For other uses of the term, see Black room.

A Black chamber or black room is a secret room in a post office or telecommunications center used by state officials to conduct clandestine interception and surveillance of communications. Typically all letters or communications would pass through the black room before being passed to the recipient. Small-town post office and town hall in Lockhart, Alabama A post office is a facility (in most countries, a government one) where the public can purchase postage stamps for mailing correspondence or merchandise, and also drop off or pick up packages or other special-delivery items. ... Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior. ...

In a modern American Network Operations Center, optical splitters divert a percentage of the laser light from all incoming and outgoing fiber-optic cables to the secret room. Activities in a black room do not fall under the concept of lawful interception, as all data is intercepted and no court order is required for interception. Network Operations Centre or NOC (pronounced knock) is a name normally associated with one or more locations from which control is exercised over a network or part thereof. ... Categories: Possible copyright violations ... Fiber Optic strands An optical fiber in American English or fibre in British English is a transparent thin fiber for transmitting light. ... Lawful interception (aka wiretapping) of telecommunications. ... A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties before the court and requires or authorizes the carrying out of certain steps by one or more parties to a case. ...

Cabinet noir

Cabinet noir was the name given in France to the office where the letters of suspected persons were opened and read by public officials before being forwarded to their destination. This practice had been in vogue since the establishment of posts, and was frequently used by the ministers of Louis XIII and Louis XIV; but it was not until the reign of Louis XV that a separate office for this purpose was created. This was called the cabinet du secret des postes, or more popularly the cabinet noir. Although declaimed against at the time of the French Revolution, it was used both by the revolutionary leaders and by Napoleon. Louis XIII (September 27, 1601 – May 14, 1643), called the Just (French: le Juste), was King of France from 1610 to 1643. ... Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné) (September 5, 1638–September 1, 1715), reigned as King of France and of Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his death at the age of 77. ... Louis XV (February 15, 1710 – May 10, 1774), the Beloved (French: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1715 until his death. ... Liberty Leading the People, a painting by Delacroix commemorating the July Revolution of 1830 but which has come to be generally accepted as symbolic of French popular uprisings against the monarchy in general and the French Revolution in particular. ... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ...

The cabinet noir has now disappeared, but the right to open letters in cases of emergency appears still to be retained by the French government; and a similar right is occasionally exercised in England under the direction of a secretary of state, and, indeed, in all civilized countries. In England this power was frequently employed during the 18th century and was confirmed by the Post Office Act of 1837; its most notorious use being, perhaps, the opening of Mazzini's letters in 1844. Giuseppe Mazzini (June 22, 1805 – March 10, 1872) was an Italian writer and politician whose efforts helped bring about the modern Italian state, rather than the medley of separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed in the nineteenth century. ...

See also

• Secrecy of correspondence

The secrecy of correspondence ( German: , Swedish: , Finnish: ), or literally translated as secrecy of letters, is a fundamental legal principle enshrined in the constitutions of several European countries. ...

References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

• AT&T’s Implementation of NSA Spying on American Citizens

External links

• Back when spies played by the rules by David Kahn, originally published in the New York Times - a history of black chambers
• AT&T Whistle-Blower's Evidence