The FBI conducts "full-pipe surveillance" of the internet

no surprise here... i've figured for a number of years now that every single electronic transaction of whatever form was being clandestinely "vacuumed up" by various spy agencies in the u.s. government and probably by most of our big power allies as well, the most likely additional suspect being the uk...

Agents engaging in investigations appear to be amassing huge databases of data of thousands of Internet users rather than eyeing the activities of particular suspects -- similar to the sweeping approach employed by the National Security Agency. The NSA wiretaps program drew congressional uproar after it was revealed the program was taking place without supervision of a court.

"Such a technique is broader and potentially more intrusive than the FBI's Carnivore surveillance system, later renamed DCS1000," ZDNet's Declan McCullagh writes. "It raises concerns similar to those stirred by widespread Internet monitoring that the National Security Agency is said to have done, according to documents that have surfaced in one federal lawsuit, and may stretch the bounds of what's legally permissible.

[...]

"That kind of full-pipe surveillance can record all Internet traffic, including Web browsing--or, optionally, only certain subsets such as all e-mail messages flowing through the network. Interception typically takes place inside an Internet provider's network at the junction point of a router or network switch," McCullagh writes.

if people really knew just how far down the road we are to a totalitarian state, they would be amazed... i've been paying attention for years and i am still amazed every day...

(thanks to raw story...)

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