I think the EFF is missing the important part of the wish list items.
The punch list is law. If you are talking about the applicability of CALEA, that's different.
The wish list items aren't for wiretaps, but defining as many things as possible as "non-content." Its important for network operators because they will end up doing a lot more work digging through packets for non-content information, and important for lawyers because it lessens the legal requirements for non-content information. What is the "expectation of privacy" of non-content information?
ObNANOG: Archicture, operation, cost. CALEA doesn't dictate architecture. Political issues aside, and attempting to stick with operations as this is NANOG, the major issue for carriers regardless of size is that this that compliance is an expense. The cost of an implementation for a medium sized carrier is upwards of 1MM. Maintenance runs at ~200K per year for a similiar installation not coupling in legal and operations costs. That is IF you even get an order. The brunt of the work is at the tier1's. This is like DDOS. LEC's have to do it, but they frequently misinterpret the requirements and scale and end up spending money they never had to. Misinterpretation is a big problem for CALEA, technically speaking. -M<