As a former wiretapper, pen registers went out shortly after high button shoes. Remember the 'Nixie lamp' displays from the 60s, anyone?

We need reporters who are more current, not just in this area but all areas. It sometimes gets embarrassing when reading acounts of all types, not just this.
Makes one think they have education from nothing but from outdated text books.

With todays technology, thousands of 'messages' can be monitored every minute. With the old stuff, a suspect had to be identified ahead of time so a physical coonection could made to their line.

Not enough agents to do that today. An example of the bulk of calling, if all Long Distance calls were still placed thru operators, the Telecomunications industry estimates every female from the age of 18 to 62 would have to have the job of operator.