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posted by n1 on Monday July 03 2017, @11:19AM   Printer-friendly
from the always-listening dept.

US authorities intercepted and recorded millions of phone calls last year under a single wiretap order, authorized as part of a narcotics investigation.

The wiretap order authorized an unknown government agency to carry out real-time intercepts of 3.29 million cell phone conversations over a two-month period at some point during 2016, after the order was applied for in late 2015.

The order was signed to help authorities track 26 individuals suspected of involvement with illegal drug and narcotic-related activities in Pennsylvania.

The wiretap cost the authorities $335,000 to conduct and led to a dozen arrests.

But the authorities noted that the surveillance effort led to no incriminating intercepts, and none of the handful of those arrested have been brought to trial or convicted.

The revelation was buried in the US Courts' annual wiretap report, published earlier this week but largely overlooked.

"The federal wiretap with the most intercepts occurred during a narcotics investigation in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and resulted in the interception of 3,292,385 cell phone conversations or messages over 60 days," said the report.

Details of the case remain largely unknown, likely in part because the wiretap order and several motions that have been filed in relation to the case are thought to be under seal.

It's understood to be one of the largest number of calls intercepted by a single wiretap in years, though it's not known the exact number of Americans whose communications were caught up by the order.

Source: ZDnet


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 03 2017, @01:27PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 03 2017, @01:27PM (#534421)

    Let's recap 10 years of internet outrage about U.S. Government intelligence-gathering:

    1. The American agencies hoover up everything they can get their hands on, any time they want, and share it with anyone they damn well please.

    2. All of the "Fives Eyes" countries are complicit in this.

    3. Very few citizens of said countries give a shit, at least not enough to spur meaningful reform or oversight.

    4. There is, by design, no effective oversight by legislative or judicial authorities. Lone reformers crying in the wilderness are routinely ignored. The outrage of the few is quelled by the apathy of the many.

    5. The press, perhaps with the exception of Wikileaks, is so universally reviled and mistrusted that any new revelations are either ignored or disbelieved.

    That about covers it. When something changes, that's called news. Otherwise, these stories are just more "Karl Marx is still dead." observations of the on-going obvious.

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  • (Score: 2, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Monday July 03 2017, @01:59PM

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Monday July 03 2017, @01:59PM (#534427) Homepage Journal

    Obama is out of control. The CIA is out of control. Obama and the CIA wiretapped my phone at Trump Tower. Obama is still wiretapping me. I brought in Mike Pompeo to get the CIA under control. He knows a lot about oil, used to work in the oil industry. As a CEO. We're going to get the CIA back on the job of getting oil for us. Out of the wiretapp business and back into the oil business. Going out and grabbing the oil. Grab, grab, grab for America! I'll tell you what we're gonna do, right – we get greedy, right? Now we're gonna get greedy for the United States. We're gonna grab and grab and grab! We're gonna bring in so much money and so much everything, we're gonna make America great again folks, I'm telling you, we're gonna make America great again. 🇺🇸