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Thu 22 Apr, 2004 01:51 pm
FBI wants to watch what you type
Quote:By Declan McCullagh
Special to ZDNet
April 19, 2004, 4:55 AM PT
COMMENTARY--The FBI is trying to convince the government to mandate that providers of broadband, Internet telephony, and instant-messaging services build in backdoors for easy wiretapping.
That would constitute a sweeping expansion of police surveillance powers. Instead of asking Congress to approve the request, the FBI (along with the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration) are pressing the Federal Communications Commission to move forward with minimal public input.
The three agencies argue that the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) permits the FCC to rewire the Internet to suit the eavesdropping establishment. "The importance and the urgency of this task cannot be overstated," their proposal says. "The ability of federal, state and local law enforcement to carry out critical electronic surveillance is being compromised today."
Sheesh! What rot...on one hand, I understand their reasoning re: national security, but it's a very very intrusive leap towards Orwell, I think.
Not really anything like new idea; anybody remember
Carnivore ?
Re: FBI wants to watch you type
husker wrote: Quote:By Declan McCullagh
Special to ZDNet
April 19, 2004, 4:55 AM PT
COMMENTARY--The FBI is trying to convince the government to mandate that providers of broadband, Internet telephony, and instant-messaging services build in backdoors for easy wiretapping.
That would constitute a sweeping expansion of police surveillance powers. Instead of asking Congress to approve the request, the FBI (along with the Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration) are pressing the Federal Communications Commission to move forward with minimal public input.
The comment that this is a "sweeping expansion" is a bit over-baord. Telephone companies have been required to build wire-tap ability into every switch they've built for the last 40 years or so.
The telco business is moving to an IP based infrastructure. What the FBI is interested in is maintaing the existing ability they already have.
That's an incremental shift but hardly "sweeping".
oh they still not watching us?
BS they are making that just to make it legal... they are watching us with backdoors...
Key-loggers are already prevalent in the private world.
If your password is
aabaa
for example, then type
aaaaa
then, go back three letters and delete 'a'
aaxaa
then type 'b' as
aabaa.
I do not know whether it actually works against private key-loggers or not.
Which is exactly why I don't discuss anything personal or private on an IM, email, or a phone that I don't own. I always assume someone is listening to me.
Not that I have anything to hide, of course.
Just to help the paranoia along, plenty of readilly available apps are capable of ferreting out and properly associating all usernames, passwords, asset tags, product keys, names, addresses, phone numbers, financial device numbers and PIN codes, and whatever else personal info stored on a machine, outputting the data as a simple notepad textfile. If you put it on your machine, somebody with suffiecient interest and knowhow can get it out.
lol Yeah. Ok.
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