Government report reveals encryption actually thwarted wiretaps for the first time on recordMadison Ruppert This comes after as it was revealed that the National Security Agencys massive surveillance program even spied on European diplomats. Meanwhile, the Army has blocked the Guardian over security concerns related to the information being put out about the surveillance program. This latest revelation came in a report from the U.S. Administrative Office of the Courts, the agency that oversees federal courts. Encryption was reported for 15 wiretaps in 2012 and for 7 wiretaps conducted during previous years, the report states, highlighting the fact that more people are turning to encryption over privacy concerns. In four of these wiretaps, officials were unable to decipher the plain text of the messages, the report continues. This is the first time that jurisdictions have reported that encryption prevented officials from obtaining the plain text of the communications since the AO began collecting encryption data in 2001. The offices 2012 Wiretap Report states that there were 3,395 authorized wiretaps, a quite notable increase over the 2,732 authorized wiretaps reported in 2011, as Wireds Threat Level points out. Its quite important to note that this figure does not include any of the wiretaps authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. That is something that must be noted because the highly secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court is the body which authorized the collection of all U.S. records from Verizon. The latest controversies about government surveillance dont deal with these types of wiretaps authorized by court order, instead they deal with the wiretaps authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and related legislation which is subject to secret government interpretations. Interestingly, this years report points out that a whopping 97 percent of the wiretaps issued in 2012 were for portable devices like mobile phones. Other equipment targeted by the wiretaps include everything from landline phones to computers to fax machines to microphones. Around 87 percent of the wiretaps were issued in drug-related cases, according to the report. David Kravets, writing for Wired, points out that in 1997 Louis Freeh, who was the director of the FBI at the time, told Congress that all of law enforcement is also in total agreement on one aspect of encryption. The widespread use of uncrackable encryption will devastate our ability to fight crime and prevent terrorism. Despite the dire warnings that were used to attempt to get legislation passed that would authorize a government backdoor into almost all electronic communications at the time, this hasnt happened. Sixteen years later, and judging by the governments own accounting, were not even close to Freehs fears becoming reality, despite the governments continued push for a backdoor into virtually everything, Kravets writes. Indeed, despite government fearmongering leveraged in a clear attempt to justify a further erosion of privacy and a further undermining of Constitutional rights, the fact is that encryption hasnt created a climate where terrorists and criminals are somehow untouchable. Yet this latest report does show that for people who do care about privacy, it might be possible to keep your communications private. Please support our work and help us start to pay contributors by doing your shopping through our Amazon link or check out some must-have products at our store. This article first appeared at End the Lie. Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis databaseEnd The Lie and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. He is available for podcast and radio interviews. Madison also now has his own radio show on UCYTV Monday nights 7 PM 9 PM PT/10 PM 12 AM ET. Show page link here: http://UCY.TV/EndtheLie. If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at admin@EndtheLie.com linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 