wiretaps
Secret listening devices
Wiretaps are devices or methods for secretly monitoring telephone or electronic communications, typically used by law enforcement or intelligence agencies.
The term evokes its origins in physically tapping into telephone wires, though modern surveillance is largely digital.
As a verb, to wiretap is to conduct such monitoring: The FBI wiretapped his phone for six months.
Wiretapping usually requires a court order, making unauthorized wiretaps a serious crime.
Secretly listening to others
- buggingSecretly recording conversations
- interceptionSeizing something in transit
- monitoringOngoing observation of something
- tappingRepeated light striking
spying · snooping · espionage · intelligence · counterintelligence · FISA · warrant · court order
eavesdropping
Secretly listening to others
- buggingSecretly recording conversations
- interceptionSeizing something in transit
- monitoringOngoing observation of something
tapping · spying · snooping · espionage · intelligence · counterintelligence · FISA · warrant · court order · subpoena
microphone
Audio input device
- transmitterSignal-emitting device
- recorderEnd-blown wooden flute
- bugCrawling creature or defect
device · equipment · telephone · phone line · cellular · encrypted · scrambler · signal · frequency · detection
intercept
Seize en route
- surveilWatch secretly, systematically
- recordPreserved account or achievement
- listenPerceive sound attentively
capture · trace · track · gather · collect · transcribe · decode · decrypt · analyze · discover
- criminal investigationsinvestigations, crime scene, crime scenes, crime scene investigation, crime scene analysis
- espionagespy, spies, double agent, double agents, spying
- police workpatrol, arrests, arrest, stings, investigation
- investigationinvestigation, detective, evidence, clue, case
- spy gearspy gadgets, decoder rings, invisible ink, microfilm, silencers
- classified inteltop secret, classified, classified documents, state secrets, military secrets
wiretapsinformed consent
Permission given with understanding
voluntary participation · open communication · public broadcast
wiretapsend-to-end encryption
Unreadable data between sender and recipient
privacy protection · secure messaging · encrypted communications · encryption · secure channels
wiretap, wiretapping, wiretapped, wiretapper, wiretappers, wiretappings