ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

MAINWAY

Okay, so imagine you have a bunch of toys that you need to organize. You would maybe keep all the cars in one box, all the dolls in another, and so on. This way, it's easier for you to find a specific toy when you want to play with it.

A mainway is kind of like that, but for phone calls instead of toys. Imagine there are millions of phone calls happening all over the world at the same time. Sometimes, important people like government officials or spies have to make calls that are really important and need to be listened to or recorded.

That's where the mainway comes in. It's a big system that helps people who work for the government listen in on those important phone calls. Think of it as a big box that stores all the important calls in one place, so it's easier for the government to find them and listen to them later if they need to.

Now, some people might argue that it's not okay for the government to listen in on people's phone calls like this. They might say it's an invasion of privacy. But other people might argue that it's important to keep everyone safe and prevent bad things from happening.

Either way, the mainway is a tool that helps the government keep track of important phone calls.