June 14, 2001
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June 14, 2001 |
The Carnivore cybersnooping system, recently renamed "DCS1000", raises serious constitutional and privacy questions. Majority Leader Armey asks Attorney General Ashcroft to respond to these concerns.
The Honorable John Ashcroft
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Dear Attorney General Ashcroft,
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling regarding law enforcement's use of technology. The Court ruled that thermal imaging devices allowed "police technology to erode the privacy guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment." In particular, the Court held in Kyllo v. United States that use of electronic devices to gather information that would not otherwise be available constitutes a search:
Where... the Government uses a device that is not in general public use, to explore details of a private home that would previously have been unknowable without physical intrusion, the surveillance is a Fourth Amendment "search," and is presumptively unreasonable without a warrant.
It is reasonable, then, to ask whether the Internet surveillance system formerly known as "Carnivore" similarly undermines the minimum expectation that individuals have that their personal electronic communications will not be examined by law enforcement devices unless a specific court warrant has been issued.
Your predecessor, Attorney General Janet Reno, reluctantly undertook a review of Carnivore last year in an attempt to address these concerns. That review, however, seemed to raise more questions about the system than it answered. The review team ultimately selected was found to have clear political ties to the Clinton Administration. According to media accounts, most major universities declined even to participate in the review proposal process due to questions about its objectivity. And, not surprisingly, they delivered a report restating the previous Administration's position on the system.
Because I am confident that you will take a much more constructive approach to this issue, I wanted to share my privacy concern with you directly. I believe the FBI is making a good-faith effort to fight crime in the most efficient way possible. But I also believe the Founders quite clearly decided to sacrifice that kind of efficiency for the sake of protecting citizens from the danger of an overly intrusive government.
I respectfully ask that you consider the serious constitutional questions Carnivore has raised and respond with how you intend to address them. This is an issue of great importance to the online public.
I look forward to working constructively with you on this and many other issues in the coming years.
Sincerely,
Dick Armey
House Majority Leader
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