Posted on 10/16/2001 8:19:36 PM PDT by freedomnews
Chewing on Carnivore
New anti-terrorism laws may give FBI unprecedented power to use its controversial email surveillance system. So exactly how does it work?
By Jack Karp
October 16, 2001
Just hours after the towers of the World Trade Center collapsed in lower Manhattan, FBI agents were already visiting the offices of ISPs, network providers, and email vendors around the country in a search for those who perpetrated the attacks. Convinced that at least some of the hijackers may have used the Internet and email to arrange the hijackings, agents began combing these companies' networks looking for clues. The tool they used to conduct that investigation is the controversial email surveillance system, Carnivore.
Carnivore has been at the center of a controversy over civil liberties since its existence first became public last year. Recently, concerns over the system's potential to erode Americans' privacy have taken a backseat to our fear of another terrorist attack. Several media reports claim the FBI began installing Carnivore systems on some computer networks almost immediately following the September 11 attacks, and new anti-terrorism laws currently being debated in Congress will expand the FBI's authority to use the system in the future.
But the new laws won't alleviate the concerns or answer the questions many people still have about Carnivore. What exactly is Carnivore? How does it work? What does it do? How do current laws apply to its use? How will the new laws affect it? These are all important questions that should be asked. Here are some brief answers.
What is Carnivore?
Carnivore is software running on a specially configured Windows computer designed to capture email communications to and from a criminal suspect. The computer is installed on an ISP's server and sorts the suspect's email from the total flow of emails coming in.
How does Carnivore work?
According to the FBI, Carnivore is designed to work "much like commercial 'sniffers' and other network diagnostic tools used by ISPs every day, except that it provides the FBI with a unique ability to distinguish between communications which may be lawfully intercepted and those which may not."
Basically, all Internet traffic is broken down into bundles of information called "packets." Carnivore works as the equivalent of a telephone wiretap for the Internet, looking at each of these packets and recording the ones that relate to the matter or suspect under investigation. From the FBI's Carnivore overview.
What exactly can Carnivore do?
Carnivore can be configured to do one of several things, depending on the nature of the court order issued. It can record all of the email messages sent to and from a specific email account. It can record all of the network traffic to and from a specific IP address. It can record all of the email headers (i.e. TO and FROM addresses) sent to and from a specific email account. It can record all of the servers, webpages, or FTP files visited by a particular IP address. And it can track everyone who accesses a particular webpage or FTP file. From the Carnivore FAQ.
When can the FBI use Carnivore?
"Carnivore is only employed when the FBI has a court order (or lawful consent) authorizing a particular type of interception or acquisition regarding a particular criminal subject user, user address, or account number," according to Donald M. Kerr, assistant director of the FBI's Laboratory Division.
In order for the FBI to use Carnivore, a judge must issue a court order specifying the suspect under investigation, the exact email address or IP address to be tapped, the crime being investigated, and the exact equipment to be tapped. Court orders regarding email wiretaps usually come in two parts -- one authorizing the FBI to conduct the tap and one obligating the ISP to help. From the FBI.
What are the two types of information Carnivore is allowed to capture?
Most court orders will only allow the FBI to record what is called "trap and trace" and "pen register" information. Trap-and-trace information is similar to caller ID, where the phone numbers of all calls coming into a particular phone are recorded. Pen-register taps record all the phone numbers dialed out by a particular phone. Carnivore captures the same information for the Internet, allowing agents to record information about email addresses,
servers, and files without recording actual content. For instance, an agent could find out who a suspect is emailing and who is emailing a suspect, but that agent could not find out what those emails are about. This type of tap is usually used in background investigations and is less invasive than a content tap, thus the legal standards necessary to receive a court order for this type of tap are reduced.
Content wiretaps, on the other hand, are taps in which the FBI records the actual content of the emails and webpages written, received, and visited by a suspect. These taps are usually used to gather hard evidence for prosecutions. Content wiretaps can only be used when investigating certain felonies, including terrorism, drug trafficking, and kidnapping. Court orders for content wiretaps can only be issued by a federal district judge and can only be issued to FBI agents. From the Carnivore FAQ.
Does Carnivore conduct content searching of Internet communications?
According to the FBI, Carnivore does not search through the content of emails for specific words or phrases, like "terrorism." It only looks at email addresses within the TO and FROM fields in an email.
Further, Carnivore is described by the FBI as a "surgical" wiretap, designed to be installed on a specific network to collect the email and Web traffic of a specific subject. It is not designed to look through all Web traffic.
What laws govern the FBI's use of Carnivore?
The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 makes wiretapping legal. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 spells out how existing wiretap laws apply to the Internet. The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 makes breaking into federal computers and trafficking in stolen passwords felonies. And the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 requires telephone carriers, including ISPs, to help with investigations. From the Carnivore FAQ.
How will the new anti-terrorism laws affect the FBI's use of Carnivore?
No one knows the answer to the question for sure since much of Congress's anti-terrorism legislation is still being crafted. As of now, however, the biggest effect of new legislation on Carnivore is that it extends the government's ability to collect pen-register and trap-and-trace information to the Internet.VIDEO
I don't want to be a FR nazi, but I don't know if this is breaking news. The carnivore battle has been around for a while.
Personally, I think Carnivore is a good thing. Not because I am frightened of terrorist attack, but because there is nothing wrong with monitoring electronic packets of information for potential criminal content. If you are not a criminal, involved in criminal activity - then why would you care if your email is filtered?
I know, everyone wants their privacy, especially their email privacy...so they can do important things like send their jokes, cartoons, email virus alerts, and favorite web links to their friends. But we all have to give up a little privacy in order to allow law enforcement to do their work.
Bottom line for everyone. Don't say anything in the electronic world that you would not be willing to say face to face, or at a podium in front of an audience - in the real world.
"QuickSilver is PRIVACY software. It can give you complete privacy in your email and newsgroup postings. Why would this be of interest to you? For those who do not know the answer to this question, let me explain.
Do you have fears that partaking in newsgroup discussions could lead to your harrassment or stalking by some internet kook? We've all read accounts in the newspapers or heard on CNN of people who have had exactly that happen. Using QuickSilver you can post articles with absolutely no traces of their true origin. The resulting article appearing in the group cannot be traced to you. Your privacy is effectively bullet-proof. This is known as posting 'anonymously'. "
OBL already has Promis, thanks to the traitor Hansen that was allowed access to pretty much anything he wanted. What happens if they get hold of Carnivore too?
q: why do lusers open .exes from people they dont know? oh! vay, what a headache
randystone
hope this helps
randystone
Like I said, Don't say anything in the electronic world that you would not be willing to say face to face, or at a podium in front of an audience - in the real world.
q: why do lusers open .exes from people they dont know?
Usually because no one has given them a serious warning, not to.
randystone
I have not had to deal with this problem in the work place...I am still in school. However, I have a plan for when I get out of school.
Remember the soup Nazi on Seinfeld? I will be the system administrator Nazi.
I will have a meeting with all of the employees and tell them - that it is my job to keep the system functional for the business. If they mess with the functionality of the system by not following the rules of use - they will loose their Internet/email privileges.
I will give them a list of the rules for use...and demand compliance. I will tell them about the damage they could do to the system if they do not follow the rules.
At least that is my plan. Works at home with the kids and husband. ;-)
good luck books and life as you know are different.
remind to tell you how my wife house broke me sometime(HAHA.)
and there is the difference if you work for a small company with 250
or a large comany with 4,500 boxes.
randystone
p.s. will keep an eye out for these types of articles for you
thanks!
yah...
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