Stroke of genius. (Citings).The Philadelphia trial of an alleged Mafia boss shows that when it comes to threats to privacy, the government will always have an ace in the hole. Or a sniffer See network analyzer. sniffer - packet sniffer on the keyboard. Sometime during court-approved break-ins in May or June, the FBI planted a key-stroke-logging tap in Nicodemo S. Scarfo Jr.'s computer. Scarfo had thwarted thwart tr.v. thwart·ed, thwart·ing, thwarts 1. To prevent the occurrence, realization, or attainment of: They thwarted her plans. 2. other court-approved methods of surveillance because he used the popular encryption The reversible transformation of data from the original (the plaintext) to a difficult-to-interpret format (the ciphertext) as a mechanism for protecting its confidentiality, integrity and sometimes its authenticity. Encryption uses an encryption algorithm and one or more encryption keys. program Pretty Good Privacy. That was too powerful for the FBI to crack, so the agency instead used a key-stroke tap, which recorded Scarfo's passwords to his data. Just weeks after the tap was in place, Scarfo was arrested and charged with masterminding an illegal betting and loan- sharking operation. The FBI has yet to reveal whether the tap was software or hardware. A hardware tap would mean the FBI has to get permission from a judge for the kind of black-bag op used on Scarfo's computer. In theory, a software bug A problem that causes a program to produce invalid output or to crash (lock up). The problem is either insufficient logic or erroneous logic. For example, a program can crash if there are not enough validity checks performed on the input or on the calculations themselves, and the computer has the same restrictions. But it would certainly be easier to abuse and install remotely without judicial oversight Judicial oversight describes an aspect of the separation of powers prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, specifically the process whereby independent courts may review and restrain actions of the administrative and legislative branches. . It could even be hijacked by bad guys outside the bureau and put to who knows what ends. In any case, the mere existence of government keyboard taps illustrates that direct marketers--even the most vile spammer--are amateur-hour violators of privacy. The pros carry a badge. |
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