President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the
Oval Office of the White House on Jan. 28, 2017.
Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
President Donald Trump recently accused his predecessor, Barack Obama, of wiretapping the current president's phones during the U.S. election. Though the claims are unsubstantiated, they have raised questions about how such technology really works.
Some people may think wiretapping involves breaking into someone's house or office, clipping wires to a phone line, and listening in on conversations between Mafia dons or spying on foreign agents. But in the 21st century, eavesdropping on phone calls might not even involve a phone.
This is because current wiretapping techniques involve data; most phone calls, even cell phones, now go over the internet at some point, said David Holtzman, author of the book "Privacy Lost: How Technology Is Endangering Your Privacy" (Jossey-Bass, 2006). Holtzman is a former intelligence officer himself; in the 1980s, he was a code breaker in the U.S. Navy. He has also worked as a scientist at IBM, developing cryptography products. [6 Incredible Spy Technologies That Are Real] https://www.livescience.com/58207-how-do-wiretaps-work.html
