A Bush administration regulation that would force internet companies to make it easier for the government to wiretap broadband services and phone calls over the internet was criticised by an appeals court judge on Friday, who characterised the government’s argument as “gobbledygook”.

At the centre of a case brought before an appeals court in Washington is a 2005 ruling by the Federal Communications Commission that gives providers of internet phone and broadband services until May 2007 to ensure that their equipment can accommodate police wiretaps. The rule in effect extended to internet companies a 1994 law that had applied only to traditional telephone networks.