At 20:09 12/29/95, Joel McNamara wrote:

This tidbit was posted a few hours ago on c|net (12/29 4:00 PST).

Thanks to a wiretap on the Internet, three people have been arrested for illegally selling and manufacturing cellular phone equipment and electronic devices over the Internet, according to Secret Service agent Brian Gimlett. This is the first time the Secret Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration were allowed to wiretap via the Internet, says Gimlett.

The rest of the story talks about an exchange of e-mail discussing the sale of various nasty cellular accessories. There is no information on exactly what "wiretap" means or any other technical details. Interesting to note the DEA was in on it.

It is not that hard to "tap" a user's account if you are the SMTP server (you just put a Bcc on all outgoing mail and add an extra account to all incoming mail's Envelope). A few lines in the Sendmail parms would do this very simply.