I caught this out yesterday (8.18.2000) in USAToday. Anyone like to share some thoughts (what was that Jill Scott said? Watching me....)?

FBI, Justice to keep pushing for more access to wiretaps

By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Justice Department officials said Thursday that they will keep pressing to expand the FBI's wiretap capabilities, despite a federal appeals court's rejection of recent government surveillance proposals as threats to personal privacy.

Without access to such communications features as telephone credit-card access codes, Assistant Attorney General Stephen Colgate says, federal investigators could be left in the dust by drug dealers and other criminals doing business with simple calling cards.

This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia wiped out new wiretap standards that had been established by the Federal Communications Commission. Those standards could have provided the FBI entry to a range of confidential information, including credit-card codes, under court orders that authorize the tracing of telephone communications. FBI and Justice officials vow to try again.

''We believe that we can demonstrate that these capabilities should be included in a revised FCC order, and that the concerns of the court can be addressed,'' Attorney General Janet Reno says.

Meanwhile, Reno and federal law enforcement officials are reviewing the court ruling to determine whether it might have any bearing on the continued operation of the FBI's e-mail surveillance program known as ''Carnivore.''

The program, which is under fire from privacy advocates, was designed to sort through e-mail traffic as it travels through Internet service providers, capturing communications received and sent from subjects of criminal investigations.

As in the case of the rejected wiretap standards, privacy advocates say the Carnivore program provides the FBI with potential access to a broad range of confidential information from people who are not targets of investigations.

The FBI has said that access to information obtained by the Carnivore program is strictly regulated by court orders that are required to authorize the program's use.

Although the appeals court decision did not address Carnivore, privacy advocates say its demand that law enforcement establish a more urgent need for sensitive information gives the privacy cause ''a big boost.''

''It rejects the FBI's 'trust us' approach,'' says James Dempsey, senior staff counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology. ''It casts a dark shadow of doubt over the legality of Carnivore.

''Government cannot receive a data stream just on a promise they won't do anything it's not supposed to do with it.''

If nothing else, Dempsey says, the court ruling could give Internet service providers a reason to challenge FBI requests for assistance in attaching Carnivore to their systems.

The government is establishing an independent panel to review the bureau's e-mail surveillance system. Assistant Attorney General Colgate says that review should be completed by Dec. 1.

Justice Department officials also say they are turning over information about the Carnivore system to the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a public interest research group.

The group demanded access to the data under the Freedom of Information Act.

This week, the Justice Department said it had located about 3,000 pages of information related to the request.


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