FBI turns to broad new wiretap method
By Declan McCullagh
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: January 30, 2007, 4:00 AM PST
Last modified: January 30, 2007, 10:04 PM PST
The FBI appears to have adopted an invasive Internet surveillance technique that collects far more data on innocent Americans than previously has been disclosed.
Instead of recording only what a particular suspect is doing, agents conducting investigations appear to be assembling the activities of thousands of Internet users at a time into massive databases, according to current and former officials. That database can subsequently be queried for names, e-mail addresses or keywords.
The rest can be read here.
If they are serious about their reasons for adopting this method, they are about 5-10 years behind reality. Reality is that there are currently 2 types of criminals: ones that do small illegal activity, taking few precautions on getting caught, and doing minor crimes. The other type of criminal is a career criminal that is extremely up to date with technology and efficient about not getting caught. This method will probably stop the first type of criminal in his tracks, because the small-time criminal is not likely to go out of his way to avoid getting caught on something minor, when the FBI is not likely to target him in the first place. They won't catch the second type of criminal because he'll use compromised computers(likely overseas) remotely to do his crime, so there's no way the FBI can trace the IP all the way back to him. The trade-off is the capture of criminals causing minimal damage, and invading people's privacy in the process. Either the FBI can't figure this out, or they have a different agenda. A different agenda might be using their said reason as a front for political profiling purposes, to decide who is against them and therefore spy on citizens for their advancement of political power, by isolating and undermining those that are against their ideals. Either way, it's morally wrong to retain information on citizens without a court order issuing probable cause of wrongdoing. Contacting your representatives in Congress might be a good idea, to notify them of this situation and state that it's a bad trade-off, and one that the general public absolutely refuses. Until then, I suggest using e-mail/instant messaging services that use encryption techniques to avoid becoming a possible inadvertent target of their madness.
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: January 30, 2007, 4:00 AM PST
Last modified: January 30, 2007, 10:04 PM PST
The FBI appears to have adopted an invasive Internet surveillance technique that collects far more data on innocent Americans than previously has been disclosed.
Instead of recording only what a particular suspect is doing, agents conducting investigations appear to be assembling the activities of thousands of Internet users at a time into massive databases, according to current and former officials. That database can subsequently be queried for names, e-mail addresses or keywords.
The rest can be read here.
If they are serious about their reasons for adopting this method, they are about 5-10 years behind reality. Reality is that there are currently 2 types of criminals: ones that do small illegal activity, taking few precautions on getting caught, and doing minor crimes. The other type of criminal is a career criminal that is extremely up to date with technology and efficient about not getting caught. This method will probably stop the first type of criminal in his tracks, because the small-time criminal is not likely to go out of his way to avoid getting caught on something minor, when the FBI is not likely to target him in the first place. They won't catch the second type of criminal because he'll use compromised computers(likely overseas) remotely to do his crime, so there's no way the FBI can trace the IP all the way back to him. The trade-off is the capture of criminals causing minimal damage, and invading people's privacy in the process. Either the FBI can't figure this out, or they have a different agenda. A different agenda might be using their said reason as a front for political profiling purposes, to decide who is against them and therefore spy on citizens for their advancement of political power, by isolating and undermining those that are against their ideals. Either way, it's morally wrong to retain information on citizens without a court order issuing probable cause of wrongdoing. Contacting your representatives in Congress might be a good idea, to notify them of this situation and state that it's a bad trade-off, and one that the general public absolutely refuses. Until then, I suggest using e-mail/instant messaging services that use encryption techniques to avoid becoming a possible inadvertent target of their madness.
posted by Sean Eaton at 11:43 AM
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