Federal Wiretapping, Like Almost Everything Else, Bigger Under Obama Than Under the Horrible, Evil Republican he Replaced
More deportations, more spending, more wars, more lawsuits against government whistleblowers, and now, according to Forbes, more federal wiretaps:
2010, it seems, was a landmark year for federal snooping. According to the U.S. courts systems' annual report on law enforcement wiretaps, federal law enforcement requested 1,207 intercepts placed on phones and electronic communications last year, nearly double the 663 requested in 2009.
Overall, wiretaps jumped 34%, including a smaller increase in the number of state-requested law enforcement eavesdropping. The total comes to 3,194 requests, up from 2,376 in 2009 and just 1,190 in the year 2000.
What explains the jump? Obama's DOJ is using more wiretapping in the war on drugs:
The steady rise in legal snooping over the last decade has been driven largely by the war on drugs, according to the report. Drug cases comprised 84% of the wiretaps requested in 2010, compared with 75% in 2000.
