The FBI wants to read private email.

Following the passage of new wiretap rules for wireless phones and other digital networks, Washington policymakers are gearing up for a fight over the privacy of email and other personal computer files. Last week, the FBI won a small victory from federal regulators that will allow it to listen in on conversations and track the location of wireless phone users, as long as the agency first gets a court order. But law enforcement officials say this is only half the battle. The FBI is now looking for new powers to break through security software that renders email and other Internet communications incoherent when traveling along a digital network. Even if the agency has the power to tap digital communications, it still can_t read or understand the messages sent if they are protected by security software. Privacy advocates, software industry executives, and a growing cadre of tech-friendly legislators have strongly opposed the FBI_s efforts, saying that giving law enforcement easy access to protected email and other files could open the door to malicious hackers--or even official abuse. When Congress returns from its summer break later this month, it plans to take up the question of how to regulate security issues with encryption software, which allows a user to scramble computer files, email, or Internet voice conversations so they are indecipherable without a software "key." The leading bill in the debate, which would ease regulations over encryption software, is strongly opposed by the FBI. The new digital wiretap rules, passed by the Federal Communications Commission last week, stem from a 1994 law dubbed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act. They are largely geared to make sure the FBI can monitor and trace conversations on digital networks, such as wireless or cable telephone systems, just as they can on traditional telephone networks. FBI officials have long pressed for laws that would allow them to translate the content of encrypted messages produced in the United States through a technological "back door," or special code built into the software.