U.S. Judiciary to Publicly Disclose Spyware Wiretap Authorizations Starting in 2029

What the New Reporting Covers

What it covers: The new category specifically tracks spyware and hacking tools used by law enforcement to intercept live, real-time communications — such as phone calls, text messages, and other messages as they pass over a network . This is the subset of NITs that falls under the legal definition of a "wiretap" under Title III.

What it does NOT cover:

• Device searches: Searching a phone or computer after it has been seized is not included .
• Remote forensic extractions: Extracting stored data (photos, files, location history) that does not involve real-time interception is excluded .
• National security surveillance: Wiretaps conducted under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) or Executive Order 12333 are not covered .

In short, the new reporting captures only a slice of the government's hacking capabilities — but it is a slice that has been wholly opaque until now.

Why Privacy Experts See This as a Major Transparency Win

The FBI has used hacking tools and spyware to intercept communications since at least 1998, but until this policy change, there has been no systematic public accounting of how often judges authorized those techniques . Senator Ron Wyden, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and the ACLU have run a long-running campaign pressing for this data to be made public, arguing that secret surveillance conducted outside public accountability fundamentally undermines Fourth Amendment principles . The AOUSC informed Wyden's office of the change this week .

By adding a dedicated tracking category to a longstanding, congressionally mandated public report, the policy transforms a previously opaque surveillance practice into a measurable, comparable data point. Researchers, Congress, and the public will be able to see year-over-year trends in how frequently the government deploys spyware to wiretap Americans — a critical step for informed oversight and democratic accountability.