The U.S. Justice Department said this week that the FBI is collecting information about its controversial Carnivore e-mail monitoring system and will begin turning it over to the Electronic Privacy Information Center within 45 days.
EPIC won an expedited Freedom of Information Act request on Aug. 2, and a federal judge ordered the FBI to give the group a timetable for releasing the information.
Carnivore captures the e-mail transmission of suspected criminals by sifting through an Internet service provider’s data.
EPIC, the American Civil Liberties Union and other privacy groups have said the system may be considered an act of unreasonable search and seizure violating the Fourth Amendment.
