IP: old case of surveillance software, "stolen" by the govt

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

> X-Sender: jwarren () mail well com
> Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999 16:13:46 -0700
> To: Recipient List Suppressed:;;;;Recipient.List.Suppressed:;@well.com;;;;;;;;
> From: Jim Warren <jwarren () well com>
> Subject: old case of surveillance software, "stolen" by the govt
>
> Hi all --  [blind-cc'ed to several friends and two "appropriate" lists]
>
> I'm trying to track down pointers to some neferious old surveillance
> software -- from back in the '80s ... or possibly even in the '70s.  (My
> old-fashioned paper archives on it are in such a pilefile disarray as to be
> useless. <sigh>)
>
> Here's what I can remember:
>
> It was an expensive commercial software package, for mainframes.
>
> It apparently had a very limited market -- primarily (or exclusively?) law
> enforcement and prosecutors.
>
> It was "officially" designed as case-tracking software for use by trial
> lawyers and/or prosecutors -- but turned out to be
> just-absolutely-super-dandy-wunerful for tracking and maintaining massive,
> comprehensive records of all aspects of surveillance of citizens (but would
> only be used to monitor "bad" citizens, of course ;-).
>
> (Hell!  If I had the software and had used it to index my paper archives,
> then maybe I could have used it to track down my copies of the articles
> about it. :-)
>
> The producer of the very-expensive package sold a copy to the U.S. Dept of
> Justice (US DOJ) ... and later discovered that unpermitted/"stolen" copies
> of it had been given to at least the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
> and some of the Israeli defense or police or political-surveillance
> agencies (don't remember the details) -- allegedly provided by the US DOJ,
> allegedly to assist them in maintaining massive covert surveillance files
> on [selected?] citizens.
>
> All of this came to light -- and was reported in several articles in
> COMPUTERWORLD -- because the software producer sued US DOJ and the US
> Attorney General (US AG) for theft of their proprietary software ... of the
> copies that were illicitly channeled to the RCMP and Israeli forces.  My
> recollection is that the US DOJ and/or US AG was either found guilty, or
> that they finally were forced to settle out of court and pay handsomely,
> for the purloined programs.
>
> Now ... questions:
>
> Anyone remember the name of the software?  The producer/publisher?  The
> approximate dates or time-frame when all this happened?  Any pointers to
> information or articles about it stored/accessible in *modern* web/online
> form?
>
> Many thanks.
>
> --jim, Jim Warren
> Contributing Editor & technology public-policy columnist, MicroTimes Magazine
> Also GovAccess list-owner/editor; 345 Swett Rd, Woodside CA 94062
>  voice/650-851-7075; fax-for-the-quaint/650-851-2814; jwarren () well com
>
> [self-inflating puff: Hugh Hefner First-Amendment Award, Playboy Foundation;
> Electronic Frontier Foundation Pioneer Award (in its first year);
> James Madison Freedom-of-Information Award, Soc.of Prof.Journalists-Nor.Calif
> founded InfoWorld; the Computers, Freedom & Privacy Conferences; etc etc etc.]