115 agency. The police can listen to the phone on their PRI line and store the recording to attached computers. Simultaneously, a sound file of the intercepted call is also recorded and stored in the mediation server. In ISDN, the transfer of call-related data doesn't happen in real time. A slow 64 kbps speed results in a time lag of two to three minutes. Data packets are lost in traffic and calls don't reach the PRI line. Under the leased line facility, the service provider gives the agency direct access to its backbone network through a dedicated fast speed fibre optic cable connection. The call-related data is not only transmitted in real time, at the lightning speed of 2 mbps, the chances of missing any call are minimal. But since the cost of laying a fastspeed fibre optic cable connection is higher, state agencies are more dependent on ISDN. For instance, the Mumbai Crime Branch has leased line connections from just three service providers, for the rest it uses ISDN. At any given point of time a service provider can provide a maximum of eight agencies the call interception facility to a given number. The commonest surveillance methods are sourcing an individual's call data records (CDR) or list of numbers dialled and received. This does not require government sanction. Fed into a special software, the CDR rapidly builds up a 'relationship tree' or charts the relationship between thousands of calls. This can easily be used to pry on civilians. A secretary in a Central ministry is believed to source the CDRs of journalists to trace their sources. Technology is an antidote to privacy. The rich and the famous do try and escape it. In one of her taped conversations, Niira Radia instructs Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's wife Rajathi's charted accountant to call on her Tata Docomo number. Since lawful intercept of a cellphone can only be done by writing to the concerned telecom service provider, Radia evidently felt secure on a number provided by