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Wiretapping, The Year in Review
An AC was the first to send in this CNN article about FBI wiretapping, based on documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act Request. (I found the article funny because the documents were so heavily censored - the FBI gets to eavesdrop on the public, but not vice-versa.) According to CNN: wiretapping is up, up, up. But the Electronic Privacy Information Center notes that the U.S. court system has just released its annual wiretapping report, and according to EPIC, wiretapping is down. I think someone forgot to carry a 1 somewhere.
Results of a phone call to FBI.
Me: Is it true that the number of wire tap requests, and the number of granted wiretaps is increasing?
Agent Mulder: All your wiretaps are belong to us!
Nietche-God is dead.
God-Nietche is dead.
The problem with Democracy is the other guys get to vote too.
I'd rather be shafted by a captialist than a communist. The former is doing it for money, the latter for fun.
It's the FBI's right to eavesdrop on any and all communications with or without permission from a judge. They are just trying to stop possible drug law violators, hackers, pedophiles, pirates, pedophiles, etc.
The constitution doesn't apply because the FBI isn't obliged to obey any parts of the constitution. Niether is the rest of the government. The Bill of rights has been interpreted as a meaningless piece of trash... and it is. You do not have any legitimate reason to own guns, question the government, use hate speech, or have due process, etc. It was merely a suggestion and a bad one at that.
All of you so called "geeks" and "linux dorks" need very badly to be put into prison for the rest of your lives for being criminals. Your disrespect for intellectual property should cost you your "freedom."
On a related note, FBI Director Louis Freeh will be resigning in June. Freeh was the guy who wanted to require Cell Companies to provide the FBI with the location of mobile phone users without a court order or warrant. He was also against legislation that would have eased the restrictions on the export of crypto.
Sounds like a good thing to me.
Alex Bischoff
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Alex Bischoff
HTML/CSS coder for hire
That was when I started to think about how a few large corporations such as Disney and Gannet control almost all news media in the United States.
Anyhow, read my writeup of the experience, and judge for yourself. Are you being told the real news?
-E
Send mail here if you want to reach me.
You'd think a person who used the term "contextual analysis" would be able to understand a simple sentence.
The FBI has used Internet eavesdropping tools to track fugitives, drug dealers, extortionists, computer hackers and suspected foreign intelligence agents, documents show.
Looks to me that if they wiretapped and convicted a fugitive, drug dealer, extortionists and some computer hackers and wiretapped someone they suspected was a foreign agent (whether or not they were), that sentence would be the truth. Any bias would be on the part of the journalist inferring from FOIA documents. Maybe the bias is your own?
Linux is only free if your time has no value. Windows is only free if you threaten to use Linux.
Given the mandatory tap-and-trace infrastructure provisions of CALEA (the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act of 1994), plus the long history of cozy cooperation between Ma Bell and the feds, I think you can safely assume that there's no way to detect taps with simple voltage checkers. Such devices might tell you if another phone has been plugged in to your circuit, but taps are done at the central office; since the switches these days are overwhelmingly digital, the telco just commands the switch to duplicate traffic to/from port X of blade Y to another port (like a "management port" on a router). The cops just tune in on this monitoring port - they don't touch your physical circuit, and so avoid changing its electrical properties and tipping you off.
There's nothing secret about this - do a search for CALEA and you'll find hundreds of links.
-Isaac
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. For Entertainment Purposes Only.
...but like every other government organization the are for the good of the FBI NOW. The ones to watch out for are the quiet like NSA. The only time we here from them is at senate appropriations time. The FBI at least has to petition congress for money. the CIA/NSA has found ways to make it outside the US, so they can fund the ops that the US congress might interfere with.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
While ANY INDIVIDUAL AGENT may in fact be dedicated to the betterment of the US, they also follow orders blindly and who determines what is for OUR GOOD. The FBI of course, how could we be expected to know the things ourselves.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
you really think so ?? Never done anything ? I find that hard to believe, but maybe it is true. So you can be the LAST one they come and get. Everyone who has done somthing, don't ask, it might be contagious, will already be gone.
Pls put your head back in the sand and let the rest of us pass you by...
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
sad sad sad...
Do some research, violence is down, crime is down.
But the govt.s need to CONTROL has not gone away...
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Maybe some of the drug dealers, computer hackers, etc. were proven guilty of their crimes. Therefore they are not alleged. The foreign agents, on the other hand, perhaps were not.
Alternatively, the writer was tired when she wrote the piece. Yeesh. Slashdot is so paranoid.
The FBI 2002 budget request includes more than $13 million for Internet surveillance, $2.5 million more than this year. Most of the new money would go for research and development.
This so-called research and development, can it be really called that?
Etherpeek is a commercially available network monitoring program that is far less precise in filtering the information collected.
What's going on here? Are the FBI using their budgeted money for OTHER peoples products?
The article states that the FBI's Carnivore system has been officially used ( insert paranoia here ) a measly 13 times, with Etherpeek, 11 times.
If Etherpeek is being defined as far less precise, why arent they coming out with new fang-dangled software packages that are better, rather than purchase external software?.
I would have thought that the FBI would be a prime example for the need for in-house software, as their needs will be very specific to the tasks they perform.
--- perl -e 'printf("%s\n", pack "H*", "7369670a676f6c677940676f6c67792e6e65740a2f736967")'
Well, theres lots of stuff in Popular Mechanics/Sceince in the gadget section that 'say' will alert you if someone else is eavesdropping on your phone line. I also recall something about the voltage of your phone line going up if 'They' are listening in. Not too sure about it though.
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Insert Witty Sig Here
It's not like they're going to care if you send messages to your lover behind your wife/husband's back.
Unless your lover happens to be the wife of an FBI agent. Don't forget these are real human beings -- if they could tap any phone they like, certainly they'd have a personal interest in some people's lives.
---------------------------------------------
Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
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Yes, indeed, the monitoring capabilities are scary. But WHAT is worthy of monitoring is very scary, too: the scope keeps growing. Now that they can monitor lots of stuff, they do (Echelon), and if you eat your chicken funny, you may be suspect.
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Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
In the end, it will be the Global Mulitnationals (capitalists) working with the UN (world gov't, socialists) to enslave us all under a unified "Democratic Capitalist" system.
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Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
Quacking sound of consumerist droid:
"War is Peace
Slavery is Freedom
Ignorance is Strength
BTW, hasn't China _always_ been our most hated enemy? 'Scuse me, gotta go to the 5-minute hate. Today's should be a good one! Wonder who's next after that devil Richard M. Stallman yesterday."
Folks, it ain't too far off when we're surrounded by droids like this.
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Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
You're relaxing on the couch, watching the tv, when you hear your backdoor open. You see a man, dressed in a dark suit and wearing sunglasses walking towards your desk. Without hesitation he sits down and begins going through your papers.
"Excuse me," you say "Can I help you?".
"No thank you sir, just checking for anything illegal, be done in a few moments."
Since this happens about once a week you think nothing more of it and walk back to your couch and your sheep-like lifestyle.
AND YOU'RE OK WITH THIS SCENARIO?????
---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
Yeah, I know, people just cannot get it right. The word order is so twisted, so contrary to correct grammar that people can't help themselves. The language processing in the brain is so strong that it takes real effort to hold in mind all the simultaneous errors.
Walt
So how can I find out if I have been the lucky victim of a wiretap?
By the way, I'm the one who wrote the story. The ".ap" at the end of the folder means Associated Press, and I'm the AP's tech writer in Washington. (So nyah.)
I put in my FOIA request for the information months ago, around October. You do eventually get the info, but it isn't quick. (Although quicker (and free) for the press than it is the general public.)
-Legion
How the fuck is this propoganda informative. Dumbass moderators should read the other stories on that page. All kinds of conspiracy crap, sounds like a mix of right wing militia types and left-wing potheads
/nothing/ of content or quality to /any/ discussion on /this/ site. So, now I want to complain about all the idiots on Slashdot. The IMC is a 100% democratic and /non-moderated/ website, it is that way for a purpose, it is purposefully built on anarchic principles--if you're too ignorant to understand the rationale, then that is /your/ fault. So what if a few people submit over the top conspiratorial rubish, so what if some posts are too empassioned; at least it's not censored like everything else (and if your posts are any gauge, I'd say all you've ever read is the censored stuff). That's all the time I have to waste on you.
Man, you're ignorant. You comment that some of the stuff on the IMC site is too conspiratorial. You comment that there are too many fuck-ups saying stuff on the IMC site. I ask you: Who are you on this site? I would suggest that you're an ignorant fuck-up contributing
-=/\- Jizzbug -/\=-
-=/\- Jizzbug -/\=-
> In the FBI's defense, they are saddled with "justifying" everything within the law.
;-)
> The CIA and NSA, on the other hand, can break the law all day long and get away with it.
> Different structures, different sets of accountability.
Well, the FBI gets singled out because, of all the agencies you mention, the FBI is the only one that's a consistent threat to the American people themselves. The FBI and ATF together are, in my opinion, the most egregeous threat to civil liberties in this country. Waco and Ruby Ridge aren't even what I'm talking about, although they were absolutely horrendous. What I'm talking about is the fact that the FBI, even after J. Edgar Hoover's reign of terror, has spied on citizens without cause or warrant, kept dossiers on people based merely on political beliefs, and with the ATF seems to raid everyone who collects legal guns as per our 2nd Amendment rights if a "flag" goes up--i.e., don't own too many guns, or just a few guns and have non-mainstream political ideals.
Contrast this with the NSA and CIA. The latter doesn't even investigate Americans, and even if they did they're concerned with intelligence. The CIA doesn't care if you have a bunch of fanatical religious followers living with you in Texas, have unusual political beliefs and a survivalist mentality, own two hundred firearms, operate a terabyte RAID array of copyrighted mp3s, pirated DivXs, and hardcore child pornography, grow massive fields of marijuana and coca, evade your taxes, and do all sorts of other major and minor violations. In fact, they'd likely just discard any such information unless it could prove useful to them, since they are interested in things with important international ramifications or at least intelligence interest, not minor domestic affairs. They probably would just destroy info on you, or at least lock it up rather than passing it on, if you are a U.S. citizen caught up in their intel. And I say this as someone who used to have lengthy dinners with a former Deputy Director of the CIA each weekend, who was fond of talking policy if understandably not willing to talk about some things. The only threat the CIA ever posed to us was their experimentation with drugs and radiation on some unsuspecting citizens back in the 50s and 60s, which was horrible but confined to a small number of people and would be too risky to do these days.
And as for the NSA, they're charged with domestic intelligence and security issues and do not care about most things the FBI and ATF would be all over. They may consult on code cracking, but all in all they're not much of a threat compared to the FBI and ATF.
And then there's the IRS, but that's another matter entirely...
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws."--Tacitus, *The Annals*
The CNN article is reporting that the requests for internet wiretaps is up since 1997. The EPIC information is showing the actual number of taps for each year. It also indicates that the number of taps is increasing (except for state taps, which are down from 1998 to 1999, but up from 1997 to 1999).
I mean, as much as I love technology, it seems that we are moving into an era where technology is used to oppress the average person.
People say, "I don't have anything to hide," but forget that the Fourth Amendment has nothing to do with protecting wrongdoers. Its existence has everything to do with keeping in check the power of kings, tyrants and their dysfunctional police forces!
Anyone who has too much power will abuse it. History shows this to be true. People won't stand for being oppressed by technology. However, the British people living with constant surveillence really baffles me. What were they thinking? Isn't the murder rate in all of the UK about 5/year? And in NYC alone it's about 300/year? The British are a disappointment, but they either "rule the world" or they rule their own people I suppose. Where's the middle ground in the UK? There's obviously not much belief in liberty there. And that's pretty sad since Americans share so much in common.
So what? Is being a militia group illegal? Does everybody need to be monitored?
Was being a cult in Waco illegal? It's not something I would choose, but whatever they did, it was bad enough to be burned to death.
As long as the FBI doesn't break that law as part of enforcing the law, I have no problem with what they do. But history shows this group routinely breaks the law. At some point you either shit or get off the pot: enforce the law or leave people the hell alone.
In the FBI's defense, they are saddled with "justifying" everything within the law. The CIA and NSA, on the other hand, can break the law all day long and get away with it. Different structures, different sets of accountability.
Someday, consiousness will expanded, until then, do your best. Until then, know that the prison guards are often as sick as the inmates.
The NSA and CIA, on the other hand, do. If the NSA did domestic surveillance, and didn't want anyone to know, then they could.
The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple. After that, it's all learned.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
~~~
Sigmenation fault.
If you had the power to spy on anyone you wanted without them knowing, would you? Everything starts out with good intentions but eventually gets corrupted.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
It's true, they don't care about what porn sites you browse or how you cheated on your final. If your not going to blow up a major city or assasinate government officials then you have no need to hide anything.
Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl
It could be that the agents know what the rules are and are complying with the rules.
I am not arguing that their compliance is valid. They could be telling lies to comply.
Fight Spammers!
You are fooling yourself. Use your favorite search engine and look up the word "COINTELPRO" and then come back and tell us you have nothing to fear and the FBI "was for the good of the people"
WAKE THE FUCK UP!
Another day closer to redwood heaven
Yea, that's right, shit-head. Go stick your head in the sand. They are not after you. You have nothing to hide. It's all been made up by left-wing potheads. That right, open another beer, watch some more TV. It's all bread and circuses. When the day comes when you are standing in front of a gate trying to figure out what "Arbeit Macht Frei" means then you will know we were not kidding. And you are not allowed to have a surprised look on your face.
Another day closer to redwood heaven
The CIA wouldn't do something like this. They're too busy propping up banana republics and fighting South American druglords (competition sucks). ;)
This sig is xenon coated, and will glow red when in the presence of aliens
So, they're getting easier to get, or the Feds don't mind jumping through those hoops so much anymore.
I'm not sure which I find more disturbing.
This sig is xenon coated, and will glow red when in the presence of aliens
Get it right for crying out loud!
It's "SET UP US THE BOMB"
Amazing this tired overworn bit of unintended Japanese-to-English humor is misquoted almost everywhere!
"The group's leader pleaded guilty and was sentenced last year for planning to break into military facilities to steal explosives and blow up energy facilities in southeastern states."
That's what you get for tying to SET US UP THE BOMB !!!
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#nohup cat
Except your identity.
These reports just deal with federal wiretaps. Unfortunately, I know of no data gathered about wiretaps by state and local law enforcement agencies. According to this article, the Los Angeles Police Department conducted about 100,000 wiretaps thanks to some shady activity on the part of LAPD officers to make the wiretaps look legal. I would not be surprised if such practice was common among many state and local agencies.
That's incredible, yet totally believable based on Sims's historical idiocy on Slashdot. I think that deserves wider viewing.
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Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
I found the article funny because the documents were so heavily censored - the FBI gets to eavesdrop on the public, but not vice-versa.
No, michael, the FBI gets to eavesdrop on suspected criminals with the proper orders from a judge.
And yes, michael, you do NOT get to eavesdrop on the FBI. Or do you think anyone should be able to find out the list of people in the Witness Protection Program? Or the list of undercover FBI agents?
Sometimes I simply can't believe the things that Slashdot editors write.
--
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Well, CNN is often guilty of this sort of thing ... but I agree, I thought you needed to say that someone was an "alleged" perp until he was actually convicted.
sulli
RTFJ.
Land line phone wire taps are not administered by the FBI but by the local phone company. Yes, conceivably cell phone taps could be done without cooperation of the phone company, but only at great expense of CPU time to attempt to break the security on those phones. I'm not saying it can't be done, but the effort required is non-trivial, and thus if more than a few such wiretaps are desired, it becomes a tremendous burden to break each and every cryptographic key protecting the voice convos.
"I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend unto the death your right to say it." -- Voltaire
The sysadmin's motto:
You don't have to be paranoid to work here, but somebody will get you if you're not...
I should know. I administrate a Linux-based network, complete with high security features. Yes, out of habit, I always assume some one is listening to my phone conversations. Does it mean that someone is? No, but paranoia is a good habit to be in as a sysadmin/netadmin.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
I'm from Canada and I'm wondering, what is this "Freedom of Information Act" and why is it called that if the Information apparently isn't free?
--Volrath50
The big problem in Florida last year (and therefore everywhere this year) was that the dipshits don't make a habit of voting. The one time an election came around that they cared about, the state government didn't represent them. The Gov was W's brother and the Sec. O'State had been W's campaign manager. The people, who never bothered to vote in the past, got (deservedly) fucked.
Look into the people running for office. Vote for someone sensible, not just for an irresponsible tax cut. Hell, try voting for a responsible tax cut for a change. You only get the government you deserve. Why vote for one that intrudes on you?
I spent a year in Iraq looking for WMD and all I found was this lousy sig.
the FBI gets to eavesdrop on the public, but not vice-versa
And you thought you lived in the land of the free? You've been a slave all along and did not know it. But don't feel bad, 99% the world is in slavery, slavery from communism on the left and capitalism on the right.
Did anyone else find it odd that the FBI's arguments in support of Carnivore point to its effectiveness in prosecuting alleged criminals?
Given that critics oppose Carnivore for privacy / civil liberties reasons, arguing that its use leads to more arrests / convictions seems weird. I mean, throwing out the 4th amendment would lead to more arrests and convictions, I'm sure, but that doesn't mean that it's a good idea.
Seems like touting the effectiveness of Carnivore is just going to strengthen people's opposition to it. (Fine by me--it just seems like an dumb move on the part of the FBI.)
in their cybercrime division?
*Scene: Budgetary meeting on Capitol Hill*
FBI rep: So, as you can see, numbers of cases solved are up, percentages of convictions are up, crime is down, and fraud is down.
Senate committee: But here there is a 1% decrease in the number of wiretaps
FBI: Yes, but...
Senate committee: But in your annual report you committed to increases of....5%, wasn't it
FBI: But....
Senate committee: No buts, your productivity is clearly down in your cybercrime division. Your request for $2.5 million extra for your cybercrime division this year is denied until you meet your targets.
FBI: But...
Chairman : Shush
FBI: B...
Chairman : I've got a whole bag of "shush's" here all with your name on them. Now go.
*FBI representative exits the room muttering "I hate you"*
Rational thought is the only true freedom
I thought the FBI was for the good of the people, I can see why the CIA would do something like this, but why the FBI? I know, I know, expect nothing that is logicial out of the U.S. government.
You're the goatse.cx guy aren't you? Please don't post that stuff anymore.
--
"Fuck your mama."
Sorry. I thought that said "tear" not "hear". Please disregard the previous comment.
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"Fuck your mama."
The FBI has used Internet eavesdropping tools to track fugitives, drug dealers, extortionists, computer hackers and suspected foreign intelligence agents, documents show.(bold-faced emphasis mine)
Notice that of this list, only foreign intelligence agents are described as "suspected". Everyone else is given a "true" identifier, or at least one with no modifier indicating lack of certainity. This may seem like nit-picking, but contextual analysis of this nature certainly can give insight into the inherent biases of a given culture.
So what does this mean? I interpret it as CNN implicitly assuming the FBI is correct in their allegations against these sub-groups with the possible exception of foreign spies. Perhaps this indicates a bewilderment to the point of denial that anyone would freely choose to spy on the US. Scary as that last inference is, it is nothing compared to the former. In essence, CNN is promulgating the belief that if you are under suspicion, then you probably are guilty.
So much for the "liberal media" myth.
How can the amount of wire taps not go up?? Seriously. School shootings occuring almost regularly, somewhat recent bombings, etc, etc. It is for our own protection. Why not let the Feds do what they are put their to do and protect us. If they really were trying to screw us, don't ya think they woulda done it a long time ago?
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Andy Tomaka
I agree with you! Thank you for adding your opinion!
I doubt I've done anything that the FBI would care about. I've shoplifted at a local grocery store (and got caught). I've bought a magazine with nude pictures in it. *gasp* However, I don't do drugs, and I don't deal drugs. I'm not planning on blowing up any buildings, nor do I want to kill anyone.
I agree with the person that said, "I have nothing to hide." I can understand how people would want their privacy, but unless you have something to hide, why not let them read your emails? It's not like they're going to care if you send messages to your lover behind your wife/husband's back. All they're looking for are illegal things that people aren't doing.. aren't they?
Lets face it, we have no idea what is really going on. The could be listening to us in many different ways without us knowing it. Lets imagine for a moment that the wiretaps are X, and govco (Government) wants us to think that the actual wiretaps are x/n (n>1). They ask the court for x/n wiretaps and do teh rest anyway. Who's to know the difference? Even if/where there are monitors who monitors the monitors? The point of all this? Presume your being listened to.
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Darthtuttle
Thought Architect
Darthtuttle
Thought Architect