Are network neutrality and freedom from government surveillance incompatible?

The FBI would like to see Congress amend CALEA (the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act). FBI director Mueller recently testified that his agency wants legislation that will assure internet service providers “have the capability and the capacity to respond” to court orders allowing the eavesdropping on a person’s internet communications.

CALEA currently requires that telecommunications companies expeditiously make their equipment, facilities, and services available to the government for wiretapping. Presumably, federal law enforcement would like to see this expanded to bind ISPs and other non-telecom entities.

We see a similar division of the world into telecom and non-telecom in the discussion of network neutrality. Many in favor of network neutrality laud the FCC’s efforts to bring ISPs into the agency’s scope of power to help ensure those providers of internet infrastructure do not discriminate on the basis of content source.

But do you see the potential problem here? If an individual is in favor of network neutrality and also wary of overzealous government wiretapping, he or she must be careful to not allow advocacy of federal power in one arena (enforcing network neutrality) to bleed over, even by analogy, to advocay of federal power in the other arena (surveillance). Participants in these discussions are advised to keep the ideological origins of the respective positions in mind.

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