“Carnivore, the FBI’s controversial email snooping program,
is part of covert surveillance triad known inside the bureau as the
“DragonWare Suite”, according to recently declassified
documents. The documents also outline how the DragonWare Suite
is more than simply an email snooping program: it’s capable of
reconstructing the Web surfing trail of someone under
investigation.”
“According to an analysis of the declassified documents by
SecurityFocus, a California-based computer security firm, the
DragonWare Suite can “reconstruct Web pages exactly as a
surveillance target saw them while surfing the Web”. Besides
Carnivore, the DragonWare Suite includes programs called
“Packeteer” and “Coolminer”, the documents reveal. These latter
programs are used to reconstruct the raw data scooped up in the
initial phase by Carnivore.”
“The FBI was forced to release documents relating to Carnivore
as the result of a lawsuit brought by the Electronic Privacy
Information Center (EPIC). The suit was filed to force the bureau
to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request the
Washington-based privacy watchdog organisation filed earlier this
year.”