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The Secret History of the FBI's Classified Spyware

Posted by timothy on from the but-we-just-want-to-peek dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A sophisticated FBI-produced spyware program has played a crucial behind-the-scenes role in federal investigations into extortion plots, terrorist threats and hacker attacks in cases stretching back at least seven years, according to newly declassified documents obtained by Wired.com. The so-called 'computer and internet protocol address verifier,' or CIPAV, is delivered through links to websites controlled by the FBI, and it silently reports back to a government server in Virginia. Among other cases, the FBI used it to track a Swedish hacker responsible for cracking thousands of computers at national labs and NASA's JPL in 2005."

1 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. The Comments Don't Match the Article. by Eevee · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Constitution is QUITE clear that a search of private property requires a warrant.

    From the fine article, emphasis added by me: "But the documents released Thursday under the Freedom of Information Act show the FBI has quietly obtained court authorization to deploy the CIPAV in a wide variety of cases, ranging from major hacker investigations, to someone posing as an FBI agent online."

    And from further down in the article: "The FBI obtained a warrant to use the CIPAV on February 10, 2005, and was apparently successful."