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Anti-virus device raises privacy fears

Nov 29, 2003 10:44PM PST

A new device with potential to fight increasingly damaging computer viruses is worrying privacy advocates.

The tool, developed by Washington University computer scientist John W. Lockwood, can monitor computer networks as much as 16 times faster than current scanning tools.

The company marketing the machine, St. Louis-based Global Velocity, acknowledges that law enforcement and intelligence agencies are interested in the device, although it has yet to be sold.

Privacy advocates say that such a device could drastically enhance the ability of government agents to spy on citizens, if misused.

"Technology in itself is not bad," said Matt LeMieux, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri. "The question is, if the government is going to use it, then what safeguards will be put in place for the use of the device to be sure that it's not going to be misused?"

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