WASHINGTON-House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) last week asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to review the FBI’ s use of Internet wiretaps in light of a new Supreme Court ruling that law enforcement’s use of a thermal imaging device violated constitutionally protected privacy.
“It is reasonable … to ask whether the Internet surveillance system formerly known as `Carnivore’ similarly undermines the minimum expectation that individuals have that their personal electronic communications will not be examined by law enforcement devices unless a specific court warrant has been issued,” said Armey in a June 14 letter to Ashcroft.
Armey said former Attorney General Janet Reno’s review of Carnivore raised more questions than it answered.
“I believe the FBI is making a good-faith effort to fight crime in the most efficient way possible. But I also believe the Founders quite clearly decided to sacrifice that kind of efficiency for the sake of protecting citizens from the danger of an overly intrusive government,” said Armey.
Earlier in the week, law enforcement officials were on Capitol Hill to seek expanded authority to fight cybercrime. Privacy advocates are opposed to Carnivore and to broadening the FBI’s wiretap powers.
In prepared written testimony, James Savage, deputy special agent in charge of financial crimes for the U.S. Secret Service, said two major wireless telecommunications service providers in February were hit by hackers who manipulated systems to obtain free long distance, re-route numbers, add calling features, forward numbers, and installed software to ensure continued unauthorized access.
“The level of access obtained by the hackers was virtually unlimited, and had they chosen to do so, they could have shut down telephone service over a large geographic area, including 911 systems, as well as service to government installations and other critical infrastructure components,” said Savage.
