleck]

FBI wants to ban new Internet protocol
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Published: 19 June, 2012, 20:12
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FBI wants to ban new Internet protocol

*TAGS:* SciTech <http://rt.com/tags/scitech/>, Law <http://rt.com/tags/law/>
, Internet <http://rt.com/tags/internet/>,Information
Technology<http://rt.com/tags/information-technology/>
, USA <http://rt.com/tags/usa/>

With the recent unveiling of the newest Internet protocol system, trillions
upon trillions of devices are being paved access to the Internet for the
unforeseeable future. And right on cue, the FBI is already up in arms over
IPv6.

With computing devices around the globe already switching from the current
Internet protocol system, IPv4, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation is
predictably picking a fight with the biggest names in cyberspace to ensure
that the FBI and other agencies across North America will be able to inch
themselves into the personal Web surfing habits of citizens across the
world. Now requests from the FBI to ready a system to easily snoop through
Internet traffic has proponents of IPv6 and industry reps alike scrambling
to make sense of the feds’ demands.

Under the original and quickly antiquating Internet protocol system, IPv4,
only 4.3 billion computers, modems, smart phones and other wired devices
can send and receive information through cyberspace. When the latest
rollover to IPv6 is complete, however, 340 undecillion addresses (that’s a
lot<https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=undecillion&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest>)
will be able to be assigned. On the plus side, trillions of more devices
will able to be delivered information over the Internet. The FBI, however,
wants to make sure that they can still catch cyber criminals and suggest
that they might have to insist that the private sector aids them in their
future endeavors.

According to report filed this week by Cnet’s Declan McCullagh, the FBI,
Drug Enforcement Administration and Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials
have jointly asked Internet representatives that traceability features be
enabled with IPv6 that will allow federal agents to identify suspected
cybercriminals with the same kind of ease evident with IPv4. Given that the
government is already having trouble trying to find alleged cyberterrorists
over the Internet as is, though, they might seriously have their work cut
out for them. That’s where McCullagh reports, *“The FBI has even suggested
that a new law may be necessary if the private sector doesn't do enough
voluntarily.”*

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official with the FBI clues Cnet in
on just why the agency is against the next-generation Internet protocol:

*“An issue may also arise around the amount of registration information
that is maintained by providers and the amount of historical logging that
exists. Today there are complete registries of what IPv4 addresses are
‘owned’ by an operator. Depending on how the IPv6 system is rolled out,
that registry may or may not be sufficient for law enforcement to identify
what device is accessing the Internet.”*

If hunting for cybercriminals is comparable to searching for a needle in a
haystack under IPv4, with IPv6 it will be on par with scouring the
stratosphere for a single molecule of oxygen.

John Curran of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) tells
Cnet, "We're looking at a problem that's about to occur," and adds that,
“as service providers start to roll out V6,” that’s exactly what they’ll
receive. The answer, according to the FBI, might be a whole new set of
legislation that will let them scour cyberspace for the answers for federal
inquiries into alleged Internet crimes.

*"We're hoping through all of this you can come up with some
self-regulatory method in which you can do it,"* FBI supervisory special
agent Bobby Flaim said at an ARIN meeting earlier this year, reports Cnet .
*"Because otherwise, there will be other things that people are going to
consider."*

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