U.S. Patriot Act & Carnivore
In many ways, USA PATRIOT just updates certain forms of electronic surveillance for the internet. Instead of wiretaps on a phone, the government can intercept emails. However, only the subject headers and addresses can be read without a warrant. Instead of bugging an office, the government can now look at the websites a certain computer has been visiting. If a person's computer has suspicious emails and has been visiting suspected terrorist websites, the government can obtain a search warrant and seize all information on the computer and online. The act also allows seizure of voice mail messages with a warrant.
In many ways, USA PATRIOT just updates certain forms of electronic surveillance for the internet. Instead of wiretaps on a phone, the government can intercept emails. However, only the subject headers and addresses can be read without a warrant. Instead of bugging an office, the government can now look at the websites a certain computer has been visiting. If a person's computer has suspicious emails and has been visiting suspected terrorist websites, the government can obtain a search warrant and seize all information on the computer and online. The act also allows seizure of voice mail messages with a warrant.
Carnivore
Exactly how does the government go about looking at our records? A type of program called a packet sniffer "watches" packets of information as they go by on the world wide web. When a packet contains data that the packet sniffer is looking for, the program saves the packet's information. These saved packets are poured through by other computers, and if it is suspicious enough--by humans. So only the most suspicious computer actions will ever be observed by humans.
Under the new U.S. Patriot Act, packet sniffers will sift through information coming into the database. If something suspicious is noticed, then packet sniffers will begin searching through other information from that user. Then trends will be noted and a human will be alerted.