The Digital Collection System Network (DCSNet) is the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI)'s point-and-click

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

system that can perform instant wiretaps on almost any telecommunications device in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It allows access to cellphone, landline, SMS communications anywhere in the US from a point-and-click interface. It runs on a

fiber-optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

backbone that is separate from the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

. It is intended to increase agent productivity through workflow modeling, allowing for the routing of intercepts for translation or analysis with only a few clicks. The DCSNet real-time

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

data intercept has the capability to record, review and playback intercepted material in real-time. The DCSNet systems operate on a

virtual private network Virtual private network (VPN) is a network architecture for virtually extending a private network (i.e. any computer network which is not the public Internet) across one or multiple other networks which are either untrusted (as they are not con ...

parallel to the public Internet, with services provided at least for some time by the Sprint Peerless IP network. Much of the information available on this system has come from the results of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests made by the

Electronic Frontier Foundation The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an American international non-profit digital rights group based in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1990 to promote Internet civil liberties. It provides funds for legal defense in court, ...

(EFF).

Components

It is composed of at least three classified software components that run on the

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

—DCS3000, DCS5000, DCS6000.

DCS-1000

DCS-3000

DCS-3000 and "Red Hook" were first mentioned publicly in a March 2006 report from the

United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive dep ...

(OIG) on the implementation of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). The report described Red Hook as "a system to collect voice and data calls and then process and display the intercepted information in the absence of a CALEA solution." and it described DCS-3000 "as an interim solution to intercept personal communications services delivered via emerging digital technologies used by wireless carriers in advance of any CALEA solutions being deployed." Citing the OIG report, the

(EFF) filed an FOIA request later that year in order to obtain more information about the two programs. When the FBI did not respond with more information, the EFF sued, and in May 2007 obtained a court order to release documents concerning the programs. On August 29, 2007, '' Wired'' magazine published an article on these systems, citing the EFF documents. The DCS-3000 collects information associated with dialed and incoming numbers like traditional trap-and-trace and pen registers. The article named "Red Hook" as the client for DCS-3000. ''Wired'' reported that the DCS-3000 cost $320 per number targeted, and that the software is maintained by Booz Allen Hamilton.

DCS-5000

The DCS-5000 is a system used by the FBI unit responsible for counter-intelligence to target suspected spies, alleged terrorists, and others with wiretaps.

DCS-6000

The DCS-6000 (a.k.a. "Digital Storm") captures the content of phone calls and text messages for analysis. Once the data has been captured, it is indexed and prioritized using the Electronic Surveillance Data Management System (ELSUR).

References