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FBI says it has stopped using Carnivore program to snoop into computers

The FBI has effectively abandoned its custom-built Internet surveillance technology, once known as Carnivore, designed to read e-mails and other online communications among suspected criminals, terrorists and spies, bureau oversight reports submitted to Congress said.

Instead, the FBI said it has switched to unspecified commercial software to eavesdrop on computer traffic during such investigations and has increasingly asked Internet providers to conduct wiretaps on targeted customers on the government's behalf, reimbursing companies for their costs.

Source: Canada East World Breaking News (online), January 19, 2005

Judge: FBI must cough up Carnivore info

A federal judge this week ordered the FBI to expand its search for records about Carnivore, also known as DCS1000, technology that is installed at Internet service providers to monitor e-mail from criminal suspects. The court denied a motion for summary judgment and ordered the FBI to produce within 60 days "a further search" of its records pertaining to Carnivore as well as a device called EtherPeek, which manages network traffic.

Source: ZDnet.com, March 27, 2002

Questions about the Enhanced Carnivore Project Plan

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FBI software cracks encryption wall

MAGIC LANTERN installs so-called “keylogging” software on a suspect’s machine that is capable of capturing keystrokes typed on a computer. By tracking exactly what a suspect types, critical encryption key information can be gathered, and then transmitted back to the FBI, according to the source, who requested anonymity.

The virus can be sent to the suspect via e-mail — perhaps sent for the FBI by a trusted friend or relative. The FBI can also use common vulnerabilities to break into a suspect’s computer and insert Magic Lantern, the source said.

Source: MSNBC, Nov. 20, 2001

Carnivore Details Emerge

A web spying capability, multi-million dollar price tag, and a secret Carnivore ancestor are some of the details to poke through heavy FBI editing.

The documents confirm that Carnivore grew from an earlier FBI project called Omnivore, but reveal for the first time that Omnivore itself replaced a still older tool. The name of that project was carefully blacked out of the documents, and remains classified "secret."

Source: securityfocus.com Oct 4, 2000

U.S. Justice Department releases criteria for 'Carnivore' review

The U.S. Department of Justice released guidelines Thursday for an independent review of the so-called "Carnivore" system to ensure that its Internet wire-tapping capabilities do not violate privacy rights.

The guidelines were posted to the Justice Department's Web site Thursday night and outline the required technical qualifications of the U.S. university that will be chosen to study Carnivore as well as the timeframe to present the findings.

Source: CNN, August 25, 2000

FBI plan to release 'Carnivore' documents, but schedule draws fire

The FBI will begin releasing 3,000 pages of documents describing its "Carnivore" e-mail surveillance system, the Justice Department said Wednesday, but the schedule for the disclosure immediately drew criticism from a civil liberties group.

The group says the schedule laid out by the government is too open-ended.

Source: CNN, August 17, 2000

Lawmakers to Reno: Scrap 'Carnivore'

A bipartisan group of lawmakers yesterday sent Attorney General Janet Reno a letter asking her to scrap the FBI's new Internet surveillance system known as "Carnivore," claiming it could be widely misused to gather information on Web users not under investigation by the bureau.

Source: WorldNetDaily, July 28, 2000

Most fear FBI abuse of 'Carnivore'

Though only about a third of Americans have even heard of the FBI's new computer surveillance system, most who have believe the agency will abuse it to spy on Americans who are not under investigation by federal law enforcement officials.

Subject: WorldNetDaily, August 2, 2000

The FBI's Carnivore is on the loose

A new FBI cyber-snooping device code-named "Carnivore" -- which can scan millions of e-mails a second and could already be scanning yours -- may be the biggest threat to Americans' digital privacy ever, the Libertarian Party warned today.

Source: Libertarian Party Press Release,  July 14, 2000

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