CIPAV: Big Brother on Your 'Puter?

[MixedPlateBroker]

The innocuously-named Computer and Internet Protocol Address Verifier (CIPAV) is covert government spyware that is ripe for abuse.

I can appreciate using technology to track down criminals, but who will stop unscrupulous government officials from co-opting this software to ride roughshod over our civil rights? Is this the new wiretap? Comments?

Apologies in advance if this is miscategorized.

[Karen]

Re: CIPAV: Big Brother on Your 'Puter?

I don't know a thing about this program you named, so will have to read up on it, but about the govt. in general, and the internet....they've tried before to be way too snoopy. Remember months ago when the govt. told Google that they wanted a month's worth of searches? the records of what we searched for? That as absurd, and Google said no. I remember emailing the
"kids" at google to compliment them for refusing.

I do have a gripe with Google over it. Why do they keep records of our searches? They do not have to, and maybe are even a tad suspicious for keeping them. I now use "scroogle scraper" which is a website out of San Antonio, TX. that takes us to Google, thru them so that there is no record of our searches kept, as scroogle deletes them every 48 or so hours.


http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/scraper.htm

It remains none of the govt's business what I do online. Should I do something illegal it would then become their business, but I don't and it is not. We are right to keep a sharp eye on anything that can be, or is used by the govt. for supposedly "protecting us." yeah, right~

[MixedPlateBroker]

Re: CIPAV: Big Brother on Your 'Puter?

For those curious how CIPAV works:
Detlef Borchers of heise Security writes,

CIPAV is apparently a Windows program which the FBI deploys via e-mail or Instant Messaging. The program installs itself on the target computer or on a web account such as MySpace or Google Mail from whence it moves on to the target computer. Once installed, CIPAV searches the entire hard disk and sends the FBI a record of the names of all running programs, browser data, operating system type (including the serial number) and all user information from the registry. Thereafter it apparently operates as a pen register, recording the URLs and IP addresses visited but not the contents of communications - a point which the FBI emphasised several times in their declaration. The FBI document does not reveal whether CIPAV in its current version is technically capable of including and passing on the contents of communications or indeed of keylogging.

A few other reports have stated that CIPAV does indeed include keylogging.

[Karen]

Re: CIPAV: Big Brother on Your 'Puter?

When our security in this puter does a scan it tells us that we have one tracking cookie. I think it's a good idea to delete cookies a couple of times a day, personally.