Wiretap Article

[David Farber <farber@central.cis.upenn.edu>]

Date:    Fri, 24 Sep 1993 16:49:45 -0400 (EDT)
From:    denning@cs.georgetown.edu (Dorothy Denning)
Subject: Wiretap Article


The following article on wiretap laws and procedures was written in
response to the many questions and misunderstandings that have arisen
about wiretaps in the context of escrowed encryption as well as Digital
Telephony.  This article may be distributed.


Dorothy Denning
denning@cs.georgetown.edu


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                -----------------------------------------


                        WIRETAP LAWS AND PROCEDURES
             WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TAPS A LINE




                   Donald P. Delaney, Senior Investigator
                           New York State Police


                  Dorothy E. Denning, Professor and Chair
             Computer Science Department, Georgetown University


                      John Kaye, County Prosecutor
                      Monmouth County, New Jersey


        Alan R. McDonald, Special Assistant to the Assistant Director
        Technical Services Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation 




                           September 23, 1993
                                     


1.  Introduction


Although wiretaps are generally illegal in the United States, the
federal government and the governments of thirty seven states have been
authorized through federal and state legislation to intercept wire and
electronic communications under certain stringent rules which include
obtaining a court order.  These rules have been designed to ensure the
protection of individual privacy and Fourth Amendment rights, while
permitting the use of wiretaps for investigations of serious criminal
activity and for foreign intelligence.


This article describes the legal requirements for government
interceptions of wire and electronic communications and some of the
additional procedures and practices followed by federal and state
agencies.  The legal requirements are rooted in two pieces of federal
legislation: the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act (Title III
of the Act (hereafter "Title III")), passed in 1968, and the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), passed in 1978.  Title III
established the basic law for federal and state law enforcement
interceptions performed for the purpose of criminal investigations,
while FISA established the law for federal-level interceptions
performed for intelligence and counterintelligence operations.  We will
first describe Title III interceptions and then describe FISA
interceptions.