NCJ Number
185822
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 27 Issue: 11 Dated: November 2000 Pages: 66-70
Date Published
November 2000
Length
4 pages
Annotation
A technical review by a nonprofit research and development group will determine whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) new e-mail surveillance software titled Carnivore provides effective Internet and data interception capabilities to only the information to which the FBI is entitled by a court order.
Abstract
The Illinois Institute of Technology Research Institute’s review of the controversial e-mail surveillance system will also examine whether Carnivore introduces security and privacy risks to an Internet Service Provider’s (ISP) network. Carnivore aims to let FBI investigators gather the e-mail messages of criminal suspects as they pass through the gates of an ISP. The system uses a desktop or laptop computer and sniffs network traffic to read and record only data that a court order has authorized law enforcement to intercept. Carnivore is a software diagnostic tool used with an authorized wiretap. Other digital investigative systems are also under development.