From: Dave Banisar <banisar@washofc.cpsr.org>
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 94 09:05:45 PST
To: Black Unicorn <paul@hawksbill.sprintmrn.com
Subject: Re: (fwd) FBI Wiretaps. Old news....
Message-ID: <9403220823.AA09340@Hacker2.cpsr.digex.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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> Date: Sun, 20 Mar 1994 12:06:05 -0500 
> From: Black Unicorn <unicorn> 
> Message-Id: <199403201706.AA03413@access3.digex.net> 
> To: cypherpunks@toad.com, paul@hawksbill.sprintmrn.com 
> Subject: Re:  (fwd) FBI Wiretaps. Old news.... 
> Sender: owner-cypherpunks@toad.com 
> Precedence: bulk 
> 
> >          ``We could be out of the wiretap business in a very short 
> > time,'' Freeh said. He said 91 court-approved wiretaps were 
> > abandoned last year because telephone companies could not solve 
> > technical problems. 
> 
> 
> I forgot to add, EFF's recent FOIA act asking for equipment 
> interference with court ordered wiretaps showed NO problems. 
> 
> Where the 91 figure comes from is a mystery. 
> 
> 


Actually that was a series of CPSR FOIA requests dating back to 1992. EFF 
(except for some done by Bd. Member John Gilmore) does not do FOIA.


There are fudging seriously on the 91 figure. They admit that none of them 
have to do with digital telephony. At least 10 were from NY in the mid-80s 
when everyone wanted a cell phone and there wernt enough ports for the FBI to 
wiretaps them all at the same time. That situation has been remedied. Another 
30 of them were when they could not slap a pen register on a cell phone 
(actually nothing to do with taps at all really). and so on. After Freeh 
mentioned the 9 figure, Leahy really took him apart on the figures.

-d