FBI, DEA warn IPv6 could shield criminals from police

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.
"We're looking at a problem that's about to occur," John Curran, president of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), a nonprofit group that allocates blocks of IPv4 and IPv6 addresses in North America and the Caribbean, told CNET. "It occurs as service providers start to roll out V6."
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.
Blame people, not machines
Law enforcement's difficulty with IPv6 traceability has little to do with the underlying technology -- and a lot to do with the foibles of human bookkeeping.