Federal Wiretaps Down Slightly, Encryption Impact Decreases 24
coondoggie writes: According to the 2014 Wiretap Report, released today by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts a total of a total of 3,554 wiretaps were reported as authorized, with 1,279 authorized by federal judges and 2,275 authorized by state judges. Compared to the applications approved during 2013, the number approved by federal judges decreased 13% in 2014 and the number approved by state judges increased 8%. One state wiretap application was denied in 2014, the report stated.
What is this, a stock market? (Score:3, Funny)
Wiretaps down... But soybeans are up!
I can see the campaign. *Elect me, and domestic wiretaps will decrease by 14.3% more than the other candidate!*
Re: (Score:2)
Somehow ... when you can number these in the thousands...
Then you most likely have a population in the hundreds of millions, a very small proportion of which are actually under investigation. While I certainly agree that they should be a "rare" and "extreme" measure, I just don't find it unreasonable to believe that one person in a hundred thousand is under a wiretap-requiring investigation.
Authorized Wire taps (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh come on....
* NSA tapes ALL domestic communications
* Police and FBU use Stingrays
Authorized wiretaps are down because they just don't need them anymore.
Re:Authorized Wire taps (Score:4, Interesting)
Exactly. This does NOT say that wiretaps are down, only that "reported wiretaps" are down.
Maybe some of the reports were from LEOs trying to do the right thing. I certainly hope so.
Re: (Score:2)
i would like to buy a stingray. where can i get one?
Re: (Score:2)
Here [petsolutions.com]
Meanwhile... (Score:3, Informative)
Warrantless, illegal mass surveillance continues unabated.
Re: (Score:2)
They have a warrant. A secret FISA court warrant. Still unconstitutional though.
Re: (Score:1)
Hmmm, this story http://www.huffingtonpost.com/... [huffingtonpost.com] would make it seem otherwise.
Re: Meanwhile... (Score:1)
I would have thought (Score:2)
AUTHORIZED wiretaps are down (Score:3)
I guess the editors decided that a sensationalistic headline is better than a provocative one.
Meanwhile, I can only imagine that warentless wiretaps are way up given that there's more people and more phones and the NSA.
What pointless numbers (Score:3)
Hey everyone! Look at these small numbers over here! Ignore the fact that EVERY device has metadata logged so we can tell who you talked to, when... and possibly more but we'll not mention that.
So with all the whining from the FBI, etc... (Score:3, Informative)
It turns out that there were ONLY two freaking wiretaps that were encrypted and as a result of encryption the feds couldn't decipher.
So for seemingly weeks we were told of the dangers that encryption posed to the authorities. They universally proclaimed encryption to be a direct threat to national security. I remember glancing at some of the stories and wondering just how big of a problem was this so-called threat. Well now we know. They want everyone to give up encryption because they couldn't decipher two messages. Wow. End of the world type stuff. Nothing like losing credibility. I know how I'll feel the next time the director of the FBI makes a plea for another reduction of our freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism.
Re: (Score:3)
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Re: (Score:2)
Yes, they just hate it when we keep them sorta-kinda semi honistish.
Wiretapism (Score:2)
Read book "The Code Book. The secret history of codes and code-breaking" by Simon Singh, ISBN 1-85702-889-9 (no affiliation).
Practically any historical event has got a wiretapping background. This is what states do.