Transportation Minister Binali Yıldırım has said the government plans to increase penalties for illegal wiretapping in order to dissuade people from bugging private phone conversations in violation of the law...
āWith the passage of this draft legislation the punishment [for illegal wiretapping] will be increased three-fold. The punishments will not be suspended or commuted to monetary fine. People who are found guilty of illegal wiretapping will be sentenced to a jail term of two to five years. There is no other method to put a stop to the illegal wiretapping paranoia,ā Yıldırım told Todayās Zaman. The wiretapping of telephone conversations is a highly controversial issue in Turkey. Many believe the police as well as the military and other security agencies frequently bug peopleās phone lines to detect security threats. (more)
Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar says the state-owned Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT), as well as the Irish-owned Digicel, were “commanded” to open their facilities so that the Security Intelligence Agency (SIA) could engage in the illegal wiretapping of citizens.
“Do you remember there was a time in Trinidad when people used to say use a Digicel phone, don’t use a TSTT phone… they were right,” she told reporters. (more)
UPDATE – The countryās top telecommunications companies have both distanced themselves from any involvement in the illegal wiretapping of their customersā phones.
State-controlled Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) would not comment in detail about the wiretapping of phones belonging to Members of Parliament, private citizens and President George Maxwell Richards by the Strategic Intelligence Agency (SIA) but the company is willing to co-operate in any investigation into the matter. (more)
ELECTRONIC EAVESDROPPING AND WIRETAPPING:
How 20th Century Technology Can Cause 21st Century Headaches for You and Your Client
by John H. Case, Gilbert B. Feibleman and Mark Gruber
“In a day and age where everyone can go to Radio Shack and purchase their own miniaturized microphone, recording device and spy camera it has become abundantly clear that every spouse is a potential James Bond. It is not uncommon to be asked by your client: āCan I record secretly conversations with my spouse?ā Unfortunately it is more common that the family law practitioner is merely told about recordings long after they have been made or even after they have been republished. As a result, learning the answer to the question is only part of the lawyerās job. Learning how to advise your clients and how to extricate your client from a potentially criminal quagmire is equally important – the answer is not as simple as the question.” (more)
Old — but recently released —
document discussing the bugging of the Russian embassy in 1940. The document also mentions bugging the embassies of France, Germany, Italy, and Japan.
Also…
A long list of declassified NSA documents. These items are not online; they’re at the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, MD. You can either ask for copies by mail under FOIA (at a 75 cents per page) or come in person. There, you can read and scan them for free, or photocopy them for about 20 cents a page.
