Wiretapping

Wiretapping, also known as wire tapping or telephone tapping, is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connection was an actual electrical tap on an analog telephone or telegraph line. Legal wiretapping by a government agency is also called lawful interception. Passive wiretapping monitors or records the traffic, while active wiretapping alters or otherwise affects it.^[1]^[2]

"Wiretap" redirects here. For the radio program, see WireTap (radio program). For the listening device, see Covert listening device.

using an inductive (telephone pickup coil) attached to the handset or near the base of the telephone, picking up the stray field of the telephone's hybrid;^[26]

coil tap

fitting an in-line tap, as discussed below, with a recording output;

using an in-ear microphone while holding the telephone to the ear normally; this picks up both ends of the conversation without too much disparity between the volumes

[27]

more crudely and with lower quality, simply using a speakerphone and recording with a normal microphone

Echelon (signals intelligence)

Indiscriminate monitoring

Harvest now, decrypt later

Mass surveillance

Phone hacking

Secure telephone

Telephone tapping in the Eastern Bloc

RFC

2804

NY Times May 5, 2008

In Pellicano Case, Lessons in Wiretapping Skills

NY Times May 7, 2008