FC: Put Carnivore on a proper diet, cryptogrpahers say

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,37728,00.html

Giving Carnivore a Proper Diet
by Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)

3:00 a.m. Jul. 22, 2000 PDT
WASHINGTON -- A pair of prominent cryptographers has some
advice for the FBI: Make the Carnivore surveillance system
open-source.

AT&T Research's Steve Bellovin and Matt Blaze write in a short
essay that revealing the innards of the spyware is the only way to
make sure Carnivore isn't snacking on more information than it
should.

Blaze is scheduled to testify on the subject before a House Judiciary
subcommittee at 1 p.m. Monday.

"Releasing the source code to Carnivore will increase confidence
that legal strictures can be obeyed and that intercepted evidence is
accurate and reliable, while not carrying with it any significant
risks," Bellovin and Blaze wrote.

The argument goes like this: Because Carnivore -- a Windows 2000
computer that is installed at an Internet service provider -- chews
up everything that comes across the network switch, it makes
sense to make sure its diet is limited to only the person being
investigated.

But even that may not be adequate. After all, if one version of
Carnivore source code is public, that doesn't necessarily mean the
FBI is using that version and not another.

Here's something else: A federal law restricts the possession of any
device or program that is "primarily useful for the purpose of the
surreptitious interception of wire, oral, or electronic
communications." There is, naturally, an exemption for police.

The Must-Link Rule: A city government website might have to
provide a link to an off-color muckraking newspaper, a federal
appeals court has ruled.

In a decision this week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said the
city of Cookeville, Tennessee may have gone too far. Geoffrey
Davidian, the irascible editor of the Putnam Pit, brought the lawsuit
against Cookeville.

"The requirement that Web sites eligible to be linked to the city's
site promote the city's tourism, industry, and economic welfare
gives broad discretion to city officials, raising the possibility of
discriminatory application of the policy based on viewpoint," the
court ruled.

The ruling is relatively subtle. If doesn't require that local
governments set up websites or that they must provide links to
non-official places.

Instead, it says that if a city is going to offer links, it can't play
favorites.

The appeals court sent the case back to the district court for
further proceedings.

The Putnam Pit has dubbed Cookeville the home of "totalitarian,
hypocritical, lying, drunk, discriminating-on-the-basis-of-viewpoint
role models of in-your-face out-of-control government."

Drug Bill Update: A drug-censorship bill in the House may have its
most controversial portions pulled.

[...]

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