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International
XML joins anti-terror fight
29 January 2003

An international group of IT specialists has begun work on a 
framework to help track the activities of criminals and terrorists  

Efforts to track down criminals and terrorists with evidence 
collected online have gathered pace with the formation of an 
international technical group to address the issue. The Organization 
for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) has 
announced the formation of the Lawful Intercept XML (LIXML) committee 
to provide a global framework for the effort.  

Chair of the committee Tony Rutkowski said on 28 January 2003 
that the pressure has come partly from standards groups within 
the organisation, and partly from government mandates such as 
the US Homeland Security and Information Sharing Act of 2002.  

"What has been missing has been XML based connectors between the 
law enforcement agencies and the providers (i.e. internet service 
providers, telecommunications companies, cable operators)," he said. 
"The mechanisms have not existed and there have been no forums for 
doing it."

In effect, LIXML schemas will provide a mechanism for law enforcement 
agencies to monitor email or internet protocol telephony messages in 
order to track criminals and terrorists, similar to the tapping of 
telephone calls. They will be subject to legal requirements depending 
on the country in which they are used, such as seeking judicial approval.  

They will also make use of digital certificates to authenticate 
the parties involved and provide audit trails to support the 
legal validity of monitoring activity.  

Rutkowski said the committee will develop the specifications over the 
next 12-18 months, and that the framework could be in use within two 
years. The committee aims to develop it with the flexibility to provide 
national and regional models, which are likely to reflect XML schemas 
already in use.  

"Government agencies as well as providers of electronic communication 
services worldwide will benefit from uniform XML schema that facilitates 
fully electronic receipt, authentication, and implementation of lawful 
process," said Rutkowski.  

"It's clearly a technology that is long overdue in terms of expediting 
the requirements and moving out of a fairly primitive paper and fax 
based environment."

XML (extensible mark-up language) is a specification for creating 
information formats that has been chosen by several governments to 
provide for interoperability of different systems.  

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Source: Kable's Electronic Government International
Publication date: 29/01/2003

Cheers, Steve..

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