Just hours after three airplanes smashed into the buildings in what some U.S. legislators have dubbed a second Pearl Harbor, FBI agents began to visit Web-based, e-mail firms and network providers, according to engineers at those companies who spoke on condition of anonymity. An administrator at one major network service provider said that FBI agents showed up at his workplace on Tuesday "with a couple of Carnivores, requesting permission to place them in our core, along with offers to actually pay for circuits and costs."

The FBI's controversial Carnivore spy system, which has been renamed DCS1000, is a specially configured Windows computer designed to sit on an Internet provider's network and monitor electronic communications. To retrieve the stored data, an agent stops by to pick up a removable hard drive with the information that the Carnivore system was configured to record.

Update (01-09-14 16:15): Senate OKs FBI Net Spying - FBI agents soon may be able to spy on Internet users legally without a court order. On Thursday evening, two days after the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, the Senate approved the "Combating Terrorism Act of 2001," which enhances police wiretap powers and permits monitoring in more situations.

Are you willing to sacrifice your civil rights in response to the evil, unthinkable devastation that has been wrought upon us by terrorists? Do you object to the government reviewing and analyzing all of your electronic correspondence and web browsing history? How about some new legislation to place a chip inside every computer sold in the United States to allow the Feds to tap in and monitor the activities of any computer user? It sounds far-fetched but it was at one time a policy pursued by the Clinton administration until civil liberties groups and conservative orgranizations united together and howled in protest to thwart any more development of the "Clipper Chip" proposal. I predict, however, we shall see this idea for intrusive "Big Brother" surveillance resurrected.