Whatever Happened to Carnivore?

Source: The Hacktivist

Sobel said EPIC and other organizations are keeping pressure on the U.S. Department of Justice and FBI to disclose exactly what law enforcement officials are doing with Carnivore. Its name may have changed from Carnivore to DCS-1000, but the controversial cybersnooping software used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation is still on the hunt for information, and likely is scouring vast amounts of Internet communication.

In fact, Carnivore probably is chomping on more data than ever as a result of the September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States. Following those events, it was widely reported that the FBI installed its e-mail snooping program on several Internet service provider (ISP) networks around the nation.

But a recent court order may mean that more information will be revealed about how Carnivore works and what it is being used for, according to privacy advocates.

After all, while a majority of people may now be more willing to come under government scrutiny in the name of security, civil libertarians say their concerns that the snooping software threatens privacy have actually heightened since September 11th.