Carnivore review team rudely unmasked

DoJ censorship backfires

By Thomas C Greene in Washington DC • Get more from this author

Posted in Music and Media, 28th September 2000 09:05 GMT

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When the US Department of Justice (DoJ) released the winning Carnivore review proposal in Adobe .pdf format, they apparently failed to mask the names and other details of the review team adequately.

According to Cryptome, the details can be unmasked by copying and pasting the .pdf text or by using an Adobe plug-in, such as Pitstop, to remove overwriting.

"This cloaking is weaker than a similar technique used by the New York Times for cropping text of the secret CIA report on Iranian Premier Mossadeq's 1953 overthrow," Cryptome scoffs.

These are the people who would protect the privacy of all who fall into Carnivore's jaws.

The 'hidden' information shows that the review team at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Research Institute includes a large number of White House insiders, including a former Clinton information policy advisor, and a former DoJ official. Other team members have backgrounds in the dreaded National Security Agency (NSA), the Department of Defence, and the Department of the Treasury.

Cryptome's version with DoJ overwriting removed is located here. The DoJ's original, redacted version is located here, for those who might wish to verify Cryptome's changes for themselves. ®