It looks as though the new FCC rules on wiretaps are being primarily fought by Universities (Colleges Protest Call to Upgrade Online Systems). At issue is the fact that Internet hardware must be upgraded at great cost to allow for authorities to monitor the traffic of those who are under subpoena. While it looks like the Universities are not overly concerned with civil liberties violations (they contend the cost is unjustified, since the existing system of monitoring works adequately), but perhaps there is some element to be concerned about. The Times reports:
…the federal law would apply a high-tech approach, enabling law enforcement to monitor communications at campuses from remote locations at the turn of a switch. It would require universities to re-engineer their networks so that every Net access point would send all communications not directly onto the Internet, but first to a network operations center where the data packets could be stitched together into a single package for delivery to law enforcement, university officials said.
This has the potential to undermine one of, what I believe to be, the greatest characteristics of the Internet: end to end architecture. By placing a machine between the user and the Internet, the free and open nature of the net could be put at risk. Even with the barrier of a judge/subpoena in the way of the “switch,” there is little telling what is stopping the operations center from becoming a communist-style firewall. Even if this possibility is a gross exaggeration, I would argue that any move away from content-neutral packet routing is out of sync with the spirit of the network.