Switched has a new home! Huffpost Tech.

Click here to visit the new home of Switched!

Hot on HuffPost Tech:

See More Stories
AOL Tech

Government Wiretaps Rise in 2009

by Warren Riddle on May 4, 2010 at 07:40 AM

A recent court ruling indicated that the Bush-era warrantless wiretappings were indeed illegal, confirming what most people already considered blatantly obvious. Some observers will undoubtedly and rightfully celebrate that ruling, and pronounce that it may signal a move toward increased law enforcement transparency and strengthened individual freedoms.

Yet, according to an official government report from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, the ruling may not actually possess real significance other than in regards to monetary retribution for the offended -- or make much of a difference in the way of monitored mobiles, either.

The report provides statistics on instances of both state and federal wiretapping in 2009, and reveals that warrants for such activities are apparently, and distressingly, granted without reproach. A total of 2,376 wiretap orders were executed during 2009, an increase of 26-percent from 2008, and the various courts reportedly did not refuse a single warrant request. None of that data even pertains to the warrantless spy cases, or to terrorist investigations, as Wired has stated that 96-percent of the taps were related to mobile phones and drug investigations.

The wiretaps did result in a total of 4,537 arrests and 678 convictions, but they also affected an enormous group of 268,488 individuals, while only 19-percent of the intercepted messages turned out to be incriminating. The wiretaps weren't exactly cheap, either, as law enforcement dropped an average of $52,200 on each individual case.

The report doesn't provide much hope for cell users who value their conversational privacy (and the Constitution), but, given the high price and low success rate, maybe some of those deadbeat eavesdroppers will continue to draw criticism when they shirk their next exorbitant bill. [From: Wired]

Tags: AdministrativeOfficeOfUsCourt, cellphone, government, law, patriotact, privacy, top, WarrantlessWiretapping, wiretap, wiretapping

HuffPost AOL Social News Most Popular