The U.S. judiciary will begin publicly disclosing how often judges authorize the use of spyware and hacking tools to conduct wiretaps, ending nearly three decades of secrecy around a surveillance technique the FBI has deployed since at least 1998. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts confirmed this week that it will add a new “spyware/hacking” category to its annual Wiretap Report starting with the 2028 data, which is scheduled for publication in 2029.
The change follows years of pressure from Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, who has called for greater transparency around electronic surveillance since 2017. In a statement to TechCrunch, Wyden said, “The American people remain largely in the dark about the different ways that the government is spying on them.” He praised the judiciary’s decision but stressed that Congress must go further by passing his Government Surveillance Transparency Act.
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What the new wiretap data will reveal
The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has issued annual Wiretap Reports for nearly two decades, detailing how many wiretaps were authorized each year, broken down by federal versus state judges, state, crime type, and other metrics. Wiretaps allow police to gain real-time access to calls, messages, and other communications, but they require a high bar of evidence before a judge approves them, making them far less common than standard search warrants.
The new “spyware/hacking” category will specifically track when authorities use hacking tools to intercept real-time communications, such as Signal or WhatsApp calls and messages. It will not cover cases where law enforcement remotely hacks into a phone to extract stored data like images, files, or location — that falls under a different legal process known as a search, which is not part of the Wiretap Report.
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A spokesperson for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts explained the timeline: “The Wiretap Report is compiled from individual forms submitted from throughout the country and throughout the year. Before the new data can appear in the annual report, reporting forms and procedures need to be updated to accommodate the new categories.”
Why transparency advocates call this a win
Privacy experts have long argued that the lack of public data on government hacking makes it impossible to hold authorities accountable for abusive surveillance. Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said, “Up until now, we have only been able to guess at the size of the problem.” She noted that once the statistics become public, it will be harder for the government to deny that spyware was used in questionable cases.
“Being able to point to a report saying that spyware was used X number of times will help with accountability, especially if it turns out that number is quite high,” Galperin added. “It’s hard to say that you’re using spyware as a surgical tool when you’ve deployed it tens of thousands of times.”
Brett Max Kaufman, senior counsel at the ACLU’s Center for Democracy, called the change “an important and long-overdue step forward for transparency around government hacking.” He said it should lead to better-informed policy and law in the future.
The U.S. move aligns with a broader global trend. Italy, for example, already publishes detailed data on spyware use — in 2023, the country reported that spyware was deployed against 4,321 targets. Advocates hope the U.S. data will eventually allow for cross-country comparisons and more informed public debate about the acceptable limits of government surveillance.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Surveillance policy and legal interpretations can change; readers should consult official sources or legal counsel for specific guidance.
