Their joint petition, filed with the Federal Communications Commission, explains: "The ability of federal, state and local law enforcement to carry out critical electronic surveillance is being compromised today."
It seeks therefore to extend the scope of the existing 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) from telephone companies to include cable companies for the first time.
According to the filing, CALEA was enacted to "maintain the ability of law enforcement to conduct lawful electronic surveillance despite changing telecommunications technologies by further defining the telecommunications industry's existing obligation to provision lawful electronic surveillance capabilities and requiring industry to develop and deploy CALEA intercept solutions."
The FCC is the body authorised to make changes when technology advances – and changes are needed now, according to the petition, which could force companies to facilitate the interception of communications in instant messaging and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services within 15 months. New services that do not accommodate interceptions would be forbidden.
Critics say the proposal is damaging to privacy and threatens to slow down the development of the internet. They also point out that the proposal calls for the ISPs' costs to be passed to consumers.