Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know

A controversial US e-mail surveillance system, Carnivore, was the subject of an examination carried out by a US congressional panel yesterday. The hearing was held to establish whether by using the system the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) was in breach of constitutional privacy rights.

Privacy groups claim that the use of Carnivore violates the prohibition of unreasonable search and seizure by government officials set out in the fourth amendment of the US Constitution. They maintain its use should be restricted by court orders and that it should not be used as a general monitoring device.

The FBI defends it position by stating that it only operates the system in circumstances where legal authorisation has been granted. It also maintains that previous reports alleging that the program searches the subject line of e-mails and their text for keywords were inaccurate.

Carnivore critics, who point out that only the FBI knows the true extent and use of the program’s powers, have given the FBI’s claims scant recognition. Indeed, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a request to obtain details of Carnivore’s source code so that its true nature may be publicly known.

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