The Carnivore project :: essays research papers

The Carnivore Invasion "They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety be neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759The current use and regulations of the F.B.I. surveillance tool known as Carnivore need to be revised in such a way that it will no longer be able to copy the e-mails of un doubting Americans. Most Americans are not even aware of the existence of the Carnivore draw. The ignorance of the American people is understandable the government has gone to great lengths to ensure secrecy when it comes to the details of the Carnivore project. The purpose of this paper is to bring to light exactly how the Federal Burro of investigating (FBI) has invaded the privacy of a countless number of Americans. Once the severe flaws of the Carnivore system have been outlined, this paper will describe what laws need to be changed to make the Carnivore project even reasonable.      The FBI designed the Carnivore system to capture email communications of a criminal suspect. The information extracted from the suspects e-mails is then used as prove against the suspect. In this simple explanation the Carnivore system appears to be an effective tool against crime. Unfortunately most issues in this world cannot be explained in two sentences. The answer of implementing the Carnivore system begins with a court order for a full content-wiretap (Tyson 2). Once a court order has been issued the FBI is required to request that the suspects Internet Service supplier (ISP) is willing/able to copy all of the e-mails to and from the suspects address. The initial request made by the FBI to allow the ISP to copy the suspects e-mails is to ensure that the FBI has tried to wreak the best evidence rule (Graham 8). The best evidence rule simply states that the FBI has to obtain evidence in the best way possible. If the ISP is able to copy the suspects e-mails directly, it is considered better e vidence. If the ISP declines the FBIs request then the FBI is allowed to install the Carnivore system onto the suspects ISP (Graham 6). Why would an ISP decline assistance? ISPs are concerned close the privacy of their customers. For example, Earthlink testified before the Carnivore Committee saying that what the FBI was asking them to do .