Telephone tapping

Telephone tapping or Wire tapping/ Wiretapping (in US) describes the monitoring of telephone conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The Telephone tap or Wire tap received its name because, Iin the past, the monitoring connection was applied to the wires of the telephone line of the person who was being monitored and drew off or tapped a small amount of the electrical signal carrying the conversation.
Legal status
Telephone tapping is formally strictly controlled in many countries to safeguard an individual's privacy; this is the case in all developed democracies. In theory, Telephone tapping often needs to be authorized by a court, and is, again in theory, usually only approved when evidence shows it is not possible to detect criminal or subversive activity in less intrusive ways; often the law and regulations require that the crime investigated must be at least of a certain severity. In practice however, permission for Telephone tapping is easily obtained on a routinely basis without further investigation by the court or other entity granting such permission. Illegal or unauthorised telephone tapping is often a criminal offence.