StupidScript - 10:59 pm on May 9, 2006 (gmt 0)

Even without the CALEA regulations, police have the legal authority to conduct Internet wiretaps--that's precisely what the FBI's Carnivore system was designed to do.

Remember Carnivore (2000 - 2005)? It was in action for a couple of years, scraping every packet of every email and IM and request it could get its hands on ... but it sucked ... and now it's gone. And now we have this tax proposal.

Frankly, I'm more comfortable with a tax on TELEcommunications, like VoIP, than I was with Carnivore, which didn't distinguish between phone calls and other types of electronic communications.

Oh .. by the way ... our (American) tax dollars paid for the development of and maintenance of Carnivore to the tune of several million dollars (including Omnivore/Carnivore [packet] and Dragon Net [VoIP]). Those same tax dollars could have been used (more effectively) to fill potholes on our nation's freeways. Now the FBI is using over-the-counter commercial software to do the same job! LOL!

At least this time we are aware that useage taxes might come into play, instead of the FBI secretly installing the other programs at every ISP and secretly taking everyone's tax dollars for their purposes.