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Wiretaps Increase 19% in 2004

Just in case you thought no one was listening....

The number of secret court-authorized wiretaps across the country surged by 19 percent last year, records show. As law enforcement authorities scurried to keep apace of improving technology favored by criminals, not a single application was denied.

State and federal judges approved 1,710 applications for wiretaps of wire, oral or electronic communications last year, and four states - New York, California, New Jersey and Florida - accounted for three out of every four surveillance orders, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. That agency is required to collect the figures and report them to Congress.

And these numbers don't included FISA applications for national security wiretaps, which also reached a record number of 1,764 last year. One more unsettling statistic:

Most of the wiretap applications, some 1,507 wiretaps, targeted portable devices, such as cell phones and pagers.

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    Re: Wiretaps Increase 19% in 2004 (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Apr 28, 2005 at 11:58:59 AM EST
    Whay is that last statistic unsettling? If al Qaeda's agents, or John Gotti's successors for that matter, are using cell phones like everyone else, wouldn't you expect the Feds to tap their cell phones? What would be surprising and unsettling is if they weren't doing that.

    Re: Wiretaps Increase 19% in 2004 (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Apr 28, 2005 at 12:55:34 PM EST
    "Can they hear me now?"

    Re: Wiretaps Increase 19% in 2004 (none / 0) (#3)
    by scarshapedstar on Thu Apr 28, 2005 at 04:50:48 PM EST
    So tell me, DBL, do you really think the number of Al Qaeda operatives increased by 19% last year?

    Re: Wiretaps Increase 19% in 2004 (none / 0) (#4)
    by kipling on Thu Apr 28, 2005 at 08:03:02 PM EST
    records show So at least records ARE being kept (the ones we know about anyway)...for the time being. The next step is pretty obvious: keeping records is "playing into the hands of the enemy", "we don't do records". And, DBL, for all the billions thrown at security since 9/11, exactly how many terrorists have been caught, charged, tried and found guilty? If you really think all this hoopla is to actually catch terrorists and make America safer, you are the biggest sucker! Just look at the evidence!

    Re: Wiretaps Increase 19% in 2004 (none / 0) (#5)
    by Johnny on Fri Apr 29, 2005 at 09:17:41 AM EST
    But Kipling, we would have been nuked by now! America would be a smouldering ruin! Just look at the evidence! wiretap everyone! Freedom at all cost! Even to the point of not having freedom! Then will we be truly free!