On Tue, 12 Sep 1995, Andrew Spring wrote:
intercepts requested and authorized in the past year. As I recall, the number was quite small - around 12K [?]. Someone had found this out through an FOIA request, perhaps, (my recollection of it is poor). It was
I think it's about 1200.
not a large number, anyway. I must conclude that the actual number of intercepts is much, much larger than they are saying, and that they must be getting what they perceive to be good intel from all this snooping.
A more cautious conclusion would be would be that the importance (to the LEA's) of the busts made with crypto is much larger than the numbers suggest. You could interpret that a lot of ways: I suspect that high-profile career-enhancing cases are highly dependent on wiretaps.
No question. Many high profile public corruption, Mafia, and high-level narcotics trafficking cases are made with wiretaps. In our district, we managed to convict almost 20 people in an investigation of the state legislature, including the now-former Speaker of the House and > 6 other legislators. Bribing lobbyists took hits, etc. Particularly effective were the court-approved video and audio tapes of the Speaker taking a bribe in exchange for certain action on legislation and responding to the bribing party: "Well bless your heart." That has become the office's mantra. I understand the same was true of the South Carolina state legislature investigation (wiretaps). A number of previous investigations of our legislature failed over the past 15 years as the stonewall held. Wiretaps, hidden microphones, and hidden cameras put corrupt politicians (I know - redundant) out of business. I don't doubt that wiretaps may sometimes be abused despite the incredibly onerous review process, but they have positive aspects, too. Not a lawyer on the Net, although I play one in real life. ********************************************************** Flame way! I get treated worse in person every day!!