Pending Bill to Address E-Mail Surveillance
Rep. Bob Barr confirmed yesterday that Congress is preparing a bill that will place heavier burdens on the federal law enforcement agencies to justify monitoring people's e-mail messages. The bill, aimed to curb the FBI's new "Carnivore" e-mail surveillance system, would place additional restrictions on wiretaps as well.The FBI's Carnivore software mechanism sits at the subject's ISP and scans the addressing information coming from or going to a suspect's computer, revealing far more information than a simple e-mail address. Carnivore monitors not only e-mails, but Web browsing, chat rooms and all other sorts of communications.
