Carnivore information declassified

RaDragon

Diamond Member
May 23, 2000
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation has released 565 pages of information related to its internet surveillance system known as "Carnivore."

The documents were released to the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the privacy rights organization.

According to documents posted on EPIC's website, the Carnivore program began under the name "Omnivore" in February 1997, originally run on a Solaris X86 computer. That system was replaced two years later by Carnivore, which uses a Windows NT-based computer that attaches to an internet service provider's (ISP) network to sift through incoming and outgoing traffic.

Of the documents released, almost 200 pages were withheld in full and another 400 pages were redacted, many completely except for the page numbers. The source code for the Carnivore system was not turned over.

Marc Rotenburg, EPIC Executive Director, said in a press release "We intend to pursue the litigation until the relevant documents are disclosed. We do not dispute the need of law enforcement to protect public safety or pursue criminals in the online world. But the use of investigative methods that monitor internet traffic and capture the private communications of innocent users raise enormously important privacy issues that must be subject to public review and public approval."

The FBI has assured consumers and privacy groups that its email surveillance system only traps messages that are specified under a court order.

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read me
 

JellyBaby

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2000
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RaDragon, I'm certain the FBI is monitoring this thread right now and have isolated your IP address. Expect a knock on the door soon. ;)

I expect this technology will be abused just like any other. ISPs have no choice but to allow Carnivore to be installed on their servers if a court orders it. Trouble is, there's never a mention of when the damn spy software will be removed. "Until the job is done.". Umm, that's a bit vague don't you think? It's easy to conceive a time in the future when spy software is permantently install on all ISPs. That'll be the next step, I'm sure. :(
 

RaDragon

Diamond Member
May 23, 2000
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JellyBaby -- how do you know i'm not tapping each reply right now ;)

seriously, though, you reiterated a very good point: there's never a mention of when the damn spy software will be removed.

someone once told me that during the cold war all lines were tapped. And if a person mentioned a certain 'keyword' over the phone, your conversation will be recorded. imagine what happens when everyone's been carnivor-ized. :(
 

JellyBaby

Diamond Member
Apr 21, 2000
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Another thing: body else bothered to reply in this thread. People don't seem to consider privacy very important and that's a shame. Or this thread simply got hammered by all the political talk of late. :)
 

DanC

Diamond Member
Jun 2, 2000
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<< its email surveillance system only traps messages that are specified under a court order. >>


...and you BELIEVE THAT? - tsk-tsk...
 

thraashman

Lifer
Apr 10, 2000
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The guy across the hall from me somehow found and posteed the source code to Carnivore outside his door. However he specifically said he would not compile the code, because that would be illegal, and he found the code on a public site (which was down 4 days later, but no matter), so compiling it would be the only thing he could do that was illegal. i thought it was hilarious, I looked through the code, and it was too much to take in at once.

For reference, I just noticed he recently took down the code becuase he said it was a pain to keep up there, it's far too many pages and he couldn't make it stay up.
 

RaDragon

Diamond Member
May 23, 2000
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kewl -- that carnivore code is definitely a keeper. another keeper is the script from the movie hackers (blah, blah, blah and a 14.4 modem!) ;)