FBI Wiretapping Request

The FBI really wants to increase its wiretapping capability, by about 200% per capita above current levels.

The following two items come from Edupage.

FBI REQUESTS MUCH LARGER WIRETAPPING CAPABILITY

The Federal Bureau of Investigation wants Congressional approval for a plan that would increase its wiretapping about 2,000% from current capabilities, giving it the ability to monitor as many as 1 in every 100 phone lines in certain high-crime areas. In contrast, fewer than 1 in 174,000 phone lines received court-authorized taps in recent years. The FBI says the plan is "absolutely essential for law enforcement and public safety." New York Times 2 Nov 95 A1

NEW YORK TIMES CORRECTS WIRETAP STORY

Correcting its front page story on the FBI's plans for expanding national wiretapping capability (New York Times 2 Nov 95 A1; Edupage 2 Nov 95), the newspaper says the plan would allow monitoring of 1 in every 1,000 phone lines (not every 100, as mistakenly reported). In a letter to the Times from FBI director Louis Freeh says, "We have not and are not asking for the ability to monitor 1 out of every 100 telephone numbers or any other ridiculous number like that. To obtain that many court orders and conduct that extent of wiretapping would be nearly impossible." New York Times 3 Nov 95 A1,A14

The following item comes from Marc Rotenberg at EPIC.

FBI Unveils National Wiretap Plan

The New York Times reports today that the FBI has proposed "a national wiretapping system of unprecedented size and scope that would give law enforcement officials the capacity to monitor simultaneously as many as one out of every 100 phone lines" in some regions of the country. "FBI Wants to Vastly Increase Wiretapping," NYT, Nov. 2, 1995, at A1

The story follows the October publication in the Federal Register of the FBI plans to implement the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, the controversial "digital telephony" bill that was opposed by many groups last year but supported by an industry association called the "Digital Privacy and Security Working Group" after the government put up $500,000,000 to pay for the new surveillance features. EPIC Alert 2.12

The Times article also notes that there is now some question about whether the law will ever go into effect. A provision to provide funding was deleted last week after "several freshman Republicans, including Representative Bob Barr of Georgia, a former federal prosecutor, said he objected to the way the money for wiretapping would be raised and that he had concerns about how the FBI might use such a sweeping surveillance ability."

The article also says that "The scope of the FBI plan has startled industry telephone executives, who said it was difficult to estimate how much it would ultimately cost to carry out the capacity increases."

EPIC is urging the on-line community to object to implementation of the wiretap plan. More information can be found at our web page:

EPIC Privacy and Wiretapping page

@Man, World-Class Data Snuggler / First Interskate Productions / atman@ecst.csuchico.edu

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