[tshile]

CALEA was enacted in 1994, well before the recent issues with the NSA.

I don't like what the NSA is doing either, but companies like Sprint are obligated to provide these sorts of things to law enforcement for other reasons than just NSA spying. It's also for other legal investigation using warrants.

They shouldn't be abusing it by collecting more than they're due, regardless of how anyone feels about the NSA.

[stormbrew]

Insofar as you take as premise that the arrangement was good in the first place, it doesn't really follow that it's abusive for the telecoms to continue to bill for infrastructure costs associated with maintaining and building their ability to tap to meet government demands. It's not as if there has been 0 infrastructure buildout since 1994.

Just because it's illegal doesn't mean it's abusive. Rather, the 1994 law seems quite abusive.