The-art-of-invisibility-_-the-world’s-most-famous-hacker-teaches-you-how-to-be-safe-in-the-age-of-Bi

messages. The caller apparentlyy wanted to share some information about
Seagal. Much later Busch learned that the caller had been hired byy Anthonyy
Pellicano, a former high-profile Los Angeles private investigator who at the
time Busch’s car was tampered with was alreadyy suspected byy the FBI of
illegal wiretapping, briberyy, identityy theft, and obstruction of justice.
Busch’s copper-wire phone had been tapped byy Pellicano, who knew byy
eavesdropping on her calls that she was writing a newspaper storyy about his
clients. The fish head on her car was an attempt to warn her off.
Tyypicallyy wiretapping is onlyy associated with phone calls, but
wiretapping laws in the United States can also cover eavesdropping on e-
mail and instant messages. For the moment I’ll focus on wiretapping’s
traditional use, in copper-wire landlines.
Landlines are the hardwired phones in yyour home or business, and
wiretapping involves literallyy tapping into the live wire. Back in the dayy,
phone companies each had phyysical banks of switches on which theyy
performed a version of wiretapping. What that means is that the phone
companyy had special appliances that the frame techs hooked up to the target
phone number on the mainframe in the central office. There is additional
wiretapping equipment that dials into this appliance and is used to monitor
the target. Todayy, that wayy of eavesdropping is retired: phone companies are
all required to implement the technical requirements mandated byy CALEA.
Although a growing number of people todayy have shifted to mobile
phones, manyy still retain their landlines for their copper-wire dependabilityy.
Others use what’s called Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technologyy,
which is telephonyy over the Internet and usuallyy bundled in the home or
office with yyour cable or Internet service. Whether it’s a phyysical switch at
the phone companyy or a digital switch, law enforcement does have the
abilityy to eavesdrop on calls.
The 1994 CALEA requires telecommunications manufacturers and
carriers to modifyy their equipment for the purposes of allowing law
enforcement to wiretap the line. So under CALEA, anyy landline call in the
United States is theoreticallyy subject to interception. And under CALEA, all
law enforcement access requires a Title III warrant. That said, it’s still
illegal for an ordinaryy citizen to conduct a wiretap, which is what Anthonyy
Pellicano did to covertlyy monitor Anita Busch and others. His list of
eavesdropping victims happens to include Hollyywood celebrities such as