In a surprising move yesterday, House Majority Leader Dick Armey (Texas - Republican) sent a letter
to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft expressing his concern that Carnivore, the FBI's controversial
Internet surveillance system, may be violating the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens.
In the letter, Armey cites Mondays ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the use of thermal-imaging
devices. In that decision, drug enforcement officers are restricted from using such thermal-imaging
devices to peer into suspects' homes unless they first obtain a warrant.
The court's 5-4 ruling was based on the Constitutions Fourth Amendment which guarantees that:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable
searches and seizures, shall not be violated,....
As a result, Armey is questioning whether Carnivore "similarly undermines the minimum expectation
that individuals have that their personal communications will not be examined by law enforcement
devices unless a specific court warrant has been issued."
This questioning is not without warrant as Carnivore gives the FBI and other law enforcement
agencies unbridled access to the communications of all the Internet service provider's customers',
in addition to the criminal suspect's.
If no action is taken, since using Carnivore (now renamed DCS-1000) to monitor Internet
transmissions could be categorized as a search and require a warrant, Armey may try to cut the
U.S. Justice Department's budget and reduce its use.
Ashcroft and Armey are both widely regarded as strong advocates of privacy rights so lets hope
they make the right decisions since law enforcement agencies can easily abuse their powers with
Carnivore.
Currently, no warrant is required for the use of Carnivore and its monitoring and surveillance
capabilities.
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