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Keystroke Logger Faces Federal Wiretap Charges

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the watching-the-watchmen dept.

securitas writes "In what prosecutors say is the first case of its kind, a former insurance claims manager was indicted on federal wiretapping charges for allegedly installing a keystroke logger on another employee's computer. The device was secretly installed 'on a PC used by a secretary to senior executives at Bristol West Insurance Group.' Reuters reports that the man, who had been fired, was gathering information for a class action lawsuit against his former employer. SecurityFocus interviews would-be keystroke logger user Larry Lee Ropp who reportedly installed the KEYKatcher device on the PC."

4 of 346 comments (clear)

  1. Wiretap law - 18 USC Section 2511 by sczimme · · Score: 4, Informative


    Read all about it here.

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    I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
  2. Re:Just slightly OT by REBloomfield · · Score: 4, Informative

    we're not trying to read what they're doing, it's frankly of no interest, we're more concerned with *what* they're doing. For example (again) They have no need to ever run a .com file, so if it comes up in the log, i can find out why, and deal with it. Typ1ng l1k3 7h15 will achieve bugger all if they actually want to use the system...

  3. Certainly contravenes EU law by heironymouscoward · · Score: 4, Informative

    The EU convention on cybercrime, which is law in most (all?) EU countries since 2000 prohibits the interception of private electronic communications. A key logger would certainly fall into this category.

    However, there have been very few convictions under these laws, only a couple of "hacking" cases in the UK afaiaa.

    It's not only about domestic/workplace espionage. Spyware vendors (a species that rates somewhere between slimemolds and spammers) use similar techniques to spy on and report back on people's use of their computer.

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    Ceci n'est pas une signature
  4. Does this contradict the Scarfo case? by Dr.+Blue · · Score: 5, Informative

    Seems like the feds are contradicting themselves (I guess that's not a huge surprise). In the Scarfo case, the FBI claimed they didn't need a wiretap approval to put a keystroke logger on Scarfo's computer because they were only monitoring internal communications between the keyboard and the computer. Thus it wasn't a wiretap.

    Now the government is prosecuting someone for doing the exact same thing. Has anyone else noticed this contradiction, or am I missing some important distinction?