A powerful host lawmaker on Thursday asked the FBI to re-examine the extent to which its e-mail sniffing tool, Carnivore, infringes on privacy. House Majority Leader Dick Armey in a letter asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to take a look at . . .
A powerful host lawmaker on Thursday asked the FBI to re-examine the extent to which its e-mail sniffing tool, Carnivore, infringes on privacy. House Majority Leader Dick Armey in a letter asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to take a look at Carnivore in light of a recent Supreme Court case involving privacy and police technology.

The nation's highest court on Monday ruled that thermal imaging devices "erode the privacy guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment," according to the case "Kyllo v. United States."

"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 specific court warrant has been issued," Armey wrote.

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