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Judge Upholds FBI Keyboard Sniffing
mshiltonj writes: "Wired is reporting that keyboard sniffing can be used to catch "mobsters." I feel safer already. You can read the ruling. Here's a snippet: "This case presents an interesting issue of first impression dealing with the ever-present tension between individual privacy and liberty rights and law enforcement's use of new and advanced technology to vigorously investigate criminal activity. It appears that no district court in the country has addressed a similar issue. Of course, the matter takes on added importance in light of recent events and potential national security implications." Translation: Don't deny us this tool or you'll be blamed for us not catching terrorists." See also an Infoworld article. We have several previous stories on the Scarfo case.
The real danger here lies in how wiretapping is shifting from being an activity you need to actively monitor via an external resource, and is becoming a self-contained object you drop into the suspect's house and fetch later. The latter you only need a court order. The former you need a full warrant.
Until a judge figures out that loggers and tappers are basically the same thing with two different methods of planting and unplanting, this ruling will stick, unfortunately. And once voice recorders are small enough to be plantable devices without any active collection needed (or video recorders, or combination video and audio and keystroke and data packet sniffer and so on) then little black boxes can sneak into anyone's home on thin suspicion.
The FBI still had to obtain a search warrant. That means they have to go before a judge and show that there is probable cause (i.e. enough information available to convince a reasonable person) to believe that such a search will yield evidence of a crime. The FBI can't just do this willy-nilly. They have to get a judge's approval first.
The US has the concept of the citizen/soldier. Basically, the average citizen is required, when called, to provide for the common defense.
While police are not the military, they are still providing for that common defense. Why should anything be reserved to a government agency, and kep away from the people at alarge? Isn't this a government of the people, by the people, for the people? A lifetime membership oin the public beauraucracy [sorry for my spelling] is a frightening thing.
I'm starting to think the ancient Athenians had it right.
Public service there was should be involuntary, random , and short.
I am a former Military officer, so no need to tell me about military secrets and stuff like that. Far more of our offensive ability comes from our advanced manufacturing power than scientific advances on the US has. I've served my time, and have now returned to the (server) farm.
Open Source Identity Management: FreeIPA.org
Come on. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. This is exactly how police surveillance should happen. A court order is still required. It is difficult to do on a large scale, at least when a physical key logger is used. It does not require people to use broken encryption. The problem starts when people are forbidden from verifying the integrity of their own computers.
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