Daily Dose of 6G
Lawful interception for 6G: ASN.1 stays, AI traffic gets a flag
SA3-LI’s 6G study (TR 33.801-06) is early, but its strategy list already shows the direction: keep ASN.1, reorganise the schemas, add a guarded way into the service-based core, and mark AI-generated traffic.
In 60 seconds
- Proposed: keep ASN.1 as the LI encoding format rather than switch to JSON or XML.
- Proposed: an NR-LI intermediary function to connect LI to the 6G service-based architecture.
- Proposed: an AIID identifier to tell AI-generated traffic from user-generated traffic.
- Open: conclusions are still FFS. This study runs to December 2027, later than most 6G studies.
SASA3-LI · TR 33.801-06 v0.0.3
Format and schema: the plumbing debate
Most of the early strategies are about how intercepted data is encoded and versioned:
- Encoding (KT#1): Strategy 1 keeps ASN.1 for continuity with earlier generations. It accepts that ASN.1 is a higher barrier to entry than JSON or XML.
- Release cadence (KT#3): Strategy 2 allows one ASN.1 release per freeze date. Strategy 3 allows breaking changes within a release. These two are alternatives.
- Schema organisation (KT#6/7): five solutions, KT7-1 to KT7-5. The options are service-based modules, function-based modules, categorised common modules, or combinations of these.
- Data mapping (KT#2): extend existing LI structures for basic communication data (Strategy 7) and add generic encapsulation for non-LI technical details (Strategy 8).
SASA3-LI
The 6G-specific proposals
- SBA access (KT#9): Solution KT9-1 adds an NR-LI (Network Request-LI) function. It sits between the LI system and 6G network functions, so LI can interact with the service-based core securely.
- AI flows (KT#10): Strategy 9 defines an AIID to tell traffic an AI generates apart from traffic a user generates. It is the first LI proposal aimed at agent traffic.
- Lawful disclosure (KT#11): Strategy 10 reuses the 6G Data Framework, which SA2 is designing, to retrieve authorised information.
- Multiple ADMFs (KT#12): Strategy 11 is a hierarchical model with primary and secondary ADMFs, for large or shared networks.
The scope also lists RAN and edge aspects, post-quantum migration, legacy interworking and network sharing. No strategies are written against these yet.
SAFS_6G_LI
Who and when
Rapporteur for the report: Tyler Hawbaker. Work item lead: Jason Graham. Both are listed under the member code OTD_US. The WID is SP-260376. The study runs from December 2025 to December 2027, about six months after the SA architecture and security studies are due to finish. LI requirements depend on those architectures, so the later end date gives SA3-LI time to follow SA2’s outcome.
Still open
Clause 7 (Conclusions) is marked FFS. None of the strategies above is endorsed yet.
Watch next
- SA2#178 (November): the core architecture decision. NR-LI and the Data Framework reuse both depend on it.
- SA3-LI meetings: whether ASN.1 is confirmed, and which schema-modularity option wins.