FC: FBI document hints at new hacking tools -- any ideas?

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

*********

Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2000
From: mech () eff org (Stanton McCandlish)
Subject: FBI gets new hacking tools - any ideas?

[Bcc'ing this to Cypherpunks and some others who need to know about this
ASAP.)

Got a call from a journo, Michelle Quinn of San Jose Mercury News
(+1 408 920 5749, mquinn () sjmercury com) relating to info they obtained
from the court in the case of US v. Patrick Naughton.  The case revolves
around a programmer type (Naughton) who allegedly crossed state lines with
intent to engage in sex with a minor (this was another of those cases where
the "minor" was a FBI agent, so it's questionable whether any crime was
committed at all; looks like entrapment).  After a bit of a court
fight, Naughton agreed to capitulate to a greatly reduced sentence (no
prison time), in exchange for creating 5 pieces of software for the FBI.

The court document is 20+ pages, *compeletely* redacted with black pen
other than a single paragraph, which says that these are tools the FBI
did not yet have, and that they consist of:

* "IP number capturing" software
* "chat monitoring" software
* "image matching" software
* "steganography detection" software
* a "framework for a program" to enable remotely searching subjects' PCs.

Any of these could raise some obvious concerns.  I'm curious if anyone
might have a clear idea what "image matching software" is, and whether
"steganography detection software" is even feasible and what one might
do to defeat it.  The others are fairly obivious in both intent and
viability.

I'm expecting a fax of the relevant part of the document shortly, and
will put it up on our web site at:


http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/

Filename to be determined; it'll be at the top of the index.  May take
a while to get it - the reporter's on deadline. That said, she'd
probably appreciate any additional info if anyone has any.


--
Stanton McCandlish      mech () eff org       http://www.eff.org/~mech
Online Communications Director/Webmaster, Electronic Frontier Foundation
voice: +1 415 436 9333 x105   fax: +1 415 436 9993