From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Mon Apr 29 2002 - 07:14:15 MDT
anschau.ez@terra.com.br wrote:
>
> Is it legal to eaves drop data in America/UK ?
The law is pretty clear that you can listen in to any conversation that
comes to your phone. A TCP/IP network is really just a modern version of
the old 'Party Line' phone system, where several residences were on the
same phone line, calls for each being distinguished by the pattern of
rings. Today, the 'pattern of rings' is distinguished by your IP
address, but packets addressed to other IP addresses assigned by your
local ISP can be sniffed right off of your dial-up phone line or full
time broadband connection. If you are attached directly to the backbone,
you can sniff any and all packets that pass along that backbone.
Technically, this is not eavesdropping, although spoofing someone else's
IP addy to sniff their packets is itself a crime of a different type.
A wire-tap is a data shunt attached to a line by a third party who is
not authorized by both parties involved in the contract for that line.
For the government to do so within its own jurisdiction is ONLY illegal
in that evidence gathered by wiretaps not authorized by a judge is
inadmissibile in court (as is any evidence derived from that gathered by
the tap).
This distinction is of primary importance in the intelligence community.
When it comes to intelligence operations which are going to result in
covert action rather than criminal charges levied in court, an
intelligence agency has no legal need to obtain a court order for a wire
tap.
Where the law comes into play on the domestic scene is that the only
federal agency empowered to wire-tap within the territorial US is the
FBI, since they are in charge of domestic counter-intelligence. The
CIA/NSA/NRO/DIA/etc are all banned by post-Watergate/ABSCAM era laws
against spying on American citizens within our borders. They are free to
eavesdrop on anybody they want outside our borders, and require no court
order to do so. This situation is reciprocated by the British.
As a result, the British spy on American citizens for the US government,
and the US govt spies on British citizens for the British government.
Just part and parcel of the 'special relationship' we have between us.
Together, we spy on everybody else.
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