[80796] in Cypherpunks
1996 Wiretap Report
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Eric Blossom)
Wed May 28 18:04:54 1997
Date: Wed, 28 May 1997 11:40:05 -0700
From: Eric Blossom <eb@comsec.com>
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Reply-To: Eric Blossom <eb@comsec.com>
I've been enjoying the 1996 Wiretap report. A couple of my favorite
observations are:
(1) Of the 1149 intercept applications authorized for 1996,
821 were for "Narcotics" and 114 were for "Gambling".
I.e., 81% of the authorized intercepts were targeted at good old
fashioned entrepreneurs.
(2) In the past 11 years (1986 - 1996) a total of 9,912 intercept
applications were approved. Of that number 5 (five!) were for
"Arson, explosives, and weapons." Unless they've classified wiretaps
against "suspected terrorists" in the "Other" category, it looks
as if the LEOs don't think (targeted) wiretaps are useful for stopping
small groups of modestly skilled people bent on blowing things up. No Shit.
