What is a court order?
FBI agents must go to a judge and get them to authorize use of Carnivore. The court order specifies: • who the suspect is • account information (i.e. the exact e-mail address) • what crime they are suspected of • what is going to be tapped (i.e. which wire, etc.) The judge then authorizes the search warrant. At the same time, the judge will create a court order demanding that the ISP comply with the FBI. Full content-wiretaps may only be used for certain felonies (e.g. terrorism, drug trafficking, kidnapping). They may only be issued by a Federal District Judge, not any old judge. They may only be granted to FBI agents. They may only be used to gather hard evidence, not for background reconnaissance.