# gov spying **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 17, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-spying/155575 "2003-02-17T04:26:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Madkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@Madkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madkins)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-spying/155575/1 "2003-02-17T04:26:05Z")
Exactly how far do they go. Do they monitor MSN, ICQ, and AIM/AOL instant messengers, emails, phones, cell phones, and even spying on citizens ---
**Author:** ![Rattman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@Rattman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattman)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-spying/155575/2 "2003-02-18T13:39:50Z")
a lot of what you will find is lie and such so you may never know, i think it is safe to think that they don’t moniter ICR because that would be to much to save, also apperently if you send a email with certin words in the title they get tracked just my 2p ---
**Author:** ![effac3d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@effac3d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/effac3d)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-spying/155575/3 "2003-02-18T14:09:24Z")
Well AOL says that 1 billion instant messages are passed over AIM every single day. And that just one instant messaging service,to archive and search all the data going over the internet assuming you even could would be an impossible job and would require so many techs there is no way it could be kept quiet. Now selective monitoring of suspected individuals… ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-spying/155575/4 "2003-02-18T14:36:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by effac3d \* > \*\*Well AOL says that 1 billion instant messages are passed over AIM every single day. > > And that just one instant messaging service,to archive and search all the data going over the internet assuming you even could would be an impossible job and would require so many techs there is no way it could be kept quiet. \*\* You don’t use techs, you use big computers. You don’t store, you filter in realtime and only store the hits. Filtering IM in real time is not a hard problem, especially compared to the kinds of filtering the FBI does have in place for fingerprint and facial recognition. Given the big iron they have that run those searches incredibly fast, filtering little text messages is fairly trivial. The only difficulty is the distributed nature, which means you can’t filter a central location and may need to locate your search sites on several major backbones. I don’t have any evidence that the government is monitoring IM traffic, but I guarantee that if they’re not, the reasons are legal (i.e. no legal warrant) and practical (i.e. not much point) rather than technical. ---
**Author:** ![Flying\_Monk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/48db29/32.png) [@Flying\_Monk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flying_Monk)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-spying/155575/5 "2003-02-18T14:45:30Z")
Let’s see someone bring up PROMIS… ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-spying/155575/6 "2003-02-18T16:23:00Z")
No PROMIS, but how about a nice [Echelon](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010720.html) story from Cecil. ---
**Author:** ![desertrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@desertrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/desertrat)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gov-spying/155575/7 "2003-02-18T17:36:40Z")
This might be a slight hijack, but it is related. About 6 months ago, I sent a package (expensive feathered kitty toys) to Oz. I made the mistake of packing them in the outer box that contained a case of primers. There were some unpleasant moments when the opened package and damaged-beyond-use lures were returned to me. Our question has always been, who caught it? Every other time I have sent feathers to Oz, the package has been opened and decontaminated, but delivered. Did Oz customs get mad this time or did the USPS really have to cut open each toy to be sure I wasn’t mailing a bomb?