Order Code 98-326
Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Privacy: An Overview of
Federal Statutes Governing
Wiretapping and Electronic
Eavesdropping
Updated January 13, 2003
Gina Stevens
Legislative Attorney
American Law Division
Charles Doyle
Senior Specialist
American Law Division
Congressional Research Service ˜ The Library of Congress

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Privacy: An Overview of Federal Statutes Governing
Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping
Summary
This report provides an overview of federal law governing wiretapping and
electronic eavesdropping. It also surveys state law in the area and contains a
bibliography of legal commentary.
It is a federal crime to wiretap or to use a machine to capture the
communications of others without court approval, unless one of the parties has given
their prior consent. It is likewise a federal crime to use or disclose any information
acquired by illegal wiretapping or electronic eavesdropping. Violations can result
in imprisonment for not more than 5 years; fines up to $250,000 (up to $500,000 for
organizations); in civil liability for damages, attorneys fees and possibly punitive
damages; in disciplinary action against any attorneys involved; and in suppression
of any derivative evidence. Congress has created separate but comparable protective
schemes for electronic mail (e-mail) and against the surreptitious use of telephone
call monitoring practices such as pen registers and trap and trace devices.
Each of these protective schemes comes with a procedural mechanism to afford
limited law enforcement access to private communications and communications
records under conditions consistent with the dictates of the Fourth Amendment. The
government has been given even more narrowly confined authority to engage in
wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping in the name of foreign intelligence
gathering in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

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Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Prohibitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Generally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Illegal Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Illegal Disclosure of Information Obtained by
Wiretapping or Electronic Eavesdropping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Illegal Use of Information Obtained by Unlawful Wiretapping or
Electronic Eavesdropping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Shipping, Manufacturing, Distributing, Possessing or Advertising Wire,
Oral, or Electronic Communication Interception Devices . . . . . . . . . . 29
Stored Electronic Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Pen Registers and Trap and Trace Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Generally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Law Enforcement Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping . . . . . . . . . 41
Stored Electronic or Wire Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Pen Registers and Trap and Trace Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Appendices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Appendix I. State Statutes Outlawing the Interception
of Wire(w), Oral(o) and Electronic Communications(e) . . . . . . . . . . 67
Appendix II. Consent Interceptions Under State Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Appendix III. Statutory Civil Liability for Interceptions Under
State Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Appendix IV. Court Authorized Interception Under State Law . . . . . . . . . 71
Appendix V. State Statutes Regulating Stored Electronic
Communications (SE), Pen Registers (PR) and
Trap and Trace Devices (T) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Appendix VI. State Computer Crime Statutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Selected Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

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Privacy: An Overview of Federal Statutes
Governing Wiretapping and Electronic
Eavesdropping
Introduction1
Depending on one’s perspective, wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping are
either “dirty business,” essential law enforcement tools, or both. This is a very
general overview of the federal statutes that proscribe wiretapping and electronic
eavesdropping and of the procedures they establish for law enforcement and foreign
intelligence gathering purposes. Special attention is given to three particularly
troublesome areas of the law: digital telephony, cell phone interception, and
encryption. Although the specifics of state law are beyond the scope of this report,
citations to related state statutory provisions and a selected bibliography of legal
materials have been appended.
Background
1 Portions of this report draw upon a series of earlier reports, no longer available, entitled:
Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance: A Brief Discussion of Pertinent Supreme Court
Cases, A Summary and Compilation of Federal State Statutes, and a Selected Legal
Bibliography (1970); Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance: A Brief Discussion of
Pertinent Supreme Court Cases, A Summary and Compilation of Federal State Statutes, and
a Selected Legal Bibliography (1971); Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance: Federal
and State Statutes (1974); Taps and Bugs: A Compilation of Federal and State Statutes
Governing the Interception of Wire and Oral Communications (1981); The Interception of
Communications: A Legal Overview of Bugs and Taps (1988); Wiretapping & Electronic
Surveillance: The Electronic Communications Privacy Act and Related Matters (1992);
Taps, Bugs & Telephony: An Overview of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and
Electronic Eavesdropping (1998); Privacy: An Overview of Federal Statutes Governing
Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2001).
As used in this report “electronic eavesdropping” refers to the use of hidden
microphones, recorders and any other mechanical or electronic means of ongoing capturing
communications, other than wiretapping (tapping into telephone conversations). In previous
versions of this report and other earlier writings, it was common to use a more neutral term
– electronic surveillance – at least when referring to law enforcement use. Unfortunately,
continued use of the term “electronic surveillance” rather than “electronic eavesdropping”
risks confusion with forms of surveillance that either have individualistic definitions (e.g.,
“electronic surveillance” under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 18 U.S.C.
1801(f)), that involve surveillance that does not capture conversation (e.g., thermal imaging
or electronic tracking devices), or that may or may not capture conversation (e.g., video
surveillance which when it does capture conversation is covered by the law governing
electronic eavesdropping, see United States v. Williams, 124 F.3d 411 (3d Cir. 1997)).

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At common law, “eavesdroppers, or such as listen under walls or windows, or
the eaves of a house, to hearken after discourse, and thereupon to frame slanderous
and mischievous tales, are a common nuisance and presentable at the court-leet; or
are indictable at the sessions, and punishable by fine and finding of sureties for
[their] good behavior,” 4 BLACKSTONE, COMMENTARIES ON THE LAWS OF ENGLAND,
169 (1769).
Although early American law proscribed common law eavesdropping, the crime
was little prosecuted and by the late nineteenth century had “nearly faded from the
legal horizon.”2 With the invention of the telegraph and telephone, however, state
laws outlawing wiretapping or indiscretion by telephone and telegraph operators
preserved the spirit of the common law prohibition in this country.
Congress enacted the first federal wiretap statute as a temporary measure to
prevent disclosure of government secrets during World War I.3 Later, it proscribed
intercepting and divulging private radio messages in the Radio Act of 1927,4 but did
not immediately reestablish a federal wiretap prohibition. By the time of the
landmark Supreme Court decision in Olmstead, however, at least forty-one of the
forty-eight states had banned wiretapping or forbidden telephone and telegraph
employees and officers from disclosing the content of telephone or telegraph
messages or both.5
Olmstead was a Seattle bootlegger whose Prohibition Act conviction was the
product of a federal wiretap. He challenged his conviction on three grounds, arguing
unsuccessfully that the wiretap evidence should have been suppressed as a violation
of either his Fourth Amendment rights, his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-
incrimination, or the rights implicit in the Washington state statute that outlawed
wiretapping.
2 “Eavesdropping is indictable at the common law, not only in England but in our states. It
is seldom brought to the attention of the courts, and our books contain too few decisions
upon it to enable an author to define it with confidence. . . . It never occupied much space
in the law, and it has nearly faded from the legal horizon.” 1 BISHOP, COMMENTARIES ON THE
CRIMINAL LAW, 670 (1882).
3 40 Stat.1017-18 (1918)(“whoever during the period of governmental operation of the
telephone and telegraph systems of the United States . . . shall, without authority and without
the knowledge and consent of the other users thereof, except as may be necessary for
operation of the service, tap any telegraph or telephone line . . . or whoever being employed
in any such telephone or telegraph service shall divulge the contents of any such telephone
or telegraph message to any person not duly authorized or entitled the receive the same, shall
be fined not exceeding $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year or both”); 56
Cong.Rec. 10761-765 (1918).
4 44 Stat. 1172 (1927)(“. . . no person not being authorized by the sender shall intercept any
message and divulge or publish the contents, substance, purpose, effect, or meaning of such
intercepted message to any person . . .”).
5 Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 479-80 n.13 (1928)(Brandeis, J., dissenting).
Olmstead is remembered most today for the dissents of Holmes and Brandeis, but for four
decades it stood for the view that the Fourth Amendment’s search and seizure commands did
not apply to government wiretapping accomplished without a trespass onto private property

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For a majority of the Court, writing through Chief Justice Taft, Olmstead’s
Fourth Amendment challenge was doomed by the absence of “an official search and
seizure of his person, or such a seizure of his papers or his tangible material effects,
or an actual physical invasion of his house or curtilage6 for the purposes of making
a seizure,” 277 U.S. at 466.7
Chief Justice Taft pointed out that Congress was free to provide protection
which the Constitution did not.8 Congress did so in the 1934 Communications Act
by expanding the Radio Act’s proscription against intercepting and divulging radio
communications so as to include intercepting and divulging radio or wire
communications.9
The Federal Communications Act outlawed wiretapping, but it said nothing
about the use of machines to surreptitiously record and transmit face to face
conversations.10 In the absence of a statutory ban the number of surreptitious
recording cases decided on Fourth Amendment grounds surged and the results began
to erode Olmstead’s underpinnings.11
6 Curtilage originally meant the land and buildings enclosed by the walls of a castle; in later
usage it referred to the barns, stables, garden plots and the like immediately proximate to a
dwelling; it is understood in Fourth Amendment parlance to describe that area which
“harbors those intimate activities associated with domestic life and the privacies of the
home,” United States v. Dunn, 480 U.S. 294, 301 n.4 (1987).
7 Olmstead had not been compelled to use his phone and so the Court rejected his Fifth
Amendment challenge. 277 U.S.C. at 462. Any violation of the Washington state wiretap
statute was thought insufficient to warrant the exclusion of evidence, 277 U.S. at 466-68.
Justice Holmes in his dissent tersely characterized the conduct of federal wiretappers as
“dirty business,” 277 U.S. at 470. The dissent of Justice Brandeis observed that the drafters
of the Constitution “conferred as against the Government, the right to be let alone – the most
comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men. To protect that right,
every unjustifiable intrusion by the Government against privacy of the individual whatever
the means employed, must be deemed in violation of the Fourth Amendment,” 277 U.S. at
478-79.
8 “Congress may of course protect the secrecy of telephone messages by making them, when
intercepted inadmissible in evidence in federal criminal trials, by direct legislation,” 277 U.S.
at 465.
9 48 U.S.C. 1103-4 (1934), 47 U.S.C. 605 (1940 ed.). The Act neither expressly condemned
law enforcement interceptions nor called for the exclusion of wiretap evidence, but it was
read to encompass both, Nardone v. United States, 302 U.S. 379 (1937); Nardone v. United
States, 308 U.S. 321 (1939).
10 Section 605 did ban the interception and divulgence of radio broadcasts but it did not
reach the radio transmission of conversations that were broadcast unbeknownst to all of the
parties to the conversation. Late in the game, the FCC supplied a partial solution when it
banned the use of licensed radio equipment to overhear or record private conversation
without the consent of all the parties involved in the conversation, 31 Fed.Reg. 3400 (March
4, 1966), amending then 47 C.F.R. §§2.701, 15.11. The FCC excluded “operations of any
law enforcement offices conducted under lawful authority,” id.
11 The volume of all Fourth Amendment cases calling for Supreme Court review increased
dramatically after Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961), acknowledged the application of the
Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule to the states.

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Erosion, however, came slowly. Initially the Court applied Olmstead’s
principles to these electronic eavesdropping cases. Thus, the use of a dictaphone to
secretly overhear a private conversation in an adjacent office offended no Fourth
Amendment precipes because no physical trespass into the office in which the
conversation took place had occurred, Goldman v. United States, 316 U.S. 129
(1942). Similarly, the absence of a physical trespass precluded Fourth Amendment
coverage of the situation where a federal agent secretly recorded his conversation
with a defendant held in a commercial laundry in an area open to the public, On Lee
v. United States, 343 U.S. 747 (1952). On the other hand, the Fourth Amendment
did reach the government’s physical intrusion upon private property during an
investigation, as for example when they drove a “spike mike” into the common wall
of a row house until it made contact with a heating duct for the home in which the
conversation occurred, Silverman v. United States, 365 U.S. 505 (1961).
Silverman presented something of a technical problem, because there was some
question whether the spike mike had actually crossed the property line of the
defendant’s town house when it made contact with the heating duct. The Court
declined to rest its decision on the technicalities of local property law, and instead
found that the government’s conduct had intruded upon privacy of home and hearth
in a manner condemned by the Fourth Amendment, 365 U.S. at 510-12.12
12 “The absence of a physical invasion of the petitioner’s premises was also a vital factor in
the Court’s decision in Olmstead v. United States . . . . In holding that the wiretapping there
did not violate the Fourth Amendment, the Court noted that the insertions were made without
trespass upon any property of the defendants. They were made in the basement of the large
office building. The taps from house lines were made in the streets near the houses. 277
U.S. at 457. There was no entry of the houses or offices of the defendants. 277 U.S. at 464.
Relying upon these circumstances, the Court reasoned that the intervening wires are not part
of (the defendant’s) house or office any more than are the highways along which they are
stretched. 277 U.S. at 465.
“Here, by contrast, the officers overheard the petitioners’ conversations only by
usurping part of the petitioners’ house or office – a heating system which was an integral part
of the premises occupied by the petitioners, a usurpation that was effected without their
knowledge and without their consent. In these circumstances we need not pause to consider
whether or not there was a technical trespass under the local property law relating to party
walls. Inherent Fourth Amendment rights are not inevitably measurable in terms of ancient
niceties of tort or real property law . . . .
“The Fourth Amendment, and the personal rights which it secures, have a long history.
At the very core stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from
unreasonable governmental intrusion . . . This Court has never held that a federal officer may
without warrant and without consent physically entrench into a man’s office or home, there
secretly observe or listen, and relate at the man’s subsequent criminal trial what was seen or
heard.“A distinction between the dictaphone employed in Goldman and the spike mike
utilized here seemed to the Court of Appeals too fine a one to draw. The court was unwilling
to believe that the respective rights are to be measured in fractions of inches. But decision
here does not turn upon the technicality of a trespass upon a party wall as a matter of local
law. It is based upon the reality of an actual intrusion into a constitutionally protected area.
What the Court said long ago bears repeating now: It may be that it is the obnoxious thing
in its mildest and least repulsive form; but illegitimate and unconstitutional practices get their
first footing in that way, namely, by silent approaches and slight deviations from legal modes
of procedure. Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 635. We find no occasion to re-examine
Goldman here, but we decline to go beyond it, by even a fraction of an inch,” 365 U.S. at

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Each of these cases focused upon whether a warrantless trespass onto private
property had occurred, that is, whether the means of conducting a search and seizure
had been so unreasonable as to offend the Fourth Amendment. Yet in each case, the
object of the search and seizure had been not those tangible papers or effects for
which the Fourth Amendment’s protection had been traditionally claimed, but an
intangible, a conversation. This enlarged view of the Fourth Amendment could
hardly be ignored, for [i]t follows from . . . Silverman . . . that the Fourth Amendment
may protect against the overhearing of verbal statements as well as against the more
traditional seizure of papers and effects,” Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471,
485 (1963).
Soon thereafter the Court repudiated the notion that the Fourth Amendment’s
protection was contingent upon some trespass to real property, Katz v. United States,
389 U.S. 347 (1967). Katz was a bookie convicted on the basis of evidence gathered
by an electronic listening and recording device set up outside the public telephone
booth that Katz used to take and place bets. The Court held that the gateway for
Fourth Amendment purposes stood at that point where an individual should to able
to expect that his or her privacy would not be subjected to unwarranted governmental
intrusion, 389 U.S. at 353.13
One obvious consequence of Fourth Amendment coverage of wiretapping and
other forms of electronic eavesdropping is the usual attachment of the Amendment’s
warrant requirement. To avoid constitutional problems and at the same time preserve
wiretapping and other forms of electronic eavesdropping as a law enforcement tool,
some of the states established a statutory system under which law enforcement
officials could obtain a warrant, or equivalent court order, authorizing wiretapping
or electronic eavesdropping.
The Court rejected the constitutional adequacy of one of the more detailed of
these state statutory schemes in Berger v. New York, 388 U.S. 41 (1967). The statute
was found deficient its failure to require:
• a particularized description of the place to be searched;
• a particularized description of the crime to which the search and seizure
related;
• a particularized description of the conversation to be seized;
510-12 (internal quotation marks omitted).
13 “We conclude that the underpinnings of Olmstead and Goldman have been so eroded by
our subsequent decisions that the trespass doctrine there enunciated can no longer be
regarded as controlling. The Government’s activities in electronically listening to and
recording the petitioner’s words violated the privacy upon which he justifiably relied while
using the telephone booth and thus constituted a search and seizure within the meaning of
the Fourth Amendment. The fact that the electronic device employed to achieve that end did
not happen to penetrate the wall of the booth can have no constitutional significance.” Later
courts seem to prefer the “expectation of privacy” language found in Justice Harlan’s
concurrence: “My understanding of the rule that has emerged from prior decisions is that
there is a twofold requirement, first that a person have exhibited an actual (subjective)
expectation of privacy and, second, that the expectation be one that society is prepared to
recognize as reasonable,” 389 U.S. at 361

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• limitations to prevent general searches;
• termination of the interception when the conversation sought had been seized;
• prompt execution of the order;
• return to the issuing court detailing the items seized; and
• any showing exigent circumstances to overcome the want of prior notice. 388
U.S. at 58-60.
Berger help persuade Congress to enact Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control
and Safe Streets Act of 1968, 87 Stat. 197, 18 U.S.C. 2510 - 2520 (1970 ed.), a
comprehensive wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping statute that not only
outlawed both in general terms but that permitted federal and state law enforcement
officers to use them under strict limitations designed to meet the objections in
Berger.
A decade later another Supreme Court case persuaded Congress to supplement
Title III with a judicially supervised procedure for the use of wiretapping and
electronic eavesdropping in foreign intelligence gathering situations.
When Congress passed Title III there was some question over the extent of the
President’s inherent powers to authorize wiretaps – without judicial approval – in
national security cases. As a consequence, the issue was simply removed from the
Title III scheme.14 After the Court held that the President’s inherent powers were
insufficient to excuse warrantless electronic eavesdropping on purely domestic
threats to national security, United States v. United States District Court, 407 U.S.
297 (1972), Congress considered it prudent to augment the foreign intelligence
gathering authority of the United States with the Foreign Intelligence Security Act
of 1978, 92 Stat. 1783, 50 U.S.C. 1801 - 1811. The Act provides a procedure for
judicial review and authorization or denial of wiretapping and other forms of
electronic eavesdropping for purposes of foreign intelligence gathering.
In 1986, Congress recast Title III in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act
(ECPA), 100 Stat. 1848, 18 U.S.C. 2510 - 2521. The Act followed the general
outline of Title III with adjustments and additions. Like Title III, it sought to strike
a balance between the interests of privacy and law enforcement, but it also reflected
a Congressional desire to avoid unnecessarily crippling infant industries in the fields
of advanced communications technology, H.R.Rep.No. 647, 99th Cong., 2d Sess.
18-9 (1984); S.Rep.No. 541, 99th Cong., 2d Sess. 5 (1986).
The Act also included new protection and law enforcement access provisions
for stored wire and electronic communications and transactional records access (e-
mail and phone records), 18 U.S.C. 2701 - 2710, and for pen registers as well as trap
and trace devices (devices for recording the calls placed to or from a particular
telephone), 18 U.S.C. 3121 - 3126.
14 18 U.S.C. 2511(3)(1970 ed.)(“Nothing contained in this chapter or in section 605 of the
Communications Act . . . shall limit the constitutional power of the President to take such
measures as he deems necessary to protect the Nation against actual or potential attack or
other hostile acts of a foreign power, to obtain foreign intelligence information deemed
essential to the security of the United States, or to protect national security information
against foreign intelligence activities. . .”).

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Over the years, Congress has adjusted the components of Title III/ECPA or
FISA. Sometimes in the interests of greater privacy; sometimes in the interest of
more effective law enforcement or foreign intelligence gathering. The 107th
Congress, for instance, amended the basic statutes in the USA PATRIOT Act, P.L.
107-56, 115 Stat. (2001); the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002,
P.L. 107-108, 115 Stat. 1394 (2001); the 21st Century Department of Justice
Appropriations Authorization Act, P.L. 107-273, 116 Stat. 1758 (2002); and the
Department of Homeland Security Act, P.L. 107-296, 116 Stat. 2135 (2002).
Prohibitions
Generally
Unless otherwise provide, Title III/ECPA outlaws wiretapping and other forms
of electronic eavesdropping, possession of wiretapping or electronic eavesdropping
equipment, use or disclosure of information obtained through illegal wiretapping or
electronic eavesdropping, and in order to obstruct justice, disclosure of information
secured through court-ordered wiretapping or electronic eavesdropping, 18 U.S.C.
2511. There are separate crimes for:
• unlawful access to stored communications, 18 U.S.C. 2701;
• unlawful use of a pen register or a trap and trace device, 18 U.S.C. 3121; and
• abuse of eavesdropping authority or unlawful disclosures under the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act, 50 U.S.C. 1809, 1827.
Illegal Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping
At the heart of Title III/ECPA lies the prohibition against illegal wiretapping
and electronic eavesdropping, 18 U.S.C. 2511(1), that proscribes:
• any person from
• intentionally
• intercepting, or endeavoring to intercept, or
• wire, oral or electronic communications
• by using an electronic, mechanical or other device
• unless the conduct is specifically authorized or expressly not covered, e.g.
- one of the parties to the conversation has consent to the interception
- the interception occurs in compliance with a statutorily authorized, (and
ordinarily judicially-supervised) law enforcement or foreign intelligence
gathering interception,
- the interception occurs as part of providing or regulating communication
services,
- certain radio broadcasts, and
- in some places, spousal wiretappers.
Person

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The prohibition applies to “any employee, or agent of the United States or any
State or political subdivision thereof, and any individual, partnership, association,
joint stock company, trust, or corporation,” 18 U.S.C. 2510(6).15
Intentional
Conduct can only violate Title III/ECPA if it is done “intentionally,” inadvertent
conduct is no crime; the offender must have done on purpose those things which are
outlawed.16
Jurisdiction
Section 2511(1) contains two interception bars – one, 2511(1)(a), simply
outlaws intentional interception; the other, 2511(1)(b), outlaws intentional
interception when committed under any of five jurisdictional circumstances.17
Congress adopted the approach because of concern that its constitutional authority
might not be sufficient to ban instances of electronic surveillance that bore no
discernable connection to interstate commerce or any other of the enumerated
powers. So it enacted a general prohibition, and as a safety precaution, a second
provision more tightly tethered to specific jurisdictional factors.18 The Justice
15 Although the governmental entities are not subject to criminal liability, as noted infra, the
some courts believe them subject to civil liability under 18 U.S.C. 2520.
16 “In order to underscore that the inadvertent reception of a protected communication is not
a crime, the subcommittee changed the state of mind requirement under Title III of the
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 from <willful’ to <intentional,’”
S.REP.NO. 541, 99th Cong., 2d Sess. 23 (1986); “This provision makes clear that the
inadvertent interception of a protected communication is not unlawful under this Act,”
H.REP.NO. 647, 99th Cong., 2d Sess. 48-9 (1986).
17 “(1) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter any person who – (a)
intentionally intercepts, endeavors to intercept, or procures any other person to intercept or
endeavor to intercept, any wire, oral, or electronic communication;
“(b) intentionally uses, endeavors to use, or procures any other person to use or
endeavor to use any electronic, mechanical, or other device to intercept any oral
communication when – (i) such device is affixed to, or otherwise transmits a signal through,
a wire, cable, or other like connection used in wire communication; or “(ii) such device
transmits communications by radio, or interferes with the transmission of such
communication; or (iii) such person knows, or has reason to know, that such device or any
component thereof has been sent through the mail or transported in interstate or foreign
commerce; or (iv) such use or endeavor to use (A) takes place on the premises of any
business or other commercial establishment the operations of which affect interstate or
foreign commerce; or (B) obtains or is for the purpose of obtaining information relating to
the operations of any business or other commercial establishment the operations of which
affect interstate or foreign commerce; or (v) such person acts in the District of Columbia, the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any territory or possession of the United States,” 18
U.S.C. 2511(1)(a),(b).
18 “Subparagraph (a) establishes a blanket prohibition against the interception of wire
communication. Since the facilities used to transmit wire communications form part of the
interstate or foreign communications network, Congress has plenary power under the
commerce clause to prohibit all interception of such communications whether by wiretapping
or otherwise.

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Department has honored that caution by employing subparagraph (b) to prosecute the
interception of oral communications, while using subparagraph (a) to prosecute other
forms of electronic eavesdropping, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CRIMINAL RESOURCE
MANUAL at 1050.
Interception
Interception “means the aural or other acquisition of the contents” of various
kinds of communications.19 ECPA enlarged the definition by adding the words “or
other acquisition” so that it is no longer limited to interceptions that can be heard.20
Endeavoring to intercept
Although the statute condemns attempted wiretapping and electronic
eavesdropping (“endeavoring to intercept”), 18 U.S.C. 2511(1), the provisions
appear to have escaped use, interest, or comment heretofore, perhaps because the
conduct most likely to constitute preparation for an interception – possession of
wiretapping equipment – is already a separate crime, 18 U.S.C. 2512, discussed,
infra.
“The broad prohibition of subparagraph (a) is also applicable to the interception of oral
communications. The interception of such communications, however, does not necessarily
interfere with the interstate or foreign commerce network, and the extent of the constitutional
power of Congress to prohibit such interception is less clear than in the case of interception
of wire communications. . . .
“Therefore, in addition to the broad prohibitions of subparagraph (a), the committee
has included subparagraph (b), which relies on accepted jurisdictional bases under the
commerce clause, and other provisions of the Constitution to prohibit the interception of oral
communications,” S.REP.NO.1097, 90th Cong., 2d Sess. 91-2 (1968).
19 The dictionary definition of “aural” is “of or relating to the ear or to the sense of hearing,”
MERRIAM-WEBSTER’S COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY 76 (10th ed. 1996).
20 S.Rep.No. 541, 99th Cong., 2d Sess. 13 (1986)(the “amendment clarifies that it is illegal
to intercept the non-voice portion of a wire communication. For example, it is illegal to
intercept the data or digitized portion of a voice communication”); see also H.REP.NO. 647,
99th Cong., 2d Sess. 34 (1986).

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By electronic, mechanical, or other device
The statute does not cover common law “eavesdropping,” but only interceptions
“by electronic, mechanical or other device,” 18 U.S.C. 2510(4). That phrase is in
turn defined so as not to include hearing aids or extension telephones in normal use.21
Whether an extension phone has been installed and is being used in the ordinary
course of business or in the ordinary course of law enforcement duties, so that it no
longer constitutes an interception device for purposes of Title III/ECPA and
comparable state laws has proven a somewhat vexing question.22
Although often intertwined with the consent exception discussed below, the
question generally turns on the facts in a given case.23 When the exemption is
claimed as a practice in the ordinary course of business, the interception must be for
a legitimate business reason, it must be routinely conducted, and at least in some
circuits employees must be notified at that their conversations are being monitored.24
Similarly, “Congress most likely carved out an exception for law enforcement
officials to make clear that the routine and almost universal recording of phone lines
by police departments and prisons, as well as other law enforcement institutions, is
exempt from the statute,” Adams v. Battle Creek, 250 F.3d at 984.25 The exception
21 “<[E]lectronic, mechanical, or other device’ means any device or apparatus which can be
used to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication other than – (a) any telephone or
telegraph instrument, equipment or facility, or any component thereof, (i) furnished to the
subscriber or user by a provider of wire or electronic communication service in the ordinary
course of its business and being used by the subscriber or user in the ordinary course of its
business or furnished by such subscriber or user for connection to the facilities of such
service and used in the ordinary course of its business; or (ii) being used by a provider of
wire or electronic communication service in the ordinary course of its business, or by an
investigative or law enforcement officer in the ordinary course of his duties; (b) a hearing
aid or similar device being used to correct subnormal hearing to not better than normal,” 18
U.S.C. 2510(5).
22 See the cases cited and commentary in Barnett & Makar, “In the Ordinary Course of
Business”: The Legal Limits of Workplace Wiretapping, 10 HASTINGS JOURNAL OF
COMMUNICATIONS AND ENTERTAINMENT LAW 715 (1988); Application to Extension
Telephones of Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (18
U.S.C. §§2510 et seq.), Pertaining to Interceptions of Wire Communications, 58 ALR Fed.
594; Eavesdropping on Extension Telephone as Invasion of Privacy, 49 ALR 4th 430.
23 See e.g., Deal v. Spears, 780 F.Supp. 618, 623 (W.D.Ark. 1991), aff’d, 980 F.2d 1153
(8th Cir. 1992)(employer regularly taped employee calls by means of a device attached to
an extension phone; most of the calls were personal and recording and disclosing them
served no business purpose).
24 Adams v. Battle Creek, 250 F.3d 980, 983 (6th Cir. 2001); Arias v. Mutual Central Alarm
Service, 202 F.3d 553, 558 (2d Cir. 2000); Berry v. Funk, 146 F.3d 1003, 1008 (D.C.Cir.
1998); Sanders v. Robert Bosch Corp., 38 F.3d 736, 741 (4th Cir. 1994).
Some courts include surreptitious, extension phone interceptions conducted within the
family home as part of the “business extension” exception, Anonymous v. Anonymous, 558
F.2d 677, 678-79 (2d Cir. 1977); Scheib v. Grant, 22 F.3d 149, 154 (7th Cir. 1994);
Newcomb v. Ingle, 944 F.2d 1534, 1536 (10th Cir. 1991); contra, United States v. Murdock,
63 F.3d 1391, 1400 (6th Cir. 1995).
25 See e.g., Smith v. U.S.Dept. of Justice, 251 F.3d 1647, 1049-50 (D.C.Cir. 2001); United
States v. Poyck, 77 F.3d 285, 292 (9th Cir. 1996); United States v. Daniels, 902 F.2d 1238,

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contemplates administrative rather than investigative monitoring,26 which must
nevertheless be justified by a lawful, valid law enforcement concern.27
Wire, oral or electronic communications
An interception can only be a violation of ECPA if the conversation or other
form of communication intercepted is among those kinds which the statute protects,
in over simplified terms – telephone (wire), face to face (oral), and computer
(electronic). Congress used the definitions of the three forms of communications to
describe the communications beyond the Act’s reach as well as those within its
grasp. For example, “oral communication” by definition includes only those face to
face conversations with respect to which the speakers have a justifiable expectation
of privacy.28 Similarly, “wire communications” are limited to those that are at some
point involve voice communications (i.e. only aural transfers). 29 Radio and data
1245 (7th Cir. 1990); United States v. Paul, 614 F.2d 115, 117 (6th Cir. 1980).
26 Amati v. Woodstock, 176 F.3d 952, 955 (7th Cir. 1999)(“Investigation is within the
ordinary course of law enforcement, so if <ordinary’ were read literally warrants would rarely
if ever be required for electronic eavesdropping, which was surely not Congress’s intent.
Since the purpose of the statute was primarily to regulate the use of wiretapping and other
electronic surveillance for investigatory purposes, <ordinary’ should not be read so broadly;
it is more reasonably interpreted to refer to routine noninvestigative recording of telephone
conversations”).
27 The exception, however, does not permit a county to record all calls in and out of the
offices of county judges merely because a detention center and the judges share a common
facility, Abraham v. Greenville, 237 F.3d 386, 390 (4th Cir. 2001), nor does it permit
jailhouse telephone monitoring of an inmate’s confession to a clergyman, Mockaitis v.
Harcleroad, 104 F.3d 1522, 1530 (9th Cir. 1997).
28 “<[O]ral communication’ means any oral communication uttered by a person exhibiting
an expectation that such communication is not subject to interception under circumstances
justifying such expectation, but such term does not include any electronic communication,”
2510(2). Unlike the definitions of wire and electronic communications, infra, there is no
reference to interstate or foreign commerce here, see, United States v. Duncan, 598 F.2d 839,
854 (4th Cir. 1979)(upholding a conviction for interception of an oral communication on the
grounds that the question of whether an activity has an impact on interstate commerce is a
question for Congress; the Supreme Court subsequent established a more demanding
standard the exercise of Congress’ commerce clause powers in United States v. Lopez, 514
U.S. 549 (1995) and United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598 (2000)); United States v.
Carnes, 309 F.3d 950, 954 (7th Cir. 2002)(rejecting constitutional challenge to a conviction
under 18 U.S.C. 2511 with the observation that the wire communication definition
specifically referred to interstate and foreign commerce). The potential problem is
addressed, however, in paragraph 2511(1)(b) where the ban on illicit capture of oral
communications is tied to elements of interstate commerce, supra at 8-9.
29 “<[W]ire communication’ means any aural transfer made in whole or in part through the
use of facilities for the transmission of communications by the aid of wire, cable, or other
like connection between the point of origin and the point of reception (including the use of
such connection in a switching station) furnished or operated by any person engaged in
providing or operating such facilities for the transmission of interstate or foreign
communications or communications affecting interstate or foreign commerce and such term
includes any electronic storage of such communication,” 18 U.S.C. 2510(1)(The USA
PATRIOT Act struck the language noted above in order to remove stored voice mail from

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transmissions are generally “electronic communications.” The definition includes
other forms of information transfer but excludes certain radio transmissions which
can be innocently captured without great difficulty.30 Although it is not a federal
crime to intercept radio communications under any number of conditions, the
exclusion is not a matter of definition but of special general exemptions, 18 U.S.C.
2511(2)(g), discussed below.
Exemptions: consent interceptions
Consent interceptions are common, controversial and have a history all their
own. The early bans on divulging telegraph or telephone messages had a consent
exception The Supreme Court upheld consent interceptions against Fourth
Amendment challenge both before and after the enactment of Title III.31 The
argument in favor of consent interceptions has always been essentially that a speaker
risks the indiscretion of his listeners and holds no superior legal position simply
because a listener elects to record or transmit his statements rather than subsequently
memorializing or repeating them.32 Wiretapping or electronic eavesdropping by
the coverage of Title III, 115 Stat. 283 (2001); the definition reverts to its original form when
the USA PATRIOT Act amendment sunsets on Dec. 31, 2005).
30 “<[E]lectronic communication’ means any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images,
sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio,
electromagnetic, photoelectronic or photooptical system that affects interstate or foreign
commerce, but does not include – (A) the radio portion of a cordless telephone
communication that is transmitted between the cordless handset and the base unit; (B) any
wire or oral communication; (C) any communication made through a tone-only paging
device; or (D) any communication from a tracking device (as defined in section 3117 of this
title),” 18 U.S.C. 2510(12).
31 On Lee v. United States, 343 U.S. 747 (1952); Lopez v. United States, 373 U.S. 427
(1963); United States v. White, 401 U.S. 745 (1971).
32 United States v. White, 401 U.S. at 751 (1971)(“Concededly a police agent who conceals
his police connections may write down for official use his conversations with a defendant
and testify concerning them, without a warrant authorizing his encounters with the defendant
and without otherwise violating the latter’s Fourth Amendment rights . . . . For constitutional
purposes, no different result is required if the agent instead of immediately reporting and
transcribing his conversations with defendant, either (1) simultaneously records them with
electronic equipment which he is carrying on his person, Lopez v. United States, supra; (2)
or carries radio equipment which simultaneously transmits the conversations either to
recording equipment located elsewhere or to other agents monitoring the transmitting
frequency. On Lee v. United States, supra. If the conduct and revelations of an agent
operating without electronic equipment do not invade the defendant’s constitutionally
justifiable expectations of privacy, neither does a simultaneous recording of the same
conversations made by the agent or by others from transmissions received from the agent to
whom the defendant is talking and whose trustworthiness the defendant necessarily risks”);
Lopez v. United States 373 U.S. 427, 439 (1963)(“Stripped to its essentials, petitioner’s
argument amounts to saying that he has a constitutional right to rely on possible flaws in the
agent’s memory, or to challenge the agent’s credibility without being beset by corroborating
evidence that is not susceptible of impeachment. For no other argument can justify
excluding an accurate version of a conversation that the agent could testify to from memory.
We think the risk that petitioner took in offering a bribe to Davis fairly included the risk that
the offer would be accurately reproduced in court, whether by faultless memory or

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either the police or anyone else with the consent of at least one party to the
conversation is not unlawful under the federal statute.33 These provisions do no more
than shield consent interceptions from the sanctions of federal law; they afford no
protection from the sanctions of state law. Many of the states recognize comparable
exceptions, but some only permit interception with the consent of all parties to a
communication.34
Under federal law, consent may be either explicitly or implicitly given. For
instance, someone who uses a telephone other than his or her own and has been told
by the subscriber that conversations over the instrument are recorded has been held
to have implicitly consented to interception when using the instrument.35 This is not
to say that subscriber consent alone is sufficient, for it is the parties to the
conversation whose privacy is designed to protect.36 Although consent may be given
in the hopes of leniency from law enforcement officials or as an election between
unpalatable alternatives, it must be freely given and not secured coercively.37
Private consent interceptions may not be conducted for a criminal or tortious
purpose. At one time, the limitation encompassed interceptions for criminal,
tortious, or otherwise injurious purposes, but ECPA dropped the reference to
injurious purposes for fear that first amendment values might be threatened should
the clause be read to outlaw consent interceptions conducted to embarrass,
S.REP.NO. 541, 99th Cong., 2d Sess. 17-8 (1986); H.REP.NO. 647, 99th Cong., 2d
Sess. 39-40 (1986).
Exemptions: publicly accessible radio communications
mechanical recording”).
33 “(c) It shall not be unlawful under this chapter for a person acting under color of law to
intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication, where such person is a party to the
communication or one of the parties to the communication has given prior consent to such
interception.
“(d) It shall not be unlawful under this chapter for a person not acting under color of
law to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication where such person is a party to the
communication or where one of the parties to the communication has given prior consent to
such interception unless such communication is intercepted for the purpose of committing
any criminal or tortious act in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States or
of any State,” 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(c),(d).
34 For citations to state law see Appendix II.
35 United States v. Footman, 215 F.3d 145, 154-55 (1st Cir. 2000) (inmate use of prison
phone); Griggs-Ryan v. Smith, 904 F.2d 112, 116-17 (1st Cir. 1990)(use of landlady’s
phone).
36 Anthony v. United States, 667 F.2d 870, 876 (10th Cir. 1981).
37 United States v. Antoon, 933 F.2d 200, 203-204 (3d Cir. 1991), but see, O’Ferrell v.
United States, 968 F.Supp. 1519, 1541 (M.D.Ala. 1997)(an individual – who spoke to his
wife on the telephone after being told by FBI agents, then executing a search warrant at his
place of business, that he could only speak to her with the agents listening in – consented to
the interception, even if FBI’s initial search were unconstitutional).

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Radio communications which can be inadvertently heard or are intended to be
heard by the public are likewise exempt. These include not only commercial
broadcasts, but ship and aircraft distress signals, tone-only pagers, marine radio and
citizen band radio transmissions, and interceptions necessary to identify the source
any transmission, radio or otherwise, disrupting communications satellite
broadcasts.38
Exemptions: government officials
Government officials enjoy an exemption when acting under judicial authority,
whether that provided in Title III/ECPA for federal and state law enforcement
officers,39 the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,40 or the separate provisions
according them access to stored electronic communications and the use of pen
registers and trap and trace devices.41
Exemptions: communication service providers
38 “(g) It shall not be unlawful under this chapter or chapter 121 of this title for any person
– (i) to intercept or access an electronic communication made through an electronic
communication system that is configured so that such electronic communication is readily
accessible to the general public;
“(ii) to intercept any radio communication which is transmitted – (I) by any station for
the use of the general public, or that relates to ships, aircraft, vehicles, or persons in distress;
(II) by any governmental, law enforcement, civil defense, private land mobile, or public
safety communications system, including police and fire, readily accessible to the general
public; (III) by a station operating on an authorized frequency within the bands allocated to
the amateur, citizens band, or general mobile radio services; or (IV) by any marine or
aeronautical communications system;
“(iii) to engage in any conduct which – (I) is prohibited by section 633 of the
Communications Act of 1934; or (II) is excepted from the application of section 705(a) of
the Communications Act of 1934 by section 705(b) of that Act;
“(iv) to intercept any wire or electronic communication the transmission of which is
causing harmful interference to any lawfully operating station or consumer electronic
equipment, to the extent necessary to identify the source of such interference; or
“(v) for other users of the same frequency to intercept any radio communication made
through a system that utilizes frequencies monitored by individuals engaged in the provision
or the use of such system, if such communication is not scrambled or encrypted,” 18 U.S.C.
2511(2)(g).
39 “Except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter any person who (a)
intentionally intercepts . . . .” 18 U.S.C. 2511(1)(emphasis added).
40 “(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title or section 705 or 706 of the
Communications Act of 1934, it shall not be unlawful for an officer, employee, or agent of
the United States in the normal course of his official duty to conduct electronic surveillance,
as defined in section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, as authorized
by that Act,”18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(e).
41 “(h) It shall not be unlawful under this chapter – (i) to use a pen register or a trap and trace
device (as those terms are defined for the purpose of chapter 206). . . .” 18 U.S.C.
2511(2)(h). For the citations to state statutes permitting judicial authorization of law
enforcement interception of wire, oral or electronic communications, for access to stored
electronic communications, and for the use pen registers and trap and trace devices see
Appendix V.

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There is a general exemption for those associated with supplying
communications services, the telephone company, switchboard operators, and the
like. The exemption not only permits improved service and lets the telephone
company protect itself against fraud,42 but it allows for assistance to federal and state
officials operating under a judicially supervised interception order,43 and for the
42 “(a)(i) It shall not be unlawful under this chapter for an operator of a switchboard, or on
officer, employee, or agent of a provider of wire or electronic communication service, whose
facilities are used in the transmission of a wire or electronic communication, to intercept,
disclose, or use that communication in the normal course of his employment while engaged
in any activity which is a necessary incident to the rendition of his service or to the
protection of the rights or property of the provider of that service, except that a provider of
wire communication service to the public shall not utilize service observing or random
monitoring except for mechanical or service quality control checks . . .
* * *
“(h) It shall not be unlawful under this chapter . . .
“(ii) for a provider of electronic communication service to record the fact that a wire
or electronic communication was initiated or completed in order to protect such provider,
another provider furnishing service toward the completion of the wire or electronic
communication, or a user of that service, from fraudulent, unlawful or abusive use of such
service,” 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(a)(i),(h).
43 “(ii) Notwithstanding any other law, providers of wire or electronic communication
service, their officers, employees, and agents, landlords, custodians, or other persons, are
authorized to provide information, facilities, or technical assistance to persons authorized by
law to intercept wire, oral, or electronic communications or to conduct electronic
surveillance, as defined in section 101 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978,
if such provider, its officers, employees, or agents, landlord, custodian, or other specified
person, has been provided with –
(A) a court order directing such assistance signed by the authorizing judge, or
(B) a certification in writing by a person specified in section 2518(7) of this title or the
Attorney General of the United States that no warrant or court order is required by law,
that all statutory requirements have been met, and that the specified assistance is
required,
setting forth the period of time during which the provision of the information, facilities, or
technical assistance is authorized and specifying the information, facilities, or technical
assistance required. No provider of wire or electronic communication service, officer,
employee, or agent thereof, or landlord, custodian, or other specified person shall disclose
the existence of any interception or surveillance or the device used to accomplish the
interception or surveillance with respect to which the person has been furnished a court order
or certification under this chapter, except as may otherwise be required by legal process and
then only after prior notification to the Attorney General or to the principal prosecuting
attorney of a State or any political subdivision of a State, as may be appropriate. Any such
disclosure, shall render such person liable for the civil damages provided for in section 2520.
No cause of action shall lie in any court against any provider of wire or electronic
communication service, its officers, employees, or agents, landlord, custodian, or other
specified person for providing information, facilities, or assistance in accordance with the
terms of a court order, statutory authorization, or certification under this chapter,” 18 U.S.C.
2511(2)(a)(ii). The Homeland Security Act, 116 Stat. 2158 (2002), added the language in
italics to “ensure that providers of communications remain covered under 18 U.S.C.
2511(a)(a)(ii), another ‘no cause of action’ provision which protects providers from law suits
when they are legally assisting law enforcement with an investigation under the new
computer trespasser provision, §2511(2)(i), created in the USA PATRIOT Act,” H.Rep.No.
107-497 at 16 (2002).

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regulatory activities of the Federal Communications Commission.44

Domestic exemptions
A few courts recognize a “vicarious consent” exception under which a custodial
parent may secretly record the conversations of his or her minor child in the interest
of protecting the child.45 Although rejected by most,46 a handful of federal courts
have held that Title III/ECPA does not preclude one spouse from wiretapping or
electronically eavesdropping upon the other,47 a result other courts have sometimes
reached through the telephone extension exception discussed above.48
Subject to the same exceptions, section 2511 also protects wire, oral and
electronic communications from any person who intentionally:
• discloses or endeavors to disclose information with reason to know it has been
unlawfully intercepted, or
• uses or endeavors to use information with reason to know it has been
unlawfully intercepted, or
• discloses or endeavors to disclose information with intent to obstruct justice
and with reason to know the information was secured through a court-ordered
interception.
44 “(b) It shall not be unlawful under this chapter for an officer, employee, or agent of the
Federal Communications Commission, in the normal course of his employment and in
discharge of the monitoring responsibilities exercised by the Commission in the enforcement
of chapter 5 of title 47 of the United States Code, to intercept a wire or electronic
communication, or oral communication transmitted by radio, or to disclose or use the
information thereby obtained,” 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(b).
45 Pollock v. Pollock, 154 F.3d 601, 611 (8th Cir. 1998); Wagner v. Wagner, 64 F.Supp.2d
895, 889-901 (D.Minn. 1999); Campbell v. Price, 2 F.Supp.2d 1186, 1191-192 (E.D.Ark.
1998); Thompson v. Dulaney, 838 F.Supp. 1535 (D.Utah 1993).
46 Heggy v. Heggy, 944 F.2d 1537, 1539 (10th Cir. 1991); Kempf v. Kempf, 868 F.2d 970,
972 (8th Cir. 1989); Pritchard v. Pritchard, 732 F.2d 372, 374 (4th Cir. 1984); United States
v. Jones, 542 F.2d 661, 667 (6th Cir. 1976); Kratz v. Kratz, 477 F.Supp. 463, 467-70
(E.D.Pa. 1979); Heyman v.Heyman, 548 F.Supp. 1041, 1045-47 (N.D.Ill.1982); Lombardo
v. Lombardo, 192 F.Supp.2d 885, 809 (N.D.Ill. 2002).
47 Simpson v. Simpson, 490 F.2d 803, 809 (5th Cir. 1974); Perfit v. Perfit, 693 F.Supp. 854-
56 (C.D.Cal. 1988); see generally, Applicability, in Civil Action, of Provisions of Omnibus
Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 Prohibiting Interception of Communications (18
USCS §2511(1)), to Interception by Spouse, or Spouse’s Agent, of Conversations of Other
Spouse, 139 ALR FED. 517, and the cases discussed therein.
48 Anonymous v. Anonymous, 558 F.2d 677, 678-79 (2d Cir. 1977); Scheib v. Grant, 22 F.3d
149, 154 (7th Cir. 1994); Newcomb v. Ingle, 944 F.2d 1534, 1536 (10th Cir. 1991); contra,
United States v. Murdock, 63 F.3d 1391, 1400 (6th Cir. 1995).

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Consequences: Criminal Penalties
Interceptions in violation of Title III/ECPA are generally punishable by
imprisonment for not more than five years and/or a fine of not more than $250,000
for individuals and not more than $500,000 for organizations.49 The same penalties
apply to the unlawful capture of cell phone and cordless phone conversations, now
that the Homeland Security Act, 116 Stat. 2158 (2002), has repealed the reduced
penalty provisions that at one time applied to the unlawful interceptions using radio
scanners and the like, 18 U.S.C. 2511(4)(b)(2000 ed.). There is a reduced penalty,
however, for filching satellite communications as long as the interception is not
conducted for criminal, tortious, nor mercenary purposes, is the second instance
where Congress opted for reduced penalties. Unauthorized interception is broadly
proscribed subject to an exception for unscrambled transmissions,50 are subject to the
general 5-year penalty, but interceptions for neither criminal, tortious, nor
mercenary purposes, subject offenders to only civil punishment.51 Equipment used
49 “Except as provided in (b) of this subsection or in subsection (5), whoever violates
subsection (1) of this section shall be fined under this title* or imprisoned not more than five
years, or both.” 18 U.S.C. 2511(4)(a).
* Section 3559 of title 18 classifies as a felony any offense punishable by imprisonment
for more than one year; and as a class A misdemeanor any offense punishable by
imprisonment for one year or less but not more than six months. Unless Congress clearly
rejects the general fine ceilings it provides, section 3571 of title 18 sets the fines for felonies
at not more than $250,000 for individuals and not more than $500,000 for organizations, and
for class A misdemeanors at not more than $100,000 for individuals and not more than
$200,000 for organizations. If there is monetary loss or gain associated with the offense, the
offender may alternatively be fined not more than twice the amount of the loss or gain, 18
U.S.C. 3571.
50 “(b) Conduct otherwise an offense under this subsection that consists of or relates to the
interception of a satellite transmission that is not encrypted or scrambled and that is
transmitted – (i) to a broadcasting station for purposes of retransmission to the general
public; or (ii) as an audio subcarrier intended for redistribution to facilities open to the
public, but not including data transmissions or telephone calls, is not an offense under this
subsection unless the conduct is for the purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage
or private financial gain,” 18 U.S.C. 2511(4)(b).
51 “(5)(a)(i) If the communication is – (A) a private satellite video communication that is not
scrambled or encrypted and the conduct in violation of this chapter is the private viewing of
that communication and is not for a tortious or illegal purpose or for purposes of direct or
indirect commercial advantage or private commercial gain; or (B) a radio communication
that is transmitted on frequencies allocated under subpart D of part 74 of the rules of the
Federal Communications Commission that is not scrambled or encrypted and the conduct
in violation of this chapter is not for tortious or illegal purpose or for purposes of direct or
indirect commercial advantage or private commercial gain, then the person who engages in
such conduct shall be subject to suit by the Federal Government in a court of competent
jurisdiction. (ii) In an action under this subsection – (A) if the violation of this chapter is a
first offense for the person under paragraph (a) of subsection (4) and such person has not
been found liable in a civil action under section 2520 of this title, the Federal Government
shall be entitled to appropriate injunctive relief; and (B) if the violation of this chapter is a
second or subsequent offense under paragraph (a) of subsection (4) or such person has been
found liable in any prior civil action under section 2520, the person shall be subject to a
mandatory $500 civil fine.
“(b) The court may use any means within its authority to enforce an injunction issued

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to wiretap or eavesdrop in violation of Title III is subject to confiscation by the
United States, either in a separate civil proceeding or a part of the prosecution of the
offender.52
In addition to exemptions previously mentioned, Title III provides a defense to
criminal liability based on good faith.53 As noted below, the defense seems to lack
under paragraph (ii)(A), and shall impose a civil fine of not less than $500 for each violation
of such an injunction.” 18 U.S.C. 2511(5).
Under 18 U.S.C. 2520, victims may recover no more than damages of not less than $50
nor more than $500 for the first offense, increased to $100 and $1000 for subsequent
offenses.
52 18 U.S.C. 2513 (“Any electronic, mechanical, or other device used, sent, carried,
manufactured, assembled, possessed, sold, or advertised in violation of section 2511 or
section 2512 of this chapter may be seized and forfeited to the United States. . .”); 18 U.S.C.
983(a)(3)(C)(“In lieu of, or in addition to, filing a civil forfeiture complaint, the Government
may include a forfeiture allegation in a criminal indictment. . .”).
53 “A good faith reliance on – (1) a court warrant or order, a grand jury subpoena, a
legislative authorization, or a statutory authorization; (2) a request of an investigative or law
enforcement officer under section 2518(7) of this title; or (3) a good faith determination that
section 2511(3)* or 2511(2)(i)** of this title permitted the conduct complained of; is a
complete defense against any civil or criminal action brought under this chapter or any other
law,” 18 U.S.C. 2520(d). The Homeland Security Act added the language in italics above,
116 Stat. 2157 (2002), which was thought to provide a defense to civil liability for good faith
providers who assisted law enforcement officials in the interception of computer trespasser
communications within the provider’s system, H.Rep.No.107-497 at 14-5 (2002). On its
face, the language appears to provide a good faith defense to intercepting officers in a
trespass situation.
*“(3)(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection, a person or entity
providing an electronic communication service to the public shall not intentionally divulge
the contents of any communication (other than one to such person or entity, or an agent
thereof) while in transmission on that service to any person or entity other than an addressee
or intended recipient of such communication or an agent of such addressee or intended
recipient.
“(b) A person or entity providing electronic communication service to the public may
divulge the contents of any such communication – (i) as otherwise authorized in section
2511(2)(a) or 2517 of this title; (ii) with the lawful consent of the originator or any addressee
or intended recipient of such communication; (iii) to a person employed or authorized, or
whose facilities are used, to forward such communication to its destination; or (iv) which
were inadvertently obtained by the service provider and which appear to pertain to the
commission of a crime, if such divulgence is made to a law enforcement agency,” 18 U.S.C.
2511(3).
**“(i) It shall not be unlawful under this chapter for a person acting under color of law
to intercept the wire or electronic communications of a computer trespasser transmitted to,
through, or from the protected computer if (I) the owner or operator of the protected
computer authorizes the interception of the computer trespasser's communications on the
protected computer; (II) the person acting under color of law is lawfully engaged in an
investigation; (III) the person acting under color of law has reasonable grounds to believe
that the contents of the computer trespasser's communications will be relevant to the
investigation; and (IV) such interception does not acquire communications other than those
transmitted to or from the computer trespasser,” 18 U.S.C. 2511(2)(i). This language was
added by the USA PATRIOT Act, 115 Stat. 291 (2001); it expires when the USA PATRIOT
Act amendment sunsets on Dec. 31, 2005, 115 Stat. 295 (2001). A “protected computer” is

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sufficient breadth to shelter any offender other than a government official or some
one working at their direction.
Consequences: Civil Liability
Victims of illegal wiretapping or electronic eavesdropping may be entitled equitable
relief, damages (equal to the greater of actual damages, $100 per day of violation, or
$10,000),54 punitive damages, reasonable attorney’s fees and reasonable litigation
costs, 18 U.S.C. 2520.55 There is a division of authority as to whether (1) a court
may decline to award damages, attorneys’ fees and costs once a violation has been
“a computer – (A) exclusively for the use of a financial institution or the United States
Government, or, in the case of a computer not exclusively for such use, used by or for a
financial institution or the United States Government and the conduct constituting the
offense affects that use by or for the financial institution or the Government; or (B) which
is used in interstate or foreign commerce or communication, including a computer located
outside the United States that is used in a manner that affects interstate or foreign commerce
or communication of the United States,” 18 U.S.C. 1030(e)(2).
54 The $10,000 lump sum for liquidated damages is limited to a single award per victim
rather than permitting $10,000 multiples based on the number of violations or the number
of types of violations, as long as the violations are “interrelated and time compacted,” Smoot
v. United Transportation Union, 246 F.3d 633, 642-645 (6th Cir. 2001); Desilets v. Wal-
Mart Stores, Inc., 171 F.3d 711, 713 (1st Cir. 1999).
55 “(a) Except as provided in section 2511(2)(a)(ii), any person whose wire, oral, or
electronic communication is intercepted, disclosed, or intentionally used in violation of this
chapter may in a civil action recover from the person or entity, other than the United States,
which engaged in that violation such relief as may be appropriate.
“(b) In an action under this section, appropriate relief includes – (1) such preliminary
and other equitable or declaratory relief as may be appropriate; (2) damages under subsection
(c) and punitive damages in appropriate cases; and (3) a reasonable attorney's fee and other
litigation costs reasonably incurred.
“(c) (1) [relating to satellite video]. (2) In any other action under this section, the court
may assess as damages whichever is the greater of – (A) the sum of the actual damages
suffered by the plaintiff and any profits made by the violator as a result of the violation; or
(B) statutory damages of whichever is the greater of $100 a day for each day of violation or
$10,000.
“(d) A good faith reliance on – (1) a court warrant or order, a grand jury subpoena, a
legislative authorization, or a statutory authorization; (2) a request of an investigative or law
enforcement officer under section 2518(7) of this title; or (3) a good faith determination that
section 2511(3) or 2511(2)(i) of this title permitted the conduct complained of; is a complete
defense against any civil or criminal action brought under this chapter or any other law.
“(e) A civil action under this section may not be commenced later than two years after
the date upon which the claimant first has a reasonable opportunity to discover the violation.
(f) [Administrative discipline]
“(g) Any willful disclosure or use by an investigative or law enforcement officer or
governmental entity of information beyond the extent permitted by section 2517 is a
violation of this chapter for purposes of section 2520(a),” 18 U.S.C. 2520. The USA
PATRIOT Act established separate provisions to cover civil actions against the United
States, 115 Stat. 293-94 (2001), discussed below, and consequently explicitly excluded suits
against the United States from section 2520. Both the separate provisions and the changes
in 18 U.S.C. 2520 expire when the USA PATRIOT Act amendments sunset on December
31, 2005, 115 Stat. 295 (2001).

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shown,56 (2) governmental entities other than the United States are liable for
violations of section 2520,57 and (3) law enforcement officers enjoy a qualified
immunity from suit under section 2520.58
The cause of action created in section 2520 is subject to a good faith defense,
18 U.S.C. 2520(d). The only apparent efforts to claim the defense by any one other
than a government official or someone working at their direction have been
unsuccessful.59
Consequences: Civil Liability of the United States
The USA PATRIOT Act authorizes a cause of action against the United States
for willful violations of Title III, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act or the
provisions governing stored communications in 18 U.S.C. 2701-2712, 18 U.S.C.
2712.60
56 Compare, Nalley v. Nalley, 53 F.3d 649, 651-53 (4th Cir. 1995), Reynolds v. Spears, 93
F.3d 428, 433 (8th Cir. 1996); Romano v. Terkik, 939 F.Supp. 144, 146-47 (D.Conn.
1996)(courts have discretion), with, Rodgers v. Wood, 910 F.2d 444, 447-49 (7th Cir. 1990)
and Menda Biton v. Menda, 812 F.Supp. 283, 284 (D. Puerto Rico 1993)(courts have no
such discretion)(note that after Menda, the First Circuit in Desilets v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.,
171 F.3d at 716-17 treated as a matter for the trial court’s discretion the question of whether
the award of plaintiff’s attorneys’ fees should be reduced when punitive damages have been
denied).
57 Adams v. Battle Creek, 250 F.3d 980, 984 (6th Cir. 2001); Organizacion JD Ltda. v.
United States Department of Justice, 18 F.3d 91, 94-5 (2d Cir. 1994); Connor v. Tate, 120
F.Supp.2d 1370, 1374 (N.D.Ga. 2001); Dorris v. Absher, 959 F.Supp. 813, 820 (M.D.Tenn.
1997), aff’d/rev’d in part on other grounds, 179 F.3d 420 (6th Cir. 1999); PBA Local No.
38 v. Woodbridge Police Department, 832 F.Supp. 808, 822-23 (D.N.J. 1993)(each
concluding that governmental entities may be held liable); contra, Abbott v. Winthrop
Harbor, 205 F.3d 976, 980 (7th Cir. 2000); Amati v. Woodstock, 176 F.3d 952, 956 (7th Cir.
1999).
58 Compare, Berry v. Funk, 146 F.3d 1003, 1013 (D.C.Cir. 1998)(no immunity), with,
Tapley v. Collins, 211 F.3d 1210, 1216 (11th Cir. 2000)(immunity); Blake v. Wright, 179
F.3d 1003, 1011-13(6th Cir. 1999)(same); see generally, Qualified Immunity as Defense in
Suit Under Federal Wiretap Act (18 U.S.C.A. §§2510 et seq.), 178 ALR FED. 1.
59 Williams v. Poulos, 11 F.3d 271, 285 (1st Cir. 1993); United States v. Wuliger, 981 F.2d
1497, 1507 (6th Cir. 1992).
60 “(a) Any person who is aggrieved by any willful violation of this chapter or of chapter
119 of this title or of sections 106(a), 305(a), or 405(a) of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U. S.C. 1801 et seq.) may commence an action in United States
District Court against the United States to recover money damages. In any such action, if
a person who is aggrieved successfully establishes such a violation of this chapter or of
chapter 119 of this title or of the above specific provisions of title 50, the Court may assess
as damages – (1) actual damages, but not less than $10,000, whichever amount is greater;
and (2) litigation costs, reasonably incurred.
“(b)(1) Any action against the United States under this section may be commenced only
after a claim is presented to the appropriate department or agency under the procedures of
the Federal Tort Claims Act, as set forth in title 28, United States Code. (2) Any action
against the United States under this section shall be forever barred unless it is presented in
writing to the appropriate Federal agency within 2 years after such claim accrues or unless

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Consequences: Administrative Action
Upon a judicial or administrative determination that a Title III violation
suggesting possible intentional or willful misconduct on the part of a federal officer
or employee, the federal agency or department involved may institute disciplinary
action. It is required to explain to its Inspector General’s office if declines to do so.61
Consequences: Attorney Discipline
action is begun within 6 months after the date of mailing, by certified or registered mail, of
notice of final denial of the claim by the agency to which it was presented. The claim shall
accrue on the date upon which the claimant first has a reasonable opportunity to discover the
violation. (3) Any action under this section shall be tried to the court without a jury. (4)
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the procedures set forth in section 106(f),
305(g), or 405(f) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801 et
seq.) shall be the exclusive means by which materials governed by those sections may be
reviewed. (5) An amount equal to any award against the United States under this section
shall be reimbursed by the department or agency concerned to the fund described in section
1304 of title 31, United States Code, out of any appropriation, fund, or other account
(excluding any part of such appropriation, fund, or account that is available for the
enforcement of any Federal law) that is available for the operating expenses of the
department or agency concerned.
(c) [Administrative discipline]
“(d) Any action against the United States under this subsection shall be the exclusive
remedy against the United States for any claims within the purview of this section.
“(e) (1) Upon the motion of the United States, the court shall stay any action
commenced under this section if the court determines that civil discovery will adversely
affect the ability of the Government to conduct a related investigation or the prosecution of
a related criminal case. Such a stay shall toll the limitations periods of paragraph (2) of
subsection (b). (2) In this subsection, the terms ‘related criminal case’ and ‘related
investigation’ mean an actual prosecution or investigation in progress at the time at which
the request for the stay or any subsequent motion to lift the stay is made. In determining
whether an investigation or a criminal case is related to an action commenced under this
section, the court shall consider the degree of similarity between the parties, witnesses, facts,
and circumstances involved in the 2 proceedings, without requiring that any one or more
factors be identical. (3) In requesting a stay under paragraph (1), the Government may, in
appropriate cases, submit evidence ex parte in order to avoid disclosing any matter that may
adversely affect a related investigation or a related criminal case. If the Government makes
such an ex parte submission, the plaintiff shall be given an opportunity to make a submission
to the court, not ex parte, and the court may, in its discretion, request further information
from either party,” 18 U.S.C. 2712. Section 2712 expires on December 31, 2005 with the
other USA PATRIOT Act provisions that sunset on that date, 115 Stat. 295 (2001).
61 “If a court or appropriate department or agency determines that the United States or any
of its departments or agencies has violated any provision of this chapter, and the court or
appropriate department or agency finds that the circumstances surrounding the violation raise
serious questions about whether or not an officer or employee of the United States acted
willfully or intentionally with respect to the violation, the department or agency shall, upon
receipt of a true and correct copy of the decision and findings of the court or appropriate
department or agency promptly initiate a proceeding to determine whether disciplinary
action against the officer or employee is warranted. If the head of the department or agency
involved determines that disciplinary action is not warranted, he or she shall notify the
Inspector General with jurisdiction over the department or agency concerned and shall
provide the Inspector General with the reasons for such determination,” 18 U.S.C. 2520(f).

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Until recently, the American Bar Association (ABA) considered it ethical
misconduct for an attorney to intercept or record a conversation without the consent
of all of the parties to the conversation, ABA Formal Op. 337 (1974). The reaction
of state regulatory authorities with the power to discipline professional misconduct
was mixed. Some agree with the ABA.62 Some agree with the ABA but have
expanded the circumstances under which recording may be conducted within ethical
bounds.63 Some reject the ABA view.64 The ABA has now repudiated its earlier
position, ABA Formal Op. 01-422 (2001). Attorneys who engage in unlawful
wiretapping or electronic eavesdropping will remain subject to professional
discipline in every jurisdiction; in light of the ABA’s change of position, it remains
to be seen to how state regulatory authorities will react to lawful wiretapping or
electronic eavesdropping by members of the bar.
62Ala. Opinion 84-22 (1984); People v. Smith, 778 P.2d 685, 686, 687 (Colo. 1989); Haw.
Formal Opinion No. 30 (1988); Ind.State Bar Ass’n Op.No.1 (2000); Iowa State Bar Ass’n
v. Mollman, 488 N.W.2d 168, 169-70, 171-72 (Iowa 1992); Mo.Advisory Comm. Op. Misc.
30 (1978); Tex.Stat.Bar Op. 514 (1996); Va. LEO #1635 (1995), Va. LEO #1324; Gunter v.
Virginia State Bar, 238 Va. 617, 621-22, 385 S.E.2d 597, 600 (1989).
Thus far, the federal courts seem to be in accord, Parrott v. Wilson, 707 F.2d 1262
(11th Cir. 1983); Moody v. IRS, 654 F.2d 795 (D.C. Cir. 1981); Ward v. Maritz, Inc., 156
F.R.D. 592 (D.N.J. 1994); Wilson v. Lamb, 125 F.R.D. 142 (E.D.Ky. 1989); Haigh V.
Matsushita Electric Corp., 676 F.Supp. 1332 (E.D.Va. 1987).
63 Ariz. Opinion No. 95-03 (1995); Alaska Bar Ass’n Eth.Comm. Ethics Opinions No. 95-5
(1995) and No. 91-4 (1991); Idaho Formal Opinion 130 (1989); Kan.Bar.Ass’n Opinion 96-
9 (1997); Ky.Opinion E-279 (1984); Minn.Law.Prof. Resp.Bd. Opinion No. 18 (1996); Ohio
Bd.Com.Griev.Disp. Opinion No. 97-3 (1997); S.C. Ethics Advisory Opinion 92-17 (1992);
Tenn.Bd.Prof.Resp. Formal Ethics Opinion No. 86-F-14(a) (1986).
64 D.C. Opinion No. 229 (1992) (recording was not unethical because it occurred under
circumstances in which the uninformed party should have anticipated that the conversation
would be recorded or otherwise memorialized); Mississippi Bar v. Attorney ST., 621 So.2d
229 (Miss. 1993)(context of the circumstances test); Conn.Bar Ass’‘n Op. 98-9
(1998)(same); Mich.State Bar Op. RI-309 (1998)(same); Me.State Bar Op.No. 168
(1999)(same); N.M.Opinion 1996-2 (1996)(members of the bar are advised that there are no
clear guidelines and that the prudent attorney avoids surreptitious recording); N.C. RPC 171
(1994)(lawyers are encouraged to disclose to the other lawyer that a conversation is being
tape recorded); Okla.Bar Ass’n Opinion 307 (1994)(a lawyer may secretly recording his or
her conversations without the knowledge or consent of other parties to the conversation
unless the recording is unlawful or in violation of some ethical standard involving more than
simply recording); Ore.State Bar Ass’n Formal Opinion No. 1991-74 (1991) (an attorney
with one party consent he or she may record a telephone conversation “in absence of conduct
which would reasonably lead an individual to believe that no recording would be made”);
Utah State Bar Ethics Advisory Opinion No. 96-04 (1996) (“recording conversations to
which an attorney is a party without prior disclosure to the other parties is not unethical
when the act, considered within the context of the circumstances, does not involve
dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation”); Wis.Opinion E-94-5 (“whether the secret
recording of a telephone conversation by a lawyer involves <dishonesty, fraud, deceit or
misrepresentation’ under SCR 20:8.4(c) depends upon all the circumstances operating at the
time”). In New York, the question of whether an attorney’s surreptitiously recording
conversations is ethically suspect is determined by locality, compare, Ass’n of the Bar of City
of N.Y. Formal Opinion No. 1995-10 (1995)(secret recording is per se unethical), with,
N.Y.County Lawyer’s Ass’n Opinion No. 696 (1993)(secret recording is not per se unethical).

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Consequences: Exclusion of evidence
Information whose disclosure is prohibited by the federal wiretapping statute
is inadmissible as evidence before any federal, state, or local tribunal or authority,
18 U.S.C. 2515.65 The benefits of the section 2515 exclusionary rule may be claimed
through a motion to suppress under 18 U.S.C. 2518(10)(a).66
Although the Supreme Court has held that section 2515 may require suppression
in instances where the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule would not, Gelbard v.
United States, 408 U.S. 41, 52 (1972), some of the lower courts have recognized the
applicability of the good faith exception to the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule
in section 2515 cases.67 Other courts have held, moreover, that the fruits of an
65 “Whenever any wire or oral communication has been intercepted, no part of the contents
of such communication and no evidence derived therefrom may be received in evidence in
any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any court, grand jury, department, officer,
agency, regulatory body, legislative committee, or other authority of the United States, a
State, or a political subdivision thereof if the disclosure of that information would be in
violation of this chapter,” 18 U.S.C. 2515.
66 “Any aggrieved person in any trial, hearing, or proceeding in or before any court,
department, officer, agency, regulatory body, or other authority of the United States, a State,
or a political subdivision thereof, may move to suppress the contents of any wire or oral
communication intercepted pursuant to this chapter, or evidence derived therefrom, on the
grounds that – (i) the communication was unlawfully intercepted; (ii) the order of
authorization or approval under which it was intercepted is insufficient on its face; or (iii)
the interception was not made in conformity with the order of authorization or approval.
“Such motion shall be made before the trial, hearing, or proceeding unless there was
no opportunity to make such motion or the person was not aware of the grounds of the
motion. If the motion is granted, the contents of the intercepted wire or oral communication,
or evidence derived therefrom, shall be treated as having been obtained in violation of this
chapter. The judge, upon the filing of such motion by the aggrieved person, may in his
discretion make available to the aggrieved person or his counsel for inspection such portions
of the intercepted communication or evidence derived therefrom as the judge determines to
be in the interests of justice,” 18 U.S.C. 2518(10)(a).
“The Supreme Court has explained the relationship between these two provisions. In
United States v. Giordano, 416 U.S. 505 (1974), the Court wrote that <what disclosures are
forbidden under 2515 and we subject to motions to suppress is . . . governed by 2518(10(a).’
Thus, evidence may be suppressed only if one of the grounds set out in 2518(10)(a) is met.
Moreover not every failure to comply fully with any requirement provided in Title III would
render the interception of wire or oral communications unlawful under 2518(10)(a)(i).
United States v. Donovan, 429 U.S. 413, 433 (1977), quoting United States v. Chavez, 416
U.S. 562 (1974). Rather suppression is mandated only for a failure to satisfy any of those
statutory requirements that directly and substantially implement the congressional intention
to limit the use of intercept procedures to those situations clearly calling for the employment
of this extraordinary investigative device, Donovan, 429 U.S. at 433-34, quoting Girodano,
416 U.S. at 527,” United States v. Williams, 124 F.3d 411, 426 (3d Cir. 1997); United States
v. Escobar-deJesus, 187 F.3d 148, 171 (1st Cir. 1999).
67 United States v. Moore, 41 F.3d 370, 376 (8th Cir. 1994); United States v. Ambrosio, 898
F.Supp. 177, 187 (S.D.N.Y. 1995); United States v. Malelzadeh, 855 F.2d 1492, 1497 (11th
Cir. 1988).
Gelbard held that a grand jury witness might claim the protection of section 2515
through a refusal to answer questions based upon an unlawful wiretap notwithstanding the

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unlawful wiretapping or electronic eavesdropping may be used for impeachment
purposes.68
The admissibility of tapes or transcripts of tapes of intercepted conversations
raise a number of questions quite apart from the legality of the interception. As a
consequence of the prerequisites required for admission, privately recorded
conversations are more likely to be found inadmissible than those recorded by
government officials. Admissibility will require the party moving admission to show
that the tapes or transcripts are accurate, authentic and trustworthy.69 For some
courts this demands a showing that, “(1) the recording device was capable of
recording the events offered in evidence; (2) the operator was competent to operate
the device; (3) the recording is authentic and correct; (4) changes, additions, or
deletions have not been made in the recording; (5) the recording has been preserved
in a manner that is shown to the court; (6) the speakers on the tape are identified; and
(7) the conversation elicited was made voluntarily and in good faith, without any
kind of inducement.”70
Illegal Disclosure of Information Obtained by
Wiretapping or Electronic Eavesdropping
Although often overlooked, it also a federal crime to disclose information
obtained from illicit wiretapping or electronic eavesdropping, 18 U.S.C. 2511(1)(c):
fact that the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule does not apply in grand jury proceedings.
The good faith exception to the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule permits the admission
of evidence secured in violation of the Fourth Amendment, if the officers responsible for the
breach were acting in good faith reliance upon the apparent authority of a search warrant or
some like condition negating the remedial force of the rule, United States v. Leon, 468 U.S.
431, 446-48 (1984).
68 Culbertson v. Culbertson, 143 F.3d 825, 827-28 (4th Cir. 1998); United States v.
Echavarria-Olarte, 904 F.2d 1391 (9th Cir. 1990); United States v. Vest, 813 F.2d 477, 484
(1st Cir. 1987).
69 United States v. Thompson, 130 F.3d 676, 683 (5th Cir. 1997); United States v. Panaro,
241 F.3d 1104, 1111 (9th Cir. 2001); United States v. Smith, 242 F.3d 737, 741 (7th Cir.
2001);.
70 United States v. Webster, 84 F.3d 1056, 1064 (8th Cir. 1996); United States v. Green, 175
F.3d 822, 830 n.3 (10th Cir. 1999); cf., United States v. Calderin-Rodriguez, 244 F.3d 977,
986-87 (8th Cir. 2001). These seven factors have been fairly widely cited since they were
first announced in United States v. McKeever, 169 F.Supp 426, 430 (S.D.N.Y. 1958), rev’d
on other grounds, 271 F.2d 669 (2d Cir. 1959). They are a bit formalistic for some courts
who endorse a more ad hoc approach to the assessment of whether the admission of what
purports to be a taped conversation will introduce fraud or confusion into the court, see e.g.,
Stringel v. Methodist Hosp. of Indiana, Inc., 89 F.3d 415, 420 (7th Cir. 1996)(McKeever
“sets out a rather formal, seven step checklist for the authentication of tape recordings, and
we have looked to some of the features [in the past]”); United States v. White, 116 F.3d 903,
921 (D.C.Cir. 1997)(“tapes may be authenticated by testimony describing the process or
system that created the tape or by testimony from parties to the conversation affirming that
the tapes contained an accurate record of what was said”); United States v. Tropeano, 252
F.3d 653, 661 (2d Cir. 2001)(“[T]his Circuit has never expressly adopted a rigid standard for
determining the admissibility of tape recordings”); United States v. Westmoreland, 312 F.3d
302, 310-11 (7th Cir. 2002).

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• any person [who]
• intentionally
• discloses or endeavors to disclose to another person
• the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic communication
• having reason to know
• that the information was obtained through the interception of a wire, oral, or
electronic communication
• in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2511(1)
• is subject to the same sanctions and remedies as the wiretapper or electronic
eavesdropper.
This is true of the wiretapper or electronic eavesdropper and of all those who
disclose information, that in fact can be traced to a disclosure by the original
wiretapper or eavesdropper, with reason to know of the information’s illicit origins,
except to the extent the First Amendment bans application.71 The legislative history
speaks of a common knowledge limitation on the statute’s coverage, but it is not
clear whether it refers to common knowledge at the time of interception or at the
time disclosure, S.REP.NO. 1097, 90th Cong., 2d Sess. 93 (1967).72 By definition a
violation of paragraph 2511(1)(c) requires an earlier unlawful interception under
subsection 2511(1). If there is no predicate unlawful interception there can be no
violation of paragraph 2511(1)(c).
The results of electronic eavesdropping authorized under Title III/ECPA may
be disclosed and used for law enforcement purposes 73 and for testimonial purposes.74
71 Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 U.S. 514, 533-34 (2001), pointed out that the First Amendment
right to free speech bars the application of section 2511(1)(c) to the disclosure of illegally
intercepted, but lawfully acquired, communications dealing with a matter of unusual public
concern. Bartnicki was a union negotiator whose telephone conversations with the union’s
president were surreptitiously intercepted and recorded while they were discussion
negotiation of a teachers’ contract. During the conversation, the possibility of using violence
against school board members was mentioned. After the teachers’ contract was signed, the
unknown wiretapper secretly supplied Yocum, a critic of the union’s position, with a copy
of the tape. Yocum in turn played it for members of the school board and turned it over to
Vopper, a radio talk show host, who played it on his show. Other stations and media outlets
published the contents as well. Bartnicki sued Vopper and Yocum for use and disclosure in
violation of sections 2511(1)(c) and 2511(1)(d). Vopper and Yocum offered a free speech
defense which the Supreme Court accepted. For a more extensive examination of Bartnicki,
see, Featherstone, The Right to Publish Lawfully Obtained But Illegally Intercepted Material
of Public Concern: Bartnicki v. Vopper, CRS Report RS20974 (July, 2001).
72 “Subparagraphs (c) and (d) prohibit, in turn, the disclosure or use of the contents of any
intercepted communication by any person knowing or having reason to know the
information was obtained through an interception in violation of this subsection. The
disclosure of the contents of an intercepted communication that had already become <public
information’ or <common knowledge’ would not be prohibited. The scope of this knowledge
required to violate either subparagraph reflects existing law (Pereira v. United States, 347
U.S. 1 (1954).” The remark may also have been influenced by the high level of intent
(willfully rather than intentionally) included in the disclosure provision as reported out.
73 “Any investigative or law enforcement officer who, by any means authorized by this
chapter, has obtained knowledge of the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic

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It is also a federal crime to disclose, with an intent to obstruct criminal justice,
any information derived from lawful police wiretapping or electronic eavesdropping,
i.e.:
• any person [who]
• intentionally discloses, or endeavors to disclose, to any other person
•the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic communication
• intercepted by means authorized by sections:
- 2511(2)(a)(ii) (communication service providers, landlords, etc. who
assist police setting up wiretaps or electronic eavesdropping devices
- 2511(2)(b) (FCC regulatory activity)
- 2511(2)(c) (police one party consent)
- 2511(2)(e) (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act)
- 2516 (court ordered, police wiretapping or electronic surveillance)
- 2518 (emergency wiretaps or electronic surveillance)
• knowing or having reason to know that
• the information was obtained through the interception of such a
communication
• in connection with a criminal investigation
• having obtained or received the information in connection with a criminal
investigation
• with intent to improperly obstruct, impede, or interfere with a duly authorized
criminal investigation,
•is subject to the same sanctions and remedies as one who illegally wiretaps, 18
U.S.C. 2511(1)(e).75
communication, or evidence derived therefrom, may disclose such contents to another
investigative or law enforcement officer to the extent that such disclosure is appropriate to
the proper performance of the official duties of the officer making or receiving the
disclosure,” 18 U.S.C. 2517(1).
74 “Any person who has received, by any means authorized by this chapter, any information
concerning a wire, oral, or electronic communication, or evidence derived therefrom
intercepted in accordance with the provisions of this chapter may disclose the contents of
that communication or such derivative evidence while giving testimony under oath or
affirmation in any proceeding held under the authority of the United States or of any State
or political subdivision thereof,” 18 U.S.C. 2517(3). This does not entitle private litigants
to disclosure in the view of at least one court, In re Motion to Unseal Electronic Surveillance
Evidence, 990 F.2d 1015 (8th Cir. 1993).
When court ordered interception results in evidence of a crime other than the crime
with respect to which the order was issued, the evidence is admissible only upon a judicial
finding that it was otherwise secured in compliance with Title III/ECPA requirements, 18
U.S.C. 2517(5).
75 When acting with a similar intent, disclosure of the fact of authorized federal wiretap or
foreign intelligence gathering is proscribed elsewhere in title 18. “Whoever, having
knowledge that a Federal investigative or law enforcement officer has been authorized or has
applied for authorization under chapter 119 to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic
communication, in order to obstruct, impede, or prevent such interception, gives notice or
attempts to give notice of the possible interception to any person shall be fined under this
title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”
“Whoever, having knowledge that a Federal officer has been authorized or has applied
for authorization to conduct electronic surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801, et seq.), in order to obstruct, impede, or prevent
such activity, gives notice or attempts to give notice of the possible activity to any person

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The proscriptions 2511(1)(e) would appear to apply to efforts to obstruct justice
by information gleaned from either federal or state police wiretaps. Use of the word
“authorized” in conjunction with a list of federal statutes might suggest that the
paragraph was only intended to protect wiretap information gathered by federal
rather than by federal or state authorities. But most of the cited sections do not
“authorize” anything; they simply confine the reach of the statutory prohibitions.
And several are as likely to involve state interceptions as federal, e.g., the one-party-
consent-under-color-of-law interceptions.
Essentially, the same consequence flow from an unlawful disclosure under
paragraphs 2511(1)(c) or 2511(1)(e) as follow unlawful interception under
paragraphs 2511(1)(a) or 2511(1)(b):
- maximum 5 year prison terms and fines of not more than $250,000 or
$500,000 depending upon whether the offender is an individual or
organization;76
- exposure to civil liability including equitable relief and actual or statutory
damages.77
Illegal Use of Information Obtained by Unlawful Wiretapping
or Electronic Eavesdropping
The prohibition on the use of information secured from illegal wiretapping or
electronic eavesdropping mirrors the disclosure provision, 18 U.S.C. 2511(1)(d):
• any person [who]
• intentionally
• uses or endeavors to use to another person
• the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic communication
• having reason to know
• that the information was obtained through the interception of a wire, oral, or
electronic communication
• in violation of 18 U.S.C. 2511(1)
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both,” 18 U.S.C.
2232(d),(e).
76 “[W]hoever violates subsection (1) of this section shall be fined under this title or
imprisoned not more than five years, or both,” 18 U.S.C. 2511(4)(a).
77 “(a) . . . any person whose wire, oral, or electronic communication is . . . disclosed . . .
used in violation of this chapter may in a civil action recover from the person or entity, other
than the United States, which engaged in that violation such relief as may be appropriate. .
. .(g) Any willful disclosure . . . by an investigative or law enforcement officer or
governmental entity of information beyond the extent permitted by section 2517 is a
violation of this chapter for purposes of section 2520(a),” 18 U.S.C. 2520(a),(g).

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• is subject to the same sanctions and remedies as the wiretapper or electronic
eavesdropper.
The available case law under the use prohibition of section 2511(1)(d) is scant,
and the section has rarely been invoked except in conjunction with the disclosure
prohibition of section 2511(c). The wording of the two is clearly parallel, the
legislative history describes them in the same breath,78 and they are treated alike for
law enforcement purposes.79 Bartnicki seems destined to change all that, because it
appears to parse the constitutionally suspect ban on disclosure from constitutionally
permissible ban on use.80 In doing so, it may also resolve a conflict among the lower
federal appellate courts over the so-called “clean hands” exception. A few courts
had recognized an exception to the disclosure-use bans of section 2511(1) where law
enforcement officials might disclose or use the results of an illegal interception in
which they had played no role.81 Bartnicki appears to dim the prospects of a clean
hands exception when, to illustrate situations to which the section 2511(1)(d) use ban
might be applied constitutionally, it points to one of the cases which rejected to the
exception.82
The consequences of unlawful use of intercepted communications in violation
of paragraph 2511(d) are similar to those for unlawful disclosure in violation of
paragraphs 2511(1)(c) or 2511(1)(e), or for follow unlawful interception under
paragraphs 2511(1)(a) or 2511(1)(b):
78 “Subparagraphs (c) and (d) prohibit, in turn, the disclosure or use of the contents of any
intercepted communication by any person knowing or having reason to know the
information was obtained through an interception in violation of this subsection,” S.REP.NO.
1097, 90th Cong., 2d Sess. 93 (1967).
79 Compare, 18 U.S.C. 2517(1)(“Any investigative or law enforcement officer who, by any
means authorized by this chapter, has obtained knowledge of the contents of any wire, oral,
or electronic communication, or evidence derived therefrom, may disclose such contents to
another investigative or law enforcement officer to the extent that such disclosure is
appropriate to the proper performance of the official duties of the officer making or receiving
the disclosure”), with 18 U.S.C. 2517(2)(“Any investigative or law enforcement officer who,
by any means authorized by this chapter, has obtained knowledge of the contents of any
wire, oral, or electronic communication or evidence derived therefrom may use such contents
to the extent such use is appropriate to the proper performance of his official duties”).
80 “[T]he naked prohibition against disclosures is fairly characterized as a regulation of pure
speech. Unlike the prohibition against the <use’ of the contents of an illegal interception in
§2511(1)(d), subsection (c) is not a regulation of conduct,” 532 U.S. at 526-27.
81 Forsyth v. Barr, 19 F.3d 1527, 1541-545 (5th Cir. 1994); United States v. Murdock, 63 F.3d
1391, 1400-403 (6th Cir. 1995); contra, Berry v. Funk, 146 F.3d 1003, 1011-13 (D.C.Cir.
1998); Chandler v. United States Army, 125 F.3d 1296, 1300-302 (9th Cir. 1997); In re
Grand Jury, 111 F.3d 1066, 1077 (3d Cir. 1997); United States v. Vest, 813 F.2d 477, 481
(1st Cir. 1987).
82 “Unlike the prohibition against the <use’ of the contents of an illegal interception in
§2511(1)(d),* subsection (c) is not a regulation of conduct.
*”The Solicitor General has catalogued some of the cases that fall under subsection(d):
. . . . The statute has also been held to bar the use of illegally intercepted communications for
important and socially valuable purposes, see, In re Grand Jury , 111 F.3d 1066, 1077-79
(3d Cir. 1997),” 532 U.S. at 527(footnote 10 of the Court’s opinion quoted after the *).

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- maximum 5 year prison terms and fines of not more than $250,000 or
$500,000 depending upon whether the offender is an individual or
organization;83
- exposure to civil liability including equitable relief and actual or statutory
damages.84
Shipping, Manufacturing, Distributing, Possessing or
Advertising Wire, Oral, or Electronic Communication
Interception Devices

The proscriptions for possession and trafficking in wiretapping and
eavesdropping devices are even more demanding than those that apply to the
predicate offense itself. There are exemptions for service providers,85 government
officials and those under contract with the government,86 but there is no exemption
for equipment designed to be used by private individuals, lawfully but
surreptitiously.87
83 “[W]hoever violates subsection (1) of this section shall be fined under this title or
imprisoned not more than five years, or both,” 18 U.S.C. 2511(4)(a).
84 “(a) . . . any person whose wire, oral, or electronic communication is . . . intentionally
used in violation of this chapter may in a civil action recover from the person or entity, other
than the United States, which engaged in that violation such relief as may be appropriate. .
. .(g) Any willful . . . use by an investigative or law enforcement officer or governmental
entity of information beyond the extent permitted by section 2517 is a violation of this
chapter for purposes of section 2520(a),” 18 U.S.C. 2520(a),(g).
85 “It shall not be unlawful under this section for – (a) a provider of wire or electronic
communication service or an officer, agent, or employee of, or a person under contract with,
such a provider, in the normal course of the business of providing that wire or electronic
communication service . . . to send through the mail, send or carry in interstate or foreign
commerce, or manufacture, assemble, possess, or sell any electronic, mechanical, or other
device knowing or having reason to know that the design of such device renders it primarily
useful for the purpose of the surreptitious interception of wire, oral, or electronic
communications,” 18 U.S.C. 2512(2)(a).
86 “(2) It shall not be unlawful under this section for . . . (b) an officer, agent, or employee
of, or a person under contract with, the United States, a State, or a political subdivision
thereof, in the normal course of the activities of the United States, a State, or a political
subdivision thereof, to send through the mail, send or carry in interstate or foreign
commerce, or manufacture, assemble, possess, or sell any electronic, mechanical, or other
device knowing or having reason to know that the design of such device renders it primarily
useful for the purpose of the surreptitious interception of wire, oral, or electronic
communications.
“(3) It shall not be unlawful under this section to advertise for sale a device described
in subsection (1) of this section if the advertisement is mailed, sent, or carried in interstate
or foreign commerce solely to a domestic provider of wire or electronic communication
service or to an agency of the United States, a State, or a political subdivision thereof which
is duly authorized to use such device,” 18 U.S.C. 2512(2)(b),(3).
87 United States v. Spy Factory, Inc., 961 F.Supp. 450, 473-75 (S.D.N.Y. 1997); United
States v. Bast, 495 F.2d 138, 141 (D.C.Cir. 1974).

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The three prohibitions in section 2512 present generally common features,
declaring that:
• any person who
• intentionally
• either
(a)
- sends through the mail or sends or carries in interstate or foreign
commerce
- any electronic, mechanical, or other device
- knowing or having reason to know
- that the design of such device renders it primarily useful
- for the purpose of the surreptitious interception of wire, oral, or
electronic communications; or
(b)
- manufactures, assembles, possesses, or sells
- any electronic, mechanical, or other device
- knowing or having reason to know
- that the design of such device renders it primarily useful
- for the purpose of the surreptitious interception of wire, oral, or
electronic communications, and
- that such device or any component thereof has been or will be sent
through the mail or transported in interstate or foreign commerce; or
(c)
- places in any newspaper, magazine, handbill, or other publication or
disseminates electronically
- any advertisement of –
+ any electronic, mechanical, or other device
+ knowing or having reason to know
+ that the design of such device renders it primarily useful
+ for the purpose of the surreptitious interception of wire, oral, or
electronic communications; or
+ any other electronic, mechanical, or other device
+ where such advertisement promotes the use of such device
+ for the purpose of the surreptitious interception of wire, oral, or
electronic communications
- knowing the content of the advertisement and knowing or having reason
to know
- that such advertisement will be sent through the mail or transported in
interstate or foreign commerce

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• shall imprisoned for not more than 5 years and/or fined not more than
$250,000 (not more than $500,000 for organizations), 18 U.S.C. 2512.88
The legislative history lists among the items Congress considered “primarily
useful for the purpose of the surreptitious interception of communications: the
martini olive transmitter, the spike mike, the infinity transmitter, and the microphone
disguised as a wristwatch, picture frame, cuff link, tie clip, fountain pen, stapler, or
cigarette pack,” S.REP.NO. 1097, 90th Cong., 2d Sess. 95 (1968).
Questions once raised over whether section 2512 covers equipment designed
to permit unauthorized reception of scrambled satellite television signals have been
resolved.89 Each of the circuits to consider the question have now concluded that
2512 outlaws such devices.90 Their use is also proscribed by 47 U.S.C. 605.91
88 The Homeland Security Act amended (italics) section 2512 to cover advertisements using
the Internet and other electronic means, 116 Stat. 2158 (2002).
89 The two appellate panel decisions that found the devices beyond the bounds of section
2512, United States v. Herring, 933 F.2d 932 (11th Cir. 1991) and United States v. Hux, 940
F.2d 314 (8th Cir. 1991) have been overturned en banc, United States v. Herring, 993 F.2d
784, 786 (11th Cir. 1993); United States v. Davis, 978 F.2d 415, 416 (8th Cir. 1992).
90 United States v. Harrell, 983 F.2d 36, 37-9 (5th Cir. 1993); United States v. One Macom
Video Cipher II, 985 F.2d 258, 259-61 (6th Cir. 1993); United States v. Shriver, 989 F.2d.
898, 901-906 (7th Cir. 1992); United States v. Davis, 978 F.2d 415, 417-20 (8th Cir. 1992);
United States v. Lande, 968 F.2d 907, 910-11 (9th Cir. 1992); United States v. McNutt, 908
F.2d 561, 564-65 (10th Cir. 1990); United States v. Herring, 993 F.2d 784, 786-89 (11th Cir.
1991).
91 “(a). . . No person not being entitled thereto shall receive or assist in receiving any
interstate or foreign communication by radio and use such communication (or any
information therein contained) for his own benefit or for the benefit of another not entitled
thereto. No person having received any intercepted radio communication or having become
acquainted with the contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of such communication
(or any part thereof) knowing that such communication was intercepted, shall divulge or
publish the existence, contents, substance, purport, effect, or meaning of such
communication (or any part thereof) or use such communication (or any information therein
contained) for his own benefit or for the benefit of another not entitled thereto. This section
shall not apply to the receiving, divulging, publishing, or utilizing the contents of any radio
communication which is transmitted by any station for the use of the general public, which
relates to ships, aircraft, vehicles, or persons in distress, or which is transmitted by an
amateur radio station operator or by a citizens band radio operator.
“(b) The provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall not apply to the interception
or receipt by any individual, or the assisting (including the manufacture or sale) of such
interception or receipt, of any satellite cable programming for private viewing if – (1) the
programming involved is not encrypted; and (2)(A) a marketing system is not established
under which – (i) an agent or agents have been lawfully designated for the purpose of
authorizing private viewing by individuals, and
(ii) such authorization is available to the individual involved from the appropriate agent or
agents; or (B) a marketing system described in subparagraph (A) is established and the
individuals receiving such programming has obtained authorization for private viewing
under that system . . .
“(2) Any person who violates subsection (a) of this section willfully and for purposes
of direct or indirect commercial advantage or private financial gain shall be fined not more
than $50,000 or imprisoned for not more than 2 years, or both, for the first such conviction

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Stored Electronic Communications
In its original form Title III was ill suited to ensure the privacy of those varieties
of modern communications which are equally vulnerable to intrusion when they are
at rest as when they are in transmission. Surreptitious “access” is as least as great
a threat as surreptitious “interception” to the patrons of electronic mail (e-mail),
electronic bulletin boards, voice mail, pagers, and remote computer storage.
Accordingly, Title III/ECPA also bans surreptitious access to communications
at rest, although it does so beyond the confines of that apply to interception, 18
U.S.C. 2701 - 2711.92 These separate provisions afford protection for e-mail, voice
and shall be fined not more than $100,000 or imprisoned for not more than 5 years, or both,
for any subsequent conviction.
“(3)(A) Any person aggrieved by any violation of subsection (a) of this section or
paragraph (4) of this subsection may bring a civil action in a United States district court or
in any other court of competent jurisdiction. (B) The court – (i) may grant temporary and
final injunctions on such terms as it may deem reasonable to prevent or restrain violations
of subsection (a) of this section; (ii) may award damages as described in subparagraph (C);
and (iii) shall direct the recovery of full costs, including awarding reasonable attorneys’ fees
to an aggrieved party who prevails. (C)(i) Damages awarded by any court under this section
shall be computed, at the election of the aggrieved party, in accordance with either of the
following subclauses: (I) the party aggrieved may recover the actual damages suffered by
him as a result of the violation and any profits of the violator that are attributable to the
violation which are not taken into account in computing the actual damages; in determining
the violator’s profits, the party aggrieved shall be required to prove only the violator’s gross
revenue, and the violator shall be required to prove his deductible expenses and the elements
of profit attributable to factors other than the violation; or (II) the party aggrieved may
recover an award of statutory damages for each violation of subsection (a) of this section
involved in the action in a sum of not less than $1,000 or more than $10,000, as the court
considers just, and for each violation of paragraph (4) of this subsection involved in the
action an aggrieved party may recover statutory damages in a sum not less than $10,000, or
more than $100,000, as the court considers just. (ii) In any case in which the court finds that
the violation was committed willfully and for purposes of direct or indirect commercial
advantage or private financial gain, the court in its discretion may increase the award of
damages, whether actual or statutory, by an amount of not more than $100,000 for each
violation of subsection (a) of this section. (iii) In any case where the court finds that the
violator was not aware and had no reason to believe that his acts constituted a violation of
this section, the court in its discretion may reduce the award of damages to a sum of not less
than $250.
“(4) Any person who manufactures, assembles, modifies, imports, exports, sells, or
distributes any electronic, mechanical, or other device or equipment, knowing or having
reason to know that the device or equipment is primarily of assistance in the unauthorized
decryption of satellite cable programming, or direct-to-home satellite services, or is intended
for any other activity prohibited by subsection (a) of this section, shall be fined not more
than $500,000 for each violation, or imprisoned for not more than 5 years for each violation,
or both. For purposes of all penalties and remedies established for violations of this
paragraph, the prohibited activity established herein as it applies to each such device shall
be deemed a separate violation. . . .”
92 The courts differ somewhat over the circumstances under which stored communications
can be “intercepted” and thus subject to the protection of Title III as well, compare, United
States v. Smith, 155 F.3d 1051, 1058 (9th Cir. 1998)(unauthorized retrieval and recording
of another’s voice mail messages constitutes an “interception”); Konop v. Hawaiian Airlines,

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mail, and other electronic communications somewhat akin to that available for
telephone and face to face conversations under 18 U.S.C. 2510-2522. Thus, subject
to certain exceptions, it is a federal crime to:
• intentionally
• either
- access without authorization or
- exceed an authorization to access
• a facility through which an electronic communication service is provided
• and thereby obtain, alter, or prevent authorized access to a wire or electronic
communication while it is in electronic storage in such system, 18 U.S.C.
2701(a).
The exceptions cover electronic storage facility operators, their customers, and
–under procedural counterparts to court ordered wiretapping – governmental
entities.93
Violations committed for malicious, mercenary, tortious or criminal purposes
are punishable by imprisonment for not more than 5 years and/or a fine of not more
than $250,000 (not more than 10 years for a subsequent conviction); lesser
transgressions, by imprisonment for not more than 1 year (not more than 5 years for
Inc., 236 F.3d 1035, 1046 (9th Cir. 2001)(fraudulent access to a secure website constitutes
an “interception;” electronic communications are entitled to the same protection when they
are in storage as when are in transit); Fraser v. National Mutual Insurance Co., 135
F.Supp.2d 623, 634-37 (E.D.Pa. 2001)(“”interception” of e-mail occurs with its unauthorized
acquisition prior to initial receipt by its addressee); with, Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United
States Secret Service, 36 F.3d 457, 461-62n.7 (5th Cir. 1994) (Congress did not intend for
“interception” to apply to e-mail stored on an electronic bulletin board; stored wire
communications (voice mail), however, is protected from “interception”); United States v.
Meriwether, 917 F.2d 955, 959-60 (6th Cir. 1990)(access to stored information through the
use another’s pager does not constitute an “interception”); United States v. Reyes, 922
F.Supp. 818, 836-37 (S.D.N.Y. 1996)(same); Wesley College v. Pitts, 947 F.Supp. 375, 385
(D.Del. 1997)(no “interception” occurs when the contents of electronic communications are
acquired unless contemporaneous with their transmission); see also, Adams v. Battle Creek,
250 F.3d 980, 982 (6th Cir. 2001)(use of a “clone” or duplicate pager to simultaneously
receive the same message as a target pager is an “interception”); Brown v. Waddell, 50 F.3d
285, 294 (4th Cir. 1995)(same). The USA PATRIOT Act resolved some of the uncertainty
when it removed voice mail from the coverage of Title III, 115 Stat. 283 (2001)(striking the
phrase “and such term includes any electronic storage of such communication” from the
definition of “wire communications” in Title III (18 U.S.C. 2510(1)) and adding stored wire
communications to the stored communications coverage of 18 U.S.C. 2703 – changes that
will disappear with the other USA PATRIOT Act amendments that sunset on December 31,
2005, 115 Stat. 295 (2001)).
93 “Subsection (a) of this section does not apply with respect to conduct authorized – (1) by
the person or entity providing a wire or electronic communications service; (2) by a user of
that service with respect to a communication of or intended for that user; or (3) in section
2703 [requirements for government access], 2704 [backup preservation] or 2518 [court
ordered wiretapping or electronic eavesdropping] of this title,” 18 U.S.C. 2701(c).
Section 2709 creates an exception for counterintelligence access to telephone records.

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a subsequent conviction) and/or a fine of not more than $100,000.94 Those who
provide the storage service and other victims of unlawful access have a cause of
action for equitable relief, reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs, damages equal the
loss and gain associated with the offense but not less than $1000.95 Both criminal
and civil liability are subject to good faith defenses.96

94 “The punishment for an offense under subsection (a) of this section is – (1) if the offense
is committed for purposes of commercial advantage, malicious destruction or damage, or
private commercial gain, or in furtherance of any criminal or tortious act in violation of the
constitution and laws of the United States or any state – (A) a fine under this title or
imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both, in the case of a first offense under this
subparagraph; and (B) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or
both, for any subsequent offense under this subparagraph; and (2)(A) a fine under this title
or imprisonment for not more than 1 year or both, in the case of a first offense under this
paragraph; and (B) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both,
in the case of an offense under this subparagraph that occurs after a conviction of another
offense under this section.”18 U.S.C. 2701(b). The Homeland Security Act rewrote this
subsection, 116 Stat. 2158-159 (2002), to increase the penalties, H.Rep.No. 107-497, at 17-8
(2002).
95 “(a) Cause of action – Except as provided in section 2703(e)[relating to immunity for
compliance with judicial process], any provider of electronic communication service,
subscriber, or customer aggrieved by any violation of this chapter in which the conduct
constituting the violation is engaged in with a knowing or intentional state of mind may, in
a civil action, recover from the person or entity other than the United States which engaged
in that violation such relief as may be appropriate.
“(b) Relief – In a civil action under this section, appropriate relief includes – (1) such
preliminary and other equitable or declaratory relief as may be appropriate; (2) damages
under subsection(c); and (3) a reasonable attorney’s fee and other litigation costs reasonably
incurred;
“(c) Damages – The court may assess as damages in a civil action under this section
the sum of the actual damages suffered by the plaintiff and any profits made by the violator
as a result of the violation, but in no case shall a person entitled to recover receive less than
the sum of $1,000. . . .” 18 U.S.C. 2707. The USA PATRIOT Act added the language in
italics when it established a separate cause of action for victims of U.S. violations which may
also result in administrative disciplinary action against offending U.S. officers or employees,
18 U.S.C. 2712, 2707(d); the additions expire on December 31, 2001 along with the other
USA PATRIOT Act amendments that sunset on that date, 115 Stat. 295 (2001).
96 “A good faith reliance on – (1) a court warrant or order, a grand jury subpoena, a
legislative authorization, or a statutory authorization (including a request of a governmental
entity under section 2703(f) of this title) [relating to an official request to for a service
provider preserve evidence]; (2) a request of an investigative or law enforcement officer
under section 2518(7) of this title [relating to emergency wiretapping and electronic
eavesdropping]; or (3) a good faith determination that section 2511(3) of this title [relating
to the circumstances under which an electronic communications provider may divulge the
contents of communication] permitted the conduct complained of – is a complete defense to
any civil or criminal action brought under this chapter or any other law,” 18 U.S.C. 2707(e).
The USA PATRIOT Act amend this subsection as noted above to further clarify the extent
of the service provider good faith defense.

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Service providers, nevertheless, may incur civil liability for unlawful
disclosures,97 unless they can take advantage of any of a fairly extensive list of
exceptions and defenses.98
Violations by the United States may give rise to a cause of action and may result
in disciplinary action against offending officials or employees under the same
provisions that apply to U.S. violations of Title III.99
Unlawful access to electronic communications may involve violations of several
other federal and state laws, including for instance the federal computer fraud and
abuse statute, 18 U.S.C. 1030, and state computer abuse statutes.100
Pen Registers and Trap and Trace Devices
97 “Except as in subsection (b) – (1) a person or entity providing an electronic
communication service to the public shall not knowingly divulge to any person or entity the
contents of a communication while in electronic storage by that service; (2) a person or
entity providing remote computing service to the public shall not knowingly divulge to any
person or entity the contents of any communication which is carried or maintained on that
service – (A) on behalf of, and received by means of electronic transmission from (or created
by means of computer processing of communications received by means of electronic
transmission from), a subscriber or customer of such service; and (B) solely for the purpose
of providing storage or computer processing services to such subscriber or customer, if the
provider is not authorized to access the contents of any such communications for purposes
of providing any services other than storage or computer processing; and (3) a provider of
remote computing service or electronic communication service to the public shall not
knowingly divulge a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber to or customer
of such service (not including the contents of communications covered by paragraph (1) or
(2)) to any government entity,” 18 U.S.C. 2702(a). The USA PATRIOT Act added
paragraph (3) to the subsection 2702(a), 115 Stat. 284 (2001), an amendment that expires on
December 31, 2001, 115 Stat. 295 (2001).
Section 2702 makes no mention of any consequences that follow a breach of its
commands, but 2707 establishes a civil cause of action for the victims of any violation of
chapter 121 (18 U.S.C. 2701 - 2711).
98 “A person or entity may divulge the contents of a communication – (1) to an addressee
or intended recipient of such communication or an agent of such addressee or intended
recipient; (2) as otherwise authorized in section 2517, 2511(2)(a), or 2703 of this title; (3)
with the lawful consent of the originator or an addressee or intended recipient of such
communication, or the subscriber in the case of remote computing service; (4) to a person
employed or authorized or whose facilities are used to forward such communication to its
destination; (5) as may be necessarily incident to the rendition of the service or to the
protection of the rights or property of the provider of that service; or (6) to a law
enforcement agency, if such contents – (A) were inadvertently obtained by the service
provider; and (B) appear to pertain to the commission of a crime,” 18 U.S.C. 2702(b).
99 “Any person who is aggrieved by any willful violation this chapter or of chapter 119 of
this title [18 U.S.C. 2510-2520] . . . may commence an action in United States District Court
. . . .If . . . any of the departments or agencies has violated any provision of this chapter . .
. the department or agency shall . . . promptly initiate a proceeding to determine whether
disciplinary action . . . is warranted. . . .”18 U.S.C. 2712(a),(c).
100 Citations to the various state computer abuse statutes are appended.

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A trap and trace device identifies the source of incoming calls, and a pen
register indicates the numbers called from a particular phone.101 Since neither allows
the eavesdropper to overhear the “contents” of the phone conversation they were not
interceptions within the reach of Title III prior to the enactment of ECPA, United
States v. New York Telephone Co., 434 U.S. 160 (1977). Although Congress elected
to expand the definition of interception, it chose to continue to regulate these devices
beyond the boundaries of Title III, 18 U.S.C. 3121 - 3127. The USA PATRIOT Act
enlarged the coverage of sections 3121-3127 to include sender/addressee information
relating to e-mail and other forms of electronic communications, 115 Stat. 288-91
(2001). Unlike many of the other USA PATRIOT Act’s amendments, this one does
not sunset on December 31, 2005, 115 Stat. 295 (2001).
The use or installation of pen registers or trap and trace devices by anyone other
than the telephone company, service provider, or those acting under judicial
authority, however, is a federal crime, punishable by imprisonment for not more than
a year and/or a fine of not more than $100,000 ($200,000 for an organization).102
101 “(3) the term <pen register’ means a device which records or decodes electronic or other
impulses which identify the numbers dialed or otherwise transmitted on the telephone line
to which such device is attached, but such term does not include any device used by a
provider or customer of a wire or electronic communication service for billing, or recording
as an incident to billing, for communications services provided by such provider or any
device used by a provider or customer of a wire communication service for cost accounting
or other like purposes in the ordinary course of its business; (4) the term <trap and trace
device’ means a device which captures the incoming electronic or other impulses which
identify the originating number of an instrument or device from which a wire or electronic
communication was transmitted,” 18 U.S.C. 3127(3),(4)). Although clone pagers are not
considered pen registers, Brown v. Waddell, 50 F.3d 285, 290-91 (4th Cir. 1995), “caller id”
services have been found to constitute trap and trace devices, United States v. Fregoso, 60
F.3d 1314, 1320 (8th Cir. 1995).
102 “(a) In general – Except as provided in this section, no person may install or use a pen
register or a trap and trace device without first obtaining a court order under section 3123
of this title or under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801 et
seq.).“(b) Exception – The prohibition of subsection (a) does not apply with respect to the
use of a pen register or a trap and trace device by a provider of electronic or wire
communication service – (1) relating to the operation, maintenance, and testing of a wire or
electronic communication service or to the protection of the rights or property of such
provider, or to the protection of users of that service from abuse of service or unlawful use
of service; or (2) to record the fact that a wire or electronic communication was initiated or
completed in order to protect such provider, another provider furnishing service toward the
completion of the wire communication, or a user of that service, from fraudulent, unlawful
or abusive use of service; or (3) where the consent of the user of that service has been
obtained.
“(c) Limitation – A government agency authorized to install and use a pen register or
trap and trace device under this chapter or under State law shall use technology reasonably
available to it that restricts the recording or decoding of electronic or other impulses to the
dialing, routing, addressing, and signaling information utilized in call processing identifying
the origination or destination of wire or electronic communications. (d) Penalty.– Whoever
knowingly violates subsection (a) shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than
one year, or both,” 18 U.S.C. 3121. The changes noted above are the work of the USA
PATRIOT Act’s expansion of the pen register/trap and trace provisions to embrace
electronic communications, 115 Stat. 288-91 (2001); they are changes that do not sunset on

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There is no accompanying exclusionary rule, however, and consequently a violation
of section 3121 will serve as a basis to suppress any resulting evidence.103
Unlike other violations of Title III/ECPA, there is no separate federal private
cause of action for victims of a pen register or trap and trace device violation. Some
of the states have established a separate criminal offense for unlawful use of a pen
register or trap and trace device, yet most of these do seem to follow the federal lead
and decline to establish a separate private cause of action, See Appendix III.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorizes special court order
in four purposes: electronic surveillance, physical searches, installation and use pen
registers/trap and trace devices, and orders to disclose tangible items, 50 U.S.C.
1801-1861. The electronic surveillance portion of FISA, 50 U.S.C. 1801-1811,
creates a procedure for judicially supervised “electronic surveillance” (wiretapping)
conducted for foreign intelligence gathering purposes. The Act classifies four kinds
of wiretapping as “electronic surveillance” and outlaws
• intentionally
• either
- engaging in electronic surveillance
- under color of law
- except as authorized by statute, or
- disclosing or using
- information obtained under color of law
- by electronic surveillance,
- knowing or having reason to know
- that the information was obtained by electronic surveillance not
authorized by statute, 18 U.S.C. 1809.
The four classes of electronic surveillance involve wiretapping that could otherwise
only be conducted under court order:
“(1) the acquisition by an electronic, mechanical, or other surveillance device
of the contents of any wire or radio communication sent by or intended to be
received by a particular, known United States person who is in the United States, if
the contents are acquired by intentionally targeting that United States person, under
circumstances in which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy and a
warrant would be required for law enforcement purposes;
“(2) the acquisition by an electronic, mechanical, or other surveillance device
of the contents of any wire communication to or from a person in the United States,
without the consent of any party thereto, if such acquisition occurs in the United
States, does not include the acquisition of those communications of computer
December 31, 2005, 115 Stat. 295 (2001).
103 United States v. Fregoso, 60 F.3d 1314, 1320 (8th Cir. 1995); United States v. Thompson,
936 F.2d 1249, 1249-250 (11th Cir. 1991).

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trespassers that would be permissible under section 2511(2)(i) of title 18, United
States Code;
“(3) the intentional acquisition by an electronic, mechanical, or other
surveillance device of the contents of any radio communication, under circumstances
in which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy and a warrant would be
required for law enforcement purposes, and if both the sender and all intended
recipients are located within the United States; or
“(4) the installation or use of an electronic, mechanical, or other surveillance
device in the United States for monitoring to acquire information, other than from
a wire or radio communication, under circumstances in which a person has a
reasonable expectation of privacy and a warrant would be required for law
enforcement purposes,” 50 U.S.C. 1801(f).104
The prohibitions apply only to federal officers and employees,105 but do not
apply to a law enforcement officer operating under a warrant or court.106 Violations
are punishable by imprisonment for not more than 5 years and/or a fine of not more
than $250,000, id. and expose the offender to civil liability.107 By virtue of USA
PATRIOT Act amendments, victims of any improper use of information secured
under a FISA surveillance order may also be entitled to actual or statutory
damages.108
104 The USA PATRIOT Act amended the definition of “electronic surveillance” so as to
exclude interception of the electronic communications of a trespasser within the computer
system of another thereby removing it from the prohibitions of section 1809, 115 Stat. 392
(2001). This is among the USA PATRIOT Act amendments that do not sunset on December
31, 2005, 115 Stat. 295 (2001).
105 “There is Federal jurisdiction over an offense under this section if the person committing
the offense was an officer or employee of the United States at the time the offense was
committed,” 50 U.S.C. 1809(d). For others, criminal proscriptions and exemptions of Title
III (18 U.S.C. 2510-2518) would apply.
106 “It is a defense to a prosecution under subsection (a) of this section that the defendant
was a law enforcement or investigative officer engaged in the course of his official duties
and the electronic surveillance was authorized by and conducted pursuant to a search warrant
or court order of a court of competent jurisdiction,” 50 U.S.C. 1809(d).
107 “An aggrieved person, other than a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power, as
defined in section 1801(a) or (b)(1)(A) of this title, respectively, who has been subjected to
an electronic surveillance or about whom information obtained by electronic surveillance of
such person has been disclosed or used in violation of section 1809 of this title shall have a
cause of action against any person who committed such violation and shall be entitled to
recover – (a) actual damages, but not less than liquidated damages of $1,000 or $100 per day
for each day of violation, whichever is greater; (b) punitive damages; and (c) reasonable
attorney’s fees and other investigation and litigation costs reasonably incurred,” 50 U.S.C.
1810. Victims are not entitled to injunctive relief, ACLU Foundation of Southern California
v. Barr, 952 F.2d 457, 469-70 (D.C.Cir. 1992)(the court did not address the question of
whether conduct in violation of both FISA and Title III/EPCA might be enjoined under 18
U.S.C. 2520(b)(1)).
108 “Any person who is aggrieved by any willful violation of . . . section[] 106(a) . . . of the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act [relating to the use of information acquired from
electronic surveillance under the Act] may commence an action in United States District
Court against the United States to recover money damages. In any such action, if a person
who is aggrieved successfully establishes a violation of . . . the above special provisions of

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FISA also has its own exclusionary rule,109 but Congress anticipated,110 and the
courts have acknowledged, that surveillance conducted under FISA for foreign
title 50, the Court may assess as damages – (1) actual damages, but not less than $10,000,
whichever amount is greater; and (2) litigation costs, reasonably incurred,” 18 U.S.C.
2712(a). This provision terminates on December 31, 2005, 115 Stat. 295 (2001).
109 “If the United States district court pursuant to subsection (f) of this section determines
that the surveillance was not lawfully authorized or conducted, it shall, in accordance with
the requirements of law, suppress the evidence which was unlawfully obtained or derived
from electronic surveillance of the aggrieved person or otherwise grant the motion of the
aggrieved person. If the court determines that the surveillance was lawfully authorized and
conducted, it shall deny the motion of the aggrieved person except to the extent that due
process requires discovery or disclosure,” 50 U.S.C. 1806(g).
“Whenever a court or other authority is notified pursuant to subsection (c) or (d) of this
section, or whenever a motion is made pursuant to subsection (e) of this section, or whenever
any motion or request is made by an aggrieved person pursuant to any other statute or rule
of the United States or any State before any court or other authority of the United States or
any State to discover or obtain applications or orders or other materials relating to electronic
surveillance or to discover, obtain, or suppress evidence or information obtained or derived
from electronic surveillance under this chapter, the United States district court or, where the
motion is made before another authority, the United States district court in the same district
as the authority, shall, notwithstanding any other law, if the Attorney General files an
affidavit under oath that disclosure or an adversary hearing would harm the national security
of the United States, review in camera and ex parte the application, order, and such other
materials relating to the surveillance as may be necessary to determine whether the
surveillance of the aggrieved person was lawfully authorized and conducted. In making this
determination, the court may disclose to the aggrieved person, under appropriate security
procedures and protective orders, portions of the application, order, or other materials
relating to the surveillance only where such disclosure is necessary to make an accurate
determination of the legality of the surveillance,” 50 U.S.C. 1806(f).
110 S.REP.NO. 701, 95th Cong., 2d Sess. 61 (1978); 50 U.S.C. 1806(b)(“. . . such information
. . . may only be used in a criminal proceeding with the advance authorization of the
Attorney General”).

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intelligence purposes may result in admissible evidence of a crime.111

The physical search portion of FISA authorizes the issuance of physical search
orders for foreign intelligence gathering purposes, 50 U.S.C. 1821-1829. Its
accompanying criminal proscriptions and civil liability provisions, and are identical
to those used in the electronic surveillance portion of FISA.112
Procedure
Generally

Each of the prohibitions mentioned above recognizes a procedure for
government use notwithstanding the general ban, usually under judicial supervision.
Although Fourth Amendment concerns supply a common theme, the procedures are
individually distinctive.
111 When FISA required certification that the acquisition of foreign intelligence is formation
was “the” purpose for seeking the a FISA surveillance order, there is some debate among the
courts over how prominent the foreign intelligence purpose actually had to be, United States
v. Johnson, 952 F.2d 565, 572 (1st Cir. 1992)(“Although evidence obtained under FISA
subsequently may be used in criminal prosecutions, the investigation of criminal activity
cannot be the primary purpose of the surveillance”); United States v. Duggan, 743 F.2d 59,
77 (2d Cir. 1984)(“The requirement that foreign intelligence information be the primary
objective of the surveillance is plain. . .”); United States v. Sarkissian, 841 F.2d 959, 964
(9th Cir. 1988) (“Defendants rely on the primary purpose test . . . . We . . . decline to decide
the issue. We have generally stated that the purpose of the surveillance must be to secure
foreign intelligence information. . . . We refuse to draw too fine a distinction between
criminal and intelligence investigations”); United States v. Badia, 827 F.2d 1458, 1463 (11th
Cir. 1987)(“An application for a FISA order must contain certification by a designated
official of the executive branch that the purpose of the surveillance is to secure foreign
intelligence information. . . . Once the certification is made, it is subjected to only minimal
scrutiny by the courts”). The USA PATRIOT Act changed “the purpose” to “a significant
purpose,” a change which the FISA review court concluded demands only that the
government have a “measurable” foreign intelligence purpose when it seeks a FISA
surveillance order, In re Sealed Case, 310 F.3d 717, 734-35 (F.I.S.Ct.Rev. 2002). The
language will revert to “the purpose” when the sunset provision takes effect after December
31, 2005.
112 50 U.S.C. 1827 (“A person is guilty of an offense if he intentionally – (1) under color of
law for the purpose of obtaining foreign intelligence information, executes a physical search
within the United States except as authorized by statute . . . .”); 50 U.S.C. 1828 (“An
aggrieved person, other than a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power, as defined in
section 1801(a) or (b)(1)(A), respectively, of this title, whose premises, property,
information, or material has been subjected to a physical search within the United States or
about whom information obtained by such a physical search has been disclosed or used in
violation of section 1827 of this title shall have a cause of action against any person who
committed such violation . . . .”); 18 U.S.C. 2712(a)(“Any person who is aggrieved by any
willful violation of . . . section[] 305(a) . . . of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
[relating to the use of information acquired from a physical search under the Act] may
commence an action in United States District Court against the United States to recover
money damages. . . . ”).

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Law Enforcement Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping
Title III/ECPA authorizes both federal and state law enforcement wiretapping
and electronic eavesdropping, under court order, without the prior consent or
knowledge of any of the participants, 18 U.S.C. 2516 - 2518. At the federal level,
a senior Justice Department official must approve the application for the court
order.113 The procedure is only available where there is probable cause to believe
that the wiretap or electronic eavesdropping will produce evidence of one of a long,
but not exhaustive, list of federal crimes,114 or of the whereabouts of a “fugitive from
113 “The Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, Associate Attorney General, or any
Assistant Attorney General, any acting Assistant Attorney General, or any Deputy Assistant
Attorney General or acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Division
specially designated by the Attorney General, may authorize an application to a Federal
judge of competent jurisdiction for, and such judge may grant in conformity with section
2518 of this chapter an order authorizing or approving the interception of wire or oral
communications by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or a Federal agency having
responsibility for the investigation of the offense as to which the application is made, when
such interception may provide or has provided evidence of [the predicate offenses]. . .” 18
U.S.C. 2516(1).
114 The predicate offense list includes conspiracy to violate or violations of: (1) 8 U.S.C.
1324 (smuggling aliens), 1327 (same), or 1328 (same); (2) bankruptcy fraud; (3) 18 U.S.C.
§§32 (destruction of aircraft or their facilities), 33 (destruction of motor vehicles or their
facilities), 38 (aircraft parts fraud), 115 (threatening or retaliating against federal officials),
175 (biological weapons), 201 (bribery of public officials and witnesses), 215 (bribery of
bank officials), 224 (bribery in sporting contests), 229 (chemical weapons), 351
(assassinations, kidnapping, and assault of Members of Congress and certain other officials),
471-473 (counterfeiting), 659 (theft from interstate shipment), 664 (embezzlement from
pension and welfare funds), 751 (escape), 791-798 (espionage and related felonies), 831
(traffic in nuclear materials), 844(d), (e), (f), (g), (h), or (i) (unlawful use of explosives), 892-
894 (loansharking), 922 (firearms felonies), 924 (same), 1014 (bank fraud), 1028 (false
identity felonies), 1029 (credit card fraud), 1030 (computer fraud and abuse), 1032 (bank
fraud), 1084 (gambling), 1203 (hostage taking), 1341 (mail fraud), 1343 (wire fraud), 1344
(bank fraud), 1361-1367 (felonies relating to malicious mischief), 1425-1427 (immigration
offenses), 1460-1470 (felonies relating to obscenity), 1503 (obstruction of justice), 1510-
1513 (same), 1541-1546 (passport crimes), 1651-1661 (felonies relating to piracy), 1751
(assassination, kidnapping, and assault of the president and certain other executive officials),
1831-1839 (felonies related to trade secrets); 1951 (Hobbs Act), 1952 (Travel Act), 1954
(bribery relating to employee benefit plans), 1955 (gambling), 1956 (money laundering),
1957 (same), 1958 (murder for hire), 1959 (violence in aid of racketeering), 1963 (RICO),
1992 (wrecking trains), 2101-2102 (felonies relating to riots), 2151-2156 (sabotage and
related felonies), 2251 and 2252 (sexual exploitation of children), 2271-2281 (felonies
relating to shipping), 2312-2315 (interstate transportation of stolen property), 2321 (illicit
trafficking in motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts), 2332 (violence against Americans
overseas), 2332a (weapons of mass destruction), 2332b (terrorism transcending national
borders), 2332d (financial transactions with terrorist supporting nations), 2339A (providing
support to terrorists), 2339B (providing support to terrorist organizations), 2381-2390
(treason and related felonies), 2511-2512 (wiretapping felonies) 3146 (bail jumping),
3521(b)(3) (disclosing information relating to witness relocation), and any other provision
of title 18 of the United States Code involving murder, kidnapping, robbery, or extortion;(4)
drug trafficking; (5) 22 U.S.C. 2778 (Arms Export Control Act offenses); (6) 26 U.S.C.
§5861 (firearms offenses); (7) 29 U.S.C. §§186 (corruption of labor unions), 501(c)(same),or
murder, kidnaping, robbery or extortion if punishable under title 29; (8) 31 U.S.C. §5322

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justice” fleeing from prosecution of one of the offenses on the predicate offense list,
18 U.S.C. 2516(1)(l). Any federal prosecutor may approve an application for a court
order under section 2518 authorizing the interception of e-mail or other electronic
communications during transmission.115
At the state level, the principal prosecuting attorney of a state or any of its
political subdivisions may approve an application for an order authorizing
wiretapping or electronic eavesdropping based upon probable cause to believe that
it will produce evidence of a felony under the state laws covering murder, kidnaping,
gambling, robbery, bribery, extortion, drug trafficking, or any other crime dangerous
to life, limb or property. State applications, court orders and other procedures must
at a minimum be as demanding as federal requirements.116
Applications for a court order authorizing wiretapping and electronic
surveillance include:
• the identity of the applicant and the official who authorized the application;
• a full and complete statement of the facts including
- details of the crime,
- a particular description of nature, location and place where the
interception is to occur,117
(money laundering); (9) 42 U.S.C. §§2274-2277 (felonies under the Atomic Energy Act);
2284 (felonies relating to sabotage at nuclear facilities); and (10) 49 U.S.C. §§60123(b)
(destruction of a natural gas pipeline), 46502 (air piracy).
115 “Any attorney for the Government (as such term is defined for the purposes of the
Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure) may authorize an application to a Federal judge of
competent jurisdiction for, and such judge may grant, in conformity with section 2518 of this
title, an order authorizing or approving the interception of electronic communications by an
investigative or law enforcement officer having responsibility for the investigation of the
offense as to which the application is made, when such interception may provide or has
provided evidence of any Federal felony,” 18 U.S.C. 2516(3). The less demanding
procedures of 18 U.S.C. 2701-2711 may be used with respect to e-mail or other electronic
communications that are in storage; recourse to subsection 2516(3) is only necessary when
on-going electronic communications are to be “intercepted.”
116 “The principal prosecuting attorney of any State, or the principal prosecuting attorney
of any political subdivision thereof, if such attorney is authorized by a statute of that State
to make application to a State court judge of competent jurisdiction for an order authorizing
or approving the interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications, may apply to such
judge for, and such judge may grant in conformity with section 2518 of this chapter and with
the applicable State statute an order authorizing, or approving the interception of wire, oral,
or electronic communications by investigative or law enforcement officers having
responsibility for the investigation of the offense as to which the application is made, when
such interception may provide or has provided evidence of the commission of the offense
of murder, kidnapping, gambling, robbery, bribery, extortion, or dealing in narcotic drugs,
marihuana or other dangerous drugs, or other crime dangerous to life, limb, or property, and
punishable by imprisonment for more than one year, designated in any applicable State
statute authorizing such interception, or any conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing
offenses,” 18 U.S.C. 2516(2).
117 Requirements that may be excused under the circumstances provided in subsections (11)
and (12) sometimes referred to as authorizing “roving wiretaps”:

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- a particular description of the communications to be intercepted, and
- the identities (if known) of the person committing the offense and of the
persons whose communications are to be intercepted;
• a full and complete statement of the alternative investigative techniques used
or an explanation of why they would be futile or dangerous;
• a statement of period of time for which the interception is to be maintained
and if it will not terminate upon seizure of the communications sought, a
probable cause demonstration that further similar communications are likely to
occur;
• a full and complete history of previous interception applications or efforts
involving the same parties or places;
• in the case of an extension, the results to date or explanation for the want of
results; and
• any additional information the judge may require, 18 U.S.C. 2518(1), (2).
Before issuing an order authorizing interception, the court must find:
• probable cause to believe that an individual is, has or is about to commit one
or more of the predicate offenses;
• probable cause to believe that the particular communications concerning the
crime will be seized as a result of the interception requested;
• that normal investigative procedures have been or are likely to be futile or too
dangerous; and
• probable cause to believe that “the facilities from which, or the place where,
the wire, oral, or electronic communications are to be intercepted are being
“The requirements of subsections (1)(b)(ii) and (3)(d) of this section relating to the
specification of the facilities from which, or the place where, the communication is to be
intercepted do not apply if – (a) in the case of an application with respect to the interception
of an oral communication – (i) the application is by a Federal investigative or law
enforcement officer and is approved by the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General,
the Associate Attorney General, an Assistant Attorney General, or an acting Assistant
Attorney General; (ii) the application contains a full and complete statement as to why such
specification is not practical and identifies the person committing the offense and whose
communications are to be intercepted; and (iii) the judge finds that such specification is not
practical; and (b) in the case of an application with respect to a wire or electronic
communication – (i) the application is by a Federal investigative or law enforcement officer
and is approved by the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, the Associate
Attorney General, an Assistant Attorney General, or an acting Assistant Attorney General;
(ii) the application identifies the person believed to be committing the offense and whose
communications are to be intercepted and the applicant makes a showing of a purpose, on
the part of that person, to thwart interception by changing facilities; and (iii) the judge finds
that such purpose has been adequately shown.
“An interception of a communication under an order with respect to which the
requirements of subsections (1)(b)(ii) and (3)(d) of this section do not apply by reason of
subsection (11) shall not begin until the facilities from which, or the place where, the
communication is to be intercepted is ascertained by the person implementing the
interception order. A provider of wire or electronic communications service that has
received an order as provided for in subsection (11)(b) may move the court to modify or
quash the order on the ground that its assistance with respect to the interception cannot be
performed in a timely or reasonable fashion. The court, upon notice to the government, shall
decide such a motion expeditiously,” 18 U.S.C. 2518(11), (12).

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used, or are about to be used, in connection with the commission of such
offense, or are leased to, listed in the name of, or commonly used by such
person,” 18 U.S.C. 2518(3).
Subsections 2518(4) and (5) demand that any interception order include:
• the identity (if known) of the persons whose conversations are to be
intercepted;
• the nature and location of facilities and place covered by the order;
• a particular description of the type of communication to be intercepted and an
indication of the crime to which it relates;
• individual approving the application and the agency executing the order;
• the period of time during which the interception may be conducted and an
indication of whether it may continue after the communication sought has been
seized;
• an instruction that the order shall be executed
- as soon as practicable, and
- so as to minimize the extent of innocent communication seized; and
• upon request, a direction for the cooperation of communications providers and
others necessary or useful for the execution of the order, 18 U.S.C. 2518(4).
Compliance with these procedures may be postponed until after the interception
effort has begun, upon the approval of senior Justice Department officials in
emergency cases involving organized crime or national security threatening
conspiracies or involving the risk of death or serious injury, 18 U.S.C. 2718(7).118
The authority of the court orders extends only as long as required but not more
than 30 days. After 30 days, the court may grant 30 day extensions subject to the
procedures required for issuance of the original order, 18 U.S.C. 2518(5). During
that time the court may require progress reports at such intervals as it considers
appropriate, 18 U.S.C. 2518(6).
118 “Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any investigative or law
enforcement officer, specially designated by the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney
General, the Associate Attorney General or by the principal prosecuting attorney of any State
or subdivision thereof acting pursuant to a statute of that State, who reasonably determines
that – (a) an emergency situation exists that involves – (i) immediate danger of death or
serious physical injury to any person, (ii) conspiratorial activities threatening the national
security interest, or (iii) conspiratorial activities characteristic of organized crime – that
requires a wire, oral, or electronic communication to be intercepted before an order
authorizing such interception can, with due diligence, be obtained, and
“(b) there are grounds upon which an order could be entered under this chapter to
authorize such interception, may intercept such wire, oral, or electronic communication if
an application for an order approving the interception is made in accordance with this section
within forty-eight hours after the interception has occurred, or begins to occur. In the absence
of an order, such interception shall immediately terminate when the communication sought
is obtained or when the application for the order is denied, whichever is earlier. In the event
such application for approval is denied, or in any other case where the interception is
terminated without an order having been issued, the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic
communication intercepted shall be treated as having been obtained in violation of this
chapter, and an inventory shall be served as provided for in subsection (d) of this section on
the person named in the application,” 18 U.S.C. 2518(7).

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Intercepted communications are to be recorded and the evidence secured and
placed under seal (with the possibility of copies for authorized law enforcement
disclosure and use) along with the application and the court’s order, 18 U.S.C.
2518(8)(a),(b).
Within 90 days of the expiration of the order those whose communications have
been intercepted are entitled to notice, and evidence secured through the intercept
may be introduced into evidence with 10 days advance notice to the parties, 18
U.S.C. 2518(8)(d), (9).
Title III also circumscribes the conditions under which information derived
from a court ordered interception may be disclosed or otherwise used. It may be
disclosed and used for official purposes to:
• other law enforcement officials119 including foreign officials;120
• federal intelligence officers to the extent that it involves foreign intelligence
information;121
119 “(1) Any investigative or law enforcement officer who, by any means authorized by this
chapter, has obtained knowledge of the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic
communication, or evidence derived therefrom, may disclose such contents to another
investigative or law enforcement officer to the extent that such disclosure is appropriate to
the proper performance of the official duties of the officer making or receiving the
disclosure. (2) Any investigative or law enforcement officer who, by any means authorized
by this chapter, has obtained knowledge of the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic
communication or evidence derived therefrom may use such contents to the extent such use
is appropriate to the proper performance of his official duties . . . (5) When an investigative
or law enforcement officer, while engaged in intercepting wire, oral, or electronic
communications in the manner authorized herein, intercepts wire, oral, or electronic
communications relating to offenses other than those specified in the order of authorization
or approval, the contents thereof, and evidence derived therefrom, may be disclosed or used
as provided in subsections (1) and (2) of this section. . . .” 18 U.S.C. 2517(1),(2),(5).
120 Any investigative or law enforcement officer, or other Federal official in carrying out
official duties as such Federal official, who by any means authorized by this chapter, has
obtained knowledge of the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic communication, or
evidence derived therefrom, may disclose such contents or derivative evidence to a foreign
investigative or law enforcement officer to the extent that such disclosure is appropriate to
the proper performance of the official duties of the officer making or receiving the
disclosure, and foreign investigative or law enforcement officers may use or disclose such
contents or derivative evidence to the extent such use or disclosure is appropriate to the
proper performance of their official duties,” 18 U.S.C. 2517(7). The Homeland Security Act
added this subsection, 116 Stat. 2257 (2002).
121 “Any investigative or law enforcement officer, or attorney for the Government, who by
any means authorized by this chapter, has obtained knowledge of the contents of any wire,
oral, or electronic communication, or evidence derived therefrom, may disclose such
contents to any Federal law enforcement, intelligence, protective, immigration, national
defense, or national security official to the extent that such contents include foreign
intelligence or counterintelligence (as defined in section 3 of the National Security Act of
1947 (50 U.S.C. 401a), or foreign intelligence information (as defined in subsection (19) of
section 2510 of this title), to assist the official who is to receive that information in the
performance of his official duties. Any Federal official who receives information pursuant
to this provision may use that information only as necessary in the conduct of that person's

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• other American or foreign government officials to the extent that it involves
the threat of hostile acts by foreign powers, their agents, or international
terrorists.122
official duties subject to any limitations on the unauthorized disclosure of such information,”
18 U.S.C. 2517(6).
“‘[F]oreign intelligence information’, for purposes of section 2517(6) of this title,
means – (A) information, whether or not concerning a United States person, that relates to
the ability of the United States to protect against – (i) actual or potential attack or other
grave hostile acts of a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power; (ii) sabotage or
intentional terrorism by a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power; or (iii) clandestine
intelligence activities by and intelligence service or network of a foreign power or by an
agent of a foreign power; or (B) information, whether or not concerning a United States
person, with respect to a foreign power or foreign territory that relates to – (i) the national
defense or the security of the United States; or (ii) the conduct of the foreign affairs of the
United States,” 18 U.S.C. 2510(19). The USA PATRIOT Act added subsections 2517(6)
and 2510(19), 115 Stat. 280 (2001). The additions disappear when the USA PATRIOT Act
sunset provisions go into effect, 115 Stat. 295 (2001).
122 Any investigative or law enforcement officer, or other Federal official in carrying out
official duties as such Federal official, who by any means authorized by this chapter, has
obtained knowledge of the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic communication, or
evidence derived therefrom, may disclose such contents or derivative evidence to any
appropriate Federal, State, local, or foreign government official to the extent that such
contents or derivative evidence reveals a threat of actual or potential attack or other grave
hostile acts of a foreign power of an agent of as foreign power, domestic or international
sabotage, domestic or international terrorism, or clandestine intelligence gathering
activities by an intelligence service or network of a foreign power or by an agent of a foreign
power, within the United States or elsewhere, for the purpose of preventing or responding
to such a threat. Any official who receives information pursuant to this provision may use
that information only as necessary in the conduct of that person's official duties subject to
any limitations on the unauthorized disclosure of such information, and any State, local, or
foreign official who receives information pursuant to this provision may use that information
only consistent with such guidelines as the Attorney General and Director of Central
Intelligence shall jointly issue, 18 U.S.C. 2517(8). The Homeland Security Act added this
subsection, 116 Stat. 2257 (2002).

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It may also be disclosed by witnesses testify in federal or state proceedings,123
provided the intercepted conversation or other communication is not privileged.124
Stored Electronic or Wire Communications
The procedural requirements for law enforcement access to stored wire or
electronic communications and transactional records are less demanding but equally
complicated, 18 U.S.C. 2701-2712. They deal with two kinds of information –
often in the custody of the telephone company or some other service provider rather
than of any of the parties to the communication – the communications records and
th content of electronic or wire communications. Law enforcement officials are
entitled to access:
• with the consent of the one of the parties;125
• on the basis of a court order or similar process under the procedures
established in Title III/ECPA;126
123 “(3) Any person who has received, by any means authorized by this chapter, any
information concerning a wire, oral, or electronic communication, or evidence derived
therefrom intercepted in accordance with the provisions of this chapter may disclose the
contents of that communication or such derivative evidence while giving testimony under
oath or affirmation in any proceeding held under the authority of the United States or of any
State or political subdivision thereof.. . . . (5) When an investigative or law enforcement
officer, while engaged in intercepting wire, oral, or electronic communications in the manner
authorized herein, intercepts wire, oral, or electronic communications relating to offenses
other than those specified in the order of authorization or approval, the contents thereof, and
evidence derived therefrom, may be disclosed or used as provided in subsections (1) and (2)
of this section. Such contents and any evidence derived therefrom may be used under
subsection (3) of this section when authorized or approved by a judge of competent
jurisdiction where such judge finds on subsequent application that the contents were
otherwise intercepted in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. Such application
shall be made as soon as practicable,” 18 U.S.C. 2517(3),(5).
124 “No otherwise privileged wire, oral, or electronic communication intercepted in
accordance with, or in violation of, the provisions of this chapter shall lose its privileged
character,” 18 U.S.C. 2517(4).
125 “(b) A provider described in subsection (a) may divulge the contents of a communication
. . . (3) with the lawful consent of the originator or an addressee or intended recipient of such
communication, or the subscriber in the case of remote computing service. . . . (c) . . . A
provider described in subsection (a) may divulge a record or other information pertaining to
a subscriber to or customer of such service, (not including the contents of communications
covered by subsection (a)(1) or (a)(2)) . . . (2) with the lawful consent of the customer or
subscriber. ” 18 U.S.C. 2702(b)(3),(c)(2).
126 “A provider described in subsection (a) may divulge the contents of a communication
. . . (2) as otherwise authorized in section 2517, 2511(2)(a), or 2703 . . . .(c) . . . A provider
described in subsection (a) may divulge a record or other information pertaining to a
subscriber to or customer of such service, (not including the contents of communications
covered by subsection (a)(1) or (a)(2)) (1) as otherwise authorized in section 2703, ” 18
U.S.C. 2702(b)(2), (c)(1).

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• in certain emergency situations;127 or
• under one of the other statutory exceptions to the ban on service provider
disclosure.128
Section 2703, which affords law enforcement access to the content of stored
wire and electronic communications, distinguishing between recent communications
and those that have been in electronic storage for more than 6 months. Government
officials may gain access to wire or electronic communications in electronic storage
for less than 6 months under a search warrant issued upon probable cause to believe
127 “(b) A provider described in subsection (a) may divulge the contents of a communication
. . . (7) to a federal, state, or local governmental entity, if the provider, in good faith, believes
that an emergency involving danger of death or serious physical injury to any person
requires disclosure without delay of communications relating to the emergency. (c) . . . A
provider described in subsection (a) may divulge a record or other information pertaining to
a subscriber to or customer of such service, (not including the contents of communications
covered by subsection (a)(1) or (a)(2)) . . .(4) to a government entity, if the provider
reasonably believes that an emergency involving immediate danger of death or serious
physical injury to any person justifies disclosure of the information, 18 U.S.C.
2702(b)(7),(c)(4).
128 “(b) A provider described in subsection (a) may divulge the contents of a communication
– (1) to an addressee or intended recipient of such communication or an agent of such
addressee or intended recipient; . . . (4) to a person employed or authorized or whose
facilities are used to forward such communication to its destination; (5) as may be
necessarily incident to the rendition of the service or to the protection of the rights or
property of the provider of that service; (6) to a law enforcement agency – (A) if the contents
–
(i) were inadvertently obtained by the service provider; and (ii) appear to pertain to the
commission of a crime; (B) if required by section 227 of the Crime Control Act of 1990 (42
U.S.C. 13002) [relating to service provider obligations to report child pornography]. . . (c)
. . . A provider described in subsection (a) may divulge a record or other information
pertaining to a subscriber to or customer of such service, (not including the contents of
communications covered by subsection (a)(1) or (a)(2)) . . . (3) as may be necessarily
incident to the rendition of the service or to the protection of the rights or property of the
provider of that service,” 18 U.S.C. 2702(b)(1),(4),(5),(6); (c)(3).

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a crime has been committed and the search will produce evidence of the offense.129
The government must used the same procedure to acquire older communications
or those stored in remote computer storage if access is to be afforded without notice
to the subscriber or customer.130 If government officials are willing to afford the
subscriber or customer notice or at least delayed notice, access may be granted under
a court order showing that the information sought is relevant and material to a
criminal investigation or under an administrative subpoena, a grand jury subpoena,
a trial subpoena, or court order.131 Under the court order procedure, the court may
129 18 U.S.C. 2703(a)(“A governmental entity may require the disclosure by a provider of
electronic communication service of the contents of an wire or electronic communication,
that is in electronic storage in an wire or electronic communications system for one hundred
and eighty days or less, only pursuant to a warrant issued using the procedures described in
the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure by a court with jurisdiction over the offense under
investigation or equivalent State warrant. . . .”). The USA PATRIOT Act amendments
reflected above allow access to voice mail under the procedures previously limited to e-mail
and other electronic communications, 115 Stat. 283 (2001); the coverage disappears when
the USA PATRIOT Act’s sunset provision takes effect after December 31, 2005, 115 Stat.
295 (2001). The 21st Century Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act, 116
Stat. 1822 (2002), amended section 2703 to permit execution of the warrant by service
providers and others without requiring the presence of a federal officer, 18 U.S.C.
2703(g)(“Notwithstanding section 3105 of this title, the presence of an officer shall not be
required for service or execution of a search warrant issued in accordance with this chapter
requiring disclosure by a provider of electronic communications service or remote computing
service of the contents of communications or records or other information pertaining to a
subscriber to or customer of such service”), see United States v. Bach, 310 F.3d 1063 (8th
Cir. 2002)(the Fourth Amendment does not require the presence of a federal officer when
technicians execute a search warrant on a service provider’s server).
130 “(a) . . . A governmental entity may require the disclosure by a provider of electronic
communications services of the contents of an wire or electronic communication that has
been in electronic storage in an electronic communications system for more than one
hundred and eighty days by the means available under subsection (b) of this section.
“(b)(1) A governmental entity may require a provider of remote computing service to
disclose the contents of any wire or electronic communication to which this paragraph is
made applicable by paragraph (2) of this subsection – (A) without required notice to the
subscriber or customer, if the governmental entity obtains a warrant issued using the
procedures described in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure by a court with jurisdiction
over the offense under investigation . . . (2) Paragraph (1) is applicable with respect to any
wire or electronic communication that is held or maintained on that service – (A) on behalf
of, and received by means of electronic transmission from (or created by means of computer
processing of communications received by means of electronic transmission from), a
subscriber or customer of such remote computing service; and (B) solely for the purpose of
providing storage or computer processing services to such subscriber or customer, if the
provider is not authorized to access the contents of any such communications for purposes
of providing any services other than storage or computer processing,” 18 U.S.C. 2703(a),
(b)(1)(A), (2).
131 “(b)(1) A governmental entity may require a provider of remote computing service to
disclose the contents of any wire or electronic communication to which this paragraph is
made applicable by paragraph (2) of this subsection . . .(B) with prior notice from the
governmental entity to the subscriber or customer if the governmental entity – (i) uses an
administrative subpoena authorized by a Federal or State statute or a Federal or State grand
jury or trial subpoena; or (ii) obtains a court order for such disclosure under subsection (d)

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authorize delayed notification 90 day increments in cases where contemporaneous
notice might have an adverse impact.132 Government supervisor officials may certify
the need for delayed notification in the case of a subpoena.133 Traditional exigent
circumstances and a final general inconvenience justification form the grounds for
delayed notification in either case:
• endangering the life or physical safety of an individual;
• flight from prosecution;
• destruction of or tampering with evidence;
• intimidation of potential witnesses; or
• otherwise seriously jeopardizing an investigation or unduly delaying a trial,
18 U.S.C. 2705(a)(2), (b).
Comparable, if less demanding, procedures apply when the government seeks
other customer information from a service provider (other than the content of a
customer’s communications). The information can be secured:
• with a warrant;
• with a court order;
• with customer consent;
• with a written request in telemarketing fraud cases; or
of this section; except that delayed notice may be given pursuant to section 2705 of this title
. . . .(d) A court order for disclosure under subsection (b) or (c) may be issued by any court
that is a court of competent jurisdiction and shall issue only if the governmental entity offers
specific and articulable facts showing that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the
contents of a wire or electronic communication, or the records or other information sought,
are relevant and material to an ongoing criminal investigation. In the case of a State
governmental authority, such a court order shall not issue if prohibited by the law of such
State. A court issuing an order pursuant to this section, on a motion made promptly by the
service provider, may quash or modify such order, if the information or records requested
are unusually voluminous in nature or compliance with such order otherwise would cause
an undue burden on such provider,” 18 U.S.C. 2703(b)(1)(B), (d).
132 “(1) A governmental entity acting under section 2703(b) of this title may – (A) where
a court order is sought, include in the application a request, which the court shall grant, for
an order delaying the notification required under section 2703(b) of this title for a period not
to exceed ninety days, if the court determines that there is reason to believe that notification
of the existence of the court order may have an adverse result described in paragraph (2) of
this subsection . . . (4) Extensions of the delay of notification provided in section 2703 of up
to ninety days each may be granted by the court upon application . . . but only in accordance
with subsection (b) of this section,” 18 U.S.C. 2705(a)(1)(A), (4).
133 “(1) A governmental entity acting under section 2703(b) of this title may . . . (B) where
an administrative subpoena authorized by a Federal or State statute or a Federal or State
grand jury subpoena is obtained, delay the notification required under section 2703(b) of this
title for a period not to exceed ninety days upon the execution of a written certification of
a supervisory official that there is reason to believe that notification of the existence of the
subpoena may have an adverse result described in paragraph (2) of this subsection. . . (4)
Extensions of the delay of notification provided in section 2703 of up to ninety days each
may be granted . . . by certification by a governmental entity, but only in accordance with
subsection (b) of this section,” 18 U.S.C. 2705(a)(1)(B), (4).

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• with a subpoena in some instances.134
Most customer identification, use, and billing information can be secured
simply with a subpoena and without customer notification.135
Pen Registers and Trap and Trace Devices
Pen registers and trap and trace devices identify the source of calls placed to or
from a particular telephone. Federal government attorneys and state and local police
officers may apply for a court order authorizing the installation and use of a pen
register and/or a trap and trace device upon certification that the information that will
provide is relevant to a pending criminal investigation, 18 U.S.C. 3122.136
134 “(1) A government entity may require a provider of electronic communication service or
remote computing service to disclose a record or other information pertaining to a subscriber
to or customer of such service (not including the contents of communications) – (A) obtains
a warrant issued using the procedures described in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure
by a court with jurisdiction over the offense under investigation or equivalent State warrant;
(B) obtains a court order for such disclosure under subsection (d) of this section; (C) has the
consent of the subscriber or customer to such disclosure; or (D) submits a formal written
request relevant to a law enforcement investigation concerning telemarketing fraud for the
name, address, and place of business of a subscriber or customer of such provider, which
subscriber or customer is engaged in telemarketing (as such term is defined in section 2325
of this title); or (E) seeks information under paragraph (2) . . . (3) A governmental entity
receiving records or information under this subsection is not required to provide notice to
a subscriber or customer,” 18 U.S.C. 2703(c)(1),(3).
135 “(2) A provider of electronic communication service or remote computing service shall
disclose to a governmental entity the (A) name; (B) address; (C) local and long distance
telephone connection records, or records of session times and durations; (D) length of service
(including start date) and types of service utilized; (E) telephone or instrument number or
other subscriber number or identity, including any temporarily assigned network address;
and (F) means and source of payment (including any credit car or bank account number), of
a subscriber to or customer of such service, when the governmental entity uses an
administrative subpoena authorized by a Federal or State statute or a Federal or State grand
jury or trial subpoena or any means available under paragraph (1). (3) A governmental entity
receiving records or information under this subsection is not required to provide notice to
a subscriber or customer,” 18 U.S.C. 2703(c)(2),(3). Although not noted here or above, the
USA PATRIOT Act rewrote subsection 2703(c), 115 Stat. 283, 285 (2001). The changes
in paragraph 2703(c)(2) are not among those that sunset after December 31, 2005, 115 Stat.
295 (2001).
136 “(a)(1) An attorney for the Government may make application for an order or an
extension of an order under section 3123 of this title authorizing or approving the installation
and use of a pen register or a trap and trace device under this chapter, in writing under oath
or equivalent affirmation, to a court of competent jurisdiction. (2) Unless prohibited by State
law, a State investigative or law enforcement officer may make application for an order or
an extension of an order under section 3123 of this title authorizing or approving the
installation and use of a pen register or a trap and trace device under this chapter, in writing
under oath or equivalent affirmation, to a court of competent jurisdiction of such State.
“(b) An application under subsection (a) of this section shall include – (1) the identity
of the attorney for the Government or the State law enforcement or investigative officer
making the application and the identity of the law enforcement agency conducting the
investigation; and (2) a certification by the applicant that the information likely to be
obtained is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation being conducted by that agency,”

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An order authorizing installation and use of a pen register or trap and trace
device must:
• specify
- the person (if known) upon whose telephone line the device is to be
installed,
- the person (if known) who is the subject of the criminal investigation,
- the telephone number, (if known) the location of the line to which the
device is to be attached, and geographical range of the device,
- a description of the crime to which the investigation relates;
• upon request, direct carrier assistance pursuant to section 3124;137
• terminate within 60 days, unless extended;
18 U.S.C. 3122.
137 “(a) Upon the request of an attorney for the Government or an officer of a law
enforcement agency authorized to install and use a pen register under this chapter, a provider
of wire or electronic communication service, landlord, custodian, or other person shall
furnish such investigative or law enforcement officer forthwith all information, facilities, and
technical assistance necessary to accomplish the installation of the pen register unobtrusively
and with a minimum of interference with the services that the person so ordered by the court
accords the party with respect to whom the installation and use is to take place, if such
assistance is directed by a court order as provided in section 3123(b)(2) of this title.
“(b) Upon the request of an attorney for the Government or an officer of a law
enforcement agency authorized to receive the results of a trap and trace device under this
chapter, a provider of a wire or electronic communication service, landlord, custodian, or
other person shall install such device forthwith on the appropriate line or other facility and
shall furnish such investigative or law enforcement officer all additional information,
facilities and technical assistance including installation and operation of the device
unobtrusively and with a minimum of interference with the services that the person so
ordered by the court accords the party with respect to whom the installation and use is to take
place, if such installation and assistance is directed by a court order as provided in section
3123(b)(2) of this title. Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the results of the trap and
trace device shall be furnished, pursuant to section 3123(b) or section 3125 of this title, to
the officer of a law enforcement agency, designated in the court order, at reasonable intervals
during regular business hours for the duration of the order.
“(c) A provider of a wire or electronic communication service, landlord, custodian, or
other person who furnishes facilities or technical assistance pursuant to this section shall be
reasonably compensated for such reasonable expenses incurred in providing such facilities
and assistance.

“(d) No cause of action shall lie in any court against any provider of a wire or
electronic communication service, its officers, employees, agents, or other specified persons
for providing information, facilities, or assistance in accordance with a court order under this
chapter or request pursuant to section 3125 of this title.
“(e) A good faith reliance on a court order under this chapter, a request pursuant to
section 3125 of this title, a legislative authorization, or a statutory authorization is a complete
defense against any civil or criminal action brought under this chapter or any other law.
“(f) Pursuant to section 2522, an order may be issued to enforce the assistance
capability and capacity requirements under the Communications Assistance for Law
Enforcement Act,” 18 U.S.C. 3124 (emphasis added). The USA PATRIOT Act supplied the
language italicized above to reflect the fact that it authorized the use of pen register and trap
and trace orders in connection with computer as well as telephone communications, 115 Stat.
290 (2001). The change is not among those that expire after December 31, 2005, 115 Stat.
295 (2001).

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• involve a report of particulars of the order’s execution in Internet cases; and
• impose necessary nondisclosure requirements, 18 U.S.C. 3123.138
138 “(a)(1) Upon a [federal] application made under section 3122(a)(1) of this title, the court
shall enter an ex parte order authorizing the installation and use of a pen register or a trap and
trace device if the court finds, based on facts contained in the application, that the
information likely to be obtained by such installation and use is relevant to an ongoing
criminal investigation. Such order shall, upon service of such order, apply to any entity
providing wire or electronic communication service in the United States whose assistance
may facilitate the execution of the order. . . .be obtained by such installation and use is
relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation. (3)(A) Where the law enforcement agency
implementing an ex part order under this subsection seeks to do so by installing and using
its own pen register or trap and trace device on a packet-switched data network of a provider
of electronic communication service to the public the agency shall ensure that a record will
be maintained which will identify – (i) any officer or officers who installed the device and
any officer or officers who accessed the device to obtain information from the network; (ii)
the date and time the device was installed, the date and time the device was uninstalled, and
the date, time, and duration of each time the device is accessed to obtain information; (iii)
the configuration of the device at the time of its installation and any subsequent modification
thereof; and (iv) any information which has been collected by the device. To the extent that
the pen register or trap and trace device can be set automatically to record this information
electronically, the record shall be maintained electronically throughout the installation and
use of the such device. (B) The record maintained under subparagraph (A) shall be provided
ex parte and under seal to the court which entered the ex parte order authorizing the
installation and use of the device within 30 days after termination of the order (including any
extensions thereof).
“(b) An order issued under this section – (1) shall specify – (A) the identity, if known,
of the person to whom is leased or in whose name is listed the telephone line or other facility
to which the pen register or trap and trace device is to be attached or applied; (B) the
identity, if known, of the person who is the subject of the criminal investigation; (C) the
attributes of the communications to which the order applies, including the number or other
identifier and, if known, the location of the telephone line or other facility to which the pen
register or trap and trace device is to be attached or applied, and, in the case of an order
authorizing installation and use of a trap and trace device under subsection (a)(2), the
geographic limits of the order; and (D) a statement of the offense to which the information
likely to be obtained by the pen register or trap and trace device relates; and (2) shall direct,
upon the request of the applicant, the furnishing of information, facilities, and technical
assistance necessary to accomplish the installation of the pen register or trap and trace device
under section 3124 of this title.
“(c)(1) An order issued under this section shall authorize the installation and use of a
pen register or a trap and trace device for a period not to exceed sixty days. (2) Extensions
of such an order may be granted, but only upon an application for an order under section
3122 of this title and upon the judicial finding required by subsection (a) of this section. The
period of extension shall be for a period not to exceed sixty days.
“(d) An order authorizing or approving the installation and use of a pen register or a
trap and trace device shall direct that – (1) the order be sealed until otherwise ordered by the
court; and (2) the person owning or leasing the line or other facility to which the pen register
or a trap and trace device is attached, or applied, or who is obligated by the order to provide
assistance to the applicant, not disclose the existence of the pen register or trap and trace
device or the existence of the investigation to the listed subscriber, or to any other person,
unless or until otherwise ordered by the court,” 18 U.S.C. 3123. Although not specifically
noted above, the USA PATRIOT Act amended this section to make it applicable to
electronic as well as wire communications, 115 Stat. 289-90 (2001). The amendments are
not among those that expire after December 31, 2005, 115 Stat. 295 (2001).

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Senior Justice Department or state prosecutors may approve the installation and
use of a pen register or trap and trace device prior to the issuance of court
authorization in emergency cases that involving either an organized crime
conspiracy, an immediate danger of death or serious injury, an threat to national
security, or a serious attack on a “protected computer,” 18 U.S.C. 3125.139
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
The procedure for securing wiretapping court orders under the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), 50 U.S.C. 1801-1811, is the most distinctive
of the wiretap-related procedures.140 First, it’s focus is different. It is designed to
secure foreign intelligence information not evidence of a crime. Second, it operates
in a highly secretive manner. But its most individualistic feature is that the
139 “(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any investigative or law
enforcement officer, specially designated by the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney
General, the Associate Attorney General, any Assistant Attorney General, any acting
Assistant Attorney General, or any Deputy Assistant Attorney General, or by the principal
prosecuting attorney of any State or subdivision thereof acting pursuant to a statute of that
State, who reasonably determines that – (1) an emergency situation exists that involves – (A)
immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury to any person; (B) conspiratorial
activities characteristic of organized crime; (C) an immediate threat to a national security
interest; or (D) an ongoing attack on a protected computer (as defined in section 1030) that
constitutes a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment greater than one year; that requires
the installation and use of a pen register or a trap and trace device before an order
authorizing such installation and use can, with due diligence, be obtained, and (2) there are
grounds upon which an order could be entered under this chapter to authorize such
installation and use; may have installed and use a pen register or trap and trace device if,
within forty-eight hours after the installation has occurred, or begins to occur, an order
approving the installation or use is issued in accordance with section 3123 of this title.
“(b) In the absence of an authorizing order, such use shall immediately terminate when
the information sought is obtained, when the application for the order is denied or when
forty-eight hours have lapsed since the installation of the pen register or trap and trace
device, whichever is earlier.
“(c) The knowing installation or use by any investigative or law enforcement officer
of a pen register or trap and trace device pursuant to subsection (a) without application for
the authorizing order within forty-eight hours of the installation shall constitute a violation
of this chapter.
“(d) A provider of a wire or electronic service, landlord, custodian, or other person who
furnished facilities or technical assistance pursuant to this section shall be reasonably
compensated for such reasonable expenses incurred in providing such facilities and
assistance,” 18 U.S.C. 3125(emphasis added). The Homeland Security Act extended the
grounds for emergency installation to include national security threats and serious attacks
on protected computers, 116 Stat. 2158 (2002); H.Rep.No. 107-497, at 16-7 (2002). A
“protected computer” is “a computer – (A) exclusively for the use of a financial institution
or the United States Government, or, in the case of a computer not exclusively for such use,
used by or for a financial institution or the United States Government and the conduct
constituting the offense affects that use by or for the financial institution or the Government;
or (B) which is used in interstate or foreign commerce or communication, including a
computer located outside the United States that is used in a manner that affects interstate or
foreign commerce or communication of the United States,” 18 U.S.C. 1030(e)(2).
140 See generally, Bazan, The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: An Overview of the
Statutory Framework, CRS REP.NO. RL30465 (2002).

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procedure is conducted entirely before members of an independent court convened
for no other purpose. The Act operates in the field of foreign intelligence gathering,
primarily through a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court whose judges grant or
reject petitions for wiretap and electronic surveillance orders, orders authorizing
physical searches and seizures, pen register and trap and trace orders, and orders to
the surrender of tangible items.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is comprised of eleven federal
court judges designated by the Chief Justice to sit on the Court for a single seven
year term, 50 U.S.C. 1803(a),(b),(d).141 In the area of wiretaps and physical
searches,142 the judges of the Court individually receive and approve or reject
requests, authorized by the Attorney General, to conduct four specific types of
141 “(a) Court to hear applications and grant orders; record of denial; transmittal to court of
review – The Chief Justice of the United States shall publicly designate seven 11 district
court judges from seven of the United States judicial circuits of whom no fewer than 3 shall
reside within 20 miles of the District of Columbia who shall constitute a court which shall
have jurisdiction to hear applications for and grant orders approving electronic surveillance
anywhere within the United States under the procedures set forth in this chapter, except that
no judge designated under this subsection shall hear the same application for electronic
surveillance under this chapter which has been denied previously by another judge
designated under this subsection. If any judge so designated denies an application for an
order authorizing electronic surveillance under this chapter, such judge shall provide
immediately for the record a written statement of each reason for his decision and, on motion
of the United States, the record shall be transmitted, under seal, to the court of review
established in subsection (b) of this section transmitted under seal, to the court of review
established in subsection (b) of this section.
“(b) Court of review; record, transmittal to Supreme Court – The Chief Justice shall
publicly designate three judges, one of whom shall be publicly designated as the presiding
judge, from the United States district courts or courts of appeals who together shall comprise
a court of review which shall have jurisdiction to review the denial of any application made
under this chapter. If such court determines that the application was properly denied, the
court shall immediately provide for the record a written statement of each reason for its
decision and, on petition of the United States for a writ of certiorari, the record shall be
transmitted under seal to the Supreme Court, which shall have jurisdiction to review such
decision.
* * *
“(d) Tenure – Each judge designated under this section shall so serve for a maximum
of seven years and shall not be eligible for redesignation, except that the judges first
designated under subsection (a) of this section shall be designated for terms of from one to
seven years so that one term expires each year, and that judges first designated under
subsection (b) of this section shall be designated for terms of three, five, and seven years,”
50 U.S.C. 1803(a),(b),(d). The USA PATRIOT Act increased the size of the FISA court
from 7 to 11 and required that at 3 members of the court live within 20 miles of Washington,
115 Stat. 283 (2001). These changes are permanent and do not expire after December 31,
2005, 115 Stat. 295 (2001).
142 The FISA procedures relating to wiretapping and electronic surveillance orders, 50
U.S.C. 1801-1811, and those relating to physical searches, 50 U.S.C. 1821-1829, are
virtually identical and consequently are treated together here.

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wiretapping (electronic surveillance)143 in order to intercept the communications of
foreign powers.
The contents of FISA application include:
• the identity of the individual submitting the application;
• an indication of the President’s grant of authority and the approval of the
Attorney General or a Deputy Attorney General;
• the identity or a description of the person whose communications are to be
intercepted;
• an indication of
- why the person is believed to be a foreign power or the agent of a
foreign power,144 and
143 “<Electronic surveillance,’ means – (1) the acquisition by an electronic, mechanical, or
other surveillance device of the contents of any wire or radio communication sent by or
intended to be received by a particular, known United States person who is in the United
States, if the contents are acquired by intentionally targeting that United States person, under
circumstances in which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy and a warrant
would be required for law enforcement purposes;
“(2) the acquisition by an electronic, mechanical, or other surveillance device of the
contents of any wire communication to or from a person in the United States, without the
consent of any party thereto, if such acquisition occurs in the United States, does not include
the acquisition of those communications of computer trespassers that would be permissible
under section 2511(2)(i) of title 18, United States Code;
“(3) the intentional acquisition by an electronic, mechanical, or other surveillance
device of the contents of any radio communication, under circumstances in which a person
has a reasonable expectation of privacy and a warrant would be required for law enforcement
purposes, and if both the sender and all intended recipients are located within the United
States; or
“(4) the installation or use of an electronic, mechanical, or other surveillance device in
the United States for monitoring to acquire information, other than from a wire or radio
communication, under circumstances in which a person has a reasonable expectation of
privacy and a warrant would be required for law enforcement purposes,” 50 U.S.C.
1801(f)(emphasis added). The USA PATRIOT Act added the permanent language italicize
above, 115 Stat. 392, 295 (2001). There is no definition of “electronic surveillance” in the
FISA physical search provisions, cf., 50 U.S.C. 1821 (relating to definitions used in 50
U.S.C. 1821-1829).
The courts have noted that, unlike surveillance under Title III/EPCA, silent video
surveillance falls within the purview of FISA by virtue of subsection 1801(1)(4), United
States v. Koyomejian, 970 F.2d 536, 540 (9th Cir. 1992); United States v. Mesa-Rincon, 911
F.2d 1433, 1438 (10th Cir. 1990); United States v. Biasucci, 786 F.2d 504, 508 (2d Cir.
1986).
144 “<Foreign power’ means – (1) a foreign government or any component thereof, whether
or not recognized by the United States; (2) a faction of a foreign nation or nations, not
substantially composed of United States persons; (3) an entity that is openly acknowledged
by a foreign government or governments to be directed and controlled by such foreign
government or governments; (4) a group engaged in international terrorism or activities in
preparation therefor; (5) a foreign-based political organization, not substantially composed
of United States persons; or (6) an entity that is directed and controlled by a foreign
government or governments.
“<Agent of a foreign power’ means – (1) any person other than a United States person,
who – (A) acts in the United States as an officer or employee of a foreign power, or as a

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- why foreign powers or their agents are believed to use the targeted
facilities or places;
• a summary of the minimization procedures145 to be followed;
• a detailed description of the communications to be intercepted and the
information sought;
member of a foreign power as defined in subsection (a)(4) of this section; (B) acts for or on
behalf of a foreign power which engages in clandestine intelligence activities in the United
States contrary to the interests of the United States, when the circumstances of such person’s
presence in the United States indicate that such person may engage in such activities in the
United States, or when such person knowingly aids or abets any person in the conduct of
such activities or knowingly conspires with any person to engage in such activities; or (2)
any person who – (A) knowingly engages in clandestine intelligence gathering activities for
or on behalf of a foreign power, which activities involve or may involve a violation of the
criminal statutes of the United States; (B) pursuant to the direction of an intelligence service
or network of a foreign power, knowingly engages in any other clandestine intelligence
activities for or on behalf of such foreign power, which activities involve or are about to
involve a violation of the criminal statutes of the United States; (C) knowingly engages in
sabotage or international terrorism, or activities that are in preparation therefor, or on behalf
of a foreign power; or (D) knowingly aids or abets any person in the conduct of activities
described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) or knowingly conspires with any person to engage
in activities described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C),” 50 U.S.C. 1801(a),(b). The FISA
physical search provisions adopt by cross reference these definitions of “foreign power” and
“agent of a foreign power,” 50 U.S.C. 1821(1).
Note that the definition of foreign power includes international terrorists groups
regardless of whether any nexus to a foreign power can be shown, 50 U.S.C. 1801(a)(4) and
includes agents of foreign powers that no longer exist, United States v. Squillacote, 221 F.3d
542, 554 (4th Cir. 2000)(agents of East Germany intercepted under an order granted after
unification).
145
“<Minimization procedures’, with respect to electronic surveillance, means – (1)
specific procedures, which shall be adopted by the Attorney General, that are reasonably
designed in light of the purpose and technique of the particular surveillance, to minimize the
acquisition and retention, and prohibit the dissemination, of nonpublicly available
information concerning unconsenting United States persons consistent with the need of the
United States to obtain, produce, and disseminate foreign intelligence information;
“(2) procedures that require that nonpublicly available information, which is not
foreign intelligence information, as defined in subsection (e)(1) of this section, shall not be
disseminated in a manner that identifies any United States person, without such person’s
consent, unless such person’s identity is necessary to understand foreign intelligence
information or assess its importance;
“(3) notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), procedures that allow for the retention and
dissemination of information that is evidence of a crime which has been, is being, or is about
to be committed and that is to be retained or disseminated for law enforcement purposes; and
“(4) notwithstanding paragraphs (1), (2), and (3), with respect to any electronic
surveillance approved pursuant to section 1802(a) of this title, procedures that require that
no contents of any communication to which a United States person is a party shall be
disclosed, disseminated, or used for any purpose or retained for longer than twenty-four 72
hours unless a court order under section 1805 of this title is obtained or unless the Attorney
General determines that the information indicates a threat of death or serious bodily harm
to any person,” 50 U.S.C. 1801(h). The definition for physical search purposes is the same
except references to physical searches rather than electronic surveillance, 50 U.S.C. 1821(4).
The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002, P.L. 107-108, extended the
permissible duration of emergency orders from 24 to 72 hours as noted above and under
section 1821(4)(D), 115 Stat. 1402 (2001).

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• certification by a senior national security or senior defense adviser to the
President that
- the information sought is foreign intelligence information,
- a significant purpose of interception is to secure foreign intelligence
information,146
- the information cannot reasonably be obtained using alternative means,
• the means of accomplishing the interception (including whether a physical
entry will be required);
• a history of past interception applications involving the same persons, places
or facilities;
• the period of time during which the interception is to occur, whether it will
terminate immediately upon obtaining the information sought, and if not, the
reasons why interception thereafter is likely to be productive;
• whether more than one interception device is to be used and if so their range
and the minimization procedures associated with each (only if the target is a
foreign agent; if the target is a foreign power, an indication of the
communications of and information about Americans likely to be
intercepted).50 U.S.C. 1804.147
FISA court judges issue orders approving electronic surveillance or physical
searches upon a finding that the application requirements have been met and that
there is probable cause to believe that the target is a foreign power or the agent of a
foreign power and that the targeted places or facilities are used by foreign powers of
their agents.148
146 The USA PATRIOT Act changed the language from “the purpose” to “a significant
purpose,” under both the surveillance and physical search requirements, 115 Stat. 291
(2001). The FISA Court of Review subsequently held that the change permitted application
for a FISA surveillance order when authorities “have a measurable foreign intelligence
purpose, other than just criminal prosecution of even foreign intelligence crimes,” In re
Sealed Case, 310 F.3d 717, 735 (F.I.S.Ct.Rev. 2002). The “the purpose” language returns
when the USA PATRIOT Act amendment sunsets after December 31, 2005, 115 Stat. 295
(2001).
147 50 U.S.C. 1823 relating applications for a FISA physical search order is essentially the
same.
148 “Upon an application made pursuant to section 1804 of this title, the judge shall enter an
ex parte order as requested or as modified approving the electronic surveillance if he finds
that – (1) the President has authorized the Attorney General to approve applications for
electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence information; (2) the application has been
made by a Federal officer and approved by the Attorney General; (3) on the basis of the facts
submitted by the applicant there is probable cause to believe that – (A) the target of the
electronic surveillance is a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power: Provided, That no
United States person may be considered a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power
solely upon the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution of the
United States; and (B) each of the facilities or places at which the electronic surveillance is
directed is being used, or is about to be used, by a foreign power or an agent of a foreign
power; (4) the proposed minimization procedures meet the definition of minimization
procedures under section 1801(h) of this title; and (5) the application which has been filed
contains all statements and certifications required by section 1804 of this title and, if the
target is a United States person, the certification or certifications are not clearly erroneous
on the basis of the statement made under section 1804(a)(7)(E) of this title and any other
information furnished under section 1804(d) of this title,” 50 U.S.C. 1805(a); see, 1824(a)(to

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Orders approving electronic surveillance or physical searches must:
• specify
- the identity or a description of the person whose communications are to
be intercepted,
- the nature and location of the targeted facilities or places, if known,149
- type of communications or activities targeted and the kind of information
sought,
- the means by which interception is to be accomplished and whether
physical entry is authorized,150
- the tenure of the authorization, and
- whether more than one device are to be used and if so their respective
ranges and associated minimization procedures;151
• require
- that minimization procedures be adhered to,
- upon request, that carriers and others provide assistance,152
- that those providing assistance observe certain security precautions, and
be compensated;153
the same effect with respect to physical searches rather than electronic surveillance).
149 This “if known” language, added by the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2002, 115 Stat. 1402 (2001), contemplates “roving” wiretaps and has no physical search
counterpart.
150 The issue of whether physical entry will be necessary to execute the order, raised in
subsections 1805(c) and (d), is only relevant in the case of surveillance orders which may
often be executed without entry onto the premises of the target; there is no physical search
companion requirement.
151 This requirement has no mate in the physical search section, see, 18 U.S.C. 1824(c)(1).
152 “An order approving an electronic surveillance under this section shall . . . (2) direct –
(B) that, upon the request of the applicant, a specified communication or other common
carrier, landlord, custodian, or other specified person , or in circumstances where the Court
finds that the actions of the target of the application may have the effect of thwarting the
identification of a specified person, such other persons, furnish the applicant forthwith all
information, facilities, or technical assistance necessary to accomplish the electronic
surveillance in such a manner as will protect its secrecy and produce a minimum of
interference with the services that such carrier, landlord, custodian, or other person is
providing that target of electronic surveillance,” 50 U.S.C. 1805(c)(2)(B); see, 50 U.S.C.
1824(c)(2)(b), but here too in language supplied by the USA PATRIOT Act, 115 Stat. 282
(2001) the electronic surveillance section alone contemplates the possibility of roving
wiretaps in cases where the target attempts thwart surveillance. The distinction will
disappear after December 31, 2005 when the USA PATRIOT Act authority for such roving
surveillance sunsets, 115 Stat. 295 (2001).
153 “An order approving an electronic surveillance under this section shall. . . (2) direct. . .
(C) that such carrier, landlord, custodian, or other person maintain under security procedures
approved by the Attorney General and the Director of Central Intelligence any records
concerning the surveillance or the aid furnished that such person wishes to retain; and (D)
that the applicant compensate, at the prevailing rate, such carrier, landlord, custodian, or
other person for furnishing such aid,” 50 U.S.C. 1805(c)(2)(C),(D); see, 50 U.S.C.
1824(c)(2)(C),(D). Only the physical search order must also insist that “the federal officer
conducting the physical search promptly report to the court the circumstances and results of
the physical search,” 50 U.S.C. 1824(c)(2)(E).

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• expire when its purpose is accomplished but not later than after 90 days
generally (after 120 days in the case of foreign agents and after a year in the
case of foreign governments or their entities or factions of foreign nations)
unless extended (extensions may not exceed 1 year), 50 U.S.C. 1805(c).154
As in the case of law enforcement wiretapping and electronic eavesdropping,
there is authority for interception and physical searches prior to approval in
emergency situations, 50 U.S.C. 1805(e),155 but there is also statutory authority for
foreign intelligence surveillance interceptions and physical searches without the
The USA PATRIOT Act’s amendments make it clear that those who provide such
assistance are immune from civil suit, 18 U.S.C. 1805(i)(“ No cause of action shall lie in any
court against any provider of a wire or electronic communication service, landlord,
custodian, or other persons (including any officer, employee, agent, or other specified person
thereof) that furnishes any information, facilities, or technical assistance in accordance with
a court order or request for emergency assistance under this Act for electronic surveillance
or physical search”). Note that the USA PATRIOT Act amendment here disappears after
December 31, 2005, 115 Stat. 295 (2001).
154 18 U.S.C. 1824(c) (relating to physical search orders) is essentially the same. The USA
PATRIOT Act increased the tenure of orders relating to foreign agents to 120 days in both
instances and establish a common general duration of 90 days for both, 115 Stat. 282 (2001),
amendments that sunset after December 31, 2005 (2001).
155 “Notwithstanding any other provision of this subchapter, when the Attorney General
reasonably determines that – (1) an emergency situation exists with respect to the
employment of electronic surveillance to obtain foreign intelligence information before an
order authorizing such surveillance can with due diligence be obtained; and (2) the factual
basis for issuance of an order under this subchapter to approve such surveillance exists – he
may authorize the emergency employment of electronic surveillance if a judge having
jurisdiction under section 1803 of this title is informed by the Attorney General or his
designee at the time of such authorization that the decision has been made to employ
emergency electronic surveillance and if an application in accordance with this subchapter
is made to that judge as soon as practicable, but not more than twenty-four 72 hours after the
Attorney General authorizes such surveillance. If the Attorney General authorizes such
emergency employment of electronic surveillance, he shall require that the minimization
procedures required by this subchapter for the issuance of a judicial order be followed. In
the absence of a judicial order approving such electronic surveillance, the surveillance shall
terminate when the information sought is obtained, when the application for the order is
denied, or after the expiration of twenty-four 72 hours from the time of authorization by the
Attorney General, whichever is earliest. In the event that such application for approval is
denied, or in any other case where the electronic surveillance is terminated and no order is
issued approving the surveillance, no information obtained or evidence derived from such
surveillance shall be received in evidence or otherwise disclosed in any trial, hearing, or
other proceeding in or before any court, grand jury, department, office, agency, regulatory
body, legislative committee, or other authority of the United States, a State, or political
subdivision thereof, and no information concerning any United States person acquired from
such surveillance shall subsequently be used or disclosed in any other manner by Federal
officers or employees without the consent of such person, except with the approval of the
Attorney General if the information indicates a threat of death or serious bodily harm to any
person. A denial of the application made under this subsection may be reviewed as provided
in section 1803 of this title,” 50 U.S.C. 1805(f); see also, 50 U.S.C. 1824(e). The
Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002, P.L. 107-108, extended the permissible
duration of emergency orders from 24 to 72 hours in both instances as noted above, 115 Stat.
1402 (2001).

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requirement of a court order when the targets are limited to communications among
or between foreign powers or involve nonverbal communications from places under
the open and exclusive control of a foreign power, 50 U.S.C. 1802(a)(1),(4).156 The
second of these is replete with reporting requirements to Congress and the FISA
court, 50 U.S.C. 1802(a)(2),(3).157 These and the twin war time exceptions158 may
156 “(1) Notwithstanding any other law, the President, through the Attorney General, may
authorize electronic surveillance without a court order under this subchapter to acquire
foreign intelligence information for periods of up to one year if the Attorney General
certifies in writing under oath that – (A) the electronic surveillance is solely directed at – (i)
the acquisition of the contents of communications transmitted by means of communications
used exclusively between or among foreign powers, as defined in section 1801(a)(1), (2), or
(3) of this title; or (ii) the acquisition of technical intelligence, other than the spoken
communications of individuals, from property or premises under the open and exclusive
control of a foreign power, as defined in section 1801(a)(1), (2), or (3) of this title; (B) there
is no substantial likelihood that the surveillance will acquire the contents of any
communication to which a United States person is a party; and (C) the proposed
minimization procedures with respect to such surveillance meet the definition of
minimization procedures under section 1801(h) of this title; and – if the Attorney General
reports such minimization procedures and any changes thereto to the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence at least
thirty days prior to their effective date, unless the Attorney General determines immediate
action is required and notifies the committees immediately of such minimization procedures
and the reason for their becoming effective immediately. . . .
“(4) With respect to electronic surveillance authorized by this subsection, the Attorney
General may direct a specified communication common carrier to -- (A) furnish all
information, facilities, or technical assistance necessary to accomplish the electronic
surveillance in such a manner as will protect its secrecy and produce a minimum of
interference with the services that such carrier is providing its customers; and (B) maintain
under security procedures approved by the Attorney General and the Director of Central
Intelligence any records concerning the surveillance or the aid furnished which such carrier
wishes to retain – The Government shall compensate, at the prevailing rate, such carrier for
furnishing such aid,” 50 U.S.C. 1802(a)(1),(4); see, 50 U.S.C. 1822(a)(1), (4) for parallel
physical search language.
157“(2) An electronic surveillance authorized by this subsection may be conducted only in
accordance with the Attorney General’s certification and the minimization procedures
adopted by him. The Attorney General shall assess compliance with such procedures and
shall report such assessments to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and
the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence under the provisions of section 1808(a) of this
title. “(3) The Attorney General shall immediately transmit under seal to the court
established under section 1803(a) of this title a copy of his certification. Such certification
shall be maintained under security measures established by the Chief Justice with the
concurrence of the Attorney General, in consultation with the Director of Central
Intelligence, and shall remain sealed unless – (A) an application for a court order with
respect to the surveillance is made under sections 1801(h)(4) and 1804 of this title; or (B)
the certification is necessary to determine the legality of the surveillance under section
1806(f) of this title,” 50 U.S.C. 1802(a)(2),(3); see, 50 U.S.C. 1822(a)(2),(3) for physical
search counterpart.
158 “Notwithstanding any other law, the President, through the Attorney General, may
authorize electronic surveillance without a court order under this subchapter to acquire
foreign intelligence information for a period not to exceed fifteen calendar days following
a declaration of war by the Congress, “ 50 U.S.C. 1811.
“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the President, through the Attorney

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be subject to constitutional limitations, particularly when Americans are the
surveillance targets.159
FISA has detailed provisions governing the use of the information acquired
through the use of its surveillance or physical search authority that include:
• confidentiality requirements;160
• notice of required Attorney General approval for disclosure;161
• notice to the “aggrieved” of the government’s intention to use the results as
evidence;162
General, may authorize physical searches without a court order under this subchapter to
acquire foreign intelligence information for a period not to exceed 15 calendar days
following a declaration of war by the Congress,” 50 U.S.C. 1829.
159 United States v. Bin Laden, 126 F.Supp.2d 264, 281-82 (S.D.N.Y. 2000)(overseas
surveillance of an American (who was an international terrorist) found contrary to Fourth
Amendment requirements). United States v. United States District Court (Keith), 407 U.S.
297, 321-22 (1972), held that the Fourth Amendment does not permit warrantless electronic
surveillance of domestic terrorists, but left open “the issues which may be involved with
respect to activities of foreign powers or their agents.”
160 “Information acquired from an electronic surveillance conducted pursuant to this
subchapter concerning any United States person may be used and disclosed by Federal
officers and employees without the consent of the United States person only in accordance
with the minimization procedures required by this subchapter. No otherwise privileged
communication obtained in accordance with, or in violation of, the provisions of this
subchapter shall lose its privileged character. No information acquired from an electronic
surveillance pursuant to this subchapter may be used or disclosed by Federal officers or
employees except for lawful purposes,” 50 U.S.C. 1806(a); see also, 50 U.S.C. 1825(a)
(relating to physical searches).
161 “No information acquired pursuant to this subchapter shall be disclosed for law
enforcement purposes unless such disclosure is accompanied by a statement that such
information, or any information derived therefrom, may only be used in a criminal
proceeding with the advance authorization of the Attorney General,” 50 U.S.C. 1806(b); see
also, 50 U.S.C. 1825(c)(relating to physical searches).
162 “Whenever the Government intends to enter into evidence or otherwise use or disclose
in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any court, department, officer, agency,
regulatory body, or other authority of the United States, against an aggrieved person, any
information obtained or derived from an electronic surveillance of that aggrieved person
pursuant to the authority of this subchapter, the Government shall, prior to the trial, hearing,
or other proceeding or at a reasonable time prior to an effort to so disclose or so use that
information or submit it in evidence, notify the aggrieved person and the court or other
authority in which the information is to be disclosed or used that the Government intends to
so disclose or so use such information.
“Whenever any State or political subdivision thereof intends to enter into evidence or
otherwise use or disclose in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any court,
department, officer, agency, regulatory body, or other authority of a State or a political
subdivision thereof, against an aggrieved person any information obtained or derived from
an electronic surveillance of that aggrieved person pursuant to the authority of this
subchapter, the State or political subdivision thereof shall notify the aggrieved person, the
court or other authority in which the information is to be disclosed or used, and the Attorney
General that the State or political subdivision thereof intends to so disclose or so use such
information,” 50 U.S.C. 1806(c),(d); see also, 50 U.S.C. 1825(d), (e).

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• suppression procedures;163
• dealing with inadvertently captured information;164
163 “Any person against whom evidence obtained or derived from an electronic surveillance
to which he is an aggrieved person is to be, or has been, introduced or otherwise used or
disclosed in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any court, department,
officer, agency, regulatory body, or other authority of the United States, a State, or a political
subdivision thereof, may move to suppress the evidence obtained or derived from such
electronic surveillance on the grounds that – (1) the information was unlawfully acquired;
or (2) the surveillance was not made in conformity with an order of authorization or
approval. Such a motion shall be made before the trial, hearing, or other proceeding unless
there was no opportunity to make such a motion or the person was not aware of the grounds
of the motion.
“Whenever a court or other authority is notified pursuant to subsection (c) or (d) of this
section, or whenever a motion is made pursuant to subsection (e) of this section, or whenever
any motion or request is made by an aggrieved person pursuant to any other statute or rule
of the United States or any State before any court or other authority of the United States or
any State to discover or obtain applications or orders or other materials relating to electronic
surveillance or to discover, obtain, or suppress evidence or information obtained or derived
from electronic surveillance under this chapter, the United States district court or, where the
motion is made before another authority, the United States district court in the same district
as the authority, shall, notwithstanding any other law, if the Attorney General files an
affidavit under oath that disclosure or an adversary hearing would harm the national security
of the United States, review in camera and ex parte the application, order, and such other
materials relating to the surveillance as may be necessary to determine whether the
surveillance of the aggrieved person was lawfully authorized and conducted. In making this
determination, the court may disclose to the aggrieved person, under appropriate security
procedures and protective orders, portions of the application, order, or other materials
relating to the surveillance only where such disclosure is necessary to make an accurate
determination of the legality of the surveillance.
“If the United States district court pursuant to subsection (f) of this section determines
that the surveillance was not lawfully authorized or conducted, it shall, in accordance with
the requirements of law, suppress the evidence which was unlawfully obtained or derived
from electronic surveillance of the aggrieved person or otherwise grant the motion of the
aggrieved person. If the court determines that the surveillance was lawfully authorized and
conducted, it shall deny the motion of the aggrieved person except to the extent that due
process requires discovery or disclosure.
“Orders granting motions or requests under subsection (g) of this section, decisions
under this section that electronic surveillance was not lawfully authorized or conducted, and
orders of the United States district court requiring review or granting disclosure of
applications, orders, or other materials relating to a surveillance shall be final orders and
binding upon all courts of the United States and the several States except a United States
court of appeals and the Supreme Court,” 50 U.S.C. 1806(e),(f),(g),(h); see also,
1825(f),(g),(h),(i).
164 “In circumstances involving the unintentional acquisition by an electronic, mechanical,
or other surveillance device of the contents of any radio communication, under
circumstances in which a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy and a warrant
would be required for law enforcement purposes, and if both the sender and all intended
recipients are located within the United States, such contents shall be destroyed upon
recognition, unless the Attorney General determines that the contents indicate a threat of
death or serious bodily harm to any person.” 50 U.S.C. 1806(i). The related physical search
section is a little different, 50 U.S.C. 1825(b)(“Where a physical search authorized and
conducted pursuant to section 1824 of this title involves the residence of a United States
person, and, at any time after the search the Attorney General determines there is no national

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• notification emergency surveillance or search for which no FISA order was
subsequently secured;165 and
• clarification that those who execute FISA surveillance or physical search
orders may consult with federal and state law enforcement officers.166
Pen Registers and Trap and Trace Devices.
FISA pen register and trap and trace procedures, 50 U.S.C. 1841-1846, are
similar to those of their law enforcement counterparts, but with many of the
attributes of other FISA provisions. The orders may be issued either by a member
of the FISA court or by a FISA magistrate upon the certification of a federal officer
that the information sought is likely to be relevant to an investigation of international
terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, 50 U.S.C. 1842.167 They allow the
Attorney General to authorize emergency installation and use as long as an
application is filed within 48 hours, 50 U.S.C. 1843, and restrict the use of any
security interest in continuing to maintain the secrecy of the search, the Attorney shall
provide notice to the United States person whose residence was searched of the fact of the
search conducted pursuant to this chapter and shall identify any property of such person
seized, altered, or reproduced during such search”).
165 “If an emergency employment of electronic surveillance is authorized under section
1805(e) of this title and a subsequent order approving the surveillance is not obtained, the
judge shall cause to be served on any United States person named in the application and on
such other United States persons subject to electronic surveillance as the judge may
determine in his discretion it is in the interest of justice to serve, notice of – (1) the fact of
the application; (2) the period of the surveillance; and (3) the fact that during the period
information was or was not obtained. On an ex parte showing of good cause to the judge the
serving of the notice required by this subsection may be postponed or suspended for a period
not to exceed ninety days. Thereafter, on a further ex parte showing of good cause, the court
shall forego ordering the serving of the notice required under this subsection,” 50 U.S.C.
1806(j); see also, 50 U.S.C. 1825(j).
166 “Federal officers who conduct electronic surveillance to acquire foreign intelligence
information under this title may consult with Federal law enforcement officers or law
enforcement personnel of a State or political subdivision of a State (including the chief
executive officer of that State or political subdivision who has the authority to appoint or
direct the chief law enforcement officer of that State or political subdivision to coordinate
efforts to investigate or protect against – (A) actual or potential attack or other grave hostile
acts of a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power; (B) sabotage or international
terrorism by a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power; or (C) clandestine intelligence
activities by an intelligence service or network of a foreign power or by an agent of a foreign
power. (2) Coordination authorized under paragraph (1) shall not preclude the certification
required by section 104(a)(7)(B)[relating to the required certification that foreign intelligence
gathering is a “significant purpose” for the FISA application] or the entry of an order under
section 105,” 50 U.S.C. 1806(k); see also, 50 U.S.C. 1825(k). The USA PATRIOT Act
added subsection 1806(k) and 1825(k), 115 Stat. 364-65 (2001), the additions will remain
in effect even after others have expired after December 31, 2005, 115 Stat. 295 (2001)..
167 The USA PATRIOT Act expanded them to cover both wire and electronic
communications and eliminated the additional certification requirement that the related
communications concern clandestine intelligence or international terrorist activities or
involve individuals engaged in such activities, 115 Stat. 286-87 (2001), changes that
disappear after December 31, 2005, 115 Stat. 295 (2001).

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resulting evidence if an order is not subsequently granted.168 The provisions for use
of the information acquired run parallel to those that apply to FISA surveillance and
physical search orders, 50 U.S.C. 1845.
Tangible Items.
FISA’s tangible items orders, 50 U.S.C. 1861, are perhaps its most interesting
feature. Prior to the USA PATRIOT Act senior FBI officials could approve an
application to a FISA judge or magistrate for an order authorizing common carriers,
or public accommodation, storage facility, or vehicle rental establishments to release
their business records based upon certification of a reason to believe that the records
pertained to a foreign power or the agent of a foreign power, 50 U.S.C. 1862(2000
ed.). The USA PATRIOT Act rewrote the procedure. In its current form, it requires
rather than authorizes disclosure; it makes no mention of probable cause, reason to
believe, or relevancy; it applies to all tangible property not merely records; it applies
to the tangible property of both individuals or organizations, commercial and
otherwise.169 It is limited, however, to investigations conducted to secure foreign
168 “In the event that an application for an order applied for under subsection (a)(2) is
denied, or in any other case where the installation and use of a pen register or trap and trace
device under this section is terminated and no order under section 1842(b)(2) of this title is
issued approving the installation and use of the pen register or trap and trace device, as the
case may be, no information obtained or evidence derived from the use of the pen register
or trap and trace device, as the case may be, shall be received in evidence or otherwise
disclosed in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any court, grand jury,
department, office, agency, regulatory body, legislative committee, or other authority of the
United States, a State, or political subdivision thereof, and no information concerning any
United States person acquired from the use of the pen register or trap and trace device, as the
case may be, shall subsequently be used or disclosed in any other manner by Federal officers
or employees without the consent of such person, except with the approval of the Attorney
General if the information indicates a threat of death or serious bodily harm to any person,”
50 U.S.C. 1843(c)(2).
169 “(a)(1) The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or a designee of the Director
(whose rank shall be no lower than Assistant Special Agent in Charge) may make an
application for an order requiring the production of any tangible things (including books,
records, papers, documents, and other items) for an investigation to obtain foreign
intelligence information not concerning a United States persons or to protect against
international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities, provided that such investigation
of a United States person is not conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected by the
first amendment to the Constitution. (2) An investigation conducted under this section shall
– (A) be conducted under guidelines the Attorney General under Executive Order No. 12333
(or a successor order); and (B) not be conducted solely upon the basis of activities protected
by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
“(b) Each application under this section – (1) shall be made to – (A) a judge of the
court established by section 103(a); or (B) a United States Magistrate Judge under chapter
43 of Title 28 [28 U.S.C. s 631 et seq.], who is publicly designated by the Chief Justice of
the United States to have the power to hear applications and grant orders for the production
of tangible things under this section on behalf of a judge of that court; and (2) shall specify
that the records concerned are sought for an authorized investigation conducted in
accordance with subsection (a)(2) this section to obtain foreign intelligence information not
concerning a United States person or to protect against international terrorism or clandestine
intelligence activities.
“(c)(1) Upon application made pursuant to this section, the judge shall enter an ex parte

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intelligence information or to protect against international terrorism or clandestine
intelligence activities. Taken at face value, it seems to build upon the assumption
that federal investigations of purely foreign activities in this country, even when the
evidence is held by someone other than foreign national, are per se reasonable for
Fourth Amendment purposes.170
order as requested, or as modified, approving the release of records if the judge finds that the
application satisfies the requirements of this section. (2) An order under this subsection shall
not disclose that it is issued for purposes of an investigation described in subsection (a).
“(d) No person shall disclose to any person (other than those persons necessary to
produce the tangible things under this section) that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has
sought or obtained tangible things under this section.
“(e) A person who, in good faith, produces tangible things under a subpoena issued
pursuant to this section shall not be liable to any other person for such production. Such
production shall not be deemed to constitute a waiver of any privilege in any other
proceeding or context,” 50 U.S.C. 1861. The tangible item provisions expire after December
31, 2005, 115 Stat. 295 (2001).
170 Consider, In re Sealed Case, 310 F.3d 717, 746 (F.I.S.Ct.Rev. 2002)(“Even without
taking into account the President’s inherent constitutional authority to conduct warrantless
foreign intelligence surveillance, we think the procedures and government showings required
under FISA, if they do not meet the minimum Fourth Amendment standards certainly come
close. We, therefore, believe . . . that FISA as amended is constitutional because the
surveillances it authorizes are reasonable”).

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Appendices
Appendix I. State Statutes Outlawing the Interception
of Wire(w), Oral(o) and Electronic Communications(e)
Alabama: Ala.Code §§13A-11-30 to 13A-11-
Nevada: Nev.Rev.Stat. §§200.620(w),
37(w/o);
200.650(o);
Alaska: Alaska Stat. §§42.20.300 to
New Hampshire: N.H.Rev.Stat.Ann. §570-A:2
42.20.390(w/o/e);
(w/o);
Arizona: Ariz.Rev.Stat.Ann. §§13-3001 to 13-
3009(w/o/e);
New Jersey: N.J.Stat.Ann. §2A:156A-3(w/o);
Arkansas: Ark.Code §5-60-120(w/o/e);
New Mexico: N.M.Stat.Ann. §30-12-1(w);
California: Cal.Penal Code §§631(w), 632(o),
New York: N.Y.Penal Law §250.05(w/o/e);
632.7(e);
North Carolina: N.C.Gen.Stat. §15A-287(w/o/e);
North Dakota: N.D.Cent.Code §§12.1-15-02
Colorado: Colo.Rev.Stat. §§18-9-301 to 18-9-
(w/o);
305(w/o/e);
Ohio: Ohio Rev.Code §2933.52 (w/o/e);
Connecticut: Conn.Gen.Stat.Ann. §§53a-187 to
Oklahoma: Okla.Stat.Ann. tit.13 §176.3 (w/o/e);
53a-189(w/o);
Oregon: Ore.Rev.Stat. §§165.535 to 165.545
Delaware: Del.Code tit.11 §2402(w/o/e);
(w/o/e);
Florida: Fla.Stat.Ann. §934.03(w/o/e);
Georgia: Ga.Code §16-11-62 (w/o/e);
Pennsylvania: Pa.Stat.Ann. tit.18 §5703 (w/o/e);
Hawaii: Hawaii Rev.Stat. §§803-41, 803-
Rhode Island: R.I.Gen.Laws §§11-35-21(w/o/e);
42(w/o/e);
South Dakota: S.D.Cod.Laws §23A-35A-20
Idaho: Idaho Code §18-6702(w/o);
(w/o);
Tennessee: Tenn.Code Ann. §39-13-601(w/o/e);
Illinois: Ill.Comp.Stat.Ann. ch.720 §5/14-
Texas: Tex.Penal Code. §§16.01 to 16.04 (w/o/e);
2(w/o/e);
Utah: Utah Code Ann. §§77-23a-4, 77-23b-2 to
Indiana: Ind.Code Ann. §35-33.5-5-5(w/e);
77-23b-4(w/o/e);
Iowa: Iowa Code Ann. §808B.2(w/o/e);
Kansas: Kan.Stat.Ann. §21-4001(w/o); 21-
Virginia: Va.Code §19.2-62(w/o/e);
4002(w);
Washington: Wash.Rev.Code Ann.
Kentucky: Ky.Rev.Stat. §§526.010,
§9.73.030(w/o);
526.020(w/o);
West Virginia: W.Va.Code §62-1D-3(w/o/e);
Louisiana: La.Rev.Stat.Ann. §15:1303(w/o/e);
Wisconsin: Wis.Stat.Ann. §968.31(w/o/e);
Wyoming: Wyo.Stat. §7-3-702(w/o/e);
Maine: Me.Rev.Stat.Ann. ch.15 §§710(w/o);
District of Columbia: D.C.Code §23-542(w/o).
Maryland: Md.Cts. & Jud.Pro.Code Ann. §10-
402(w/o/e);
Massachusetts: Mass.Gen.Laws Ann. ch.272
§99(w/o);
Michigan: Mich.Comp.Laws Ann.
§§750.539c(o); 750.540(w);
Minnesota: Minn.Stat.Ann. §626A.02(w/o/e);
Mississippi: Miss.Code §41-29-533(w/o/e)
Missouri: Mo.Ann.Stat. §542.402 (w/o);
Montana: Mont.Code Ann. §45-8-213(w/o/e);
Nebraska: Neb.Rev.Stat. §86-702(w/o);

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Appendix II. Consent Interceptions Under State Law
Minnesota: Minn.Stat.Ann. §626A.02 (one party
Alabama: Ala.Code §13A-11-30 (one party
consent);
consent);
Mississippi: Miss.Code §41-29-531 (one party
Alaska: Alaska Stat. §§42.20.310, 42.20.330 (one
consent);
party consent);
Missouri: Mo.Ann.Stat. §542.402 (one party
Arizona: Ariz.Rev.Stat.Ann. §13-3005 (one party
consent);
consent);
Montana: Mont.Code Ann. §§45-8-213 (all party
Arkansas: Ark.Code §5-60-120 (one party
consent with an exception for the performance of
consent);
official duties);
California: Cal. Penal Code §§ 631, 632 (one
Nebraska: Neb.Rev.Stat. §86-702 (one party
party consent for police; all party consent
consent);
otherwise);
Nevada: Nev.Rev.Stat. §§200.620, 200.650 (one
Colorado: Colo.Rev.Stat. §§18-9-303, 18-9-304
party consent);
(one party consent);
New Hampshire: N.H.Rev.Stat.Ann. §570-A:2
Connecticut: Conn.Gen.Stat.Ann. §§53a-187(one
(all party consent);
party consent);
New Jersey: N.J.Stat.Ann. §§2A:156A-4 (one
Delaware: Del.Code tit.11 §2402 (one party
party consent);
consent);
New Mexico: N.M.Stat.Ann. §§30-12-1 (one
Florida: Fla.Stat.Ann. §934.03 (one party consent
party consent);
for the police, all party consent for others);
New York: N.Y.Penal Law §250.00 (one party
Georgia: Ga.Code §16-11-66 (one party consent);
consent);
Hawaii: Hawaii Rev.Stat. §803-42 (one party
North Carolina: N.C.Gen.Stat. §15A-287 (one
consent);
party consent);
Idaho: Idaho Code §18-6702 (one party consent);
North Dakota: N.D.Cent.Code §§12.1-15-02
Illinois: Ill.Comp.Stat.Ann. ch.720 §§5/14-2,
(one party consent);
5/14-3 (all party consent with law enforcement
Ohio: Ohio Rev.Code §2933.52 (one party
exceptions);
consent);
Indiana: Ind.Code Ann. §35-33.5-1-5 (one party
Oklahoma: Okla.Stat.Ann. tit.13 §176.4 (one
consent );
party consent);
Iowa: Iowa Code Ann. §808B.2 (one party
Oregon: Ore.Rev.Stat. §165.540 (one party
consent);
consent for wiretapping and all parties must
Kansas: Kan.Stat.Ann. §§21-4001, 21-4002 (all
consent for other forms of electronic
party consent);
eavesdropping);
Kentucky: Ky.Rev.Stat. §526.010 (one party
Pennsylvania: Pa.Stat.Ann. tit.18 §5704 (one
consent);
party consent for the police; all parties consent
Louisiana: La.Rev.Stat.Ann. §15:1303 (one party
otherwise);
consent);
Rhode Island: R.I.Gen.Laws §§11-35-21 (one
Maine: Me.Rev.Stat.Ann. ch.15 §§709, 712 (one
party consent);
party consent);
South Dakota: S.D.Comp.Laws §§23A-35A-20
Maryland: Md.Cts. & Jud.Pro.Code Ann. §10-
(one party consent);
402 (all party consent);
Tennessee: Tenn.Code Ann. §39-13-601 (one
Massachusetts: Mass.Gen.Laws Ann. ch.272 §99
party consent)
(all parties must consent, except in some law
Texas: Tex.Penal Code §16.02 (one party
enforcement cases);
consent);
Michigan: Mich.Comp.Laws Ann. §750.539c
Utah: Utah Code Ann. §§77-23a-4 (one party
(eavesdropping proscriptions do not apply to
consent);
otherwise lawful activities of peace officers);
Virginia: Va.Code §19.2-62 (one party consent);

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Washington: Wash.Rev.Code Ann. §9.73.030 (all
parties must consent except in certain law
enforcement cases);
West Virginia: W.Va.Code §62-1D-3 (one party
consent);
Wisconsin: Wis.Stat.Ann. §968.31 (one party
consent); Wyoming: Wyo.Stat. §7-3-702 (one
party consent);
District of Columbia: D.C.Code §23-542 (one
party consent).

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Appendix III. Statutory Civil Liability for Interceptions Under State Law
Arizona: Ariz.Rev.Stat.Ann. §12-731;
Nevada: Nev.Rev.Stat. §200.690;
California: Cal. Penal Code §§ 637.2;
New Hampshire: N.H.Rev.Stat.Ann. §570-A:11;
Colorado: Colo.Rev.Stat. §18-9-309.5;
New Jersey: N.J.Stat.Ann. §§2A:156-24;
Connecticut: Conn.Gen.Stat.Ann. §54-41r;
New Mexico: N.M.Stat.Ann. §§30-12-11;
Delaware: Del.Code tit.11 §2409;
North Carolina: N.C.Gen.Stat. §15A-296;
Florida: Fla.Stat.Ann. §§934.10, 934.27;
Ohio: Ohio Rev.Code §2933.65;
Hawaii: Hawaii Rev.Stat. §803-48;
Oregon: Ore.Rev.Stat. §133.739;
Idaho: Idaho Code §18-6709;
Pennsylvania: Pa.Stat.Ann. tit.18 §§5725, 5747;
Illinois: Ill.Comp.Stat.Ann. ch.720 §5/14-6;
Rhode Island: R.I.Gen.Laws §12-5.1-13;
Indiana: Ind.Code Ann. §35-33.5-5-4;
Tennessee: Tenn.Code Ann. §39-13-603;
Iowa: Iowa Code Ann. §808B.8;
Texas: Tex.Code Crim.Pro. §18.20;
Kansas: Kan.Stat.Ann. §22-2518
Utah: Utah Code Ann. §§77-23a-11; 77-23b-8;
Louisiana: La.Rev.Stat.Ann. §15:1312;
Virginia: Va.Code §19.2-69;
Maine: Me.Rev.Stat.Ann. ch.15 §711;
Washington: Wash.Rev.Code Ann. §9.73.060;
Maryland: Md.Cts. & Jud.Pro.Code Ann. §§10-
West Virginia: W.Va.Code §62-1D-12;
410, 10-4A-08;
Wisconsin: Wis.Stat.Ann. §968.31;
Massachusetts: Mass.Gen.Laws Ann. ch.272
Wyoming: Wyo.Stat. §7-3-710;
§99;
District of Columbia: D.C.Code §23-554.
Michigan: Mich.Comp.Laws Ann. §750.539h;
Minnesota: Minn.Stat.Ann. §§626A.02, 626A.13;
Nebraska: Neb.Rev.Stat. §§86-707.2, 86-707.15;

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Appendix IV. Court Authorized Interception Under State Law
Alaska: Alaska Stats. §§12.37.010 to 12.37.900;
North Carolina: N.C.Gen.Stat. §§15A-286 to
Arizona: Ariz.Rev.Stat.Ann. §§13-3010 to 13-
15A-298;
3017;
North Dakota: N.D.Cent.Code §§29-29.2-01 to
California: Cal.Penal Code §629 to 629.98;
29-29.2-05;
Colorado: Colo.Rev.Stat. §§16-15-101 to 16-15-
Ohio: Ohio Rev.Code §§2933.51 to 2933.66;
104;
Oklahoma: Okla.Stat.Ann. tit.13 §§176.1 to
Connecticut: Conn.Gen.Stat.Ann. §§54-41a to
176.14
54-41t;
Oregon: Ore.Rev.Stat. §§133.721 to 133.739;
Delaware: Del.Code tit.11 §§2401 to 2412;
Pennsylvania: Pa.Stat.Ann. tit.18 §§5701 to 5728
Florida: Fla.Stat.Ann. §§934.02 to 934.43;
Rhode Island: R.I.Gen.Laws §§12-5.1-1 to 12-
Georgia: Ga.Code §16-11-64;
5.1-16;
Hawaii: Hawaii Rev.Stat. §§803-41 to 803-49;
South Dakota: S.D.Cod.Laws §§23A-35A-1 to
Idaho: Idaho Code §§18-6701 to 18-6725;
23A-35A-34
Illinois: Ill.Stat.Ann. ch.725 §§5/108A-1 to 108B-
Tennessee: Tenn.Code Ann. §§40-6-301 to 40-6-
14;
311;
Indiana:Ind.Code §§35-33.5-1-1 to 35-33.5-5-6;
Texas: Tex.Crim.Pro. Code. §18.20;
Iowa: Iowa Code Ann. §§808B.3 to 808B.7;
Utah: Utah Code Ann. §§77-23a-1 to 77-23a-16;
Kansas: Kan.Stat.Ann. §§22-2401 to 22-2414;
Virginia: Va.Code §§19.2-61 to 19.2-70.3;
Louisiana: La.Rev.Stat.Ann. §§15:1301 to
Washington: Wash.Rev.Code Ann. §§9.73.040 to
15:1316;
9.73.250;
Maryland: Md.Cts. & Jud.Pro.Code Ann. §§10-
West Virginia: W.Va.Code §§62-1D-1 to 62-1D-
401 to 10-410;
16;
Massachusetts: Mass.Gen.Laws Ann. ch.272
Wisconsin: Wis.Stat.Ann. §§968.27 to 968.33;
§99;
Wyoming: Wyo.Stat. §§7-3-701 to 7-3-712;
Minnesota: Minn.Stat.Ann. §§626A.01 to
District of Columbia: D.C.Code §§23-541 to 23-
626.41;
556.
Mississippi: Miss.Code §§41-29-501 to 41-29-
537;
Missouri: Mo.Ann.Stat. §§542.400 to 542.424;
Nebraska: Neb.Rev.Stat. §§86-701 to 86-712;
Nevada: Nev.Rev.Stat. §§179.410 to 179.515;
New Hampshire: N.H.Rev.Stat.Ann. §§570-A:1
to 570-A:9;
New Jersey: N.J.Stat.Ann. §§2A:156A-8 to
2A:156A-26;
New Mexico: N.M.Stat.Ann. §§30-12-1 to 30-12-
14;
New York: N.Y.Crime.Pro. Law §§700.05 to
700.70;

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Appendix V. State Statutes Regulating Stored Electronic Communications
(SE), Pen Registers (PR) and Trap and Trace Devices (T)
Alaska: Alaska Stats. §§12.37.200 (PR&T),
New Jersey; N.J.Stat.Ann. §§2A:156A-27 to
12.37.300(SE);
2A:156A-34 (SE);
Arizona: Ariz.Rev.Stat.Ann. §§13-3016 (SE), 13-
New York: N.Y.Crim.Pro.Law §§705.00 to
3017 (PR&T);
705.35 (PR&T);
Delaware: Del.Code tit.11 §§2421 to 2426 (SE),
North Carolina: N.C.Gen.Stat. §§15A-260 to
2430 to 2434 (PR&T);
15A-264 (PR&T);
Florida: Fla.Stat.Ann. §§934.21 to 934.28 (SE);
North Dakota: N.D.Cent.Code §§29-29.3-01 to
934.32 to 934.34(PR&T);
29-29.3-05 (PR&T);
Georgia: Ga.Code Ann. §§16-11-60 to 16-11-
Ohio: Ohio Rev.Code §2933.76 (PR&T);
64.2 (PR &T);
Oklahoma: Okla.Stat.Ann. tit.13 §177.1 to 177.5
Hawaii: Hawaii Rev.Stat. §§803-44.5, 803-44.6
(PR&T);
(PR&T), 803-47.5 to 803.47.9 (SE);
Oregon: Ore.Rev.Stat. §§165.657 to 165.659
Idaho: Idaho Code §§18-6721 to 18-6723
(PR&T);
(PR&T);
Pennsylvania: Pa.Stat.Ann. tit.18 §§5741 to 5748
Iowa: Iowa Code Ann. §§808B.10 to 808B.14;
(SE), 5771 to 5775 (PR&T);
Kansas: Kan.Stat.Ann. §§22-2525 to 22-2529
Rhode Island; R.I.Gen.Laws §§12-5.2-1 to 12-
(PR&T);
5.2-5 (PR&T);
Louisiana: La.Rev.Stat.Ann. §§15:1313 to
South Carolina: S.C.Code §§17-29-10 to 17-29-
15:1316 (PR&T);
50 (PR&T);
Maryland: Md.Cts. & Jud.Pro.Code Ann. §§10-
South Dakota: S.D.Cod.Laws §§23A-35A-22 to
4A-01 to 10-4A-08 (SE), 10-4B-01 to 10-4B-05
23A-35A-34 (PR&T);
(PR&T);
Tennessee: Tenn.Code Ann. §40-6-311 (PR&T);
Minnesota: Minn.Stat.Ann. §§626A.24 to (SE),
Texas: Tex.Code of Crim.Pro. art. 18.21 (SE,
626A.35 to 636A.391 (PR&T);
PR&T);
Mississippi: Miss.Code §41-29-701(PR&T);
Utah: Utah Code Ann. §§77-23a-14 (PR&T), 77-
Missouri: Mo.Ann.Stat. §542.408 (PR);
23b-2 to 77-23b-9(SE);
Montana: Mont.Code Ann. §§46-4-401 to 46-4-
Virginia: Va.Code §§19.2-70.2 (PR&T), 19.2-
405 (PR&T);
70.3 (SE);
Nebraska: Neb.Rev.Stat. §§86-707.3 to 86-
Washington: Wash.Rev.Code Ann. §9.73.260
707.07 (PR&T), 86-707.09 to 86-707.14 (SE);
(PR&T);
Nevada: Nev.Rev.Stat. §§179.530 (PR&T),
West Virginia: W.Va.Code §62-1D-10 (PR&T);
205.492 to 205.513(SE);
Wisconsin: Wis.Stat.Ann. §968.30 to 968.37
New Hampshire: N.H.Rev.Stat.Ann. §§570-B:1
(PR&T);
to 570-B:7 (PR&T);
Wyoming: Wyo.Stat. §§7-3-801 to 7-3-806
(PR&T).

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CRS-73
Appendix VI. State Computer Crime Statutes
Alabama: Ala.Code §§13A-8-100 to 13A-8-103;
New Jersey: N.J.Stat.Ann. §§2C:20-23 to 2C:20-
Alaska: Alaska Stat. §11.46.740;
33;
Arizona: Ariz.Rev.Stat.Ann. §§13-2316 to 13-
New Mexico: N.M.Stat.Ann. §§30-20-1 to 30-20-
2316.02;
7;
Arkansas: Ark.Code §§5-41-101 to 5-41-108;
New York: N.Y.Penal Law §§156.00 to 156.50;
California: Cal.Penal Code §§501, 502;
North Carolina: N.C.Gen.Stat. §§14-453 to 14-
Colorado: Colo.Rev.Stat. §§18-5.5-101, 18-5.5-
458;
102;
North Dakota: N.D.Cent.Code §12.1-06.1-08;
Connecticut: Conn.Gen.Stat.Ann. §§53a-250 to
Ohio: Ohio Rev.Code §§2913.01 to 2913.42;
53a-261;
Oklahoma: Okla.Stat.Ann. tit.21 §§1951 to 1958;
Delaware: Del.Code tit.11 §§931 to 939;
Oregon: Ore.Rev.Stat. §164.371;
Florida: Fla.Stat.Ann. §§815.01 to 815.07;
Pennsylvania: Pa.Stat.Ann. tit.18 §3933;
Georgia: Ga.Code §§16-9-92 to 16-9-64;
Rhode Island: R.I.Gen.Laws §§11-52-1 to 11-52-
Hawaii: Hawaii Rev.Stat. §708-890 to 708-896;
8;
Idaho: Idaho Code §§18-2201, 18-2202;
South Carolina: S.C.Code §§16-16-10 to 16-16-
Illinois: Ill.Stat.Ann. ch.720 §§5/16D-1 to 5/16D-
40;
7;
South Dakota: S.D.Cod.Laws §§43-43B-1 to 43-
Indiana: Ind.Code §§35-43-1-4 to 35-43-2-3;
43B-8;
Iowa: Iowa Code Ann. §716.6B;
Tennessee: Tenn.Code Ann. §§39-14-601 to 39-
Kansas: Kan.Stat.Ann. §21-3755;
14-603;
Kentucky: Ky.Rev.Stat. §§434.840 to 434.860;
Texas: Tex.Penal Code. §§33.01 to 33.03;
Louisiana: La.Rev.Stat.Ann. §§14:73.1 to
Utah: Utah Code Ann. §§76-6-702 to 76-6-705;
14:73.5;
Virginia: Va.Code §§18.2-152.1 to 18.2-152.14;
Maine: Me.Rev.Stat.Ann. ch.17-A §§431 to 433;
Washington: Wash.Rev.Code Ann. §§9A.52.110
Maryland: Md.Code Ann. art. 27 §146;
to 9A.52.130;
Massachusetts: Mass.Gen.Laws Ann. ch.266
West Virginia: W.Va.Code §§61-3C-1 to 61-3C-
§120F;
21;
Michigan: Mich.Comp.Laws Ann. §§752.791 to
Wisconsin: Wis.Stat.Ann. §943.70;
752.797;
Wyoming: Wyo.Stat. §§6-3-501 to 6-3-504.
Minnesota: Minn.Stat.Ann. §§609.87 to 609.893;
Mississippi: Miss.Code §§97-45-1 to 97-45-13;
Missouri: Mo.Ann.Stat. §§569.093 to 569.099;
Montana: Mont.Code Ann. §§45-6-310, 45-6-
311;
Nebraska: Neb.Rev.Stat. §§28-1341 to 28-1348;
Nevada: Nev.Rev.Stat. §§205.473 to 205.492;
New Hampshire: N.H.Rev.Stat.Ann. §638:16 to
638:19;

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CRS-74
Selected Bibliography
Books & Articles
Abramovsky, Surreptitious Recording of Witnesses in Criminal Cases: A Quest for
Truth or a Violation of Law and Ethics?, 57 TULANE LAW REVIEW 1 (1982)
Banisar & Davies, Global Trends in Privacy Protection: An International Survey of
Privacy, Data Protection, and Surveillance Laws and Developments, 18 JOHN
MARSHALL JOURNAL OF COMPUTER AND INFORMATION LAW 1 (1999)
Barnett & Makar, "In the Ordinary Course of Business": The Legal Limits of
Workplace Wiretapping, 10 HASTINGS JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATIONS AND
ENTERTAINMENT LAW 715 (1988)
Brownell, The Public Security and Wire Tapping, 39 CORNELL LAW QUARTERLY
154 (1954)
Carr, THE LAW OF ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE (1989)
Chiarella & Newton, "So Judge, How Do I Get that FISA Warrant?": The Policy and
Procedure for Conducting Electronic Surveillance, 1997 ARMY LAWYER 25 (Oct.
1997)
Cinquegrana, The Walls (and Wires) Have Ears: The Background and First Ten
Years of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, 137 UNIVERSITY OF
PENNSYLVANIA LAW REVIEW 793 (1989)
Cooper, The Electronic Communications Privacy Act: Does the Answer to the
Internet Information Privacy Problem Lie in a Fifteen-Year-Old Federal Statute? A
Detailed Analysis, 20 JOHN MARSHALL JOURNAL OF COMPUTER & INFORMATION
LAW 1 (2001)
Donnelly, Comments and Caveats on the Wiretapping Controversy, 63 YALE LAW
JOURNAL 799 (1954)
Fein, Regulating the Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Radio, and Oral
Communications: A Case Study of Federal Statutory Antiquation, 22 HARVARD
JOURNAL OF LEGISLATION 47 (1985)
Fishman, Technologically Enhanced Visual Surveillance the Fourth Amendment:
Sophistication, Availability and the Expectation of Privacy, 26 AMERICAN CRIMINAL
LAW REVIEW 315 (1989)
Fishman & McKenna, WIRETAPPING AND EAVESDROPPING (2d ed.1995) & (Aug.
2000)
Froomkin, The Metaphor Is the Key: Cryptography, the Clipper Chip, and the
Constitution, 143 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LAW REVIEW 709 (1995)

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CRS-75
Gilbreath & Cukjati, Tape Recording of Conversations: Ethics, Legality and
Admissibility, 59 TEXAS BAR JOURNAL 951 (1996)
Goldsmith & Balmforth, The Electronic Surveillance of Privileged Communications:
A Conflict of Doctrines, 64 SOUTH CALIFORNIA LAW REVIEW 903 (1991)
Hernandez, ECPA and Online Computer Privacy, 41 FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS
LAW JOURNAL 17 (1988)
Kash, Prewarrant Thermal Imaging as a Fourth Amendment Violation: A Supreme
Court Question in the Making, 60 ALBANY LAW REVIEW 1295 (1997)
Kesan, Cyber-Working or Cyber-Shirking?: A First Principles Examination of
Electronic Privacy in the Workplace, 54 FLORIDA LAW REVIEW 289 (2002)
Kastenmeier, Leavy & Beier, Communications Privacy: A Legislative Perspective,
1989 WISCONSIN LAW REVIEW 715
Lieb, E-Mail and the Wiretap Laws: Why Congress Should Add Electronic
Communications to Title III's Statutory Exclusionary Rule and Expressly Rejected
a "Good Faith" Exception, 34 HARVARD JOURNAL OF LEGISLATION 393 (1997)
McCarthy, Don’t Fear Carnivore: It Won’t Devour Individual Privacy, 66 MISSOURI
LAW REVIEW 827 (2001)
Meason, The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: Time for Reappraisal, 24
INTERNATIONAL LAWYER 1043 (1990)
National Commission for the Study of Federal and State Laws Relating to
Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance, FINAL REPORT (1976)
Rosenstein, The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 and Satellite
Descramblers: Toward Preventing Statutory Obsolescence, 76 MINNESOTA LAW
REVIEW 1451 (1992)
Simons, From Katz to Kyllo: A Blueprint for Adapting the Fourth Amendment to
Twenty-First Century Technologies, 53 HASTINGS LAW JOURNAL 1303 (2002)
Spritzer, Electronic Surveillance by Leave of the Magistrate: The Case in
Opposition, 118 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LAW REVIEW 169 (1969)
Taylor, Issues Raised by the Application of the Pen Register Statutes to Authorize
Government Collection of Information on Packet-Switched Networks, 6 VIRGINIA
JOURNAL OF LAW & TECHNOLOGY 4 (2001)
Turley, The Not-So-Noble Lie: The Nonincorporation of State Consensual
Surveillance Standards in Federal Court, 79 JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW &
CRIMINOLOGY 66 (1988)

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CRS-76
Whitehead & Aden, Forfeiting “Enduring Freedom” for “Homeland Security”: A
Constitutional Analysis of the USA PATRIOT Act and the Justice Department’s Anti-
Terrorism Initiatives, 51 AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 1081 (2002)
Notes & Comments
Addressing the New Hazards of the High Technology Workplace, 104 HARVARD
LAW REVIEW 1898 (1991)
Attorneys, Participant Monitoring, and Ethics: Should Attorneys Be Able to
Surreptitiously Record Their Conversations? 4 GEORGETOWN JOURNAL OF LEGAL
ETHICS 403 (1990)
Caller ID: Privacy Protector or Privacy Invader?, 1992 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
LAW REVIEW 219
Cameras in Teddy Bears: Electronic Visual Surveillance and the Fourth Amendment,
58 UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LAW REVIEW 1045 (1991)
The Case for Magic Lantern: September 11 Highlights the Need for Increased
Surveillance, 15 HARVARD JOURNAL OF LAW & TECHNOLOGY 521 (2002)
The Consensual Electronic Surveillance Experiment: State Courts React to United
States v. White, 47 VANDERBILT LAW REVIEW 857 (1994)
Creating Evidence: Ethical Concerns, Evidentiary Problems, and The Application
of the Work Product Protection to Audio Recordings of Nonparty Witnesses Secretly
Made by Attorneys or Their Agents, 22 RUTGERS COMPUTER & TECHNOLOGY LAW
JOURNAL 521 (1996)
The Digital Dilemma: Requiring Private Carrier Assistance to Reach Out and Tap
Someone in the Information Age -- An Analysis of the Digital Telephony Act, 37
SANTA CLARA LAW REVIEW 117 (1996)
Eavesdropping and Compromising Emanuations of Electronic Equipment: The Laws
of England and the United States, 23 CASE WESTERN RESERVE JOURNAL OF
INTERNATIONAL LAW 359 (1991)
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986: The Challenge of Applying
Ambiguous Statutory Language to Intricate Communication Technologies, 13
RUTGERS COMPUTER & TECHNOLOGY LAW JOURNAL 451 (1987)
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and Standards of Probable Cause: An
Alternative Analysis, 80 GEORGETOWN LAW JOURNAL 843 (1992)
Government Access to Transactional Information and the Lack of Subscriber Notice,
8 BOSTON UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 648 (2002)
Hijacking Civil Liberties: The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001, 33 LOYOLA UNIVERSITY
OF CHICAGO LAW JOURNAL 933 (2002)

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CRS-77
How the USA PATRIOT Act Will Permit Governmental Infringement Upon the
Privacy of Americans in the Name of “Intelligence” Investigations, 150 UNIVERSITY
OF PENNSYLVANIA LAW REVIEW 1651 (2002)
The “Magic Lantern” Revealed: A Report of the FBI’s New “Key Logging” Trojan
and Analysis of its Possible Treatment in a Dynamic Legal Landscape, 20 JOHN
MARSHALL JOURNAL OF COMPUTER AND INFORMATION LAW 287 (2002)
The Patriot Act’s Impact on the Government’s Ability to Conduct Electronic
Surveillance on Ongoing Domestic Communications, 52 DUKE LAW JOURNAL 179
(2002)
Privacy Versus Protection: Exploring the Boundaries of Electronic Surveillance in
the Internet Act, 29 FORDHAM URBAN LAW JOURNAL 2233 (2002)
A Puzzle Even the Codebreakers Have Trouble Solving: A Clash of Interests Over
the Electronic Encryption Standard, 27 LAW AND POLICY IN INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS 217 (1995)
Qualified Immunity as a Defense to Federal Wiretap Act Claims, 68 UNIVERSITY OF
CHICAGO LAW REVIEW 1369 (2001)
Scowl Because You're on Candid Camera: Privacy and Video Surveillance, 31
VALPARAISO UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 1079 (1997)
Sisyphean Circles: The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, 22
RUTGERS COMPUTER AND TECHNOLOGY LAW JOURNAL 267 (1996)
Should "Clean Hands" Protect the Government Against §2515 Suppression Under
Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968? 53
WASHINGTON & LEE LAW REVIEW 1473 (1996)
Should Federal Magistrates Be Delegated the Authority to Approve Electronic
Surveillance Applications? 18 WESTERN NEW ENGLAND LAW REVIEW 271 (1996)
Steven Jackson Games v. United States Secret Service: The Government's
Unauthorized Seizure of Private E-Mail Warrants More Than the Fifth Circuit's Slap
on the Wrist, 14 JOHN MARSHALL JOURNAL OF COMPUTER & INFORMATION LAW 179
(1995)
Tapping Into Family Affairs: Examining the Federal Wiretapping Statute as It
Applies to the Home, Pollock v. Pollock, 154 F.3d 601 (6th Cir. 1998), 68
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI LAW REVIEW 995 (2000)
Terminally Nosy: Are Employers Free to Access our Electronic Mail? 96 DICKINSON
LAW REVIEW 545 (1992)
Thirty-First Annual Review of Criminal Procedure: Electronic Surveillance, 90
GEORGETOWN LAW JOURNAL 1209 (2002)

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CRS-78
Undisclosed Recording of Conversations by Private Attorneys, 42 SOUTH CAROLINA
LAW REVIEW 995 (1991)
Wiretapping and the Modern Marriage: Does Title III Provide a Federal Remedy for
Victims of Interspousal Electronic Surveillance? 55 DICKINSON LAW REVIEW 855
(1987)
You’ve Got Mail . . . And Your Boss Knows It: Rethinking the Scope of the E-Mail
Monitoring Exceptions to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 2001 UCLA
JOURNAL OF LAW & TECHNOLOGY 5
ALR Notes
Applicability, in Civil Action, of Provisions of Omnibus Crime Control and Safe
Streets Act of 1968, Prohibiting Interception of Communications (18 USCS
§2511(1)), to Interceptions by Spouse, or Spouse's Agent, of Conversations of Other
Spouse, 139 ALR FED. 517
Application of Extension Telephones of Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and
Safe Streets Act of 1968 (18 USCS §§2510 et seq.) Pertaining to Interceptions of
Wire Communications, 58 ALR FED. 594
Construction and Application of 18 USCS 2511(1)(a) and (b), Providing Criminal
Penalty for Intercepting, Endeavoring to intercept, or Procuring Another to Intercept
Wire, Oral or Electronic Communication, 122 ALR FED. 597
Construction and Application of Provision of Omnibus Crime and Safe Streets Act
of 1968 (18 U.S.C.A. §2520) Authorizing Civil Cause of Action by Person Whose
Wire, Oral, or Electronic Communication Is Intercepted, Disclosed, or Used in
Violation of the Act, 164 ALR FED. 139
Construction and Application of State Statutes Authorizing Civil Cause of Action by
Person Whose Wire or Oral Communications Is Intercepted, Disclosed, or Used in
Violation of Statutes, 33 ALR 4TH 506
Eavesdropping and Wiretapping, What Constitutes "Device Which Is Primarily
Useful for the Surreptitious Interception of Wire, Oral, or Electronic
Communication," Under 18 USCS 2512(1)(b), Prohibiting Manufacture, Possession,
Assembly, Sale of Such Device, 129 ALR FED. 549
Eavesdropping on Extension Telephone as Invasion of Privacy, 49 ALR 4TH 430
Interception of Telecommunications by or With Consent of Party as Exception Under
18 USCS §2511(2)(c) and (d), to Federal Proscription of Such Interceptions, 67
ALR FED. 429
Permissible Surveillance, Under State Communications Interception Statute, by
Person Other than State or Local Law Enforcement Officer or One Acting in Concert
with Officer, 24 ALR 4TH 1208

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CRS-79
Permissible Warrantless Surveillance, Under State Communications Interception
Statute, by State or Local Law Enforcement Officer or One Acting in Concert with
Officer, 27 ALR 4TH 449
Propriety of Attorney's Surreptitious Sound Recording of Statements by Others Who
Are or May Become Involved in Litigation
32 ALR 5H 715
Propriety of Monitoring of Telephone Calls to or From Prison Inmates Under Title
III of Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act (18 USCS §§2510 et seq.)
Prohibiting Judicially Unauthorized Interception of Wire or Oral Communications,
61 ALR FED. 825
Propriety, Under 18 USCS 2517(5), of Interception or Use of Communications
Relating to Federal Offenses Which Were Not Specified in Original wiretap Order,
103 ALR FED. 422
Qualified Immunity as Defnse in Suit Under Federal WiretapAct (18 U.S.C.A.
§§2510 et seq.), 178 ALR FED 1
State Regulation of Radio Paging Services, 44 ALR 4TH 216
Validity, Construction, and Application of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of
1978 (50 USCS §§1801 et seq.) Authorizing Electronic Surveillance of Foreign
Powers and Their Agents, 86 ALR FED. 782

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