|
April 23, 2001 |
 |
Carnivore's Legal Teeth
By Larry Kahaner
 |
series of laws give law-enforcement agencies the authority to use devices such as Carnivore:
1968--Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act gives the legal authority for wiretapping.
1986--Electronic Communications Privacy Act explains how wiretap laws apply to the Internet and computer networks.
1986--Computer Fraud and Abuse Act makes it illegal to hack into federal computers. It also makes it a felony to traffic in stolen passwords.
1994--Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act requires telecommunications carriers to modify their equipment, facilities, and services to ensure that they're able to comply with authorized electronic surveillance. Law enforcement's immediate interest was the ability to track cellular-phone users, but the law also applies to Internet service providers and their compliance with wiretap subpoenas.
1998--The so-called 'Roving Wiretap' provision is added at the 11th hour without debate or hearings to the routine Intelligence Authorization Act for 1999. It greatly expands the use of wiretaps by focusing on the medium and not the target. For example, the FBI can tap a pay phone used by many people if it's used by a specific suspect. This law also gives the FBI authority to tap into an ISP's E-mail server and look at all messages, even though it's interested in only one user. Privacy advocates attack this law as unconstitutional because it constitutes illegal search and seizure.
Illustration courtesy of Hungry Dog Studio
 E-mail To A Friend | Printer-Friendly |  Send Us Your Feedback |
|
|
This Week's Issue
Technology Whitepapers
- Mobile BI: Actionable Intelligence for the Agile Enterprise
- Creating the Enterprise-Class Tablet Environment - by Yankee Group
- How To Regain IT Control In An Increasingly Mobile World - by BlackBerry
- Red Alert: Why Tablet Security Matters - by BlackBerry
- New Visual and Wizard-Driven Paradigms for Exploring Data and Developing Analytic Workflows
