CALEA and US based foreign e-mail accounts. A deadly lock

If an US law enforcement officer wants to tap an American citizen internet account, the officer must play by the books. But If the US officer wants to wiretap an Italian citizen whose account is hosted in the US by an US company, does the USofficer need to respect the US regulations, or, since the target is a foreigner, he’d be free to play as he wishes? As far as I know, the answer is a sound “no”: the law enforcement officer must always comply to the US regulation (at least because the company that hosts the account is american and it is established on the US soil.)

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The Telecom Italia scandal. A gun aimed at the wrong target

Current Italian media hype is pumped by the “Telecom Italia scandal”. The criminal investigation is handled by the Public Prosecutor of Milan that invetigates the alleged theft of confidential information and hack of major Italian and foreign companies. Recently, the Public Prosecutor findings led to preemptive jail custody Telecom Italia high-level security officers, employees and out firm security experts hired as consultants. The defendants are charged of running “covert black-ops” on their own, unbeknownst to their employer.

Apart from the merit of the investigation (that belongs to the Court and will likely be ruled not before several years), this criminal investigation itruly demonstrates how the ICT security business in Italy actually works. Companies (big ones, first) don’t really care about IT security. Top management leaves all the relevant decisions to the “IT guys”, while not caring about their own compliance to the security policies.

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