Telephone tapping (also
wire tapping or
wiretapping in
American English) is the monitoring of
telephone and
Internet conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connection was an actual
electrical tap on the telephone line. Legal wiretapping by a
government agency is also called
lawful interception.
Passive wiretapping monitors or records the traffic, while
active wiretapping alters or otherwise affects it.