On the Tradeo↵s between Privacy and Security: Evidence from Wiretap Orders

Tradeo↵s between privacy and security in the use of court-issued wiretap orders are examined. We collect all wiretap orders issued by the U.S. district and state court systems for narcotics-related o↵enses during the years 1998-2005 and all arrests and convictions resulting from those orders in the subsequent years. We extend the Beckerian theory of crime to explain the relationship between the number of people surveilled and the number of arrests and convictions. Our analysis suggests diminishing marginal returns from surveilling more people via wiretap orders; however, few data are observed near or beyond the point at which the arrests and convictions start decreasing in the number of people intercepted. This indicates that agencies, given their preferences, can choose optimal allocations between privacy and security. ⇤University of Minnesota. Email: [email protected]. †University of Colorado at Boulder. E-mail: [email protected]. ‡Illinois Institute of Technology. E-mail: [email protected].