'Wiretaps'

PokerPrincess (1) from Earth -

I would be soooooo totally embarassed if someone were to put a wiretap on my phone line. How can you tell if someone has done that? Do they actually have to come into your house to set it up or can they hit your phone line from the outside.

How easy is it for someone to be able to get the materials necessary to do that? Do they have to have a court order in order to be able to set it up? If not then can anyone who wants to do it get it done?

Comment #1 Sweetness from Earth, the Universe -

That is a very interesting question or group of questions and I too would be very interested in the answers so if anyone in the forum can elaborate on this topic I am sure that it would benefit many of us on the forum.

The sooner the better so that we can be in a position to protect ourselves from unauthorized wire taps and unauthorized loss of our information.

Thank you for any help you can give to us.

Comment #2 zoya from middle of america -

I don't think one needs a court order, the only time one would need it is if it's a legal process. But some people may be bad people in general and do it for their own benefit. To learn information to use against you. I have no idea how they do it though. I have seen quite a few soap opera stories where they tap a phone, but i doubt it's that simple heheh.

Comment #3 Kyndra from Somewhere Out There -

If someone is recording a conversation, I am pretty sure you have to let the other party know. That is the legal way to do it. Of course I am sure the FBI and other government agencies are able to do things without giving notice. But, I know many places that call you, especially creditors have to say, "This call is being recorded."

Comment #4 Kings from parallel street -

In the bad old days (think of Watergate) they had to actually plant bugs and things, today it is so sophisticated that they can probably tap phones much more easily from remote locations. The big difference is that a digital signal is very different from the old analog ones and there may be ways to jam the tap I suppose.

Comment #5 Plums from the thrush tree -

I actually came across an advert for a company that manufactures bugs and jamming devices! One would think that some of this stuff is illegal, but it seems to be freely available!

Comment #6 PATRICK from HOUSTON, TEXAS -

I gave this some thought. I thought of it from the point of view of wanting to tapp a line. I came up with doing it at the phone junction box. You have everybody’s phone line right there!!

If you use a cordless phone it can be pulled out of the air by a radio shack scanner. All it is, is a radio wave.

Comment #7 Callie from The North -

Interesting point. I don't know though, have you tried it?

LOL. Seriously, I would think that someone would have already tried that.

Comment #8 Delino from California -

Government can do anything they want really, but it's illegal for individuals to do it. The new version of Skype lets you record calls which is a bit scary too.

Comment #9 Keter from the garage door -

Are skype calls encrypted on the fly? I haven't seen any option for this unlike some IM applications which allow you to choose an encryption option. If they aren't encrypted and they can be recorded it is really scary, although with millions of users online with skype at any one time chances of getting recorded by a hacker are pretty slim I'd say.

Comment #10 Paranoia (65.4.36.16) - Thu Aug 7 12:23:11 2008

As to whether or not it's legal for the government to do, and whether or not they need a warrant, I'm a little frightened by how little people are aware. Of course this may be an old thread, made before this kind of stuff was really in the news.

In America, thanks to the new Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act bill that went through Congress, the National Security Administration may tap an American citizen's phone if they SUSPECT that one of the people in the conversation is not a United States Citizen. In other words any out-of-country calls can be tapped, regardless of what they are about. So be aware if any of your relatives live in other countries, don't tell them about the coming revolution over the phone. :)

The bill also helps give immunity to the telecommunication companies that cooperated in the previously illegal warrantless wiretapping the government had been doing. I'm looking into a phone company called Credo, which, in their ads, says they would never release your records just because the government asked.

I don't know. Maybe I'll switch to snail-mail written in code.

All the best,

Paranoia

Comment #11 Jimmy (63.176.159.95) - Fri Aug 8 08:24:45 2008

Brush up on your history and the FBI's mail (that is snail mail) opening program(s)... that occurred decades before email existed!

What is new?

Name:           
E-Mail:         

Optional (please add to our directory first)
Web Link:       
Link Title:     

Message:

Note: once you register your email address with Privacy it is used across our whole network of forums and blogs. You can create seperate profiles for each forum or blog, but use the same login.