Legal requirements for the use of keystroke loggers

This paper examines the American federal Wiretap Act and its application to the use of keystroke loggers as forensic tools and by private individuals. The paper concludes that for purposes of the Wiretap Act, a keystroke logger intercepts electronic communications if the keystrokes that the logger records are being transmitted over telephone lines or the Internet. Under the Wiretap Act, law enforcement personnel must obtain a wiretap order in order to use a keystroke logger to intercept any electronic communications.