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.
