Stroke of genius.

• Author: Taylor, Jeff A.
• Position: Citings - Crime busting computer - Brief Article

The Philadelphia trial of an alleged Mafia boss shows that when it comes to threats to privacy, the government will always have an ace in the hole. Or a sniffer on the keyboard.

Sometime during court-approved break-ins in May or June, the FBI planted a key-stroke-logging tap in Nicodemo S. Scarfo Jr.'s computer. Scarfo had thwarted other court-approved methods of surveillance because he used the popular encryption program Pretty Good Privacy. That was too powerful for the FBI to crack, so the agency instead used a key-stroke tap, which recorded Scarfo's passwords to his data. Just weeks after the tap was in place, Scarfo was arrested and charged with masterminding an illegal betting and loan- sharking operation.

The FBI has yet to reveal whether the tap was software or...