Communications Interception (other)
Communications interception can mean: * Postal interception, the interception of physical mail * Wiretapping, the interception of telegraph, telephone or Internet traffic * Signals intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is the act and field of intelligence-gathering by interception of ''signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly u ...

Postal Interception
Postal interception is the act of retrieving another person's mail for the purpose of either ensuring that the mail is not delivered to the recipient, or to spy on them. For instance, the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were involved in numerous large-scale operations targeting US activist groups, whose mail was opened and photographed. In one such programme, over 215,000 letters were opened. In the United Kingdom, the Special Investigations Unit of the General Post Office was responsible for postal interception. Since 2002, the United States Postal Service photographs the outside of all mail, retains those images for weeks or months, and provides them to police or other investigators upon a simple request. See also * COINTELPRO * Surveillance * Church committee * Black room * Postal censorship Postal censorship is the inspection or examination of mail, most often by governments. It can include opening, reading and total ...
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Wiretapping
Wiretapping, also known as wire tapping or telephone tapping, is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connection was an actual electrical tap on an analog telephone or telegraph line. Legal wiretapping by a government agency is also called lawful interception. Passive wiretapping monitors or records the traffic, while active wiretapping alters or otherwise affects it. Legal status Lawful interception is officially strictly controlled in many countries to safeguard privacy; this is the case in all liberal democracies. In theory, telephone tapping often needs to be authorized by a court, and is again in theory, normally only approved when evidence shows it is not possible to detect criminal or subversive activity in less intrusive ways. Oftentimes, the law and regulations require that the crime investigated must be at least of a certain severi ...
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