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It will Harm Innocent People: The FBI can hardly be trusted to conduct their investigations with proper handling and precision, but even if they could, Carnivore will end up hurting innocent people. The amount of guesswork involved in a sweeping search like the type Carnivore does insures that many "dead ends" and "bad leads" will be pursued. What this means is that the FBI will inevitably end up investigating (including search, seizure, intimidation, prosecution, etc.) innocent people. The use of a mass-level tool like Carnivore simply insures that these will occur more frequently, and at a more widespread level. While "targeted" investigations, in which a specific subject is involved, will lead to the unconstitutional investigation of countless innocent people (who happen to be involved in the suspect's "data stream" in some way- the real threat is in Carnivore's potential to be a tool for broad-based investigations, where the subject is not a particular criminal, but a whole type of crime. This will endanger not only our 4th Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure; it also could prove a grave threat to our most vital of freedoms, freedom of speech. Efforts to abridge freedom of speech are relentless, from the Communications Decency Act, to the Drug Czar's efforts to buy off Hollywood, to constant attacks against pornography, "hate speech," and every other variety of speech which may be offensive to some. There are still strong efforts to ban books- there are people who would not allow us to read "The Catcher in the Rye," "Huckleberry Finn," or "Uncle Tom's Cabin." In many countries around the world, Government has full control over most media and communications, and it simply censors that which it does not want the people to hear. We call those countries tyrannies and dictatorships. Carnivore, by its nature, is a tool which is capable of tyrannical control over all the communications that take place where it is installed. As it is deployed in more and more ISPs, and as we continue on the path toward converting our communications to the "Internet way," Carnivore will become a means by which the FBI will have the ability to silence communications at will. This type of a tool will not go unused- to believe otherwise is to have a very naive level of trust in Government. The Internet is such an astounding success precisely because it is an unbounded, "wild west" environment. It allows the sharing of knowledge and experience between people in a way that is completely unprecedented in world history. Never before has world civilization had a "free zone," where we could interact with each other free of the confines of regulation, the hardships of war and conflict, and the prejudices of geography, culture, and appearance. It has allowed us to share information to a level where it is becoming increasingly possible to find out whatever you want at the click of the mouse. Carnivore is the most severe threat yet to our Information Age. Its implementation sets the stage for Government to have a truly disturbing role in our society- that of switchboard operator. If we don't stop Carnivore, we will be blindly handing the bulk of the world's information to Federal Agents, and trusting that they will not use it improperly, or overstep their limitations. It has been a long while since blindly trusting Government was considered a smart thing to do. Take Action NOW to Stop Carnivore!
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