Xref: utzoo sci.electronics:10641 misc.legal:15887 alt.sex:10918 misc.misc:9360 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!turnkey!orchard.la.locus.com!prodnet.la.locus.com!lando!dana From: dana@lando.la.locus.com (Dana Myers) Newsgroups: sci.electronics,misc.legal,alt.sex,misc.misc Subject: Re: Phone Harassment Message-ID: <5595@oolong.la.locus.com> Date: 16 Mar 90 19:38:58 GMT References: <21849@watdragon.waterloo.edu> <13746@watcgl.waterloo.edu> <90071.220057SAB121@psuvm.psu.edu> <1185@gtx.com> <1990Mar16.001210.27602@ddsw1.MCS.COM> Sender: news@locus.com Reply-To: dana@locus.com (Dana H. Myers) Followup-To: sci.electronics Distribution: na Organization: Locus Computing Corporation, Inglewood, CA Lines: 26 Keywords: In article <1990Mar16.001210.27602@ddsw1.MCS.COM> benfeen@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Ben Feen) writes: >I saw an interesting method of getting back at phone harrassers - It >involves a car battery, a large capacitor, and some wiring thru your phone. >I'm not gonna go into it, but if you go through a certain sequence, you can >send a surge through Ma Bell's wires, straight into the offender's >handset.......... Give us all a break. There are a whole host of reasons why this won't work. To start with, there is a reason why telephone handsets are made of non-conductive material - to protect the user against electrical shock due to lightning strikes or (possibly) power lines shorted to phone lines. Furthermore, there isn't necessarily a DC circuit from your phone to the offender's. In fact, without much data to back this up, I'd assert there is a great likelihood that no DC circuit exists on almost any phone call today. What if an extra-terrestrial link is in use (satellite link)? Where are the wires? Such an approach would do no more than fry the phone the battery, capacitor and wires are applied to. ***************************************************************** * Dana H. Myers WA6ZGB | Views expressed here are * * (213) 337-5136 | mine and do not necessarily * * dana@locus.com | reflect those of my employer * *****************************************************************