The FBI has been using hacking techniques and tools, such as spyware, since at least 1998, but to date there is no public data counting how often the feds were deploying them. That’s about to change — at least for the use of spyware for tapping into someone’s real-time communications.

Starting in 2029, U.S. judiciary will publicly disclose precisely how many times judges authorized the use of wiretaps to be carried out with hacking tools and spyware, which fall under the category of what the feds call network investigating techniques, or NITs.

For almost two decades, the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which coordinates operations across the judiciary, has issued annual Wiretap Reports. These reports detail how many wiretaps were authorized every year, breaking the numbers down by whether federal or state judges ordered them, in which states the wiretaps were conducted, what type of crime was investigated, and other data. 

Wiretaps allow police to gain real-time access to people’s calls, messages, and other communications. Given how invasive wiretaps can be to a person’s privacy, law enforcement have to present a high bar of evidence that a crime is being committed before a judge will authorize the use of a live tap. As such, wiretaps are generally issued in far fewer numbers than search warrants, but can still sweep up a large amount of people’s communications. Years ago, for example, one wiretap allowed a massive surveillance operation that collected millions of text messages over the course of three months.

The annual wiretap reports break down the type of wiretaps authorized during the year: from audio wiretaps that can collect real-time voice from phone calls; oral taps that rely on using real-world microphones and other eavesdropping techniques; and, the electronic tapping of text messages, emails, and other messages as they pass through a provider’s network.

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts told Democratic senator Ron Wyden this week that it will begin tracking the new “spyware/hacking” surveillance category starting in the 2028 Wiretap Report, which will be published the following year. 

A spokesperson for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts confirmed the change in an email to TechCrunch: “The Wiretap Report is compiled from individual forms submitted from throughout the country and throughout the year. Before the new data can appear in the annual report, reporting forms and procedures need to be updated to accommodate the new categories,” the spokesperson said. 

It’s important to note that this statistic will only reveal when authorities have used spyware to intercept communications, such as Signal and WhatsApp calls and messages, and not when they use tools to remotely hack into a phone and extract data stored inside of it, such as images, files, and their location. The first is a wiretap, and the latter is a search, which is an altogether different kind of legal process and not relevant here.

Wyden, who has criticized “the unnecessary secrecy around electronic surveillance orders” and has called for this kind of data to be published since 2017, celebrated the change.

“The American people remain largely in the dark about the different ways that the government is spying on them,” Wyden said in a statement to TechCrunch. “I am thankful that the federal courts agreed to collect and publish data about hacking, but Congress must go further and pass my Government Surveillance Transparency Act,” a draft bill that Wyden and others reintroduced earlier this year.

Getting this kind of transparency, according to privacy experts, is a huge win.

“Up until now, we have only been able to guess at the size of the problem,” said Eva Galperin, the director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and an expert on government spyware. 

Galperin said that once these statistics become public, it will help hold the U.S. government accountable when there are abusive uses of spyware, as it will be harder for the authorities to deny that the tools were used. 

“Being able to point to a report saying that spyware was used X number of times will help with accountability, especially if it turns out that number is quite high,” Galperin added. “It’s hard to say that you’re using spyware as a surgical tool when you’ve deployed it tens of thousands of times.”

Brett Max Kaufman, a senior counsel in the American Civil Liberties Union’s Center for Democracy, said the change is “an important and long-overdue step forward for transparency around government hacking and should lead to better-informed policy and law around these issues going forward.”

Other countries, such as Italy, already publish detailed data on the use of spyware. For example, in 2023, spyware was used against 4,321 targets in the country, according to publicly available data.

Jake Epelle, of TAF Africa, and Brenda Anugwom, Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Women Trust Fund, NWTF, on behalf of the EU-SDGN EOH, called on INEC to distribute sensitive election materials to all polling units on time to ensure accreditation and voting commence by 8:30 am.

The election observers also urged the commission to guarantee seamless electronic transmission of validated polling unit results to the INEC Result Viewing Portal, IReV, in real time and maintain adequate backup capacity for the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System, BVAS.

They asked INEC to publish a clear protocol explaining the end-to-end results transmission process, including the purpose of the electronic EC8A and the backend validation stage before results are published on IReV.

In the same vein, they demanded that Ward EC8B and Local Government EC8C collation result sheets be published on IReV alongside polling unit results.

“This would enable citizens, political parties and observers to verify results at every stage,” they stated.

The observers urged the commission to ensure transparent and timely announcement of results from polling units through Registration Areas and Local Government Areas to the State Collation Centre.

They equally called on INEC to deploy trained personnel and adequate assistive voting devices to facilitate priority voting for women, youths, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable voters.

On political parties and candidates, the EU-SDGN EOH urged them to respect the July 30, 2026 Peace Accord and accept the outcome of the election as declared by INEC.

The observers noted that any grievances arising from the election should be pursued through lawful and judicial means, rather than protests, violence or self-help.

“Political parties should refrain from vote-buying, voter intimidation and deployment of political thugs,” they added.

They also urged security agencies to maintain neutrality and professionalism throughout the election, deploy adequate personnel to critical and high-risk areas and secure transport routes, polling units and collation centres in advance.

The EU observers called for stronger coordination among security agencies through the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES), urging them to respond rapidly and impartially to electoral violence, harassment and disruptions.

They demanded public disclosure of progress on pending investigations into electoral violence, including arrests, charges and court dates, noting that it would strengthen deterrence and demonstrate that impunity would not be tolerated.

They also urged the media to “verify information before publication, avoid amplifying fake news and refrain from broadcasting unofficial election results until they are declared by INEC at the appropriate collation level”.

The observers also called on voters to arrive early, vote freely and independently, reject financial or material inducements and report vote-buying or other electoral malpractice to INEC officials, security agencies or accredited observers.

The EU-SDGN EOH said the recommendations were aimed at supporting a free, fair, peaceful and credible Osun governorship election, urging all stakeholders to uphold their responsibilities throughout the voting, collation and declaration processes.