Hallo. Hallo. Is anybody there?

Why is Bob Crow so outraged at the thought that his phone may have been tapped? In the old days, it was considered an insult if your phone wasn't bugged.
It wasn't dirty-mac hacks who were doing it then but the security services, desperately trying to keep the nation safe from dangerous Leftists.
Trade unionists, journalists and political activists all had their phones tapped. Even Peter Mandelson, for God's sake.  He certainly has been a threat to the country but not in the way the security services thought he was.
At least journalists might get a story out of listening in to Bob Crow.  Such as him planning to take his wife out for dinner or that there was something wrong with his dog.  The sort of story that would really interest the public.
But what did the security services and police ever think they would learn from listening in on the calls of hundreds, probably thousands, of people considered a threat because they were "Left-wing". (Some of them weren't even that - just thought to be a threat because they held a union post or were a reporter who had been sent to cover Northern Ireland or strikes).
When the late Paul Foot picked up his phone to make or receive a call and heard the tell-tale click that showed someone was listening, he tried to hold a conversation with them.
I'm not defending phone hacking by the News of the World or any other paper but why is that any worse than the illegal phone-tapping by security services that went on for years and probably still does? And has never been criticised by the vast majority of politicians or journalists.