Comments | jrittenhouse: A Good day for dissent:

jrittenhouse

A Good day for dissent:

Jan 25, 2006 05:14

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Comments 6

pheltzer January 25 2006, 12:23:20 UTC

said warrantless wiretaps had been authorized by presidents in wartime since the Civil War. There was wiretapping during the Civil War?

Most likely. I have no doubt that people tapped telegraph lines. It's probably your original form of wire tapping.

marklafon January 25 2006, 15:40:24 UTC

Actually, a lot of the telegraph traffic was encrypted. It was mainly to cut character usage and speed up transmissions but I also suspect that it was for security. Check out a book titled "The Victorian Internet".

pheltzer January 25 2006, 16:01:34 UTC

Well they would be bloody fools if they didn't encrypt the telegraph traffic. That of course doesn't rule out tapping and decrypting efforts. I imagine the cyphers were a lot cruder than they would be today, of course the ability to decipher would be just as limited but I'm willing to bet entirely doable.

jrittenhouse January 25 2006, 16:43:56 UTC

Right. Mark's answer on this is correct.

rcking January 25 2006, 13:07:47 UTC

During the Civil War, the telegraph was in use. Wiretapping of a telegraph is quite easy and I'm sure it was done.

aisb23 January 25 2006, 15:38:50 UTC

Actually what he was referring to was Licoln's order to seize copies of al telegrams sent in the union in the weeks immediately prior to Fort Sumter.

--arthur