You have heard it in the media when a person’s phone is tapped by law enforcement authorities via a court order.  More recently in the news, you may have heard that FBI wiretaps have been discontinued because the FBI failed to pay the phone companies for this service in a timely manner.  Is it possible to bug a person’s house?  Can someone outside of law enforcement tap your telephone line and record your conversations?  Bugging your telephone is not as common as tapping your phone line.  What is the difference?  The layman does not discern the difference between a bug and a tap.  It really has to do with the definition of each term.  Let us define what the terms bug and wiretap are in intercept technology.

In general, a bug is a combination of a microphone and a transmitter.  It is the microphone that picks up the conversation, and it is the transmitter that sends the signal out using energy provided by radio waves.  There are other ways to transmit a conversation without the use of radio waves.  Power wires can be used to pick up a conversation via microphone and transmit it out of a person’s home.  Somebody can hook up a recorder to your power line outside of your home and record your conversation picked up by a microphone.  This is a form of high-tech surveillance.  If you requested somebody to sweep your home or office for bugs, what you are really asking him to do is search for radio frequency transmissions.  He is only doing part of the job.

Bugs, also known as transmitters, are used to pick up a conversation between two or more persons within close proximity of the microphone.  You have probably seen those spy or detective shows in which a bug is disguised as an olive in a martini glass.  Sounds like something out of a James Bond movie.  Right?  The olive is the microphone and transmitter, while the toothpick serves as the antenna.

A wiretap occurs when someplace on your landline telephone line, an interception has been made.  A landline telephone line is a regular telephone line that uses wires to carry on a conversation.  This includes the phones connected to the wall in your office, home, or place of business.  An interception happens when somebody is recording your conversations that occur over your telephone line.  Therefore, a wiretap occurs only on wired communications devices such as a telephone or fax line.  A wiretap does NOT occur on wireless communications devices like cell phones.

Interceptions are not limited to landline telephones.  Other forms of communication such as cell phones, two-way radios, or walkie-talkies can be intercepted too.  If a conversation travels via radio waves or through wires, somebody can intercept it.

The next time you watch your favorite CSI or other spy or detective drama, you will have a clearer understanding of what wiretaps and bugs are and what they are used for.