Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 16:29:36 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: <200008022029.QAA20559@mattababy.mit.edu>
From: belmonte@mit.edu (Matthew Belmonte)
To: CapuanoHR8@aol.com
Subject: kill the FBI's Carnivore surveillance system

Dear Representative Capuano

This past month The Wall Street Journal revealed that an FBI system called 
`Carnivore' was being installed at the offices of several Internet service
providers (ISPs).  Carnivore is designed to violate the Fourth Amendment of
the US Constitution by indiscriminately searching all unencrypted data
transmitted to and from the ISP for certain key words or phrases.  Such keyword
searches are notoriously imprecise (as anyone who has ever tried to locate
esoteric information via a Web search knows), and will inevitably end up
highlighting innocent correspondence.

Although ISPs have opposed the introduction of Carnivore to their systems, the
FBI has not taken `no' for an answer.  After threats from the FBI, Earthlink, 
one of the largest ISPs in the United States, acceded and allowed Carnivore to
be installed.  This and similar developments make it clear that only
legislative or judicial action will be able to stop Carnivore.  I hope that
you'll work toward the implementation of such legislation, and I hope to hear
from you soon regarding your position on the Carnivore system.