A federal judge gave the FBI 10 working days to come begin coming up with details about its Carnivore system, which tracks suspected criminals’ e-mail messages.
At an emergency hearing on Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson said he believed 10 days was a reasonable amount of time for the government agency to begin scheduling the release of information that would fulfill the expedited Freedom of Information Act request by the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
After 10 days, the FBI must let the judge know its timetable for fulfilling the request.
According to reports, Carnivore collects information on suspected criminals by monitoring all e-mails that go through the suspect’s ISP. EPIC and the American Civil Liberties Union are concerned the system may violate the Constitution, and they want the FBI to reveal how the system works.
