Subject: INTERCEPTS NET NEWS /FBI WIRETAPS

 NEW YORK (Reuter) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation has proposed a
national wiretapping system that would give law enforcement officials the
capacity to monitor as many as one out of every 100 phone lines in high crime
areas, the New York Times reported Thursday. 

    The plan, as outlined in the October 16 issue of the Federal Register,
would exceed the current average number of wiretaps of fewer than 850 in a
year, or one in every 174,000 phone lines, the Times said. 

    The paper said law enforcement officials would still need court approval
to conduct the taps and the plan would need congressional approval for the
money to finance it. 

    Although the FBI would not comment on the proposal, the Times said the
agency argues that more of modern life, business and crime is taking place as
voice or computer conversations over digital phone lines. 

    Telephone industry executives have questioned the agency's need for
access to such a large portion of the phone network and privacy-rights
advocates have said the access could lead to abuses of power, according to
the Times. 

    The proposal is the first comprehensive outline by the FBI of the
surveillance requirements it will require under the controversial Digital
Telephony Act signed into law in 1994; Congress has yet to appropriate funds
to enact the law.   

Reut07:08 11-02-95