The FBI has dressed its online wolf in sheep's clothing, changing the name of its controversial e-mail surveillance system, known to this point as Carnivore. Carnivore now goes by the less beastly moniker of DCS1000, drawn from the work it does . . .
The FBI has dressed its online wolf in sheep's clothing, changing the name of its controversial e-mail surveillance system, known to this point as Carnivore. Carnivore now goes by the less beastly moniker of DCS1000, drawn from the work it does as a "digital collection system." The investigative agency built the tool to monitor the Internet communications of suspects under its surveillance, but the system, housed on computers at Internet service providers, also can collect e-mail messages from people who are not part of an FBI probe.

A spokesman for the FBI denied that the name change stemmed from worries that the name Carnivore made the system sound like a predatory device made to invade people's privacy. But the Illinois Institute of Technology, which last fall issued an analysis of the system at the request of the Justice Department, recommended that the name be changed for just that reason, according to an IIT analyst.

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