Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

DOJ Already Monitoring Cable Internet Traffic

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the no-you-wanted-information-retrieval dept.

According to this Wired News article, the Justice Department is already using its new powers under the USA Patriot Act to obtain subscribers' identities and other information from cable operators without judicial oversight under Section 211 of the new legislation. Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff also says that the act has allowed police to obtain IP addresses of cable subscribers and has enabled DOJ to obtain court orders for ISP logs outside a court's traditional jurisdiction. The Senate Judiciary Committee has convened hearings to review the impact of the Bush administration's actions on civil liberties, but A.G. Ashcroft is not scheduled to appear until December 6. One wonders what effect the upcoming cable failure will have on government surveilance of the potentially criminal citizenry.

2 of 354 comments (clear)

  1. Military tribunals by gargle · · Score: 5, Informative

    The most disturbing suspension of civil liberties is the power the Bush administration has given itself to try suspected terrorists in secret military tribunals - all non-US citizens, even long time residents of the United States, can be tried and sentenced in secret military courts.

    http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/vvny/20011126/lo/3010 8_1.html

    If you're non-US citizen residing in the United States, you should be extremely worried.

  2. Change your IP address often... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Most cable modem DHCP pools issue IP addresses based on the MAC address of the requesting device.

    How to Set the MAC Address For Dummies:

    [root@box]# ifdown eth0
    [root@box]# ifconfig eth0 hw ether 00:14:D9:AC:D3:12
    [root@box]# ifup eth0

    This should get you a new IP address on most cable modem services. Replace the MAC address (that string with 5 colons) with any similar string in the format

    00:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

    ..where each X is a value from 0-9 or A-F.

    Write a script and set it as a cronjob. If your IP is changing every 15 minutes they're going to have a hell of a time keeping tabs on you. If thousands of cable users' IPs are changing every 15 minutes they're going to have a hell of a time keeping tabs on anyone.