Yahoo - FBI May Use Keystroke-Recording Device Without Wiretap Order

[David P. Schwartz]

Here's an interesting/scary article, depending on your orientation...

Wednesday January 2, 11:14 pm Eastern Time

FBI May Use Keystroke-Recording Device Without Wiretap Order

Mary P. Gallagher (New Jersey Law Journal) --

In a case of first impression, a federal judge ruled Dec. 26 that the
Federal Bureau of Investigation did not need a wiretap order to attach a
keystroke-recording device to a reputed mobster's computer in order to learn
the password to an encrypted file.

U.S. District Judge Nicholas Politan in Newark, N.J., also allowed
prosecutors to keep secret the specifics of the technology, saying
disclosure "would cause identifiable damage to the national security of the
United States."

Politan denied a motion by lawyers for Nicodemo Scarfo Jr., who was indicted
on gambling and loan-sharking charges in June 2000, to suppress the gambling
file obtained from his computer.

The lawyers argued that the "key-logger system" violated the Fourth
Amendment, by collecting more information than needed, and the federal
wiretap statute, 18 U.S.C. 2510, by picking up modem transmissions without a
wiretap order.

read more here --> http://biz.yahoo.com/law/020102/31270-4.html