Re: FBI announcement on email search 'Carnivore'

[Steven M. Bellovin]

I had posted a note saying that pen register usage in New York was 
barred by the courts unless a wiretap warrant had been issued.  I need 
to update that posting.

First, that opinion was rendered in People vs. Bialostok, 80 NY2d 738, 
http://www.law.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/nyctap.cgi?80+738  But it is no 
longer in force.  In People vs. Martello, 99 N.Y. Int. 0113, 
http://www.law.cornell.edu/ny/ctap/I99_0113.htm, the Court noted that 
subsequent to the events in the earlier case, the legislature passed a 
law specifically defining pen registers and providing for their use.  
The earlier ban is thus no longer in effect.  Furthermore, since they 
had made their decision on statutory grounds, rather than 
constitutional grounds, the legislature was free to change the 
procedures required.

So -- I doubt that that case would have any bearing on any Federal 
lawsuit.

                --Steve Bellovin