Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!gryphon!vector!chinacat!telecom-gateway From: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu (TELECOM Moderator) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Neighbor Bugs Family By Eavesdropping Message-ID: Date: 27 Nov 89 00:49:05 GMT Sender: news@chinacat.Lonestar.ORG Lines: 58 Approved: telecom-request@chinacat.lonestar.org X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 532, message 10 of 10 (A comment to an advice columnist in the [Chicago Sun Times] on Tuesday, November 21, and the columnist's reply.) Dear Zazz: My husband and I keep track of our child through a wireless Radio Shack intercom. We leave this baby monitor on all the time. Now we have learned that a neighbor in our apartment building brags of how he enjoys violating our privacy. He has a radio scanner that enables him to listen to our intercom. Supposedly, he can hear everything said in our apartment. He also listens to the conversations of neighbors who use cordless telephones. We have stopped using the intercom. Should I confront our neighbor about this? Signed, Bugged Dear Bugged, I spoke to folks at Radio Shack, who confirmed that someone with a scanner could pick up the soundtrack of life in a nearby apartment. (A scanner isn't even necessary. I've picked up another baby in my neighborhood -- a real screamer -- on my baby's monitor.) For safety's sake, don't stop using your monitor. These intercoms can be lifesavers, letting you know if your child is in trouble in another part of the house. But do consider confronting your neighbor. In most communities, peeping toms can be prosecuted. If you could prove to police and a court that your neighbor is maliciously using electronic equipment to keep tabs on your private lives, you might be able to file charges. In any case, confronting him could scare him into cutting it out. How might you confront him? One day, lean into your baby's monitor and say, "Hey, buddy, this message is for you. If you don't get your ears out of our home, and your nose out of our business, we're going to try our best to get you put in jail." ========= End of Columnist's Remarks ========= What a laugh! All I can say is if the average member of the public knew as much about cordless phones, cellular phones and sundry 'wireless intercoms' as the readers of TELECOM Digest they would *never* use such devices with any expectation of privacy; recently passed and poorly thought out federal laws not withstanding. And if our dear advice columnist -- he was hired when Ann Landers left to go to the [Chicago Tribune] -- had any brains, he would not make the suggestion that the Chicago Poh-leece and our courts have the time or inclination to give an iota about such wickedness by the neighbor. I hope your Thanksgiving holiday was as pleasant as mine. What a pity Monday is coming around , and another work-week is starting. See you tomorrow! Patrick Townson