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Chaos Computer Club 1997 February
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hb1_189.txt
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1997-02-28
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TRE PRIV6rE E6R
It has recently come to our attention that a new device f~or invadlng your
prlvacy is an the market. Called the Telecommand, thls de~lce ls only an
extension of what was forrnerly available to law enf~orcement officers. The
Telecommand attaches to your phone internally, and whenever they want to
bug your pad, they Just call up and send a tone loto thelr phone before
they dial the last digit of your nwnber. This automatically plCka up your
phone bef~ore it rings. Nc~w your phone, whlch looks llke itB JUBt Blttin~
there hung up, is rea lly 11 ve and listenlng to everythin~ goln'g on wlthin
earehot . When he's heard enaugh, he simply hanc,s up and your phone ie
back to normal.
Recently, Screw magazlne revealed that Nassau C~unty D.A. Cahn had purchased
several thausands of dollars worth of surYeillance equtptment, including the
te lecommand . And this will probably be f.ollowed by police departnents all
aver the c~untry.
I don't think I have to explain in detall Just h~w fucked up lt is f~r a D.A.
to eaveadrop ~n the c~unty he 1s supposed to be servin,~. ~t ' ~ worse, the
equiptment is pald for by c~unty taxes, 'Just as Federal taxes pay for the
F.B.I. 's versions of the same shit.
It should be realized, h~wever, that the Telecommand is anly a remote-contro1
extension of what the Telephone Company has been using for years. Previc~'y,
the police or F.B.I. had to listen from inside the Telephone Cornpany ut.~ln3.
Now they can listen from the pay bo~th across the street. The results are
fri~htenin=. They can wait for ,just the rl~ht m~ment t ~ break d~wn the do~r
and c~tch you sm~kin~ pot, for example.
It i~ be lieved, furtherrnore, tbat c omputertzed networks for tapping are beinO
set up across the c~un`. . Thie would mean J. Ed,ar himeelf could strnply
dial out your number form his office and the tap would autornatically be act-
ivated .
And ~f you don't think that they have the capabllity to monltor thousands of
pe~ple at the same t~me, ,Just remernber that in a wh~le year, your cu;nuLative
tatal of phvne time is probably anly a few hours. Tapes stored for [uture
reference couLd be quick~y scanned for lncrtminatina statemente.
Clicks are anly a sign of an amateur tap. Do not ever assume that your phone
is safe, even for a m~ment .
And if you dontt believe it-
Arthur S. BrewQter is division security superv sor for the Southwestern Be ll
Teleohone Company, assi ,ned to .the Kansas City offlce. He is a lawyer and
since 1°50 has had the responsitility, a~on~ other thin,~) of assurin., pri-
vacy of the hundrebs of thousands of subsccibers -to the company's service.
Brewster'~ relationship with the FBI was a close ~ne; when the Lon~, commit-
tee subpoenaed hlm to testify, he notified the FBI's Kansas City office.
Senator Lon_: Do your employees ever =o with the FBI men when they were
,u ised a s te leph^ne emp I~yee s ?
;Ir. Brewster: I will ,~ut it thiC way. I tnin.c ti~ere were some bure.au
men -~ho went with the te lephone c^mpany oe~ple. The~i hac3 on old cl~thes
and those thln-;s....
Senator E'_n-r; I)o yOu do this f_r prlvate detect ives ?
,1r. Brewster: ;i~, sir.
Senator Lon ;: ',hy not ~
It ~ s a ~,ubl Ec serv ice .
Mr. Brewster: I would hsve t_ t;ave a lot of. exp Lanat lon....
" I should like to ask the Senator from Utah wLether the te lephone company
has of~fered him the kind of. proposal that it has offered me ?
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