[at-l] Slow E-mail

[ryan@hack.net (Ryan K. Brooks)]

This is off topic, but since I'm involved in backbone operations here, I can
shed some light on this.

- Carnivore does exist, although it has been renamed to something nicer that
I can't recall right now.  Basically it can snoop packets to rebuild email,
web, etc. sessions into something human readable and look for keywords.

- Carnivore is on some networks, but only a few here and there and only as a
result of a wiretap order.  99% of traffic snooping on the Internet will
still require a subpoena for getting particular data.  There is no
ubiquitous ability to wiretap on the Internet.

- Most of what law enforcement looks for in an order is log information.
Who was on when and  what IP # the were using.  If you're a dial-up ISP,
they may want mailbox contents, which is only really relevant if your mail
is unread or not kept locally on your PC.

- As a result of 9/11, the wiretap stuff may become a bit blurry.  Instead
of a judge's order coming in for a particular user or timeframe, the law
enforcement folks may be able cast a wider net.   This is over simplified,
but close enough for discussion.

- The government still doesn't have the capability to crack the public key
cryptography that's widely available to anyone on the planet.

If you'd like to discuss this further, I'd be happy to discuss off list.

-R


-----Original Message-----
From: at-l-admin@mailman.backcountry.net
[mailto:at-l-admin@mailman.backcountry.net]On Behalf Of Bruce Calkins
Sent: Sunday, October 14, 2001 4:26 PM
To: AT-L@mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: [at-l] Slow E-mail


For What It's Worth,  A rumor floating around has it that the new "secret"
eavesdropping software on the server level hasn't settled in yet.  It is
supposed to scan for key words and send a duplicate of suspect E-mail to a
central computer somewhere for analyses.  If so it should settle in within
a month or so.  Of course you never know just what or who to believe
anymore.

Black Wolfe.

At 04:24 PM 10/14/01 -0400, you wrote:
>Has anyone else noticed a problem with e-mail reception?
_______________________________________________
AT-L mailing list
AT-L@mailman.backcountry.net
http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/at-l