Telephone tapping (or wire tapping/wiretapping in the US) is the monitoring of
telephone and
Internet conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The telephone tap or wire tap received its names because historically, 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. Legalized wiretapping by police or other recognized governmental authority is otherwise known as
lawful interception.
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