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List:       isn
Subject:    [ISN] DOJ Tapping Cable Modems w/o Permission
From:       InfoSec News <isn () c4i ! org>
Date:       2001-11-30 11:30:34
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Forwarded from: Aj Effin Reznor <aj@reznor.com>

Why, hello, Mr. Orwell...

http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,48711,00.html

What's that?  A not-so-distant nail being pounded into a coffin???

-aj.



DOJ's Already Monitoring Modems
By Declan McCullagh and Ben Polen

4:42 p.m.  Nov. 28, 2001 PST 

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Justice already is using its new
anti-terrorism powers to monitor cable modem users without obtaining a
judge's permission first.

A top Bush administration official lauded the controversial USA
Patriot Act at a Senate hearing on Wednesday, saying that the new
abilities have let police obtain information in investigations that
was previously unavailable.

"We would not have been able to do (this) under prior law without a
specific court order," said Michael Chertoff, assistant attorney
general in the Justice Department's criminal division.

Previously, federal law said that "a cable operator shall not disclose
personally identifiable information concerning any subscriber."
Section 211 of the USA Patriot Act changes the law to read: "A cable
operator may disclose such information if the disclosure is ... to a
government entity."

Other USA Patriot Act sections mean that police can obtain an Internet
Protocol address, which identifies a cable modem subscriber, as
readily as they can learn someone's telephone number.

Chertoff said the government also has used its new powers to obtain
court orders for logs from Internet providers that are outside of the
court's traditional jurisdiction.

"We've obtained court orders directed to out-of-district Internet
service providers for logging information....  We've used the
nationwide search warrant provision to obtain relevant information,"
Chertoff said. "We've used the emergency disclosure provisions to
support our use of information that was provided to us by an Internet
service provider."

Senate Judiciary chairman Patrick Leahy called the hearing to review
some of the Bush administration's recent actions that have raised
concerns among civil libertarians, such as detaining over a thousand
suspects, and the creation of secret military tribunals to try
suspected terrorists.

Leahy said in his opening remarks: "Whether any or all of these ideas
are popular or unpopular at the moment, as an oversight committee, we
accept our duty to examine them."

The anti-terrorism law that President Bush signed last month amended
the Cable TV Privacy Act and Title 18, Section 2703 of the U.S. Code's
title 18 to faciliate greater eavesdropping.

It also made it easier for government agencies to share information
with each other, Chertoff said: "We have used it to start the process
of sharing information between the intelligence side and the law
enforcement side."

Attorney General John Ashcroft has said the FBI began using the powers
mere hours after President Bush signed the law. The Justice Department
has prepared a "field guidance" manual (PDF) for prosecutors.

Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the senior Republican on the committee, said
he thought the Bush administration was responding appropriately to the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"The administration can take these positions," Hatch said. "They have
to justify them, but they can take them, and I think there's more than
enough information here to justify the positions they've taken."

The Department of Defense has been responsible for drafting the
guidelines for the military tribunal, but can ask the Department of
Justice for assistance. "The Department of Defense can ask us for
help," Chertoff said.

Leahy replied: "I hope you wouldn't wait for an invitation.  Pick up
the phone and call them."

Attorney General Ashcroft was invited to speak at this hearing but
declined to attend, and instead is scheduled to appear at a hearing on
Dec. 6.



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