Nicodemo S. Scarfo is not merely an affable computer aficionado, the son of Philadelphia's former mob boss and an alleged mastermind of a loan shark operation in New Jersey. He's also the defendant in a case that could -- depending on how a federal judge rules in the next few weeks -- dramatically expand the government's powers to spy on Americans or restrict police to traditional techniques. |
To hear federal prosecutors tell it, the FBI became so frustrated by Scarfo's use of Pretty Good Privacy software (PGP) to encode confidential business data that they had to resort to extraordinary means. With a judge's approval, FBI agents repeatedly snuck into Scarfo's business to plant a keystroke sniffer and monitor its output.
The difference is crucial: If Politan rules that the FBI's keystroke monitor is a wiretap, the evidence may have to be discarded and Scarfo would be far more likely to walk free. That's because wiretaps must follow stricter rules -- such as minimizing information that's recorded -- than the FBI followed.
Read the full story on it Here
Source: Wired
