What ability does law enforcement have to monitor phone calls?

Posted on June 19, 2008 by smsgov

Emerging technology has raised questions about how, and under what circumstances and situations, law enforcement agencies can tap into and trace phone calls. As new and enhanced telecommunications systems develop, the debate over this issue becomes more intense.

At this point, law enforcement officers and intelligence agencies can seek permission from the courts to enact surveillance of telephone and computers as part of an investigation. They are authorized to do so by the Wiretapping Act of 1968, the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA), and the Patriot Act of 2001. Investigations involving monitoring phone calls must be specifically for solving a criminal case or intended for national security purposes.

According to the 2007 Wiretap Report, federal and state courts issued 2,208 orders for the interception of wireless, local phone, or Internet communications in 2007. This represents a 20-percent increase over the previous year.

Law enforcement agencies are, when warranted, able to tape the specifics of a conversation or to trace the origins of a call without either party on the call being aware of the surveillance. Under the provisions of CALEA, this applies to all telecommunications companies including VoIP—Voice Over Internet Protocol—services.

Communications over fiber optic systems are more difficult to tap and monitor. With fiber optic technology, picking up on transmissions can be more difficult.

If a phone tap is implemented, a computer copies the digitized phone conversation to a second line and it is impossible to tell whether a line is being tapped. A well-designed tap installed on a phone wire can be difficult to detect.

The American Civil Liberties Union has fought the expansion of law enforcement surveillance practices of telephone and computer conversations for decades. However it has been mostly unsuccessful.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , |

« »

61 Responses

  1. smsgov, on June 19, 2008 at 2:10 am said:

    For more information on Trap and trace devices see the Cornell University website:

    http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sup_01_18_10_II_20_206.html

    Reply
  2. smsgov, on June 23, 2008 at 4:54 am said:

    Assistance Capability Requirements for Wireline, Cellular, and PCS Telecommunications Carriers

    Assistance Capability Requirements for Wireline, Cellular, and PCS Telecommunications Carriers

    Reply
  3. Jonathan Reed, on July 1, 2008 at 9:36 pm said:

    Good ideas

    Reply
  4. Billy Brooks, on July 1, 2008 at 9:53 pm said:

    Ok thank you for that

    Reply
  5. Matthew Walker, on July 2, 2008 at 12:40 am said:

    I did not know that

    Reply
  6. Howard Barnes, on July 2, 2008 at 3:30 am said:

    Great advice

    Reply
  7. Eugene Ross, on August 12, 2008 at 5:40 pm said:

    good point

    Reply
  8. Carl Parker, on August 12, 2008 at 6:47 pm said:

    good point

    Reply
  9. Clarence Foster, on August 12, 2008 at 8:03 pm said:

    good point

    Reply
  10. Scott Lopez, on August 13, 2008 at 2:14 am said:

    good point

    Reply
  11. Jeremy Price, on August 13, 2008 at 3:16 pm said:

    good point

    Reply
  12. Howard Barnes, on August 13, 2008 at 5:41 pm said:

    good point

    Reply
  13. Terry Morgan, on August 14, 2008 at 2:49 pm said:

    good point

    Reply
  14. Benjamin Ward, on August 14, 2008 at 9:03 pm said:

    good point

    Reply
  15. Robert Williams, on August 14, 2008 at 10:48 pm said:

    good point

    Reply
  16. Russell Coleman, on August 15, 2008 at 7:35 pm said:

    good point

    Reply
  17. Robert Williams, on August 23, 2008 at 6:45 am said:

    Someone needs to record it for the rest of us…

    Reply
  18. Gregory Baker, on August 26, 2008 at 2:11 am said:

    All it says is “For stimulating conversation call this number”, and then it hangs up on you.

    Reply
  19. Charles Wilson, on August 26, 2008 at 6:52 am said:

    Teamwork…means never having to take all the blame yourself.

    Reply
  20. Raymond Adams, on August 27, 2008 at 5:43 pm said:

    Just keep trying it only took me about 7 tries to get through.

    Reply
  21. Patrick Perez, on August 27, 2008 at 7:10 pm said:

    use drums? use smoke signals? 🙂

    Reply
  22. Joe Stewart, on August 28, 2008 at 3:37 am said:

    use drums? use smoke signals? 🙂

    Reply
  23. Andrew Green, on August 29, 2008 at 9:59 pm said:

    Copying from a single source is called plagiarism, copying from multiple source is called research.

    Reply
  24. Clarence Foster, on September 2, 2008 at 4:52 am said:

    If you want truly to understand something, try to change it.

    Reply
  25. James Smith, on September 4, 2008 at 11:54 pm said:

    Hey, at least you are getting better than normal customer service.

    Reply
  26. Eric Hill, on September 5, 2008 at 6:04 pm said:

    I can vouch for the swearing. Some systems don’t respond to key presses and I will just automatically start flipping out then all of a sudden *ring*

    Reply
  27. Steve Kelly, on September 7, 2008 at 12:03 am said:

    A lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a thousand men with guns.

    Reply
  28. Gregory Baker, on September 10, 2008 at 2:24 pm said:

    Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value.

    Reply
  29. Harold Turner, on September 11, 2008 at 2:58 am said:

    Aim Low, Reach Your Goals, Avoid Disappointment.

    Reply
  30. Clarence Foster, on September 11, 2008 at 5:10 am said:

    Hey, at least you are getting better than normal customer service.

    Reply
  31. Phillip Patterson, on September 12, 2008 at 4:20 pm said:

    A wise man does not need advice and a fool won’t take it.

    Reply
  32. Brandon Peterson, on September 12, 2008 at 9:09 pm said:

    Being yourself is being the person everyone else wants you to be.

    Reply
  33. Benjamin Ward, on September 14, 2008 at 2:23 pm said:

    Never put off until tomorrow what you can avoid all together.

    Reply
  34. Charles Wilson, on September 15, 2008 at 10:50 pm said:

    well said

    Reply
  35. Craig Washington, on September 16, 2008 at 8:42 am said:

    To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.

    Reply
  36. Ralph Cooper, on September 16, 2008 at 6:52 pm said:

    The wisest mind has something yet to learn.

    Reply
  37. Jerry Nelson, on September 16, 2008 at 7:42 pm said:

    I thought the tin foil hat was good enough

    Reply
  38. Brandon Peterson, on September 17, 2008 at 5:39 pm said:

    You just call the number you want to call with the country code. For instance if you wanna call a US toll-free number dial “+1800#######”

    Reply
  39. Jason Lee, on September 22, 2008 at 5:37 pm said:

    Toll free numbers have a number of features which make them different from standard 1+ switched numbers. All toll free numbers are registered with the national SMS database. Not to be confused with “Short Message Service” on cell phones, the SMS database keeps track of ownership of a toll free numbers via RespOrg (Responsible Organization), and routing of toll free numbers, including time of day routing, area of service routing, and the ability to route toll free numbers across multiple carriers for rudundantcy purposes. At the carrier level, toll free numbers may be pointed to either a customer’s trunk group or to a POTS number.

    Toll free numbers cannot be slammed, the only way to change carrier on a toll free number is to write a letter of authorization to the RespOrg to release the number back to the national SMS database.

    In short, toll free numbers are industrial strength telecom. They’re not going anywhere until someone can build an infrastructure which offers the same or better guaranteed reliability.

    Reply
  40. Anthony Rodriguez, on September 22, 2008 at 8:09 pm said:

    just because you have a number doesn’t mean you’re going to be heard.

    Reply
  41. Harry Ramirez, on September 23, 2008 at 3:00 pm said:

    Speaking of financial institutions, State Farm Insurance/Bank has been using a voice authentication for about 2 years now. Their system has you repeat about 8 numbers back to it before you can use the telephone teller. I can honestly say that I have had less problems with their system than any other voice recognition/speaker recognition system.

    Reply
  42. Sean Gonzales, on September 23, 2008 at 6:17 pm said:

    A little off-topic, but what is the fourth generation mentioned in the article? Looking at some of the cellphones in Japan, i’m wondering what further features they could throw in there…

    Reply
  43. Roger Collins, on September 23, 2008 at 11:34 pm said:

    interesting article. much appreciated

    Reply
  45. Carlos Henderson, on February 25, 2009 at 8:32 pm said:

    I once had to call eBay… what a nightmare. I wish I’d never found their number, as the “service” was so horrible and the experience even worse.

    Nonetheless, this is a great resource to have handy – I’ve bookmarked it. Thanks for sharing this info with us.

    Reply
  46. Joshua Gonzalez, on February 25, 2009 at 9:58 pm said:

    For those unfortunate times when you forget your cellphone at home and need to call a taxi (Or some other business), you can use Goog411 to make free phone calls from a payphone…

    Reply
  47. Can law enforcement legally monitor phone calls? « Toll Free Service Management System News, on May 9, 2009 at 6:02 am said:

    […] more here. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Sweden’s new wiretapping law ‘much worse […]

    Reply
  50. Wiretaps Could Be Implemented on Your Toll Free Number « Toll Free Service Management System News, on September 20, 2009 at 6:08 am said:

    […] more here. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Toll Free Home Phone Numbers?Virtual Office […]

    Reply
  51. Fiber Optic Security « Toll Free Service Management System News, on January 15, 2010 at 6:02 am said:

    […] Read how difficult this can be, here. […]

    Reply
  60. The Patriot Act in Action « Toll Free Service Management System News, on December 28, 2010 at 6:06 am said:

    […] The Patriot Act in Action Posted on December 28, 2010 by smsgov Has the government gone too far with their so called “regulations” (or lack there of) on phone tapping? If you are asking yourself why the government might want to tap lil’ ‘ol you and just forget about it… Don’t, because you’re in for a big surprise. Read more here. […]

    Reply
  61. Phone Companies – Friend or Foe today? | Toll Free Service Management System News, on June 7, 2013 at 6:53 am said:

    […] What ability does law enforcement have to monitor phone calls? […]

    Reply

Leave a reply to Phone Companies – Friend or Foe today? | Toll Free Service Management System News Cancel reply