#4. "RE: OT! What do you think of this?????" In response to Dave101 (Reply # 0)
I have no problem with this so long as they use it lawfully. (As part of a criminal investigation with the proper authorizations/warrant.) My main problem is with the anti-virus/trojan companies saying that they'll let Magic Lantern by their scanners. It's probably be trivial for a trojan-writer to come up with a trojan that has a similar signature as Magic Lantern. Similar enough to fool the scanner into thinking that it's the FBI trojan. IMO, anti-virus/trojan companies shouldn't do anything special to their products to open a hole for the FBI. If their product happens to stop Magic Lantern, then the FBI just has to find a better way of doing this. Why should the anti-virus companies open a hole that could affect millions of their users so that a few of their users who happen to be criminals don't get wise to the FBI looking in on them?
#6. "RE: OT! What do you think of this?????" In response to Shelly (Reply # 5)
Actually, a few of them (McAfee was one) said that they would. Then they backed off those statements. I know I wouldn't use an AV product that left a hole open for the government. Not that I'm worried about the goverment spying on me, but because you never know who'll come crawling through that hole.
#8. "RE: OT! What do you think of this?????" In response to rhbowler (Reply # 7)
That's true.
But when they and a few others started saying "we'll leave the door open for the FBI" I started worrying that either some of the better vendors would follow suit. Luckily they've backed off of it.
As an aside, why should an anti-virus program which is sold overseas leave a hole open for the FBI? And if they make an "international" version without the hole, would it be illegal to run the international version on your PC in the US? What if foreign governments decided to use their own trojans similar to the FBI? Would the companies then have to open holes for those trojans when their product was installed in those countries? Just some of the sticky questions that come up when you start deciding which trojans are "good" and should be allowed through.