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From: jwb@cit5.cit.oz (Jim Breen)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Supreme Court Rules Cordless Phones Not Private
Message-ID: <2851@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 11 Jan 90 23:08:28 GMT
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In article <2784@accuvax.nwu.edu>, thomas%mvac23.uucp@udel.edu (Thomas Lapp) 
writes:
 
> What bothers me about this is that if users of cordless phones should
> be aware that they can be overheard, the Supreme Court should also
> apply the same reasoning to cellular telephones since it is OBVIOUS
> that carphones, etc. use radio waves (the antenna tends to give it
> away :-).  ........
 
It is interesting to note how Australian law differs here. We have no
general right to privacy, but there is a strict law on phone tapping
and on recording phone calls. Whether listening in to a cordless or
cellular call on your el cheapo scanner constitutes a tap, or is just
legitimate use of your right to listen to any frequency you like has
yet to be tested in court (and may never be.) Recording of a phone
call is a definite no-no.

There was a very funny case a couple of years ago where the leader of
the opposition Liberal (i.e. conservative) Party in Victoria had a
long car phone conversation with Andrew Peacock, then Federal deputy
leader (also in opposition) of that party.  Andrew made a lot of
highly uncomplimentary comments, complete with plenty of four-letter
words, about his colleague and leader, John Howard.

Of course, a ham with a scanner and recorder was listening in, and
within minutes the choice bits of the conversation were being played
on commercial radio. The fur flew, and Andrew lost his job. (He
eventually rolled Howard and became leader. In his victory Press
conference he promised to stay awy from car phones.)

I believe the ham got a bit of a wrist slapping and was told not to do
it again. No charges were laid.

The US has a long history of listening to other people's phone
conversations. For years the CIA happily read all the car phones of
the Soviet leadership. This was one of the reasons behind the
(understandable) distress over the release of the "Pentagon Papers".
Some of the material in those papers could only have been obtained
from car phone taps, and thus the release effectively blew (and
destroyed) the whole sigint operation.


   _______           Jim Breen (jwb@cit5.cit.oz) Department of Robotics &
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