U.S. and Canadian law enforcement
agencies are warning that a historic switch to the next-generation
Internet protocol called IPv6 may imperil investigations by making it
more difficult to trace who's using which electronic address.
FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials have told industry representatives that IPv6 traceability is necessary to identify people suspected of crimes. The FBI has even suggested that a new law may be necessary if the private sector doesn't do enough voluntarily.
Investigations stemming from kidnappings, the September 11 terrorist attacks, and the Mytob worm have involved tracing previous-generation IPv4 addresses back to an Internet provider's customer, the FBI says. The bureau says it needs the same level of traceability for IPv6, which got a boost in popularity last week thanks to World IPv6 Day.
FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials have told industry representatives that IPv6 traceability is necessary to identify people suspected of crimes. The FBI has even suggested that a new law may be necessary if the private sector doesn't do enough voluntarily.
Investigations stemming from kidnappings, the September 11 terrorist attacks, and the Mytob worm have involved tracing previous-generation IPv4 addresses back to an Internet provider's customer, the FBI says. The bureau says it needs the same level of traceability for IPv6, which got a boost in popularity last week thanks to World IPv6 Day.
This
IPv6-related effort comes as the FBI is redoubling its efforts to combat
what it calls the "Going Dark" problem, meaning that its surveillance
capabilities may diminish as technology advances. CNET was the first to
report last month that the bureau had formed a Domestic Communications
Assistance Center to keep abreast of technological changes that may
otherwise imperil government surveillance.
ARIN and the other regional registries maintain public Whois databases for IP addresses, meaning that if you type in 64.30.224.118, you can see that it's registered to CNET's publisher. ARIN tries to ensure that Internet providers keep their segments of the Whois database updated, and because it's been handing out IPv4 addresses blocks every few months, it currently enjoys enough leverage to insist on it.
But for IPv6, ARIN will be handing out much larger Internet address blocks only every 10 to 15 years, meaning it loses much of its ability to convince Internet providers to keep their Whois entries up-to-date. That means it may take law enforcement agencies -- presumably armed with court orders -- longer to trace an IPv6 address such as 2001:4860:4860::8888 back to an Internet service provider's customer.
ARIN and the other regional registries maintain public Whois databases for IP addresses, meaning that if you type in 64.30.224.118, you can see that it's registered to CNET's publisher. ARIN tries to ensure that Internet providers keep their segments of the Whois database updated, and because it's been handing out IPv4 addresses blocks every few months, it currently enjoys enough leverage to insist on it.
But for IPv6, ARIN will be handing out much larger Internet address blocks only every 10 to 15 years, meaning it loses much of its ability to convince Internet providers to keep their Whois entries up-to-date. That means it may take law enforcement agencies -- presumably armed with court orders -- longer to trace an IPv6 address such as 2001:4860:4860::8888 back to an Internet service provider's customer.
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