FBI's Wiretapping Behemoth Revealed

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () VORTEX COM>
Date: August 29, 2007 8:50:13 PM EDT
To: USACM-INFO () LISTSERV ACM ORG
Subject: FBI's Wiretapping Behemoth Revealed
Reply-To: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () VORTEX COM>

                   FBI's Wiretapping Behemoth Revealed

               http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000278.html


Greetings.  Considerable details regarding the FBI's vast domestic
wiretapping infrastructure -- "DCSNet" -- have now been revealed in
released documents.  Please see:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=3535528
for some details and related links.

Now partially exposed is a real-time telecommunications spying
system that would have put Stalin's phone cops and the East German
Stasi to shame (or at the very least set them drooling with envy).
The DCSNet system appears to be as pervasive and potentially subject
to abuse as many observers had feared as a worst-case scenario.

I don't throw around the term "police state" lightly.  But given the
recent information regarding FBI abuse of National Security Letters,
other trust-eroding revelations relating to inappropriate use of
"anti-terrorism" powers, and the range of technological security and
other shortcomings that appear to exist in this embedded wiretapping
system, we appear to be living in something very much approximating
what could be a textbook definition of a "telecom police state" at
this time.  That is, when basic communications facilities become
purpose-built to enable government monitoring, the very concept of
telecommunications privacy for innocent citizens rapidly becomes
moot.

Of particular irony is the FBI's assertion that the spying system
has never been breached by outsiders -- as far as the FBI knows,
that is.  But of course, it's the real pro who penetrates such
systems without revealing their presence, and the only sure
protection from that class of attack is to not deeply compromise
telecommunications systems with such incredibly intrusive
surveillance capabilities in the first place.

In Theodore J. Flicker's brilliant, masterpiece 1967 film
"The President's Analyst," the following exchange takes place:

   American Spy: "Are you trying to tell me that every phone in the
                  country is tapped?"

   Russian Spy:  "That's what's in my head."

   American Spy: "Don, this is America, not Russia!"

I've noted this dialogue in my writings a number of times over the
years.  But even I never fully realized the extent to which Flicker
had actually created more of a prescient documentary, rather than
merely a dark satire.

"This is a recording."

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com


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