◆ SpookStack

FD-380 (Rev. 7-16-63) BY BUD GORDON ‘News staff writer -Privacy — like the whooping] crane — is fast becoming ex-| tinct in the U.S. Even in Alabama, the long treasured freedom of secret, Speech and action is vanishing, exposed by electronic “‘eaves- dropping” devices and super} cameras which can take pictures in the dark. . Three miniature electronic de- . Vices for monitoring telephone} conversations have been found) in Alabama during the past month, according to Public Safety Director Al Lingo. One such device was found last Thursday, attached’ to the| telephone wire in a Birmingham home. Another was located in a Birmingham home about three! weeks ago. Still another was lo-| cated on the telephone of Miss Sybil Poole, member of the. Alabama Public Service Com-; mission. In all three cases, the de- vices were tiny, self powered short wave radios, capable of broadcasting phone conversa- tions several blocks away to a receiver. Ail three devices were ingen- iously constructed at a cost front] $150 to $250. They were cleverly] concealed. ALTHOUGH THE state has “a good suspect,” persons who) installed these electronic bugs are not known. Tracing the in-| struments, according to Lingo,| .is almost impossible. ‘Manufactured in Miami and "San Francisco, the bugs bear no| manufacturer's label. A -few, Lingo said, are being made right here in Alabama by skilled] electronic technicians, A few yeas ago, tapping al phone wire was a.major project, capabilities of ordi- O (Mount Clipping In Space Below) furized electronic devices using tiny transistors instead of tubes, has brought the wiretapper’s art! ‘within the reach of the ordinary: investigator or espionage agent.' Time Magazine recently re- + vealed the federal government ' buys some $20 million of tele- 7 H phone bugging devices « year. + Many of these bugs are used , by federal officials on their * own phones to record conver- sations in secrecy. Most expensive among the bugs is the tiny transmitter. Some of these are no larger than a lump of sugar and many are smaller than a pack of cig- jarets. Most popular is ‘the simple in- \duction coil, which picks up both lends of a phone conversation. A FEW ULTRA-sophisticated bugs can perform their spy- chores without being connected ito a phone. The only limit to the size of the instrument is battery power. Experts predict nuclear power will further seduce their week Gen. Robert Kennedy put_a bill before Congress in 1962, which would permit feder- jal authorities, under orders of ithe Attorney General, to wire- tap, with a court order. * in certain situations — such as; espionage, subversion, murder, kidnapping, interstate racketeer- jing and narcotics — wiretapping, would be legal, and would yield legal court evidence. In espionage, the Attorney. General could sidestep the court, if he thought asking for a court order would endanger the na- tional interest. ° Under the bill, all other forms of wiretapping would be prohibited and Punishable b bya a $10,000 fine or two_years nary agencies — private or pub-| a But recent strides in‘ minia-| federal prison. \ But, the ill has met ome FP in we a treasured | privacy, a ~ (CONTINUED) Yocey be *SIEN (indicate page, name of newspaper, city and siate.) ___ PAGE A-38 THE BIRMINGHAM NEWS Date: = 8/16/64 Edition: FINAL Author: Editor: Tue: “TINY, SENSI- TIVE ‘BUGS' MAKE TREASURED PRIVACY Character: EXTINCT’ or Clasaification: Submitting Office: Birmingha: (Being Investigated