Wireless on Campus: Technical, Legal and Practical Advice for IT Managers Net 2002 Seminar June 4, 2

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Wireless on Campus Technical, Legal and
Practical Advice for IT Managers Net 2002
Seminar -- June 4, 2002Fredericton, New
BrunswickDavid A. TownsendProfessor of
LawUniversity of New Brunswick
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Overview

• Identify the 3 most pressing legal/technical
  issues associated with the implementation of a
  wireless strategy on Campus
• Electromagnetic Interference
• Human Exposure to RF Radiation
• Wrongful Interception of Campus Data
• Offer technical, legal and practical advice to
  Campus IT Managers

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Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)

• Technical/Regulatory Issues

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Intro Interference Management

• Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) is managed by
• Industry Canada (Radiocommunication Act)
• Other departments e.g. Health Canada
• Parties in control of discrete EM Environment
  (EME) e.g. ship, plane, hospital

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Industry Canada Licensed Apparatus

• Industry Canada Radiocom. Act
• Jurisdiction limited to radio spectrum
• Radio apparatus gt licensed unlicensed
• Licensed tend to be most powerful emitters
• Control - frequency, power, location time
• Legal hierarchy of uses and users of RF spectrum
• Maximize users w/o unaccept. interference
• 100 year history of spectrum regulation

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1927 Chev. Trouble Car
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Industry Canada Unlicensed Apparatus

• Unlicensed radio apparatus tend to operate at
  very low power
• Control frequency, power and signal processing
• Power - low to avoid interference w/ licensed
  app.
• Signal processing - (dynamic - spectrum hopping,
  spreading and power) to avoid interference to
  licensed and unlicensed apparatus
• Frequency - is often ISM spectrum (Industrial,
  Scientific Medical RF emission bands)

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Regulatory Trends

• Industry Canada (Re Spectrum)
• Moving from transactional to policy role
• Off-loading interference investigations
• De-licensing certain apparatus gt e.g. cellular
• Authorizing more unlicensed apparatus with higher
  power levels
• Increasing use of ISM spectrum
• Implications for Spectrum Users
• Users will manage spectrum within own
  geographical limits -gte.g. a campus
• Private interference agreements will become common

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Advice for IT Managers re Interference

• Know your EM Environment
• Be involved in the siting of fixed antennae
• Institute a Wireless Clearance process
• Standardize hardware software
• Ensure wireless apparatus is Approved
• Enter non-interference pacts with neighbours

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Interference Advice 2

• Be careful when signing non-interference
  agreements with neighbours/municipality
• Add Interference-Resolution Holdback provision
  to contracts with wireless suppliers
• Add (non) interference restrictive covenants when
  campus land is sold
• Consider EM Adjacency factors when engaging in
  new campus construction

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Interference Advice 3

• Serve notice on neighbours of technical
  parameters of your wireless installations
• Educate campus users re expectations for
  interference free operation
• Learn interference-resolution techniques
• Industry Canada publications on topic
• http//strategis.ic.gc.ca/SSG/sf01701e.html

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Human Exposure to RF Radiation

• Potential for health effects and legal liability

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Intro RF Exposure

• Increasing public concerns about possible health
  effects from RF exposure
• RF Emissions from base stations, hand-held
  communicators, W-LAN access points, wireless
  modems vehicle mounted antennas
• Campus concerns for health risks, legal liability
  and human acceptance of new technology

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Who is Regulating RF Exposure in Canada?

• Federal Health Welfare has been issuing RF
  Exposure limits since 1979
• For over 20 years the document has been called
  Safety Code 6
• SC 6 limits - updated in 1991 and 1999
• Over time, limits extended to a broader range of
  frequencies and limits made more stringent
• Canadas limits compatible within North America,
  similar to Europe

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Safety Code 6- today

• Code covers full range of RF Spectrum 3kHz to
  300GHz
• Different limits for RF Workers and General
  Public
• Generally, limits set at 1/10th (workers) and
  1/50th (public) of levels which produce noted
  adverse health effects
• Separate limits for the electric field and the
  magnetic field

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Legal Status of SC 6

• SC 6 has no independent legal status (guidance
  only)
• SC 6 is given the force of law through
  incorporation-by-reference into other laws e.g.
  occupational safety laws
• Industry Canada has incorporated SC 6 into
  radiocommunication laws such that it applies to
  broadcasting facilities and to certain mobile
  phones

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RF Health Effects

• No positive link has been established between RF
  and health-related injury -- if exposures are
  within SC 6 limits
• But, SC 6 based upon pre 1990s research (limited
  to thermal effects)
• Findings re new round of international research
  is about to be released

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Potential for Liability

• Principal compliance obligation for SC 6 would be
  upon the parties manufacturing, supplying or
  installing wireless equipment
• Provided that wireless is installed and used in a
  compliant manner the legal risks for Canadian
  universities are very low at present

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Advice Re RF Safety

• Anticipate that SC 6 will become more stringent
  within 2-4 years
• Much will depend upon public reaction to new RF
  exposure studies in 2002-03
• Obtain SAR measurements from suppliers and keep
  on file
• Real problem might be opposition from students
  and staff
• Need a risk communication strategy

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Wrongful Interception of Campus Data

• Wireless security and liability

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Wrongful Interception of Student Information

• Legal consequences due to wrongful interception
  of wireless communications
• Breach of duty to ensure student information is
  not divulged
• Legal duty arising from
• (1) contract law
• (2) obligation of confidentiality and from
• (3) legislation (Privacy statutes)

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Security Obligations

• Most offences relate to improper disclosure,
  but disclosure can be direct or indirect
  (negligence)
• In regulations, obligations relate to how private
  information is collected, maintained and used
• Obligation is to take precautions commensurate
  with risk

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Technology Interception

• Wireless has not had a good track record with the
  prevention of intelligible interception (low
  priority until recently)
• Analog cellular is readily intercepted
• Digital cellular (G2) has offered a modest level
  of security (specific interception equipment
  needed)
• Enhanced digital cellular (G2.5) is encrypted,
  but it can be defeated
• W-LAN standard IEEE 802.11b, has not been fully
  secure

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Intercept Laws

• Radiocommunication Act and Criminal Code amended
  in 1993
• Protections for radio-based telephone
  communications were added to both statutes
• No person shall make use of or divulge such a
  communication
• Radio apparatus must be used primarily for
  connection to a public switched telephone network

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Criminal Code Prohibitions

• Definition includes any radio-based
  telecommunication which is treated
  electronically or otherwise for the purpose of
  preventing intelligible reception
• Latest cellular (G2.5) and W-LAN signals are
  deliberately encrypted in order to prevent
  interception
• Section 194. (1) permits damages for wrongful
  disclosure
• Section 191. (1) contains a general prohibition
  against devices intended for surreptitious
  interception

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Advice reInterception/Security

• Campus obligation -- to use security safeguards
  that are commensurate with the level of
  sensitivity of the information
• IT Managers must actively monitor all wireless
  systems which interconnect with network
• Remote OS locking system is necessary
• Security of wireless is a bigger challenge than
  for wireline systems

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Concluding Comments

• IT Managers will become Mini-Spectrum Managers
  (to manage spectrum)
• Opposition to wireless due to perceived Health
  Effects is the sleeper issue
• Wireless security is a huge challenge and it is
  inhibiting the roll out of new wireless systems
  and applications