ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 6, 1992                   TAG: 9203060115
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

WIRETAP COSTS COULD HIT PHONE CUSTOMERS

The Bush administration wants you to pay a little more for telephone service to make it easier for the FBI or local police to listen in on the conversations of suspected criminals.

The Justice Department is circulating a proposal in Congress that would force telephone companies to install state-of-the-art technology to accommodate official wiretaps. It would authorize the Federal Communications Commission to grant telephone companies rate increases to defray the cost.

Attorney General William Barr discussed the proposal last week with Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the FCC, according to congressional sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Justice Department spokesman Paul McNulty refused to comment on the proposal. - Associated Press 


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