Fergie's Tech Blog

EFF and CDT File Brief to Prevent U.S. Government Phone Taps Without Court Order

Via The EFF.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) filed an amicus brief last Friday arguing that the government needs a warrant to collect the content of a telephone call, even if that content came from digits dialed on a phone keypad.

A federal magistrate judge in Texas asked EFF to file the brief in response to requests from government investigators to use a pen register or trap and trace device to collect all information entered using the buttons on a telephone (including, for example, bank account numbers or prescription refill requests). A "pen/trap" order must meet a lower standard of judicial review than a typical phone-tapping warrant, because only telephone numbers dialed from a certain phone -- not the content of the phone call itself -- are normally collected.

In their brief, EFF and CDT ask the judge to continue denying the orders and argue that the government's request cannot be granted without violating federal wiretap law and the Fourth Amendment.

posted by Fergie @ 7/03/2006 08:36:00 AM