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FBI's Unknown Eavesdropping Network
An anonymous reader writes "Building off the design mandates of CALEA, the FBI has constructed a 'point-and-click surveillance system' that creates instant wiretaps on almost any communications device. A thousand pages of restricted documents released under the Freedom of Information Act were required to determine the veracity of this clandestine project, Wired News reports. Called the Digital Collection System Network, it connects FBI wiretapping rooms to switches controlled by traditional land-line operators, internet-telephony providers and cellular companies. It is intricately woven into the nation's telecom infrastructure. From the article: 'FBI wiretapping rooms in field offices and undercover locations around the country are connected through a private, encrypted backbone that is separated from the internet. Sprint runs it on the government's behalf. The network allows an FBI agent in New York, for example, to remotely set up a wiretap on a cell phone based in Sacramento, California, and immediately learn the phone's location, then begin receiving conversations, text messages and voicemail pass codes in New York. With a few keystrokes, the agent can route the recordings to language specialists for translation.'"
Just move your mouse. We will click it for you. No need to register. We know who you are. http://www.militarylawsuit.com/
Hey mods: how, exactly, is this comment "insightful?" All it does is parrot standard /. groupthink ("Everything the government ever does sucks and doesn't work") without taking into consideration the fact that one of the highest-paying users of contract labor just might be able to afford top-notch engineers when they really care about results.
Everything the Government does does suck and fail to work. And the FBI has a history of sucking out at tech projects; Google around for the Virtual Case File system. $170 million essentially piled high and lit aflame.Thomas Galvin
That's because we needed to go back before the conservative movement decided to make government fail by underfunding it.
Inventions have long since reached their limit, and I see no hope for further development.-- Frontinus, 1st cent. AD