Feds Seek Power to Alter, Monitor Private Computers

The Justice Department wants to make it easier for law enforcement authorities to obtain search warrants to secretly enter a suspect’s home or office and disable security on personal computers as a prelude to a wiretap or further search, according to documents and interviews with Clinton administration officials.

In a request set to go to Capitol Hill, the Justice Department will ask lawmakers to authorize covert action in response to the growing use of software programs that encrypt, or scramble, computer files, making them inaccessible to anyone who does not have a special code or “key,” according to an Aug. 4 departmental memo that describes the plan.

Department officials worry that such software “is increasingly used as a means to facilitate criminal activity, such as drug trafficking, terrorism, white-collar crime and the distribution of child pornography,” according to the memo, which has been reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget and other agencies.

Legislation drafted by the department, called the Cyberspace Electronic Security Act, would enable investigators to get a sealed warrant signed by a judge permitting them to enter private property, search through computers for passwords and install devices that override encryption programs, the memo shows.

The law would expand existing search warrant powers to allow agents to penetrate personal computers for the purpose of disabling encryption. To extract information from the computer, agents would still be required to get additional authorization from a court.

The proposal is the latest twist in an intense, years-long debate between the government and computer users who want to protect their privacy by encrypting documents.

Although Justice Department officials say their proposal is “consistent with constitutional principles,” the idea has alarmed civil libertarians and members of Congress.

“They have taken the cyberspace issue and are using it as justification for invading the home,” said James Dempsey, senior staff counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington-based advocacy group that tracks privacy issues.

Police rarely use covert entry to pave the way for electronic surveillance. For example, federal law enforcement agencies obtained court approval just 34 times last year under eavesdropping statutes to install microphones, according to the 1998 wiretap report issued by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

David Sobel, general counsel at the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, predicted the number of secret break-ins by police would soar if the proposal is adopted because personal computers offer such a tantalizing source of evidence for investigators, including memos, diaries and e-mail.