Dan Gillmor states that the emperor has no clothes, in the recent FCC support for federal wiretap rules on all Internet VoIP:

Dan Gillmor

[from FCC Says Software Must be Open to FBI]

This is a stunningly bad decision, and it is going to take us down a road we've already traveled.

It ignores reality. Consider Skype, which encrypts calls from end to end. It runs on peer-to-peer networks. In other words, law enforcement can't eavesdrop -- because VOIP is, for all practical purposes, a software application.

Unless we have new laws banning the private use of strong encryption, the FCC/FBI alliance here just means the bad guys will move their communications -- if they haven't already -- to services that can't be tapped. Then, only average folks will be monitored.

My guess is that we're going to have to fight the encryption battle all over again. The government really doesn't believe in free (as in freedom) communications. This will get ugly.

Yet another case of stupidity in high places.

The inevitable attempt to take control of communication channels by those who believe that the need for collective security outweighs our need for personal liberty.

[Update: Stuart Henshall has a long post on this insanity at Unbound Spiral]