22 August 2000


Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2000 22:25:11 -0800
To: jya@pipeline.com
From: SD

You guys are still covering Carnivore but ignoring the way our local ISP, GCI, in Alaska, is getting around the whole issue.  By simply recording EVERYTHING they can fall under an exception in the federal statutes that says they can turn over any information collected "incidentally" - thus they are giving all packet traffic to the FBI.  Of course the FBI then does the filtering or targeting of individuals but without the requirement of a search warrant.  nice and tidy for them.

There is a big story here!  Do you have the interest and guts to cover it??


Cryptome welcomes information for publication here on how ISPs are providing information or cooperating with federal and local officials to gain access to private communications, notwithstanding the ISPs' public privacy policies.

For example:

A recent federal case in Brooklyn, New York, reportedly heard testimony from AOL representatives that it had a firm privacy policy of never disclosing private communications without a court order, but that the legal department regularly reported to law enforcement agencies instances of what it believed to be illegal activity by AOL customers.

The way it works is that there are informants in various AOL forums who complain to AOL about objectionable activity, then AOL is obliged to investigate and perhaps report to the law enforcement its findings. AOL can honestly state it does not monitor is users, but must investigate customer complaints. Some, maybe all, of the informants are self-appointed vigilantes or law enforcement agents posing as AOL customers. Law enforcement agents can honestly state they are not illegally surveilling without court order, merely complaining to AOL about objectionable behavior as customers. What is not clear is whether the objectionable acitivity was instigated and promoted by the informants and undercover feds.

That is the procedure allegedly followed by Exodus some months back, and may indicate a widespead complicity among ISPs' legal and customer service departments and law enforcement to get around the ECPA.

Cryptome is attempting to get from its ISP, NTT/Verio/Digital Nation, information on such unpublished "supplemental" methods and arrangements. See: http://cryptome.org/verio-ntt-vpp.htm

Send to: jya@pipeline.com

If needed, John Young's public key:

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