By Reuters August 23, 2000 12:36 PM PT URL: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2618909,00.html?chkpt=zdhpnews01 U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said on Wednesday that details for a planned review of the FBI's controversial Carnivore program designed to capture e-mail messages for criminal investigations will be released on Thursday. The Justice Department will post a statement on its Web site at 5 p.m. ET on Thursday detailing the work and its expectations for the wiretap review, Reno said at a news conference. The study was prompted by concerns the so-called Carnivore program could infringe upon privacy rights. It allows law enforcement to pick off e-mails of criminal suspects amid the flood of data passing through an Internet services provider. The review will be conducted by academic experts at a U.S. university, which is expected to be named by Reno by Sept. 15. Officials want the Carnivore system's software and hardware review completed by Dec. 1. 10 days to apply The information to be released on Thursday is largely for prospective review candidates. "I think we realized that we wanted to make sure that everybody had an equal opportunity and that there was a process in place that people understood," Reno said. Universities will have 10 business days from Thursday to submit applications, after which the Carnivore review team will have two days to make its recommendation, she said. The university is expected to be selected partly based on its technical expertise in computers as well as on its ability to conduct a comprehensive review within the set time frame. Total access promised Reno has said the university experts would have total access to the information they need for the review. FBI officials have said the court-authorized wiretaps utilizing the Carnivore program only will focus on criminal suspects who are targets of an investigation. However, some fear the system may go too far in gathering information and create the possibility of abuse.
