IP: Re: Independent Technical Review of the Carnivore System

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

> Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2000 11:47:42 -0500
> To: farber () cis upenn edu
> From: Barry Steinhardt <Barrys () aclu org>
> Subject: Re: IP: Independent Technical Review of the Carnivore System
>
> Dave,
>
> Below is the ACLU's initial statement on the "Independent" review of 
> Carnivore. I thought the list members might be interested in it.
>
> We will soon be carefully analyzing the details of the report and 
> submitting our comments.
>
> Barry Steinhardt
>
>
> --The American Civil Liberties Union today greeted with skepticism but 
> little surprise preliminary reports on a new FBI Internet surveillance 
> tool, saying that a biased review team guaranteed a pat on the head to the 
> system known as Carnivore.
> "What surprises me is not that the review team is telling reporters that 
> they gave a thumbs-up to Carnivore, but that they expect anyone outside of 
> the government to take this report seriously," said Barry Steinhardt, 
> Associate Director of the ACLU.
> The report, which will not be released to the public and the media until 5 
> p.m. today, is part of a review process grudgingly agreed to by the 
> Justice Department to examine the technical capabilities of the system.
> "This report is, at best, a fuzzy snapshot of Carnivore, and it will be 
> obsolete in two months when the FBI comes out with the next version of 
> Carnivore," Steinhardt said.
> Despite the review team's assurances in news stories today that Carnivore 
> does not "overcollect" evidence, documents obtained through a Freedom of 
> Information Act (FOIA) request by the ACLU clearly state that Carnivore 
> could "reliably capture and archive all unfiltered traffic to the internal 
> hard drive."
> Steinhardt noted that the review panel from the Illinois Institute of 
> Technology apparently was not allowed to look the bulk of the cases where 
> Carnivore was used because of "national security" concerns, and that the 
> team was not asked to look into the assertion by Internet Service 
> Providers that they are capable of providing court-ordered information to 
> the government without using Carnivore.
> The Carnivore system -- essentially a computer running specialized 
> software -- is attached to an Internet Service Provider's network and 
> searches through all of its customers' electronic messages (including 
> e-mail, web addresses and instant messages) looking for the messages of a 
> person suspected of a crime.
> Most of the nation's prestigious academic computer departments either 
> declined to review the system or withdrew their applications after 
> objecting to constraints the Justice Department placed on the review, 
> Steinhardt noted, adding that many of the experts selected to review 
> Carnivore have extensive ties to federal law enforcement agencies and the 
> White House.
> Dozens of politicians from across the political spectrum have called on 
> Attorney General Janet Reno to suspend the use of Carnivore until Congress 
> can determine its legality. The ACLU said it will ask the new Attorney 
> General to do so when she or he takes office early next year.
>
>
>
> At 12:02 AM 11/22/00 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
> > > The document is now up on the DOJ website -- 
> > > http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/publications/carniv_entry.htm is the direct 
> > > URL, or you can go to usdoj.gov and look under "hot topics" or "new on site".
> >
> >
> >
> > For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/
>
>
>
>
>
> Barry Steinhardt
> Barrys () aclu org
> Associate Director
> American Civil Liberties Union
> 125 Broad St. New York, NY 10004
> 212 549 2508 (v) 212 549 2656 (f)



For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/