[x-pubpol] FBI forms a new internet-surveillance unit

[Joly MacFie]

[By Declan McCullagh]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/big-brother-watching-fbi-forms-internet-surveillance-unit-173958595.html


The FBI has recently formed a secretive surveillance unit with an ambitious
goal: to invent technology that will let police more readily eavesdrop on
Internet and wireless communications.

The establishment of the Quantico, Va.-based unit, which is also staffed by
agents from the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency, is a
response to technological developments that FBI officials believe outpace
law enforcement's ability to listen in on private
communications<http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20032518-281.html>
.

While the FBI has been tight-lipped about the creation of its Domestic
Communications Assistance Center, or DCAC -- it declined to respond to
requests made two days ago about who's running it, for instance -- CNET has
pieced together information about its operations through interviews and a
review of internal government documents.

DCAC's mandate is broad, covering everything from trying to intercept and
decode Skype conversations<http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20035168-281.html>
to
building custom wiretap hardware or analyzing the gigabytes of data that a
wireless provider or social network might turn over in response to a court
order. It's also designed to serve as a kind of surveillance help desk for
state, local, and other federal police.

The center represents the technological component of the bureau's "Going
Dark <http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20017671-281.html>" Internet
wiretapping push, which was allocated $54 million by a Senate committee
last month. The legal component is no less important: as CNET
reported<http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57428067-83/fbi-we-need-wiretap-ready-web-sites-now/>
on
May 4, the FBI wants Internet companies not to oppose a proposed law that
would require social-networks and providers of VoIP, instant messaging, and
Web e-mail to build in backdoors for government surveillance.

During an appearance last
year<http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20032518-281.html> on
Capitol Hill, then-FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni
referred<http://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/going-dark-lawful-electronic-surveillance-in-the-face-of-new-technologies>in
passing, without elaboration, to "individually tailored" surveillance
solutions <http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20032910-281.html> and "very
sophisticated criminals." Caproni said that new laws targeting social
networks and voice over Internet Protocol conversations were required
because "individually tailored solutions have to be the exception and not
the rule."


<snip>
-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------
Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com
 http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com
 VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org
--------------------------------------------------------------
-
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.isoc-ny.org/pipermail/x-pubpol-isoc-ny.org/attachments/20120526/af409789/attachment-0001.htm>