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Wiretapping 101 Many folks have probably spoken on a phone they assumed to be tapped. That is standard security practice for many activists. But how likely is it? How hard is it to tap phones? Could you do it to someone else? The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 essentially requires that the entire US telecommunications system be tailored to the demands of the police state, at an expense largely shouldered by ratepayers. But while AT&T is busy installing location tracking capability for your cell phone, a local wise-use goon could be creeping up to your pedestal box (those metal boxes located at street level, holding up to 1,800 neighborhood phone lines) or even your backyard to install an amateur tapping device he bought at Radio Shack. There’s even a website run by a high school student which details how he used a walkman, alligator clips and an old phone to tap the home of his school principal. Phones are extremely easy to tap, and most taps are difficult or impossible to locate. The scope of this article is not broad enough to cover the volumes of information available, but it’s a good starting point for understanding some basics. Wiretaps are broken into four primary categories: hardwire, soft, record and transmit. When physical access is gained to a section of wire that the telephone signal travels through, the tap is called “hardwired.” A second set of wires is attached, and the signal is then bridged back to a secure location. The theory behind this method, simply put, is like plugging a second appliance into an extension cord— same circuit, just creating another access point. This type of wiretap is popular with police. A soft wiretap is a modification to the software used to run the phone system. This is done at the phone company and is the preferred method with large law enforcement agencies, intelligence agencies and hackers. A record wiretap is nothing more than a voice-activated tape recorder wired into the phone line. It’s similar to a hardwired tap, but the tapes must be changed on a regular basis. This type is favored by amateur spies and private investigators, but it is dangerous to use because it is easy to find with detection devices and requires servicing to replace the tapes. A transmit wiretap, also known as a “bug,” is the solution to the above tape servicing dilemma. A bug is a device that receives audio information while wired into the phone line and broadcasts it through the air. The spy sets up a nearby receiver that picks up this signal and sends it to a speaker or records it on tape. A bug with its own microphone doesn’t even need to be wired into the phone; it can pick up and transmit any sound in a room. It used to be that eavesdroppers were limited in the number of wiretaps they could conduct, simply because of the labor intensive nature of having a human listen to and transcribe conversations. Now new inventions are automating wiretaps, allowing them to evolve in quantity and quality. Computerized voice recognition and programs that search for and isolate key words eliminate the need for a person to listen to every tape. Computer management of data allows agents to easily search for revealing call patterns using information from pen registers, devices that record the numbers dialed on a individual phone line. The constraints of geography are also being eliminated by advancing technology. Agents monitoring wiretaps no longer have to sit in a non-descript delivery van outside the target’s house. Intercepted communications can be transmitted hundreds or thousands of miles to a monitoring facility. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) takes this concept one step further. The DEA forwards intercepts from many different investigations to a central facility in Utah, where they are monitored and transcribed by military personnel. Cordless and cellular phones are especially easy to intercept, as they broadcast over airwaves and usually can be picked up by a scanner. In the US, the cellular phone industry agreed to adopt a weakened scrambling standard under pressure from the National Security Agency. Cell phones can also transmit the location of the user. “Secure” phones using cryptographic scrambling are commercially available but may not provide adequate protection. A telephone attachment sold by AT&T scrambles conversations with the use of a “Clipper Chip,” but the key that unsrambles those conversations is held by the US government. Another option is computer-based scrambling which allows two computer owners to speak through modems. Free programs are available but may require a powerful computer and DSL line to create understandable speech. While it’s somewhat interesting to delve into the various legal workings necessary for an agency like the FBI to obtain a court-ordered wiretap, it bears absolutely no relevance to whether or not they’ve tapped your line. They’ll do as they please, as we well know. What is relevant is that new laws like the USA PATRIOT Act greatly expand the circumstances under which the cops can obtain legal taps, therefore greatly expanding what can be presented in court. So before you say something over the phone, reflect a second on how it would sound played back to a jury.