If you hear a funny sound on your phone, hang up: Big Brother might be listening. Last year state and federal courts approved a record 872 wiretaps–a 14 percent increase over 1989 and a huge 55 percent rise since 1980. Drug offenders were targets of 60 percent of last year’s taps, followed by gamblers (13 percent) and racketeers (10). In 1990, wiretaps helped in 2,057 arrests and 420 convictions.
