"Once upon a time there was a wire-tap..."

Wire-tapping (that is, intercepting phone calls and other communication) is always a contentious topic in Italy. In the USA, the laws about wire-taps and procuring them are complicated at best, but in Italy, it's a whole other ball game. This book by Antonio Ingroia, C'era una volta l'intercettazione: la giustizia e le bufale della politica, is a serious look at the history of wire-tapping in Italy, how it works, why it needs to be done, what purpose it serves and goes far to dismiss the luoghi comuni (stereotypes) that surround it.

Much of the fear, as the author points out, is a result of the media and the way that the Italian government perceives it (probably because so many members of it have been "tapped" over the years) and then communicates this perception to its constituents, creating an environment of fear and insecurity. The author, clearly a proponent of wire-tapping, states in his book that he see that it does a lot of good, that wire-tapping should continue, and that it is needed to help combat crime and corruption. The author cites several high profile and not so high profile examples of how wire-tapping has been used and is being used to help protect every day Italians as well as high profile individuals from harm's way.

Published by Nuovi Equlibri/Stampa Alternativa (this is a really cool publisher based in Viterbo that publishes books on different kinds of topics that some of the larger, more mainstream publishers seem to avoid as well as printing books on topics that often shunned), this interesting survey of wire-tapping, its history and its future was not a difficult read. The author writes in a very direct and approachable style, and I found myself unable to put the book down. It's interesting to read how wire-tapping has been used to stop assassinations, capture mafiosi as well as catch Italian politicians with their pants down, so to speak.