NEWS: Keystroke Loggers Aren't Wiretaps

GEEK: Keystroke Loggers Aren't Wiretaps

According to a federal judge, hardware or software that logs every keystroke you type is not subject to the same federal rules and regulations as a traditional wiretap. On the surface, this is an accurate assessment. Wiretaps intercept and record voice conversations over a phone network. Keystroke loggers, perfectly legal and easy-to-buy pieces of hardware or software, sit on your computer and record data flowing from the keyboard to the processor.

From a technical standpoint, of course keyloggers aren't wiretaps. But what happens when a keylogger is used as a de facto wiretap? The legal system has been wrangling with that question, and has discovered that there are no laws pertaining to regulation of keyloggers. In a recent Los Angeles case, a man installed keyloggers at his place of employment and was subsequently indicted by a grand jury for alleged wiretap statute violations. District appeals judge Gary Feess regretfully admitted that evidence gathered with a secret keylogger was not illegally obtained.

While this is the first time federal prosecution has been attempted against a private citizen for use of keyloggers, this is not the first time keyloggers have come into legal question.

The Los Angeles case did not involve the federal government, however -- it involved a private citizen installing keyloggers to spy on his employer.

Groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU support closing this loophole in wiretapping regulations.

Once, when I was about, I used a keylogger to get my mom's AOL password so I could change my restriction settings so I could look at porn. It rocked.

that's odd. usually it's the employer spying on the employee.

say "de facto wiretap" again.

I long for a smiley with one raised eyebrow.

I make that face all the damn time around here.

I second that motion. It's probably my most misused IM smiley.

That was pretty sexy.

Yes, but that's already been ruled totally legal. Employers may read your email and instant message conversations and check out every website you go to.

Bean and Reprobate, I am ignoring you both.

I'll de facto your wiretap!

Ineffectively, it seems.

I am female, therefore I am allowed to be paradoxical when I so choose.

Another reason why I like Europe:
usenet discussion of email interception

Richard Clayton is scary. You'd (Shalome) would be interested in some of the stuff he's done. Chaffinch, for example.

It's been

removed.

Any other references? Jeff's right, the discussion you linked to no longer exists..

[Edited on Nov 23, 2004 by Shalome]

You'd would?

I'm changing all my passwords to fuckthefbi

edited to add: now someone posts, "whaddya mean change them!? "

and we all laugh.

[Edited on Nov 23, 2004 by mk700c]

Its a really going to be a bumpy road for awhile, while we wait for people who can't get their VCR to stop flashing 12:00 to rule on technologies role in law enforcement and protection of privacy.I saw a similar article a year or so ago outlining how if someone had a day planner on their person at the time of arrest that the contents where considered off limits as long as they had the clasp fastened (expectation of privacy). However in contrast a palm pilot was fair game given a precedent ruling(s) that lumped pim/pda electronic devices together with the likes of pagers, which had been ruled to be searchable in many "drug dealer" related searches early on in techo law.

[Edited on Nov 25, 2004 2:58AM]

That is really weird that this was just brought up. I worried about the government using keyloggers just two days ago for a while and pondered it.

oops. Thanks

"My local council is going to read all employees email"

try this link?

or this is another discussion about email interception in the UK, a bit more worrying

and this

So, these links mention the laws in the UK, and it's worse than I thought it was. But it still seems a bit better than the US, I'd have to do a bit more reading.

Richard Clayton has an interesting website.

The work thing is the work thing. The company pays me to work and they bought the computer, pay for the internet connection etc, they have the right to watch what I do and can my ass.

The FBI, police and the federal government however have no right ti spy on my in th\at manner without a fucking warrant. Someone mentioned people who still have their vcr clocks flashing 12:00 trying to make laws about technology. Well the issue is bigger than that. We have 59million idiots in this country that thought Bush was a good President, do you think ANY of them are smart enough to elect people smart enough to write these laws properly? NO.

Just fire up your newsreader and head on over to the group uk.legal. However based on the message ID included in the URL up there I'm not certain what relevancy it may have.

It also makes you wonder why Google removed it.

Is what you enter into a keyboard protected by The Data Protection Act? In Britain, I'd think so, but what in America do you have that works along similar lines?
I feel that it is an invasion of privacy, but there is also the factor of industrial espionage, and the employer has the right to protect themselves.
lets be honest, the only reason people get annoyed about things like this is because it menas they can no longer access websites, or chat via IM or e-mail with their friends, when they should be working. However, what the employer regularly fails to take into consideration is that although the employees are working on machines, they are not machines themselves and deserve some downtime.
Installing something such as this would not only lower moral, but also indocate an implied lack of trust. But each employer has to individually balance the pros and cons of such an investment.