Digital Collection System Network

The Digital Collection System Network (DCSNet) is the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s point-and-click surveillance system that can perform instant wiretaps on almost any telecommunications device in the US.

It allows access to cellphone, landline, SMS communications anywhere in the US from a point-and-click interface. It runs on a fiber-optic backbone separate from the internet. It is intended to increase agent productivity through workflow modeling allowing for the routing of intercepts for translation or analysis with only a few clicks. DCSNet real-time intelligence data intercept has the capability to record, review and playback intercepted material in real-time.

The DCSNET systems operates on a virtual private network parallel to the public internet, with services provided at least for some time by the Sprint peerless IP network.

Much of the information available on this system has come from the results of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests made by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

It is composed of at least three classified software components that run on the Windows operating system—DCS3000, DCS5000, DCS6000.

DCS-3000 and "Red Hook" were first mentioned publicly in a March 2006 report from the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General on the implementation of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). The report described Red Hook as "a system to collect voice and data calls and then process and display the intercepted information in the absence of a CALEA solution." and it described DCS-3000 "as an interim solution to intercept personal communications services delivered via emerging digital technologies used by wireless carriers in advance of any CALEA solutions being deployed."

...
Wikipedia