Our network is multiply interconnected and has multiple connections to different upstream providers. Packets can be routed in different ways, depending on conditions, to balance the load. A single user's traffic may appear to originate from many different IP addresses, and many users' traffic will appear to originate from a single address. What's more, because much of our network is wireless, we encrypt users' traffic. We would literally have to replace our entire infrastructure with less capable and less secure equipment to allow tapping at will by the FBI (which is what CALEA mandates). Innovation and security would effectifvely be outlawed. The instant, invisible tapping required by CALEA would require OUR equipment to do the tapping and OUR bandwidth to transmit the data back to the spooks, just as in the case of current taps of voice conversations. You may recall that the expense of this for phone comanies was so great that reimbursement was ordered. Well, due to the decentralized nature of our network, the difficulty is greater and the cost per user is even larger. Yet the FCC has mandated that ISPs NOT be reimbursed. This is an unprecedented regulatory taking that could shut us and others down. CALEA mandates such things as "roving" taps, which in the case of a series of Wi-Fi hotspots or a metro network means that the tapping equipment could not be placed in just one location. Oh, and by the way, it appears that anyone who operates a hotspot is an ISP for the purposes of the FCC's CALEA order. The silliest part of all of this is that any terrorist worth his salt will use encryption and/or steganography. And all decent VoIP systems encrypt as well, making it useless to tap the conversation in the middle (i.e. within our network). The CALEA dragnet will only sweep up the conversations of terrorists too stupid to be successful anyway, as well as those of people who are innocent or just happen to be political opponents of The Powers That Be. Which is one of the real dangers in this. Remember the dossiers compiled by J. Edgar Hoover? They're nothing compared to what the FBI could get with these unlimited wiretaps. And broadband competition will likewise be caught in the crossfire. US citizens must know what's coming and have the political will to stop it.