The Administrative Office to the United States Courts issued its annual report to Congress July 1, reporting a total number of 3,554 wiretaps initiated by the government between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2014.
That figure would represent a 1 percent decrease in the number of state and federal wiretaps since 2013.
However, in recent years the four major U.S. cell phone providers (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint) have begun issuing similar reports to their customers, outlining the number of government requests to tap users’ phone lines.
Combined, the four largest cell phone providers reported over 10,700 wiretaps in 2014 were requested by the government.
There is a 300 percent difference between the number of wiretaps the government claims to have initiated in 2014, and the number of wiretaps the four largest cell phone providers reports to have initiated on the government’s behalf last year.
The courts’ formal report to Congress also indicates the average length of a wiretap is about 34 days, which is actually six days less than in 2013, according to the report.
Americans do not appear shocked at the suggestion their government would under report wiretap data. A recent Reddit thread is long on sarcasm at the government’s expense regarding the under reported wiretap orders,
