Judge Orders Hearing on FBI's Carnivore

A Federal judge today ordered an emergency hearing set for tomorrow, on the EPIC (The Electronic Privacy Information Center) request for the immediate release of information on the so-called "Carnivore" e-mail surveillance tool, recently introduced by the FBI.

The EPIC accused the FBI and the JoD of disregarding the law by failing to act on a request for quick processing of a Freedom of Information Act inquiry about the new FBI system.

In testimony to Congress the FBI said that Carnivore is designed to "intercept data from the electronic mail of a criminal suspect by monitoring traffic at an Internet service provider." Now the EPIC wants the FBI to reveal how it works.

U.S. District Judge James Robinson set the hearing for 3:30 p.m. at the federal courthouse in Washington, DC.