Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!agate!apple!sun-barr!newstop!texsun!texbell!chinacat!telecom-gateway From: levitt@zorro9.fidonet.org (Ken Levitt) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Neighbor Bugs Family By Eavesdropping Message-ID: Date: 29 Nov 89 22:11:20 GMT Sender: news@chinacat.Lonestar.ORG Lines: 33 Approved: telecom-request@chinacat.lonestar.org X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 538, message 3 of 7 I came across the following message in a FidoNet echo and thought that it might be of interest to Telecom readers. ============================================================ From: Dave Minor @ 930/1 To: Cliff Peterson Cliff, I wanted to add a committ about the privacy of common carrier communcations. I work for a long distance company and you are correct, there is nothing illegal about encrypting communcations. In fact, we provide that service for some of our customers. To tell a quick story about privacy, years ago a technician was checking a problem with a line. In his efforts, he came accross a private conversation between two individuals negotiating a contract to have someone murdered (no lie!)! What this tech was supposed to when checking a line was if he heard any conversation AT ALL he was to IMMEDIATLY move to another circuit and wait till the needed circuit was clear. Instead, he listened to the conversation, took notes, and reported it to his supervisor. Expecting to get an "attaboy" for saving a person's life, he got fired for violating the individual's privacy! Needless to say, there is nothing illegal about encryption and common carriers are considered PRIVATE communcations! # Origin: Horizon RBBS 214-881-9346 & 214-424-3831 HST (8:930/1.0) * Origin: Network Gateway to RBBS-NET (RBBS-PC 1:10/8) Ken Levitt - via FidoNet node 1:16/390 UUCP: zorro9!levitt INTERNET: levitt%zorro9.uucp@talcott.harvard.edu