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Telephone tapping (or wire tapping/wiretapping in the US) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The telephone tap or wire tap received its names because historically, the monitoring connection was applied to the wires of the telephone line of the person who was being monitored and drew off or tapped a small amount of the electrical signal carrying the conversation. Legalized wiretapping by police or other recognized governmental authority is otherwise known as lawful interception. Image File history File links Merge-arrows. ... Lawful interception (aka wiretapping) is the interception of telecommunications by law enforcement authorities (LEAs) and intelligence services, in accordance with local law and after following due process and receiving proper authorization from competent authorities. ... Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... For other uses, see Telephone (disambiguation). ... Lawful interception (aka wiretapping) is the interception of telecommunications by law enforcement authorities (LEAs) and intelligence services, in accordance with local law and after following due process and receiving proper authorization from competent authorities. ...

Passive wiretapping attempts only to observe the flow and gain knowledge of the information it contains. Active wiretapping attempts to alter the data or otherwise affect the flow of data.

Legal status

Main article: Telephone recording laws

Telephone tapping is officially strictly controlled in many countries to safeguard an individual's privacy; this is the case in all developed democracies. In theory, telephone tapping often needs to be authorized by a court, and is, again in theory, normally only approved when evidence shows it is not possible to detect criminal or subversive activity in less intrusive ways; often the law and regulations require that the crime investigated must be at least of a certain severity. In many jurisdictions however, permission for telephone tapping is easily obtained on a routine basis without further investigation by the court or other entity granting such permission. Illegal or unauthorised telephone tapping is often a criminal offense. However, in certain jurisdictions such as Germany, courts will accept illegally recorded phone calls without the other party's consent as evidence. Telephone recording laws are laws that govern the civilian recording of telephone conversations by the participants (as opposed to laws controlling governement or law enforcement wiretapping). ... Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to control the flow of information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively. ... A trial at the Old Bailey in London as drawn by Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin for Ackermanns Microcosm of London (1808-11). ... The law of evidence governs the use of testimony (e. ... for other uses please see Crime (disambiguation) A crime is an act that violates a political or moral law. ... This article is about the computer software framework. ...

In the United States, federal agencies may be authorized to engage in wiretaps by the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a court with secret proceedings, in certain circumstances. The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (or FISC) is a U.S. federal court authorized under 50 USC 1803 and established by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (known as FISA for short). ...

Under United States federal law and most state laws there is nothing illegal about one of the parties to a telephone call recording the conversation, or giving permission for calls to be recorded or permitting their telephone line to be tapped. However the Telephone recording laws in some U.S. states require only one party to be aware of the recording, while other states require both parties to be aware. It is considered better practice to announce at the beginning of a call that the conversation is being recorded. Telephone recording laws are laws that govern the civilian recording of telephone conversations by the participants (as opposed to laws controlling governement or law enforcement wiretapping). ...

In India, telephone tapping has to be approved by a designated authority. It is illegal otherwise.

Methods

Official use

Main article: Lawful interception

The contracts or licenses by which the state controls telephone companies often require that the companies must provide access for tapping lines to the security services^{[citation needed]} and the police. In the U.S., telecommunications carriers are required by law to cooperate in the interception of communications for law enforcement purposes under the terms of CALEA. Lawful interception (aka wiretapping) is the interception of telecommunications by law enforcement authorities (LEAs) and intelligence services, in accordance with local law and after following due process and receiving proper authorization from competent authorities. ... A telephone company (or telco) provides telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications. ... An intelligence agency is a governmental organization that for the purposes of national security is devoted to the gathering of information (known in the context as intelligence) by means of espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public sources. ... The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) is a controversial United States wiretapping law passed in 1994 (Pub. ...

When telephone exchanges were mechanical, a tap had to be installed by technicians, linking circuits together to route the audio signal from the call. Now that many exchanges have been converted to digital technology tapping is far simpler and can be ordered remotely by computer. Telephone services provided by cable TV companies also use digital switching technology. If the tap is implemented at a digital switch, the switching computer simply copies the digitized bits that represent the phone conversation to a second line and it is impossible to tell whether a line is being tapped. A well-designed tap installed on a phone wire can be difficult to detect. The noises that some people believe to be telephone taps are simply crosstalk created by the coupling of signals from other phone lines. A telephone operator manually connecting calls with patch cables at a telephone switchboard. ... The public switched telephone network (PSTN) is the network of the worlds public circuit-switched telephone networks, in much the same way that the Internet is the network of the worlds public IP-based packet-switched networks. ... Cable television or Community Antenna Television (CATV) (and often shortened to cable) is a system of providing television, FM radio programming and other services to consumers via radio waves transmitted directly to people’s televisions through fixed coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional... central office = Exchange building in the U.S. telephone exchange = Exchange building in the UK, and is also the UK name for a telephone switch, and also has a technical meaning in U.S. telecoms telephone switch is the U.S. term, but is in increasing use in technical UK... In telecommunication, the term crosstalk (XT) has the following meanings: 1. ... In electronics and telecommunication, coupling is the desirable or undesirable transfer of energy from one medium, such as a metallic wire or an optical fiber, to another medium, including fortuitous transfer. ...

Data on the calling and called number, time of call and duration, will generally be collected automatically on all calls and stored for later use by the billing department of the phone company. These data can be accessed by security services, often with fewer legal restrictions than for a tap. This information used to be collected using special equipment known as pen registers and trap and trace devices and U.S. law still refers to it under those names. Today, a list of all calls to a specific number can be obtained by sorting billing records. A telephone tap during which only the call information is recorded but not the contents of the phone calls themselves, is called a pen register tap. Billing may mean: The process of sending accounts to customers for goods or services is called billing. ... A pen register is an electronic device that records all numbers dialed from a particular telephone line. ... A trap and trace device is an electronic device used to record and trace all communication signals from a telecommunication system. ...

For telephone services via digital exchanges, the information collected may additionally include a log of the type of communications media being used (some services treat data and voice communications differently to conserve bandwidth).

See also: Carnivore (FBI)

Carnivore is a name given to a system implemented by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that is analogous to wiretapping except in this case, e-mail and other communications are being tapped instead of telephone conversations. ...

Unofficial use

A telephone recording adapter (in-line tap). The phone jack connects to the wall socket while the phone being monitored is connected to the adapter's socket. The audio plug connects to the recording device (computer, tape recorder, etc).

It is also possible to tap conversations unofficially. There are a number of ways to monitor telephone conversations: Phone jack can refer to: TRS connectors RCA connectors Telephone jack - A connection system for telephone equipment. ... TRS connector Triple contact plug as described in 1907. ...

• Recording the conversation - the person making/receiving the call records the conversation using a coil tap (telephone pickup coil) attached to the ear-piece, or they fit an in-line tap with a recording output. Both of these are easily available through electrical shops. A more modern alternative is to use telephone recording devices connected to computers, such as call recording software.

• Direct line tap - involves a direct electrical connection to the line using a Butt set or a Beige box, or an induction coil. An induction coil is usually placed underneath the base of a telephone or on the back of a telephone handset to pick up the signal inductively. With a direct connection, there will be some drop in signal levels because of the loss of power from the line, and it may also generate noise on the line. A well designed induction tap does not drain voltage or current from the line because it isn't physically connected to the phone line. Direct taps sometimes require regular maintenance, either to change tapes or replace batteries, which may give away their presence.

• Radio tap - this is like a bug that fits on the telephone line. It can be fitted to one phone inside the house, or outside on the phone line. It may produce noise (there might even be signal feedback on the monitored line on poorly made equipment) to inadvertently alert the caller. Modern state of the art equipment operates in the 30-300 GHz range.^{[citation needed]} The unit is powered from the line to be maintenance free, and only transmits when a call is in progress. These devices tend to be low powered because the drain on the line would become too great, however a state of the art receiver could be located as far away as ten kilometers under ideal conditions, but is usually located within a radius of 1 to 3 km. Research however has also shown that a satellite can be used to receive emissions in the range of a few milliwatts.^{[citation needed]}

• Cordless phones Many cordless phones can be listened to without modification by using a radio scanner.

A coil tap is a wiring feature found on some electrical transformers, inductors and coil pickups, all of which are sets of wire coils. ... Call recording software or call logging software allows a party to record a telephone converstation, either PSTN or VoIP to a digital file format, usually in wav or mp3. ... A butt set, also known as a goat is a test set for telephone lines commonly used by technicians in telephone exchanges and outside plant. ... In phone phreaking, a beige box is a device used to illegally use another persons phone line. ... An induction coil or spark coil (archaically known as a Ruhmkorff coil) is a type of disruptive discharge coil. ... A bug is the common name for a covert listening device, usually a combination of a miniature radio transmitter with a microphone. ... For other uses, please see Satellite (disambiguation) A satellite is an object that orbits another object (known as its primary). ... This box:      Electromagnetic (EM) radiation is a self-propagating wave in space with electric and magnetic components. ... A Scanner is a radio receiver generally capable of picking up AM and FM (and sometimes SSB) radio signals anywhere from 100kHz to 2. ...

Location data

Mobile phones are, in surveillance terms, a major liability. This liability will only increase as the new third-generation (3G) phones are introduced, as the base stations will be located closer together. For mobile phones the major threat is the collection of communications data. This data does not only include information about the time, duration, originator and recipient of the call, but also the identification of the base station where the call was made from, which equals its approximate geographical location. This data is stored with the details of the call and has utmost importance for traffic analysis. For other uses, see Surveillance (disambiguation). ... 3G is the third generation of mobile phone standards and technology, superseding 2G. It is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) family of standards under the International Mobile Telecommunications programme, IMT-2000. // Main article: IMT-2000 International Telecommunications Union (ITU): IMT-2000 consists of six radio interfaces W-CDMA... The term base station can be used in the context of land surveying, wireless computer networking, and wireless communications. ... Traffic analysis is the process of intercepting and examining messages in order to deduce information from patterns in communication. ...

It is also possible to get greater resolution of a phone's location by combining information from a number of cells surrounding the location, which cells routinely communicate (to agree on the next handoff—for a moving phone) and measuring the timing advance, a correction for the speed of light in the GSM standard. This additional precision must be specifically enabled by the telephone company - it is not part of ordinary operation. In the GSM standard, timing advance corresponds to the number of milliseconds the signal from the mobile phone travels to the base station. ... The Global System for Mobile communications (GSM: originally from Groupe Spécial Mobile) is the most popular standard for mobile phones in the world. ...

The second generation mobile phones (circa 1978 through 1990) could be easily monitored by anyone with a 'scanning all-band receiver' because the system used an analog transmission system-like an ordinary radio transmitter. The third generation digital phones are harder to monitor because they use digitally-encoded and compressed transmission. However the government can tap mobile phones with the cooperation of the phone company. It is also possible for organizations with the correct technical equipment to monitor mobile phone communications and decrypt the audio. A device called an "IMSI-catcher" pretends to the mobile phones in its vicinity to be a legitimate base station of the mobile phone network, subjecting the communication between the phone and the network to a man in the middle attack. This is possible because while the mobile phone has to authenticate itself to the mobile telephone network, the network does not authenticate itself to the phone. Once the mobile phone has accepted the IMSI-catcher as its base station the IMSI-catcher can deactivate GSM encryption using a special flag. All calls made from the tapped mobile phone go through the IMSI-catcher and are then passed on to the mobile network. Some phones include a special monitor mode (activated with secret codes or special software) which displays GSM operating parameters such as encryption while a call is being made. There is no defense against IMSI-catcher based eavesdropping, except using end-to-end call encryption; products offering this feature, secure telephones, are already beginning to appear on the market, though they tend to be expensive and incompatible with each other, which limits their proliferation. ‹ The template below (Expand) is being considered for deletion. ... An IMSI catcher is a device for intercepting GSM mobile phones. ... In cryptography, a man in the middle attack (MTM) is an attack in which an attacker is able to read, insert and modify at will, messages between two parties without either party knowing that the link between them has been compromised. ... A Secure Terminal Equipment desk set. ...

There were proposals for European mobile phones to use stronger encryption, but this was opposed by a number of European countries, including the Netherlands and Germany, which are among the world's most prolific telephone tappers (over 10,000+ phone numbers in both countries in 2003).^{[citation needed]} Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

One-ring calls

These calls cannot be recognized by caller ID as a CID displays the caller's number only between the first two rings. The purpose of a one-ring call is usually to determine if a person is using the phone. Accessing the telephone exchange is one way to determine the origin of these calls.^{[citation needed]} Last Call, also known as *69, also gives the CID number even if it only rings once. For the protein involved in the synthesis of major histocompatibility complex II, see CLIP (protein). ... A telephone operator manually connecting calls with patch cables at a telephone switchboard. ...

Internet

Peter Garza, a Special Agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, conducted the first court-ordered Internet wiretap in the United States while investigating Julio Cesar Ardita ("El Griton"). Peter Garza Peter Garza (born August 6, 1960) is an acclaimed computer forensics expert and cybercrime investigator. ... NCIS Badge The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is the United States Department of the Navys primary law enforcement agency and successor to the former Naval Investigative Service (NIS). ...

As technologies emerge, including VOIP, new questions are raised about law enforcement access to communications (see Voip recording). IP Telephony, also called Internet telephony, is the technology that makes it possible to have a telephone conversation over the Internet or a dedicated Internet Protocol (IP) network instead of dedicated voice transmission lines. ... VoIP communications can be easily recorded using HotRecorder. ...

The Internet Engineering Task Force has decided not to consider requirements for wiretapping as part of the process for creating and maintaining IETF standards (RFC 2804). The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) develops and promotes Internet standards, cooperating closely with the W3C and ISO/IEC standard bodies; and dealing in particular with standards of the TCP/IP and Internet protocol suite. ...

Webtapping

Webtapping is a term that refers to the practice of logging the IP addresses of users that access certain websites. Webtapping is used to monitor websites that presumably contain dangerous or sensitive materials, and the people that access them. Though it is allowed by the USA PATRIOT Act, it is considered by many to be at the very least a questionable practice, if not an all-out violation of civil liberties. An IP address (Internet Protocol address) is a unique address that certain electronic devices currently use in order to identify and communicate with each other on a computer network utilizing the Internet Protocol standard (IP)—in simpler terms, a computer address. ... In the United States, the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001 (Public Law 107-56), known as the USA PATRIOT Act or simply the Patriot Act, is an Act of Congress which President George W. Bush signed into law... Civil liberties is the name given to freedoms that protect the individual from government. ...

History

During the American Civil War, government officials under President Abraham Lincoln eavesdropped on telegraph conversations. Telephone wiretapping began in the 1890s, following the invention of the telephone recorder. Wiretapping has also been carried out under most Presidents, usually with a lawful warrant since the Supreme Court ruled it constitutional in 1928. Domestic wiretapping under the Clinton administration led to the capture of Aldrich Ames, a former Soviet spy in 1994. Robert F. Kennedy monitored the activity of Martin Luther King Jr. by wiretapping in 1966.^{[citation needed]} Combatants United States of America (Union) Confederate States of America (Confederacy) Commanders Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee Strength 2,200,000 1,064,000 Casualties 110,000 killed in action, 360,000 total dead, 275,200 wounded 93,000 killed in action, 258,000 total... For other uses, see Abraham Lincoln (disambiguation). ... Aldrich Ames Aldrich Hazen Ames (born May 26, 1941) is a former Central Intelligence Agency counterintelligence officer and analyst, who, in 1994, was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union. ... Robert Francis Bobby Kennedy (November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968), also called RFK, was one of two younger brothers of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and served as United States Attorney General from 1961 to 1964. ... Martin Luther King, Jr. ...

Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent entry of the United States into World War II, the U.S. House of Representatives held hearings on the legality of wiretapping for national defense. Significant legislation and judicial decisions on the legality and constitutionality of wiretapping had taken place years before World War II.^[1] However, it took on new urgency at that time of national crisis.The actions of the government regarding wiretapping for the purpose of national defense in the current war on terror have drawn considerable attention and criticism. In the World War II era, the public was also aware of the controversy over the question of the constitutionality and legality of wiretapping. Furthermore, the public was concerned with the decisions that the legislative and judicial branches of the government were making regarding wiretapping.^[2]

In the Greek telephone tapping case 2004-2005 more than 100 mobile phone numbers belonging mostly to members of the Greek government, including the Prime Minister of Greece, and top-ranking civil servants were found to have been illegally tapped for a period of at least one year. The Greek government concluded this had been done by a foreign intelligence agency, for security reasons related to the 2004 Olympic Games, by unlawfully activating the lawful interception subsystem of the Vodafone Greece mobile network. More than 100 mobile phone numbers belonging mostly to members of the Greek government and top-ranking civil servants were found to have been illegally tapped for a period of at least one year. ... Note on Greek names: There is no firm convention for the rendering of Greek personal names into English. ... (Redirected from 2004 Olympic Games) The Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, commonly known as the 2004 Summer Olympics were the 28th Summer Olympic Games. ... Vodafone Greece is the Greek subsidary of Vodafone. ...

CrimethInc. sticker on a telephone warning users of phone tapping by the U.S. government.

The most recent case of U.S. wiretapping was the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy discovered in December 2005. It aroused much controversy, after President George W. Bush admitted to violating a specific federal statute (FISA) and the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The President claimed his authorization was consistent with other federal statutes (AUMF) and other provisions of the Constitution, was necessary to keep America safe from terrorism, and could lead to the capture of notorious terrorists responsible for 9/11. CrimethInc. ... Teh NSA warrantless surveillance controversy concerns surveillance of persons within the United States incident to the collection of foreign intelligence by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) as part of the war on terror. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the forty-third and current President of the United States of America, originally inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978 is a U.S. federal law prescribing procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and collection of foreign intelligence information between foreign powers and agents of foreign powers (which may include American citizens and permanent residents engaged in espionage and violating U... The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public law 107-243, 116 Stat. ... Terrorist redirects here. ... The date that commonly refers to the attacks on United States citizens on September 11, 2001 (see the September 11, 2001 Attacks). ...

In the most recent issue concerning warrantless wiretapping, earlier in 2007 a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court ruled that it increased restraints on the National Security Agency (NSA). The new court ruling requires the NSA to obtain a warrant when intercepting or eavesdropping on foreign-to-foreign intelligence if it passes through any U.S. networks. The Bush Administration in response to this passed a stopgap legislation very quickly through congress that only temporarily relieves the NSA of this prior ruling. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said to Congress that the new ruling could potentially decrease the amount of useful information they collected on groups like al Qaeda by almost two thirds. He also stated that applying for a warrant can run up to 90 pages and can be time consuming and labor intensive. ^[3]

Very active in this issue is The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU has brought about many legal cases challenging the constitutionality of the bill, inserting that it violates our right to free speech and privacy. They have filed lawsuits, motions, and complaints in over 27 states so far to oppose any legislation that encourages unchecked government surveillance.^[4] In response to the government arguments, Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office has said of the bill: “Where will Congress go from here? More unfettered power for an administration that has no respect for the privacy of the citizenry that elected it?”^[5]

The stopgap that was hastily put in place by the Bush Administration expires in February 2008 but Congress and FISA are trying to reach a compromise on the details of the bill to be passed. To reach a compromise both sides are reaching a middle ground on determining when a warrant is or is not necessary. ACLU advocates are pushing to require NSA to provide individual warrants when Americans are involved and on the other hand, U.S. intelligence agencies and the Administration would like as few obstacles in their way of intercepting private information. Both sides have both shown the possibility for a compromise to accept a Bill that would require a FISA court to approve NSA’s procedures while intercepting foreign intelligence when it involves Americans. ^[3]

However, a new addition to this bill, that was recently insisted on by President Bush and Mike McConnell, would grant immunity to telecommunications companies for any "intelligence activity involving communications" that was "designed to detect or prevent a terrorist attack" or attack preparations.^[6] The Bush Administration has acknowledged that intelligence agencies conducted warrantless eavesdropping on Americans with the help of Telecom companies such as Verizon, AT&T, and Qwest.^[7] All three of these Telecom companies face multiple civil lawsuits related to their handling of phone records and the passing of this bill would grant them immunity.

In favor of the bill, McConnell has said, such immunity is necessary to prevent the telecoms from being bankrupted and to encourage them to continue to cooperate with intelligence agencies. Bush has said that he will veto any intelligence bill passed that does not include immunity.^[6] Liz Rose, spokeswoman for the Washington office of the ACLU, says the language of the bill is a "blank check" that would cover not only the warrantless wiretapping program the Bush administration has acknowledged, but any unconfirmed or previously unknown program. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., promised to lead a filibuster to block approval of retroactive immunity. "Retroactive immunity set the terrible precedent that breaking the law is permissible and companies need not worry about the privacy of their customers," Feingold said.^[6]

The bill now goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee, and in the Senate, committees have split on how to handle immunity. With many senators outspoken about their reservations of the bill, more information is needed to continue the proceedings. For now, legislation is stalled in the House.^[7]

See also

• Telephone tapping in the Eastern Bloc
• Secure telephone

Telephone tapping in the countries of the Eastern Bloc was a widespread method of the total surveillance of the population by the secret police. ... A Secure Terminal Equipment desk set. ...

References

For other uses, see 1941 (disambiguation). ... is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 49th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 219th day of the year (220th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 332nd day of the year (333rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 292nd day of the year (293rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• A guide to whether phone conversations can be taped in the United States
• Administrative Office of the United States Courts reports on phone tapping
• RFC 2804
• How Stuff Works: A guide on wiretapping, how it works and links to other resources.
• List of U.S. States with two party or one party consent laws
• Guide to lawful intercept legislation around the world
• Privacy Laws by State
• Electronic Bug Sweeps - See wiretap detection devices available to the public