I assume you all know about the FBI and their 'Carnivore' program which spies on people by sniffing their computer packets and uses this ill-gotten information to get guys in trouble. Some fellows in New York City developed their own Carnivore thing based on information taken from FBI files. Don't ask me how they got into the FBI files.
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If you like what they have to say, then you can build your own sniffer with this program. Just download the version which goes with your operating system:
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We tried it here on Patrick's computer network and it is sitting here right now sniffing at his weather station stuff and some email on another computer. Of course, I presume you could also use this Carnivore to spy on people and their credit card numbers or things like that on the net, but why would you want to do something wrong like steal credit card numbers and passwords?
If you administer a computer network at your school or company, I don't see any reason why you couldn't use this in the routine course of your duties at work, etc. Just use this tool in an ethical and honest way, as all guys do when they use their computers; the way the government does its business. Patrick said it should make a good worthwhile project for readers this weekend.
Lisa M.