If the Federal Communications Commission had its way, its employees would be able to wiretap the Internet system of any school, college or library without leaving the office or paying for this endeavor. This would be convenient for the FCC but costly for colleges and universities. The new move is an extension of the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) which allows law enforcement agencies to install court-ordered wiretaps on digital systems.

Until August 2005, CALEA exempted universities, among other organizations, from paying for these wiretaps. But now, the government is closing such loopholes and mandating that all institutions of higher education transform their Internet systems to accommodate FCC wiretaps. The government wants a switch to be made by 2007.

Universities should not have to pay for a government requirement because some personnel think the current process is burdensome. If the government is making such high demands, it should make them feasible. Perhaps extending the deadline for compliance would give universities enough time to financially prepare.

Without CALEA, the government sends personnel directly to a specific campus with the necessary equipment in hand and cooperates with the university's Internet technicians to successfully install a wiretap. The government claims this procedure is expensive and inefficient. CALEA is a federal mandate and therefore the switch should be federally funded, not university funded.

The Marquette Tribune reported that this endeavor would collectively cost $7 billion, which means that each student across the nation would have to pay an extra $450 from their checkbooks. These are only estimates. True costs are not known because the FCC did not give any specifics on system updates, said Kathy Lang, chief information officer for Marquette Information Technology.

Service expenses are expected and the universities will have to cover them because the federal government is not likely to provide extra grants and loans for this project, Lang said.

Currently the FCC faces a lawsuit from EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit group of more than 2,000 colleges and universities. EDUCAUSE seeks to reverse the FCC order and asks that universities remain exempt under the 11-year-old law. The FCC is expected to reply today, Lang said. We hope the court rules in favor of EDUCAUSE. Otherwise, students everywhere we will be facing a $450 charge that is highly avoidable.