Unless there’s a successful appeal to the Supreme Court of today’s Court of Appeals decision, May 14, 2007 is the deadline by which your broadband and VOIP provider must provide law enforcement with a means to listen in on your conversations.
The Court of Appeals decision isn’t so appalling as is what the FCC’s done here, as a culmnation of its reclassification efforts. It’s essentially blown up the common carrier model in favor of a regulatory scheme by the only thing that is asked of a communications provider is that it ensures that the government has access to the consumer’s private information, on demand. In return, the providers are essentially freed of all obligations (e.g., open access, support for universal service, etc.).