[LINK] Deep Packet Inspection

[Crispin Harris]

First off IANAL & I have not spent time looking at the TIA (and the 2009
ammendments) with respect to it's affects on public carriers (and other
telecommunications suppliers).

I am aware, however, that the ammendments to the ast that were passed in
2009 have provided protection for interception as required for provision,
maintenance and continuance of the systems.

In particular, this was to support backup/recovery of Email servers,
implementation of Intrusion Detection Systems. It also had the effect of
making it legal to restore an Exchange Server where messages are unread
(nobody actually used this provision of the act, but the definition of "a
communication" was such that reading *any*message* in-transit, or
storage/recovery of any unread message was potentially a federal crime - 'an
unauthorised interception').

My understanding of the ammendments if to provide protections: where the
processing of the information is completely automated; and does not involve
the capture & storage (for replay) of content; is required for the efficient
functioning of the system; or facilitates the recovery of the system in the
event of failure.


Cheers,
  Crispin

On Sun, Jun 6, 2010 at 8:41 PM, <stephen at melbpc.org.au> wrote:

> > "The Telecommunications Interception Act prevents people accessing
> > electronic information other than for authorised purposes"
>
> Hmm .. although wireless is obviously a problem, as Richard points out
> it's not hard to avoid legal/privacy problems. To me, a bigger problem
> is the willful (and probably illegal?) usage of Deep Packet Inspection.
>
> World interest, and use, of DPI is now growing very quickly .. for eg:
>
> "dPacket.org is a nonprofit corporation founded for education and
> scientific purposes to foster and support community interest and progress
> in deep packet inspection (DPI). Our mission is to be the premier global
> resource for information and collaboration on DPI related topics.
> <https://www.dpacket.org>"
>
> And, DPI tools are now even available as open source ..
>
> "Deep packet inspection (DPI) hardware can identify an astonishing array
> of protocols passing across the Internet—up to and including protocols
> that are rare .. Europe's leading DPI vendor has open-sourced a version
> of its traffic detection engine. OpenDPI.org is the new home for ipoque's
> open source project; anyone interested can take a look at the code or
> contribute patches ... dPacket.org’s user-driven community welcomes
> individuals and organizations from many sectors including commerce,
> government, and education, and from diverse roles including executives,
> engineers, researchers, academia, consultants, analysts, policy-makers,
> media, and the general public." <http://www.opendpi.org>
>
> Here's just one cable carrier that admits to using it ..
>
> "Openet’s products work in conjunction with a deep packet inspection
> (DPI) box to help carriers track and enforce subscriber bandwidth usage
> policies – as well as charge for additional service and usage levels.."
> <http://connectedplanetonline.com/bss_oss/news/managing-bandwidth-0115>
>
> And, it's even now being used by mobile phone carriers ..
>
> "With controversy over deep packet inspection (DPI) deployments on wired
> broadband networks at an all-time high, mobile operators and their
> vendors are nonetheless moving forward to deploy DPI boxes to manage
> consumption of mobile broadband data services."
> <http://connectedplanetonline.com/service_delivery/news/dpi-mobile-
> networks-0209/<http://connectedplanetonline.com/service_delivery/news/dpi-mobile-%0Anetworks-0209/>
> >:
>
> For example, DPI is now being used for mobile phones by Vodaphone Hungary:
>
> "Vodafone Hungary said today it has deployed a new bandwidth management
> system for its mobile services that relies on sophisticated policy rules"
> <http://connectedplanetonline.com/service_delivery/news/vodafone-soft-
> caps-0121/index.html<http://connectedplanetonline.com/service_delivery/news/vodafone-soft-%0Acaps-0121/index.html>
> >
>
> Sure wireless privacy is important, but to me DPI privacy is essential.
>
> Cheers,
> Stephen
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
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>


-- 
Crispin Harris
crispin.harris at gmail.com
"A great deal of Security is unfortunately just like the underwear of
Brittany Spears.
If it's even there at all, it is needlessly complex and frilly; looks good
without actually covering much; and is far to easy to get around or remove
completely."
- David Boston

Marriage (n): a natural institution whereby a man and a woman give
themselves to each other for life in an exclusive sexual relationship that
is open to procreation.
-Definition compliements of Cardinal George Pell, Catholic Archdioces of
Syndey