From: "ama-gi ISPI" <offshore@email.msn.com> Subject: IP: ISPI Clips 5.49: More on The FBI's New Wiretap Authority Date: Sat, 17 Oct 1998 00:01:14 -0700 To: <Undisclosed.Recipients@majordomo.pobox.com> ISPI Clips 5.49: More on The FBI's New Wiretap Authority News & Info from the Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues (ISPI) Saturday October 17, 1998 ISPI4Privacy@ama-gi.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This From: ABC News.com, October 13, 1998 http://www.abcnews.com Taps For Privacy? Investigators Can Follow Suspects From Phone To Phone http://www.abcnews.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/wirelaw981013.html By Chris Stamper ABCNEWS.com Buried deep inside the Intelligence Authorization Act of 1999 is a provision that will change the way the FBI and other law enforcement agencies can listen to suspects’ phone calls. The new rule opens the doors for more “roving” wiretaps, which listen to all the phones a suspect uses rather than just a single line. Supporters say this will help the cops keep up with cell-phone wielding crooks. Critics contend that it opens the door for ever more invasions of privacy. The bill passed the House and Senate last week; President Clinton is expected to sign it soon. A similar change was voted down in 1996 as part of an anti-terrorism measure. An Invitation to Abuse? To bug a suspect, investigators must first obtain a court order. Current federal wiretapping law allows multiple taps only if law enforcement can convince a judge that a suspect is trying to avoid being overheard. The new bill, introduced by Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.), requires only that investigators show probable cause that “the person’s actions could have the effect of thwarting interception.” Supporters maintain that such a change is necessary to keep up with exploding technology. Suspects whose lines are tapped can easily switch to a pay phone or cell phone and avoid detection. But Leslie Hagin, legislative director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, echoes the sentiments of many criminal defense attorneys and civil libertarians who feel that the expansion of powers is an invitation to abuse: “It’s not a power the government needs.” Defense attorneys such as Gregory Nicolaysen, founder of the Association of Federal Defense Attorneys, complain that too many judges rubber-stamp wiretapping requests and that the new law will only make that situation worse: “The assumption is that those who are being wiretapped are criminals anyway.” “It’s not being confined to drug dealers and organized crime,” Nicolaysen argues. “It tends to be a knee-jerk reaction instead of an investigative tool of last resort.” The Phones Have Ears According to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, federal and state judges approved 1,186 wiretap applications in 1997 and 1,094 bugs were planted. No requests were denied last year. Judges have rejected only 28 of over 20,000 applications since wiretapping was legalized in 1968. Authorities arrested 3,086 people in 1997 with the help of phone taps, which are typically placed in homes. The American Civil Liberties Union says that for every wiretap placed, nearly a thousand innocent conversations are intercepted by law enforcement. According to ACLU legislative counsel Greg Nojeim, the new bill will mean that the phones of a suspect’s friends, family and business colleagues can all be tapped by law enforcement: “It means more wiretaps, more lines tapped and additional thousands of intercepted innocent conversations.” The FBI says snoops have to ignore conversations that aren’t relevant to their investigations. “Under existing wiretap statutes,” says special agent Barry Smith, “law enforcement is only authorized to listen to those conversations that are related to criminal activity.” Nojeim argues that since roving wiretaps will be easier to obtain, citizens’ Fourth Amendment rights protecting against illegal searches will erode. “When the government wants to search a place, it has to specify the place it wants to search,” he says. “Now for electronic surveillance the specificity requirement is done away with.” Smith says a hefty increase in roving wiretaps is unlikely, since such an operation requires a team of surveillance experts who must coordinate their efforts with several different phone companies: “It’s still a technological and logistical nightmare.” Whether one believes that the new bill represents an invasion of privacy, it seems clear that crooks won’t be able to escape to their cell phones much longer without fear of being overheard. 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