US spy agencies, NSA, monitoring in-flight internet communications

Companies that provide in-flight Internet connections on US domestic flights are handing over their data to the National Security Agency, a newly leaked letter has revealed.

Wired reported on Wednesday that a leaked letter it obtained shows Gogo, the leading provider of in-flight WiFi in the US, as well as other providers, are handing over more information to the NSA and other spy agencies than the law requires.

Gogo and others that provide WiFi aboard aircraft must follow the same wiretap provisions that require telecoms and terrestrial ISPs to assist US law enforcement and the NSA in tracking users when requested.

However, according to a letter Gogo submitted to the Federal Communications Commission in 2012, the company voluntarily exceeded the requirements of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA, by adding capabilities to its service at the request of law enforcement agencies.

In the letter, Gogo attorney Karis Hastings wrote that “in designing its existing network, Gogo worked closely with law enforcement to incorporate functionalities and protections that would serve public safety and national security interests.”

Although FCC rules “do not require licensees to implement capabilities to support law enforcement beyond those outlined in CALEA…,” Hastings noted, “Gogo worked with federal agencies to reach agreement regarding a set of additional capabilities to accommodate law enforcement interests. Gogo then implemented those functionalities into its system design.”

The revelation that Gogo voluntarily exceeded the requirements of CALEA has alarmed civil liberties and privacy groups, which say companies should not be making deals with the government that may facilitate the ability to monitor or track users.

“CALEA itself is a massive infringement on user’s rights,” says Peter Eckersley of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Having ISP’s [now] that say that CALEA isn’t enough, we’re going to be even more intrusive in what we collect on people is, honestly, scandalous.”

The US government has already come under pressure to limit the scope of the NSA’s massive intelligence gathering which were exposed last year by American whistleblower Edward Snowden.