IP: FBI "Carnivore" email interception system

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>From: David Lesher <wb8foz@nrk.com>
>Subject: FBI "Carnivore" email interception system
>To: farber@cis.upenn.edu (David Farber)
>Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 10:34:02 -0400 (EDT)
>Reply-To: wb8foz@nrk.com
>X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL1]
>
>
>IP Submission:
>
>
>   FBI's System to Covertly Search E-Mail
>   Raises Legal Issues, Privacy Concerns
>
>    By NEIL KING JR. and TED BRIDIS
>    Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
>
>    WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is using a 
> superfast system called Carnivore to
>    covertly search e-mails for messages from criminal suspects.
>
>    Essentially a personal computer stuffed with specialized software, 
> Carnivore represents a new twist in the
>    federal government's fight to sustain its snooping powers in the 
> Internet age. But in employing the system,
>    which can scan millions of e-mails a second, the FBI has upset privacy 
> advocates and some in the computer
>    industry. Experts say the system opens a thicket of unresolved legal 
> issues and privacy concerns.
>...........
>    The system also troubles some Internet service providers, who are 
> loath to see outside software plugged into
>    their systems. In many cases, the FBI keeps the secret Carnivore 
> computer system in a locked cage on the
>    provider's premises, with agents making daily visits to retrieve the 
> data captured from the provider's
>    network. But legal challenges to the use of Carnivore are few, and 
> judges' rulings remain sealed because of
>    the secretive nature of the investigations.
>
>
>Looks like Gilmore is right; we need to encrypt even routine email.
>
>
>Side questions: What happens when there is no space to install same?
>Or the data hotel wants outragous rents?