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Government Intrustions |
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Introduction
I added this page with some reluctance. Government intrusions on the privacy of it's citizens
is not the primary focus of this web site, nor am I particularly well versed in the many aspects of this
issue. However...since 09/11/01 and the sharp escalation of government monitoring (and spying) of
US citizens, this topic has become a point of interest to a lot of people. I have received numerous
E-mails asking about this issue.
This portion of the "Keep Your Secrets" web site will provide basic information and background for this
topic. If you are particularly interested in this area of privacy, check the web. There are sites
out there with the information you seek. For example....
Personal Privacy vs. "The Government" For the purpose of this discussion, references to the "government" will apply to the Federal government unless specifically noted. For any of you who have not paid attention to headlines or listened to the evening news for the last 20-30 years...the US Government has been spying on it's citizens long before 9/11/01. From the well publicized FBI intrusions on the privacy of Civil Rights and anti-war activists during the 60's, to the revelations of Hoover's intensive decades long efforts to get and file information on just about everybody who's name ever showed up in print...all the way back to the post WWII "Cold War" domestic spying activities by every major US Intelligence agency... the US government has made a constant practice of spying on it's citizens. While the average John Doe seemed to content himself with the thought that only famous people and/or politically active people were the target of Government intrusions into their personal privacy...the reality is that almost anyone could become the target of Federal spying and/or personal privacy intrusions. In recent years, with the advent of the Internet and cellular telephones, the level and intensity of domestic "information gathering" by Federal agencies began to increase. The events of 9/11/01 did not start these activities...rather they only intensified them. Electronic Spying Revelations about US Government "Information Gathering" activities made headlines again during the late 90s when inside sources leaked stories that the US Government was actively monitoring the Internet and E-mail traffic as well as cellular and satellite telephone communications. These same stories made headlines in Europe when it became known that US Government agencies were also spying on our NATO allies. The most publicized programs of US Government electronic eavesdropping are.... - Carnivore...(also referred to as DCS-1000): Carnivore is an electronic eavesdropping technology used extensively by the FBI. No one outside of a small group at the FBI knows exactly how Carnivore works, but we do have some knowledge of what it does. Carnivore is able to locate, identify, and capture network communications that match a series of pre-defined criteria...which means that virtually any electronic communication could be monitored, recorded, and save for future investigation. We also know that EVERY Internet Service Provider (ISP) must have Carnivore installed on their servers...or provide access to Carnivore. The large ISP Earthlink took the FBI to court in an attempt to refuse Carnivore. Earthlink lost the lawsuit and installed Carnivore...as did every other ISP in the US. This means that EVERY electronic transaction you make, every E-mail you send, and every web site you visit could be intercepted and reviewed by the FBI if they so choose. The FBI claims that they must obtain an authorized warrant from a judge or directly from the US Attorney General...although it is now known that the FBI can proceed with this electronic eavesdropping as long as they get authorization from a "high ranking official" in the Department of Justice. The FBI maintains that the legal hurdles are high enough and the safeguards strong enough that no one need worry about abuse. Many other people (including a large number of US Congressmen) aren't so sure. Since 9/11/01 however, most meaningful discussion of limits on the use of Carnivore have all but disappeared. - Magic Lantern While Carnivore is generally assumed to passively sit on top of the Internet and monitor everything that goes on, the US Government surveillance technology generally referred to as "Magic Lantern" is assumed to be more active. This software (supposedly still under development at the FBI) can be remotely installed on anyone's computer using a worm or Trojan Horse. NOTE: Both worm & Trojan Horse are the same general technologies that hackers use, as well as those malicious folks who take joy in causing problems on the Internet.) Once installed, Magic Lantern can log everything keyed into the computer as well as all information received. This information sits hidden on the suspect's PC patiently waiting for a pre-defined time to send it's information back to the FBI. Since no one knows exactly how Magic Lantern (or Carnivore) work...we can only guess as to their capabilities. However, considering the secrecy involved, it is a safe bet that both technologies do indeed have very powerful capabilities. It is also safe to assume that the US Government either has a ongoing foolproof method of delivering and monitoring electronic traffic (not likely in today's rapidly changing environment)...or the US Government (FBI) has established non-public agreements with computer chip manufacturers to allow hardware "back doors" for the spy software....and/or made agreements with Anti-virus software vendor's to quietly ignore FBI introduced worms and/or Trojan Horses. According to recent news stories, the leading Anti-Virus vendor Symantec issued conflicting statements as to whether or not their software would detect and remove the FBI Magic Lantern. No other US vendor has (as of mid-summer 2002) issued statements confirming that they can/will detect Magic Lantern. - Echelon Echelon was the first of the new generation high tech electronic spy technologies. Built as a joint venture by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the USA as a means for monitoring international communications, This electronic monitoring includes cellular phones, satellite phones, the Internet, satellite uplinks/downlinks, and just about any other method of electronic communication you can imagine. discovered that the US had used Echlon to spy on our European allies. Like Carnivore, the details of Echelon are classified. It is known that Echelon has its own network of signal capturing equipment, including radio antennae and satellite dishes in addition to Internet monitoring). It is also known that these stations have their own messaging capabilities. Beyond that...few people know how this technology works or the complete extent of what it monitors. - Omnivore... (the predecessor to Carnivore) Omnivore and Carnivore are very similar...the only surmised difference being that Omnivore was designed for Sun/Solaris operating systems while Carnivore will run on Windows NT/2000 based systems - DragonWare Suite Most likely the DragonWare Suite is the collective group of technologies for Omnivore, Carnivore and their brethren. - Cyber Knight Most likely Cyber Knight is the collective group of technologies for Magic Lantern and it's various "helper routines". - Dragon Net This is most likely a technology to eavesdrop on Voice Over Internet Protocol VoIP traffic. With the advent of Internet based telephony, the US Government spys need a technology to keep up. : |
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Keep Your Secrets
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Copyright © 1999
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