Why would anyone do an analog wiretap?

Floyd L. Davidson wrote:

Why would anyone do an analog wiretap?

It's cheap, easy, fast, and convenient for those who want to tap a line
without going through the official legal channels, red tape and associated
paperwork that would usually stop you anyway.

Palindrome <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
Floyd L. Davidson wrote:
Palindrome <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
Foxtrot wrote:
I have never been a conspiracy theorist but I suspect
that a particular group of people may try to tap my
landline.
I am in the UK and access to my phone wires is quite
easy because I live in a block of flats.   There are
various oblong concrete covers for the BT and
VirginMedia lines to the flats.
Currently I use VirginMedia for phone service.
I wonder if a tap which juts picks up the signal
modulation on a line but does not interrupt it can be
detected at all.
Can I perform any checks?  Can I ask VM to do any
checks?
As I am dealing with some odd folks, I would like to
have the line checked regularly but would VirginMedia
be prepared to do this?

It is illegal to gain access to another person's telephone under Section
1 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). If you have
good reason to suspect that your calls are being intercepted, then
contact the police.

There are no meaningful checks that you can do, or VM would do. Other
than visually inspect whatever bits of your telephone line might be
accessible to you.

If you are worried, but don't think that you have enough evidence to go
to the police, then use a mobile phone or internet phone. Those are
rather more difficult for an unspecified group of people to intercept.
They are even easier.  Don't do it.

They aren't easier for "unspecified groups of people" to do. Government
agencies and others authorised to intercept communications are very well
"specified".

It actually is easier, even for "unspecified groups".

Funniest damned thing I ever saw was a story printed on
the front page of a newspaper giving a verbatim
transcript of a cell phone call where a guy admited to
committing murder.  The newspaper had what amounted to
an illegal wiretap.  They were never so much as
investigated, if for no other reason that the police
*also* had an illegal wiretap on the same call!

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)              fl...@apaflo.com

I have never been a conspiracy theorist but I suspect that a particular
group of people may try to tap my landline.

I am in the UK and access to my phone wires is quite easy because I live
in a block of flats. There are various oblong concrete covers for the
BT and VirginMedia lines to the flats.

Currently I use VirginMedia for phone service.

I wonder if a tap which juts picks up the signal modulation on a line
but does not interrupt it can be detected at all.

Can I perform any checks?
Can I ask VM to do any checks?

As I am dealing with some odd folks, I would like to have the line
checked regularly but would VirginMedia be prepared to do this?

The VM cabinet around the corner from my home has been unlocked for over
a year (with the door simply wedged shut), despite having been
reported. It would be simple enough to gain access to any line going
through it, or even to jumper it to another subscriber's cable (they
usually have a spare pair). I ceased my service with them a while ago!
(snip)

I have never been a conspiracy theorist but I suspect that a particular
group of people may try to tap my landline.

I am in the UK and access to my phone wires is quite easy because I live
in a block of flats. There are various oblong concrete covers for the
BT and VirginMedia lines to the flats.

Currently I use VirginMedia for phone service.

I wonder if a tap which juts picks up the signal modulation on a line
but does not interrupt it can be detected at all.

Can I perform any checks?
Can I ask VM to do any checks?

As I am dealing with some odd folks, I would like to have the line
checked regularly but would VirginMedia be prepared to do this?

"Paul Hovnanian P.E." <paulh@seanet.com> wrote:
"R. Mark Clayton" wrote:

Just ring a mate and tell him that you will swap the plutonium for the drugs
at Waterloo Station...

Be sure to throw in "Allah Akbar" a few times.

;-)

I had a guy quite seriously ask me (5-6) years ago if it
was possible that his phone line was being tapped. He'd
heard strange sounds... I laughed and told him if it
was, he'd never know it.

Of course then we got into a discussion of what would
cause his line to be tapped... His son was married to a
Chinese lady who happened at the moment to be in
Indonesia. He was a 747 pilot flying into Afganistan
and Iraq, with a long history of employment by the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

I assured him he cannot make an international call
without it being listened to by someone!

On Feb 19, 12:26 pm, fl...@apaflo.com (Floyd L. Davidson) wrote:
Palindrome <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
Floyd L. Davidson wrote:
Palindrome <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
Foxtrot wrote:
I have never been a conspiracy theorist but I suspect
that a particular group of people may try to tap my
landline.
I am in the UK and access to my phone wires is quite
easy because I live in a block of flats.   There are
various oblong concrete covers for the BT and
VirginMedia lines to the flats.
Currently I use VirginMedia for phone service.
I wonder if a tap which juts picks up the signal
modulation on a line but does not interrupt it can be
detected at all.
Can I perform any checks?  Can I ask VM to do any
checks?
As I am dealing with some odd folks, I would like to
have the line checked regularly but would VirginMedia
be prepared to do this?

It is illegal to gain access to another person's telephone under Section
1 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA). If you have
good reason to suspect that your calls are being intercepted, then
contact the police.

There are no meaningful checks that you can do, or VM would do. Other
than visually inspect whatever bits of your telephone line might be
accessible to you.

If you are worried, but don't think that you have enough evidence to go
to the police, then use a mobile phone or internet phone. Those are
rather more difficult for an unspecified group of people to intercept.
They are even easier.  Don't do it.

They aren't easier for "unspecified groups of people" to do. Government
agencies and others authorised to intercept communications are very well
"specified".

It actually is easier, even for "unspecified groups".

Funniest damned thing I ever saw was a story printed on
the front page of a newspaper giving a verbatim
transcript of a cell phone call where a guy admited to
committing murder.  The newspaper had what amounted to
an illegal wiretap.  They were never so much as
investigated, if for no other reason that the police
*also* had an illegal wiretap on the same call!

mmmm. Sounds like the LA Times in 1984. The story concerned a
certain sports personality! A jury of his peers still found him "not
guilty".

It is possible to intercept digital cellphone traffic, but decrypting
it, without cloning the phone's key (which needs physical access to the
phone) is rather more difficult than tapping a landline.
Umm, sorry, nil points and misleading, you are MI5 and I claim my 5

--
Sue

I have never been a conspiracy theorist but I suspect that a particular
group of people may try to tap my landline.

I am in the UK and access to my phone wires is quite easy because I live
in a block of flats. There are various oblong concrete covers for the
BT and VirginMedia lines to the flats.

Currently I use VirginMedia for phone service.

I wonder if a tap which juts picks up the signal modulation on a line
but does not interrupt it can be detected at all.

Can I perform any checks?
Can I ask VM to do any checks?

As I am dealing with some odd folks, I would like to have the line
checked regularly but would VirginMedia be prepared to do this?

VM are now doing fibre optic deals - quite cheap, cheaper than coax - atm.
You get broadband and phone for less than 20/mnth.
Let's see your "friends" tap into that
Is it fibre to the home though? I thought it was just fibre to the

In message <R6Huj.229393$X76.37392@fe08.news.easynews.com>, Palindrome
me9@privacy.net> writes
It is possible to intercept digital cellphone traffic, but decrypting
it, without cloning the phone's key (which needs physical access to
the phone) is rather more difficult than tapping a landline.
Umm, sorry, nil points and misleading, you are MI5 and I claim my 5 pounds.

There are off air intercept systems available to people with the right
credentials and/or money that can decrypt the data real time. The system
manufacturers (Ericsson spring to mind for some reason ) offer
intercept systems although I suspect you'd need to be very definitely
government/law enforcement to get one legally.

Best of all carrying a powered cell phone can locate you to under 100
metres depending on the number of cells that can 'see' you and a few
other factors (terrain, buildings etc.) It's been trialed and tested for
emergency services use in London with good results but then disappeared
without much discussion, wonder why that was!


Oh, it would be possible to locate the OP to within a few feet, at most.

In message <fphpjl$htq$1@news.datemas.de>, Bernie <Bernie@the.bolt
writes
VM are now doing fibre optic deals - quite cheap, cheaper than coax - atm.
You get broadband and phone for less than 20/mnth.
Let's see your "friends" tap into that
Is it fibre to the home though? I thought it was just fibre to the
street cabinet and then coax to the home?

In message <R6Huj.229393$X76.37392@fe08.news.easynews.com>, Palindrome
me9@privacy.net> writes
It is possible to intercept digital cellphone traffic, but decrypting
it, without cloning the phone's key (which needs physical access to the
phone) is rather more difficult than tapping a landline.
Umm, sorry, nil points and misleading, you are MI5 and I claim my 5
pounds.

There are off air intercept systems available to people with the right
credentials and/or money that can decrypt the data real time. The system
manufacturers (Ericsson spring to mind for some reason ) offer
intercept systems although I suspect you'd need to be very definitely
government/law enforcement to get one legally.

"Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in
message news:47BCE4EA.1D90B715@earthlink.net

[snip]

: : Or wait for one to turn up at a government auction.
: : I picked up a complete 911 phone logging system and all
: : the 10.5" reels of tape for next to nothing. I sold
: : the recorders to a company that owned thousands of pay
: : phones to use when there was a court ordered tap on one
: : of their phones.

Is that likely in the UK..?