Wiretap Requests From Federal and State Authorities Fell 14% In 2011 64
coondoggie writes "Federal and state court orders approving the interception of wire, oral or electronic communications dropped 14% in 2011, compared to the number reported in 2010. According to a report issued by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts a total of 2,732 wiretap applications were authorized in 2011 by federal and state courts, with 792 applications by federal authorities and 1,940 applications by 25 states that provide reports. The reduction in wiretaps resulted primarily from a drop in applications for intercepts in narcotics offenses, the report noted."
This doesn't mean the amount of wiretaps have drop (Score:5, Insightful)
Only that the ones done legally have dropped. I'm sure the total amount of wiretapping has gone up.
CarrierIQ and the like have made taps obsolete. (Score:5, Insightful)
Why muck around with asking for permission when the phone companies are more than happy to preinstall malware for you and be very cooperative as long as you don't mess with their business?
So? (Score:5, Insightful)
Did they do it less, or stop asking for permission?
[Citation needed] (Score:1, Insightful)
That's the sort of accusation that requires proof.
Re:Except you can't do that (Score:2, Insightful)
If you think the government will just ignore the law and do whatever it wants anyway, then any discussion of the law is moot.
Except that we aren't talking about what's legal, we're talking about the actions that law enforcement are taking. If they are ignoring the law then it is entirely relevant to the point of conversation about how many wiretappings are actually taking place.
Re:[Citation needed] (Score:4, Insightful)
clarification: 8500/140k NSL's which can include wiretaps, 2700 NSL's before - but we're talking about 2700 *wiretaps* at the moment. That shows that the gov't has clearly moved in favor of NSL's.
Before the NSA data center opens?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Except you can't do that (Score:2, Insightful)
And law enforcement says, "Who cares?"
Any discussion of the law is moot.
Come on, a show of hands: Who believes that surveillance of communications has gone down in any year since 2001?
Those of you with your hands up are delusional.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)