Pens and Traps are categorized as what under Title III?

Pens and Traps are categorized as what under Title III?

• A. A standard law enforcement technique
• B. A prohibited tactic
• C. A method requiring a court order
• D. An exception to Title III

Answer: (D)

Pens registers and trap-and-trace devices are described as an exception to Title III. They don’t capture the content of a communication; they log dialing information or the numbers involved in a call. Because they don’t intercept the actual communications, Congress treated them differently from full wiretaps and carved them out as an exception under Title III. They still require judicial authorization in the form of a court order, but their status is not a standard intercept—it's a permitted exception to the general prohibition on intercepting communications.

Pens registers and trap-and-trace devices are described as an exception to Title III. They don’t capture the content of a communication; they log dialing information or the numbers involved in a call. Because they don’t intercept the actual communications, Congress treated them differently from full wiretaps and carved them out as an exception under Title III. They still require judicial authorization in the form of a court order, but their status is not a standard intercept—it's a permitted exception to the general prohibition on intercepting communications.