The tragic events that the world witnessed just blocks from where I type this article have rekindled (or should I say, "re-ignited") one of the longest running debates since the birth of the Internet: "Internet privacy versus National Security." While I personally never took a strong position on either side of this argument, what I witnessed first-hand along with millions others in lower Manhattan, and what hundreds of millions more watched unfold live on television, makes a very strong case for the latter position.
Consider that well over a year ago the FBI had begun to deploy an Internet monitoring system dubbed "Carnivore." (They say it has the ability to get at the "meat" of interesting or suspicious communications.) The system would be able to intercept suspicious e-mail messages and perhaps even foil a terrorist plot long before it was carried out. Just read the following excerpt from a congressional statement made by Donald M. Kerr of the FBI on September 6, 2000 regarding the Carnivore tool:
"Terrorist groups are increasingly using new information technology (IT) and the Internet to formulate plans, raise funds, spread propaganda, and communicate securely. In his statement on the worldwide threat in the year 2000, Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet testified that terrorist groups, 'including Hezbollah, HAMAS, the Abu Nidal organization, and Bin Laden's al Qa'ida organization are using computerized files, E-mail, and encryption to support their operations.' As one example, convicted terrorist Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing, stored detailed plans to destroy United States airliners on encrypted files on his laptop computer [All italics and bold mine]."
Despite the national security concerns however, Carnivore, was accused by privacy advocates of violating the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Furthermore, public relations problems (eventually Carnivore was renamed to a less intrusive sounding "DCS1000") hampered the project. According to the Washington Times (April 27, 2001) Attorney General John Ashcroft was considering killing the project altogether. Just this past summer the House of Representatives passed a bill requiring the FBI to report annually on the usage of the monitoring system.
The tide may have just turned in Carnivore's favor however. On September 13, just two days after the recent attacks, the Senate overwhelmingly approved by a vote of 97-0 the "Combating Terrorism Act of 2001," which significantly increases the FBI's ability to use surveillance tools, including Carnivore, in some cases without even requiring a court order.
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