“An FBI surveillance system called Carnivore is alarming
privacy advocates and some members of Congress. Agents typically
install the specialized computer on the networks of Internet
providers, where it intercepts all communications and records sent
to or from the target of an investigation, the Wall Street
Journal reported on Tuesday.”
“An FBI spokesman told the paper that the agency typically has
about 20 Carnivore computers on hand to use when conducting
Internet monitoring in compliance with court orders. But some
critics say the practice of intercepting the network traffic of all
users, even for a brief period of time, could run afoul of federal
privacy laws and even the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition on
unreasonable searches and seizure.”
“It’s the electronic equivalent of listening to everybody’s
phone calls to see if it’s the phone call you should be monitoring.
You develop a tremendous amount of information,” Mark Rasch, a
former federal prosecutor, told the Journal.”