A History of Wiretapping

ChelleChelle writes "Wiretapping technology has grown increasingly sophisticated since the police first began to utilize it as a surveillance tool in the 1890s. What once entailed simply putting clips on wires has now evolved into building wiretapping capabilities directly into communications infrastructures (at the government's behest). In a modern society, where surveillance is often touted as a way of ensuring our safety, it is important to take into consideration the risks to our privacy and security that electronic eavesdropping presents. In this article, Whitfield Diffie and Susan Landau examine these issues, attempting to answer the important question: does wiretapping actually make us more secure?"

Comments

Re:This is against the Law.

[commodore64_love]

"hahahaha! Just words on a page." - President Bush

"That's right George. Constitutional law means nothing to us. Heck there's not even any punishment for violating it!" - President Obama

"Heh heh heh. Boy you guys are a laugh riot." - President Clinton