What is the scandal 'Eavesdropping Nest' that triggered the crackdown on eavesdropping in the United States?

Eavesdropping on the contents of telephone calls and communications is prohibited by law. IEEE Spectrum explains the case where a huge wiretapping network called ' Eavesdropping Nest ' was found in a corner of New York, which triggered the strict regulation of wiretapping in the United States.

When New York City Was a Wiretapper's Dream --IEEE Spectrum
https://spectrum.ieee.org/illegal-wiretapping

360 E. 55th Street, 10022: The Wiretap Nest – BRIAN HOCHMAN
https://brianhochman.wordpress.com/2014/02/03/360-e-55th-street-10022-the-wiretap-nest-2/

On February 11, 1955, a New York Police Department detective rushed into a building on 55th Street in New York and connected to 100,000 phones in New York City on the 4th floor, a large scale called 'Eavesdropping Nest.' I found the home of an eavesdropping network. This building still remains at the time of writing the article, and the following is what I saw in Google Street View.


It is said that this 'eavesdropping nest' was able to monitor as many as 100 telephone lines at the same time, and it is believed that 50,000 to 100,000 people were victims of wiretapping in 15 months. Many of the lines used in this wiretapping nest are privately owned, keeping track of criminal information about social celebrities who want to monitor their wives, rich people involved in nasty civil proceedings, and locals. It turned out that it was used by those who wanted to eavesdrop on the voice for blackmail.

In addition, a completely third party, Pfizer , used a nest of eavesdropping to spy on the inside of both pharmaceutical companies Bristol Myers and ER Squib , who had been in a swampy court battle over antibiotic patents. It turned out that I was paying 60,000 dollars (about 22 million yen at the rate at that time) for the eavesdropping nest.

It is said that the reason why a large-scale wiretapping network such as 'Eavesdropping Nest' was established is that the New York City Police also used such a wiretapping nest, and the police got information about crimes from the wiretapping nest. There was a case where a police officer in the department blackmailed a criminal based on the information obtained from the wiretapping nest. However, Bell Telephone Company (now AT & T ) argued in an internal newsletter at the time that 'there is no basis for reports that there was a corrupt alliance between telephone company employees, police, and illegal eavesdroppers.' increase.

In fact, in 1955, wiretapping was not strictly illegal. Article 605 of the Federal Telecommunications Act, enacted in 1934, prohibited 'interception and leakage of communications,' and interception itself was not illegal. In addition, eavesdropping is not prohibited by the law of New York State, and it is said that New York State was said to be the most tolerant state for eavesdropping at that time.

A case called the 'Apple Baum Judgment' is also said to have contributed to the prosperity of the wiretapping network in New York State. Louis Applebaum, a businessman who sued his wife in a divorce proceeding in 1949, allowed his hired private detective to eavesdrop on his home phone line. The judge in charge of the divorce proceedings questioned this and charged both Applebaum and a private detective with state eavesdropping law, but in 1950 the Court of Appeals said, 'Telephone subscribers are on their own line. I have the highest priority right to eavesdrop on the court. ' The Apple Baum decision contributed to the enormous eavesdropping industry that pervades New York, a report by the investigative commission at the time said.

Eventually, four people were arrested for the wiretapping nest: lawyer and private detective John Brody, chief electrical engineer Warren Shannon, and New York telephone company Walter Asman and Karl Lou. Shannon, Asman, and Lou made a judicial transaction and testified to Brody, the inventor of the operation. As a result, Brody was sentenced to four years in prison. This is twice the criminal punishment stipulated in Article 605 of the Federal Telecommunications Act at the time.

Following this incident, evidence of illegal interception in New York was banned from being submitted to court or used, and the legal definition of eavesdropping included microphones and recorders. In addition, eavesdropping without a warrant was stipulated to be illegal in all cases.

Newsweek, an American weekly magazine headquartered in New York, wrote in an article entitled 'Busy Eavesdroppers' in the spring of 1955, saying, 'No matter what law is enacted, eavesdropping will continue and increase. That's the view of most experts in New York. ' Just as Newsweek pointed out, 17 years later, an intruder who tried to set up a wiretapping device at the Democratic Party headquarters in Washington DC was discovered, and the first major scandal ' Watergate scandal' that forced the president to resign in the history of the United States is occurring. ..