IP: [1] EPIC Obtains First Set of FBI Carnivore Documents: EPIC Alert 7.18

[Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>]

> [1] EPIC Obtains First Set of FBI Carnivore Documents
> =======================================================================
>
> The Federal Bureau of Investigation released the first set of
> documents concerning its Carnivore Internet surveillance system on
> October 2.  The documents were released as a result of EPIC's Freedom
> of Information Act lawsuit against the FBI and Department of Justice
> (see EPIC Alert 7.15).  Of the 729 pages of material processed, nearly
> 200 were withheld in full and another 400 were released with
> deletions.  The documents reveal the surveillance system's origins,
> contain discussions of interception of voice over IP, and describe
> various testing procedures.
>
> The newly-released documents confirm that Carnivore grew out of an
> earlier FBI project called "Omnivore" and reveal for the first time
> that Omnivore itself replaced an older surveillance tool.  The name of
> that earlier project has been blacked out of the documents, and
> remains classified.  In September 1998, the FBI's Data Intercept
> Technology Unit in Quantico, Virginia launched a project to migrate
> Omnivore from Sun's Solaris operating system to a Windows NT platform.
> "This will facilitate the miniaturization of the system and support a
> wide range of personal computer (PC) equipment," according to the
> project's Statement of Need.  The project was called "Phiple Troenix"
> and the resulting system was named "Carnivore."
>
> Phiple Troenix's estimated price tag of $800,000 included training for
> personnel at the Bureau's National Infrastructure Protection Center
> (NIPC).  The Omnivore project was formally closed down in June 1999,
> at a final cost of $900,000.
>
> Carnivore version 1.2 was released in September 1999; as of May
> 2000, it was in version 1.3.4.  At that time it was subjected to an
> exhaustive series of carefully prescribed tests under variable
> conditions.  The results, according to an internal memo, were
> positive.  "Carnivore is remarkably tolerant of network aberration,
> such as speed change, data corruption and targeted smurf type
> attacks."
>
> An "Enhanced Carnivore" project began in November 1999 and is
> scheduled to conclude in January of next year, at a total cost of
> $650,000.  Some of the documents indicate that the Bureau plans to add
> more features to versions 2.0 and 3.0 of Carnivore, but the details
> have been mostly redacted.
>
> The next installment of Carnivore documents is scheduled to be
> released to EPIC in mid-November.
>
> EPIC has posted scanned images of selected documents at:
>
>      http://www.epic.org/privacy/carnivore/foia_documents.html