Arnold wrote:
> It will be interesting to see what the reports say. But it is worth
> noting that according to
> http://www.uscourts.gov/wiretap99/contents.html there were 1350
> wiretaps approved by state and federal judges in the US in 1999. 72%
> were for drug cases. Over the last 10 years, wiretaps have accounted
> for an average of less than 2500 convictions per year. Hence wiretaps
> convict only a tiny fraction of the US prison population, which is
> now over 1.3 million.
While it is a popular myth that the USG counts wiretaps, the USG does not in
fact do so. The USG counts wiretap orders. There is a significant difference
between the number of wiretap orders issued and the number of wiretaps
performed. I am not even talking about the wiretaps that are being performed
without court order typically showing up at trials as a "confidential
informant" source.
Wiretap orders can, and virtually almost always do, cover multiple phone
lines. At a minimum, a wiretap order will cover a person's home and work
numbers. Even if you work at a small office, that's likely to be several
lines at least. But wiretap orders can and do go beyond that. The glimpse at
wiretap reality the cases in LA have afforded the public show that judges
will issue wiretap orders for entire cellular providers. One wiretap order
listed in the official statistics may well correspond to several hundred, or
even thousands, of wiretaps.
Statistics are good thing, but they need to be read carefully.
--Lucky
