Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 6.5
Under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI engaged in illegal wiretapping.
(© Bettmann/Corbis)
government. President Roosevelt agreed to let the FBI resume wiretapping in cases
involving national security, though he asked that the wiretaps be kept to a minimum
and limited as much as possible to aliens [19].
Because it knew evidence obtained through wiretapping was inadmissible in court,
the FBI began maintaining two sets of files: the official files that contained legally ob-
tained evidence, and confidential files containing evidence obtained from wiretaps and
other confidential sources. In case of a trial, only the official file would be released to the
court [19].
The FBI was supposed to get permission from the Department of Justice before in-
stalling a wiretap, but in practice it did not always work that way. During his 48-year
reign as director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover routinely engaged in political surveillance,
tapping the telephones of senators, congressmen, and Supreme Court justices. The infor-
mation the FBI collected on these figures had great political value, even if the recordings
revealed no criminal activity. There is evidence Hoover used information gathered dur-
ing this surveillance to discredit congressmen who were trying to limit the power of the
FBI [19].
CHARLES KATZ v. UNITED STATES
A
bug
is a hidden microphone used for surveillance. In a series of decisions, the
US Supreme Court gradually came to an understanding that citizens should also be
protected from all electronic surveillance conducted without warrants, including bugs.
The key decision was rendered in 1967. Charles Katz used a public telephone to place
bets. The FBI placed a bug on the outside of the telephone booth to record Katz's tele-
phone conversations. With this evidence, Katz was convicted of illegal gambling. The
